Comments By Patrick

I have just been hired by XPO Logistics, formerly Con-Way Trucking. Does anybody have any comments about this company? I will be taking my wife and our cat on board the truck in 6 months.

After speaking with the U.S. DOT and the U.S. Department of Labor, I am ready to take Navajo Express to court for using intimidation and threats to make me drive longer hours and more miles. They told me that if I did not driver 10,000 miles a month I would be fired. I told them that the only concerns I have are picking up the load on time, and delivering it on time. How many miles it takes I don't care. Since I was threatened by intimidation the DOT and DOL both told me that comes under the title of abusive treatment of employees. Can anybody tell me if you have been told the same thing by your company? After driving for Swift, CR England and USA Truck, they never even brought that subject up.

Patrick, it is our understanding that you did not get fired, but that you resigned - and you did that while you had the truck at home (not a smart move on your part, which I am sure you will find out the ramifications from that move when you start looking for other trucking jobs)

Patrick, I am going to be real honest with you. I think you need to quit obsessing over this mileage question - my gut feeling is that it has nothing to do with why they may have wanted to get rid of you. It may be the reason they gave you, but there is something else going on here that they simply do not want to put up with anymore.

Anymore WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anybody tell me how many miles your company demands that you drive per month or they will fire you.......even though the federal government orders you to drive a certain amount of hours, and there are dozens of variables every day? Can anybody tell me that driving 10,000 miles per month, not counting home time, delays at shipper and consignee, breakdowns, construction, driving through 35 mph small towns, and the other variables that require far slower speeds than 65mph. is realistic?

Hey everyone, just look at it this way. Within another year, Patrick can write a personal review about every trucking company in the US because he will have been hired and fired by them.

I have done many loads that have been at least 1100 to 1500 miles loaded and empty total. Nobody ever said anything because I was delivering and picking up either on time or early. Then, out of the blue, while I am home my DM says that I have to get my miles up. I had no idea it was even a problem. I told her that I can drive 550 miles a day in order to get the load where it is going. I want to drive hard so I can have only a few miles to go on the day of delivery. But as far as how many miles I go every day of the month...............I don't care. As long as I pick up and deliver from the customer on time, I don't care how many miles I go. As long as I do it safely and legally. If those two things are ignored by the company then I don't take the load in the first place. With breakdowns, home time, delays for hours at the shipper and consignee , it is not reasonable to expect a driver to do 400 miles every single day. My DM told me she had some drivers who drive 700 miles every day. I told her that I would not believe that if the driver swore on a Bible. The governors on Navajo are set at 64. 700 miles including fueling, eating, taking the 30 minute break???? No, not reality at all. So I resigned while I was at home. I did not want to be a thousand miles away and be fired on the spot, and stranded. That is the entire story. If you don't believe it, call Navajo. So if you have any phony complaints about me, go **** yourself.

I have done many loads that have been at least 1100 to 1500 miles loaded and empty total. Nobody ever said anything because I was delivering and picking up either on time or early. Then, out of the blue, while I am home my DM says that I have to get my miles up. I had no idea it was even a problem. I told her that I can drive 550 miles a day in order to get the load where it is going. I want to drive hard so I can have only a few miles to go on the day of delivery. But as far as how many miles I go every day of the month...............I don't care. As long as I pick up and deliver from the customer on time, I don't care how many miles I go. As long as I do it safely and legally. If those two things are ignored by the company then I don't take the load in the first place. With breakdowns, home time, delays for hours at the shipper and consignee, it is not reasonable to expect a driver to do 400 miles every single day. My DM told me she had some drivers who drive 700 miles every day. I told her that I would not believe that if the driver swore on a Bible. The governors on Navajo are set at 64. 700 miles including fueling, eating, taking the 30 minute break???? No, not reality at all. So I resigned while I was at home. I did not want to be a thousand miles away and be fired on the spot, and stranded. That is the entire story. If you don't believe it, call Navajo.

I drove for Navajo for 6 weeks and it ended 3 days ago, thinking it was going to last for several years. Everything was going great until my driver manager told me I had to get my miles up. I did not understand that statement, because in the three years I worked for Swift 10 years ago, they NEVER mentioned my monthly miles, as long as I picked up and delivered on time. Some loads don't require 400 miles every day of the month. But Navajo says if you don't put on 400 miles every day you are fired. That is not realistic.

