Fleet Manager Ride Along-Sarah White

 

Professional driver Rebecca Matern and her Fleet Manager Sarah White took to the open road to the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Bentonville, AR in search of an empty trailer. When the pair arrived, they found one in need of repair. Sarah helped determine that the trailer had a flat tire. Sarah called road service to get the trailer in good standing for the next driver that could need it. Rebecca and Sarah found a good trailer and headed to Becky's next pick up! Good work and good communication!

29 Palms, California ITX (Integrated Training Exercise)-David Groves

We have a high percentage of military veterans on our floor and in our trucks.  I thought you would enjoy this entry concerning David Groves, one of our Fleet Managers.

We (CLR-4), worked with 4th Recon, 25th Marines and 4th Tanks Charlie Company to support the work-up for an upcoming deployment. Marines come from all over the country to this desolate desert location to train in tactical operations prior to entering a combat zone. The terrain and weather conditions are similar to those found in the middle east and provide a mirror like training experience. Temperatures vary between 90-120 degrees daily and training is conducted 24 hours a day.

We are fortunate to have devoted employees who give their time and energy to helping keep us safe.

From The Viewpoint of A Professional Driver

This is great incentive to support our Workflow project.  This is a note from one of our drivers :

I have a hard time understanding why it takes so long for a load to be dispatched to me.  I have waited anywhere from 2 hours to as long as 5 hours to be dispatched.  I do not understand why all of the information necessary to pick up or deliver freight is not given to us.  I have had to wait for missing information, such as customer numbers, before being able to drop or pick up a load.  This is embarrassing.  It makes us (drivers) look inept as well as delaying us.  

 

 

Friends Recommend Their Friends

I wanted to share a mid-year update on our driver referrals.  We have recognized 69 individual referrals and paid our drivers $39,000 for these activities.  Here are some of our referral all-stars:

Phung Duong       $1,000

Tracy Bussey     $1,000

Will Harris         $1,750

 

 

Please thank our Professional Drivers for recommending our company jobs.

 

 

Driver Feedback on Equipment

Here is some feedback shared by one of our Western Network Professional Drivers that we owe feedback to in the next 24 hours.  We will update everyone on the findings:

I recently went to a gypsum mine in Blue Diamond, NV. It is over 3 mi up a dirt mountain road. No problems going up empty. Coming out loaded @ 79,000 lbs down steep inclines with no Jake brakes is unsafe.  Please have someone look into enabling the engine brakes below 25 mph.

Currently the Prostars with Cummins are disabled below 25 mph. Not good in my opinion!

Driver Feedback from Survey/Hotline

Here is some great feedback from one of our senior Professional Drivers:

It's nice to here about the upcoming upgrades to our facilities. But, I'm afraid that upgrade of current facilities may fall short of our needs. We have simply out grown or facilities like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and Memphis. As drivers, we can not depend on these places for safe haven at night because of lack of parking. If we find a spot, we risk getting blocked in while we sleep. Trailers are double, triple parked in aisles. We can never find empty truck load trailers because the lots are full of DCS, rail containers or just chassis. And most of that equipment sitting around is empty. In some places like Atlanta and Chicago much of the equipment is in disrepair because the shop can not keep up with the back log of repairs. Mr Hunt use to believe that a trailer sitting around in need of repair was lost revenue because it is equipment that cannot be loaded.

In regard to Drivewyze. The blog posted a chart that says 89% bypass rate. The only bypass I get is when the scale is closed already. The bypass rate for scales that are open maybe 2% We really need to go back to Prepass. The cell towers that this system operates from can not pinpoint us accurate enough to get the job done.

In regard to trailers. I have had the opportunity in recent months to go pick up a couple of new trailers from the manufacturer in Lafayette IN. This last time I picked up a 667240 and I noticed that they are no longer coming with the automatic air on the tires. Is this a change in what we are ordering or is it a case of not getting what we ordered?

And finally I'm glad to here about the breaking of ground on the 3rd corporate building. This is a fulfillment of Mr. Hunt's vision.

It is very valuable to see the information we share from the end user's view.  All three points made by our driver are important and demand that we examine further.
 

Problem Solved in Kansas City

One of our Professional Drivers posted the following issue:

Why do we lock up the drivers lounge at Kansas City?  We can see why it is needed to lock up the shop at close time, but can't we make the driver break room accessible 24/7?

Solution provided by local management:

   We will leave the break room unlocked.  This began when operations was in the process of relocating to Edgerton.  They had no one on-site and simply locked up the entire facility.  We will fix this issue immediately and leave the driver break room open to our driving employees.