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?