Just Because You Work For A Mega Doesn't Mean You're "only A Number"

I honestly never expected anyone from the company to tell me happy birthday. I'm one of 20,000+ drivers. That's an average over over 50 birthdays per day lol. But it was really nice to get this message. This was from the flatbed operations manager at my terminal. The man who is literally in charge of every single flatbed driver based out of that terminal.

Everyone thinks that just because you work for one of the mega carriers, you're not treated as a person. In my experience, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Just last week, I called Ed with a question about a load. I called his personal cell phone number, spoke to him about the load, got a detailed answer to my question, and exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before hanging up. Not once during that call did I have to give him my truck number, or driver code. He just knew who I was.

Don't let all of the crap about being "just a number" get to you. It's just that, crap. The people in charge know who the good workers are, and who the bad workers are. Do your job to the best of your ability, and your name will stand out. Not just your employee number.

Well said Chris M.!

Happy Birthday Chris!

This here...

Everyone thinks that just because you work for one of the mega carriers, you're not treated as a person. In my experience, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Same experience for me as well.

Rainy has an excellent article about this also:

Why I'm More Than Just A Number At My Mega-Carrier

At Old Dominion we get a birthday card from the CEO and our birthday off or any day 30 days after it.

Personally I prefer a "mega carrier" OD has the money and resources to back up their drivers. Plus my dad did mechanical work on the side for mom and pop trucking companies, and quite frankly they find very creative ways to avoid fixing stuff. On neumous occasions he had to tell these companies no he can not do that because it is unsafe. With OD and most other "mega carriers" of your truck is going to be down awhile they can get you another truck quickly and minimize your down time.

my dad did mechanical work on the side for mom and pop trucking companies, and quite frankly they find very creative ways to avoid fixing stuff

Yeah, I've worked for some mom-n-pop outfits over the years and that was almost always a huge issue. They just don't want to put the money into the trucks, or they just don't have the money.

Even an older piece of equipment can be fantastic if it's kept in like-new shape. But the reality is if they had the money to keep something in like-new shape they'd have new equipment.

Happy Birthday Chris.. Well said.

Im not quite driving just yet, but from day one of researching megas and sponsored training, most of what you here is to stay clear of them. And the majority of the reasons people tell you to head for the hills, are things that a rookie drive doesnt have the luxury yet to avoid in the first place. Ive only been at prime for 3 days now, still in orientation, but I will say, they treat you exactly how you deserved to be treated.

and what I mean by that is if you act like a dumbass, they will treat you like that accordingly. if you repeatedly dont follow instructions, and are asking questions that have already been answered, then you should fully expect to be treated like your a moron. Because you are. Its that simple. Dont go into your training acting like youve already been hired and you can say and do whatever you want, because you cant.

On the flip side if you are asking intelligent questions, putting in real effort to get ahead and study, and despite you being ridiculously exhausted you still arent complaining, they notice that. Im not saying your going to suddenly be on everyones radar as a star driver, because you wont be. But at least youll be treated respectfully which is a major boon to you when you're still in training and arent worth a dime to the company yet.

For instance, ive got all my initial training done at this point other then sim lab testing. And ive got about 16 hours of downtime over the next 2 days. But instead of ****ing around like a lot of people are, im spending my time either studying pretrip, studying for the final cdl exam, or at the very least learning about trucking some more.