I have been informed that just picking up and delivering a load on time are not the only important priorities any longer for the trucking industry. That a driver must maintain a certain mileage every month or they are fired. Is anybody else familiar with this fact?

I would like to know if anybody thinks it is possible for an truck, with a governor set at 64 m.p.h. to go 700 miles in one day.

I would like to know if there are any driver's who have spouses riding with them as passengers, who have peripheral neuropathy. I want to know how you handle the problem of sleep, when they have to get up in the middle of the night because their pain is so much it wakes them up. And what about the problem of them taking naps during the day while you are driving and you having to slam on the brakes, and preventing them from falling out of the sleeper?

Does anybody know if there is a better wifi service for the truck than the monthly $20 from Flying J/Pilot and Petro/T/A.

I would like to know how long it should take my cat to get used to being on the truck, since he is 10 years old and has never left the apartment in his life. He is also scared of everybody except my wife and myself. I figured he would get used to the truck, but I don't know how long it should take, or what steps we can take to make the transition easier for him. We are bringing the fabric off his favorite chair. and all his catnip toys

Can anybody who has a cat on their truck give me and my wife suggestions of how to keep the cat safe in case you have to ram on the brakes in case a nut cuts you off?

The persian conversian and Gunner are proof positive how ignorant and judgemental people can be.

Since none of you have the least knowledge of the kind of person I am, of lived my life, and none of you have a marriage that has lasted longer than some of you have been alive, but you are so good at labels, then I will leave you with one last word. I just got hired by a company that the head of recruiting said I would be a perfect fit. So much for all you uneducated idiots. I am through with this forum because I think the most educated person here is just out of the 4th grade. My wife married me in 1978 because I don't like violence of any kind, and I think the abortion issue belongs in only one place......in a doctors office between the doctor and the woman who is pregnant. It definitely is not a man's issue, since men don't get pregnant. I have a very successful life, because I put priorities where they belong. First is family, then everybody else in the world.

To Daniel B, I want to thank you for telling me that you will pray for me, but to tell you the truth, that is the one magic statement that helps me stay an atheist. I have been told by so many hundreds of people throughout the last 40 years that they will pray that i find the Lord, and so far NOTHING has happened, that I am totally 100% confident that there is no God. It is specifically because of people like you. Thank you again. Because to put it in my wife's words, the invisible man up in the sky lives in people's imaginations, and that is where he belongs.

To the Persian Conversion: I absolutely loved your letter to me, because we have a lot in common. I spent 12 years in Catholic school as a child. It definitely showed me how NOT to live my life. It showed me a fantasy world that I did not like in any way. Living as a Catholic for the first few years of my life showed me a world that did not exist. That is what made me an atheist by the time I was 15. Now I am 66 and I have a very successful marriage. My wife married me because I am a very proud member of the 3 smallest minority groups around. I don't drink at all and never have. I thoroughly have no interest in any sports. I think sports are the biggest waste of time imaginable. And I am an atheist proudly. My wife and I have been married for 37 years, and we prize education and science above everything else. While I am driving a truck around the country I find a lot of religious programs on the radio, including Catholic channel, which brings me a lot of laughs.

If you think I need religion then you are as limited in your mind as many others are. Religion is a mental drug.

Nothing bad happened when I was with Swift, so if people want to say bad things, I don't care. I would like to work for them again. And I am asking for advice, not to **** off people who are uneducated. As far as not being professional, I don't think there is one driver on the forum who would report any other driver for unsafe driving or violating DOT regulations. I have and will continue to do so. Only safe drivers belong on the road. I have never had a DWI because I have never drank in my life, and I have no felonies or arrests for reckless driving. My MVR is spotless. But when you get with a company that creates an untenable situation, you can't just swallow your pride and let it go. If a man doesn't go his own way.......he's nothing.

With USA Truck I waited until we were almost out of food and the rent was just one week ahead when Werner called. With Werner I could get a cash advance after orientation, which would buy us groceries and help pay the rent. I had to think of the best solution at the time. USA Truck was too damn slow.