You People Don't Get It

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.

By the way...

Who you callin' "you people???"

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.

You're right, that doesn't sound realistic. It's not realistic that you couldn't turn more than 400 miles a day (as long as they're giving you the miles).

That's like what, 7 hours of driving a day? You know you have 11 available, right? You're basically leaving 4 hours of work/money on the table every day. Of course they're gonna have a problem with that. Get moving man!

It also doesn't sound realistic that they would fire you on the spot like this without any warning or other issues. Can you give us the whole story please?

Ok before this turns into a forum enferno let's take a breath.

What were your monthly miles?

Listen, we already know there's a whole lot more to this story than you're saying right now. Is there more you can give us to help us understand the big picture? Nobody gets fired in their 6th week for not averaging 2,800 miles per week. I doubt half the trucks on the road average that. So you have to give us more to go on.

If we don't "get it," it's because you're not filling in all the blanks. Forgive my skepticism, but there are holes big enough to parallel park an aircraft carrier in that story.

Oh Patrick, whenever I see a thread of yours I get so excited and just have to click it. You're just an absolutely legendary troll, you should write a guidebook.

By the way...

Who you callin' "you people???"

Do truck drivers qualify as people now?

Patrick, you have established a long history with us for never telling us the truth. It makes it terribly difficult to offer anything constructive to you when we don't even know the boundaries we are working within.

Unfortunately you are to blame for becoming more of a form of entertainment for us than a fellow truck driver who is merely seeking some advice.

Do truck drivers qualify as people now?

Last I heard, we were still classified as a semi-intelligent subspecies of fungus.

Get it? "Semi" intelligent?

I'll just show myself out now.

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.