TONS. Let me say this, there are a LOT of cons. Even though this is a good company to be a driver, we get treated like we are meaningless. The constant demeaning is just unreal. When you have to call dispatch the staff up there is very condescending on drivers.
If you need assistance from the remote operations center, arm yourself with patience and thick skin before calling. The people up there have zero manners, they are always in a bad mood and to top it off they are doltish, even if you explain something to them 2 or 3 times, “it doesn’t matter” is the only thing they have to say, the stubbornness is very unprofessional.
You will be routed on runs that, operationally and productivity-wise, make no sense, but you cannot suggest anything as your word as a driver has no value. However, you will then be pulled aside and questioned like a person of interest in a crime, as to why didn’t you “suggest” otherwise.
Once your truck is loaded, they don’t want it back in the plant unless it is completely EMPTY, doesn’t matter if you have to layover inside your day cab, sitting on the driver seat for 10 hours, you need to go and put product somewhere, this shows the mediocre management we have here.
“Driver U”, (5 days every driver must attend at Irving,TX) to me that was a big waste of time and resources. The week I spent here taught me nothing of value, every day you will be told that you could be fired for anything, so for one week you get to be belittled by “management” while sitting at corporate and being fed breakfast and lunch.
Obnoxious, ridiculous and repetitive amount of paperwork as a driver. You will have a huge stack everyday. The loading process takes so long because of this, it feels like you almost need an act of congress to get them to release their own product to service their own customers. Most of the paperwork is the same thing, just a different title on the header, but you still need to fill, sign then fax, fax, fax. We do things like it is still 1999. Several hours of my week are wasted away on this amount of paperwork, sometimes it makes you feel like throwing it out the window.
They provide you with no official training on how to work the cryogenic trailers, other than what your trainer tells you. In my case, I had been working in this industry for years, so I already know what to do. But all they do is focus on driving, ok driving is part of the job, but it is minimal compared to the rest of the job and thats what we need to focus on.
Computer training that has nothing to do with your actual job as a driver, pro-thread is a waste of time and the computer safety training does not apply to drivers, it has nothing to do with our industrial setting, or we just don’t do that type of work in a bulk facility.
Slow trucks (63mph on new ones), but you will still be expected to complete 350 and 400 mile runs with 4 and 5 stops before 14 hours, that’s including loading and your 30 min break.
