Never Say Never

Brett and G, yes it seems to be turning into a chess match. If I didn’t love the job itself I wouldn’t have such a hard time with it. It has been a great job.

I talked it over with my wife this evening and she told me more about some events that she encountered when Matthews bought out the company she was working for. She firmly believed then and still does her problems were the former owner’s fault and not Matthews. We talked it over from stem to stern and she said the same as ya’ll. Just ask them to give you a 1 yr contract with what they offered. She feels if it’s really above board they won’t have an issue, but if they aren’t willing then they may have some thoughts of making changes they don’t want to announce yet.

I found out 1 driver turned his truck in this morning without notice. He is a friend and never said a word to me about what he was doing. I would have advised him to not do that. I guess that stepped up their game regarding me to some degree. I’m going to sleep on it.

My wife sure didn’t seem to mind the proposed pay increase lol

Before reading Brett and G Town's responses, I was going to say see if you could get a six month or one year contract in writing. Keep the new job in the loop, just in case. If Matthews is will to keep things status quo for you, why leave. I hate change too. Yet trucking is all about change. Go figure. Best of luck to you.

Yes I hate change. I know exactly what you mean Big Scott. I will unloaded and heading back to the plant in about an hour. I think I’ll setup an appointment in person with my former owner. I can tell alot more talking in person than over the phone. Thanks for the insight guys

I like the approach, face-to-face. Have a plan and stick to it. Keep it all business.

I have two predictions for you:

1. You'll be getting more phone calls asking you to stay. 2. A set of "golden handcuffs" are coming your way - a bonus provided by an employer to discourage an employee from taking employment elsewhere. They give the cash up-front to stay for a given period. Laws vary by state, but most of the time if you leave early you have to pay back a pro-rated percentage of the bonus.

Lol I understand the concept. I don’t want or need their bonus. They did that at my wife’s company when they bought it and I’m not getting into that. She also had to sign a non compete clause in hers. All I really want is the guarantee this job doesn’t go away, They won’t force us to stay on the road to deliver products from any of their other companies, and I keep my salaried pay scale. They immediately changed us from pay every friday to bi weekly. That doesn’t bother me as long as the pay scale is left alone. I usually get 3 day weekends which is awesome. The routes I usually run don’t have enough miles on them to make any money thats why they pay salary in my position. I earn my money getting in and out od cemetaries and doing all the unloading, but I’m not going to do it if its not worth my while.

I’ll be meeting in person this afternoon. It will be a very candid professional discussion and I’ll make my decision.

If they just leave things alone that will work for me, but if they choose to make it worth my while I sure won’t turn it down lol.

Good morning ya’ll. Well the roller coaster ride is over. I had my meeting and it took much longer than I expected. He did his homework and when I walked in he sat me down and shared alot of information he really didn’t have too about the buyout, immediate plans, as well as the short term 1-3 years goals that they worked out in the sale contract. I asked why he was sharing some of that with me. He said, because I want you to understand what we are doing as far as planning so you can feel comfortable.

He offered me a 1 yr contract as well. It suprised me a bit he offered it. He never blinked an eye when he did so. He knew from our previous conversations what my fears were and he had all his ducks in a row to calm those fears.

So I’m staying for at least 1 yr. They made it very much worth my while to do so.

I contacted my other guy. I explained what has gone on and that I was sorry to put him through all this for nothing. He was very understanding, and told me if I ever want to make a change he asked me to promise him he would get the first shot.

So bottom line is I guess I put myself through alot of extra grief, but at least I know I’m solid at work.

Thanks for letting me vent here.

Sounds great PJ!

I hope it all works out for ya. It sounds like they really want to keep you, and that says a lot for both you and them.

This actually was a great conversation because it shows the kind of angst that sometimes comes with working for smaller independent operations. We hear people in here often claiming that the "family atmosphere" of a small company is way better than working at a mega carrier, and your experiences kind of debunked that notion.

Thanks for being so open with us, it's made for a good read, and something we can reference in future conversations.

Thanks OS. Yeah it certainly shows how things can go under both situations to a degree.

I really have had little contact with anyone since I have been here. My boss told me in the beginning the less we have to have contact the better it is. He sure was right. I never gave any thought to what goes on day to day because it never impacted me, or so I thought. I just did my job to the best of my ability and rolled on.

The former owner, which is now the plant manager (Still the local boss) told me he did his homework before calling me. He found out I do a solid job, take care of my equipment, and get along well with others I have to deal with, mainly customers, and I’m low maintance. He shared he normally doesn’t get involved in these situations but he felt it necessary this time because as he put it, I’m an extremly valuable asset. I’m happy they are pleased with me, but I have always been a pretty humble person and just do what I do.

This is also a valuable lesson that by doing your best everyday, if it comes down to things like downsizing you can put yourself in a much better position of stability.

Some days can get frustrating..... Well ya’ll I’ve been trying to keep my head down and mouth shut during this transition period and just keep an open mind. Corporate America makes it hard sometimes, lol.

Last week the corporate office decided to give us new fuel cards. Comdata but they have a mastercard logo on them. I’ve used comdata but it never had a mastercard logo. I understand they want a better fuel price, but who’s going to authorize a com check in case of a breakdown??? I was told no worries the card will work for that “no problem”.

Well as my luck tends to go I left on sunday going to eastern Ohio. I ran up I77 and in West Virginia had a trailer tire blow out. I got it off the road into a service plaza. I ended up needing 2 trailer tires and 1 rim. Got a repair guy out there, fixed it in about 4 hours. That’s pretty great time in the middle of nowhere. Went to pay for it and the card was declined. I called comdata and was told my card was good for 1000 a 24 hour period and 500 per transaction

I called my manager. He told me there had too be some mistake, I gave him the number to com data. He called me back furious because not only was there no mistake, but he isn’t authorized to make any changes. He is the former owner of this company. He put the repair in his own credit card and promissed he would get it straightened out. This was all on sunday night.

By tuesday and many emails to corporate I still couldn’t fill my truck more than 499.00.,

I got back yesterday and he gave me my original mastercard back. He said use it if you need to as a backup. He was clearly frustrated with corporate and told me he wasn’t going to put the drivers through any extra BS if he could help it.

I have to admire him for his attitude toward us and doing his best to keep us from being as frustrated as he must be right now.

Then he dropped another bit of news