Please Help Savannah Truckers

[homelandsecurity]

Overloaded with port Freight. That's what all the adds say. We are over whelmed with loads but this bunch of brokers in Savannah still doesn't want to pay anything. I laugh at some of the company managers that appear on this forum claiming we are lazy drivers because we won't accept their cheap work. Why don't they just buy their self a truck and go to driving if the loads they advertise are so d**n great. The real truth is it's much more profitable to open an office and create a small following of drivers to bilk every week. Use them like your own personal ATM machine. I went to pickup my truck this morning from a local shop and some company had already left a flier on the windshield claiming they too were overloaded with freight. With the price of fuel at the pump it's an insult to read this propaganda offering a dollar per mile. Needless to say I used it for scratch paper then tossed it. Something has to be done in Savannah and soon. Please hold a meeting of some kind guys. You know who I am talking about and who I'm directing this post to. I know you have been let down by attendance and by the slackness of driver participation in the past. I truly believe things are at the point that more drivers would listen this time. Maybe I'm wrong and there is no hope but please give it one more shot. After that let the good times role for all the crooks and thieves in this business. I'll find something else but it won't be moving any more of these boxes from the port.
thanks, XXXXXXX

[jbd]

this writer kinda says it all. yes i agree. no question. many truckers here would attend a savannah driver meeting. there has to be a better way to get trucking back on track. no better word comes to mind but hauling containers outa this port sucks. both the attitude toward us & the rates do for sure.

[canhauler]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink

[birddog]

the problem in savannah is drivers continue to haul this trash. u can't blame the agents or companies. they are in position to take advantage making tons of $$$ off the weak. the solution. no trucks. no freight moved. sounds simple right? making people understand is not. devising a plan to make this happen is not. convincing drivers to stick together is not. yes a meeting would be good.

[john]

i thought one time i could heard cats but that didn't work out so well either. maybe we can bring in some witch doctor from the caribbean inducing shocking pain over the brain waves of those who like to move cheap freight. the companies have already turned several into zombies so there has to be a reversal to their influence over the mind.

[cheezburger]

if anyone is pulling out of the port rite now than we are all guilty of pulling cheap freight including me

[chainsaw]

nope , i pull out of the port but don't move the cheap loads. i get $55 per every local move. everyone could do same if not make even more money when drivers decide they've had enough. the companies will pay whatever it cost to move the box. it depends on supply and demand. right now there are to many drivers willing to take what they're told. the bigger companies are non flexible at the moment but can be brought down to reality. that depends on the local driver populations willingness to do something together. the money is going to get better this year whether any one of you takes a stand or not. this is partially due because of retiring older drivers and the looming shortage of new steering wheel holders. you guys should be thinking about taking full advantage of this soon.

[yoyo]

so basically you just pull drays and take away from the road drivers at 55 dollars your prolly pulling reefers

[Ladypowerdriver]

Persistence and consistency will contribute to the longevity of whatever is trying to be accomplished. A "save the truckers" meeting is not going to happen. A structured, scheduled, and agenda-based meeting could be beneficial and possible. One where issues are brought to the round table and ACTION is taken. Just like the show says, "knowing is half of the battle...G.I. Joe...."! We all know what the other half is. ACTION!There is power in numbers. But somebody has to start somewhere. Realistic expectations people!

For example but true:

There is a phone call that I received yesterday in which Jon Doe was flabbergasted about C.T.I./trucking company taking his money then having the audacity to terminate his lease. Jon had been trying to get a copy of his Occ/Acc policy for a few months now. Calls were made but disregarded by corporate. Finally after some months of persistence,time, and phone calls. Jon had received the policy in which he requested then demanded.

Only to be blowed away with the reality that there were some discrepancies in the price on policy versus the price the company was deducting from his settlement. So again, Jon had to call corporate just to clarify/verify the price difference and to find out what the extra $30 month was being taken out for over six years. Corporate offered to tell Jon but they said the did not have any documentation for him. The Jon was busy in port and could not talk long at that particular moment. Therefore, Jon requested for them to just fax him something written down to the lady in local terminal. Jon said he'd review it when he got back in at terminal. Corporate then said absolutely not! Corporate said that Jon's lease was going to be terminated immediately and got off the phone. Jon arrived at the terminal some hours later. He then learned that his lease was INDEED terminated!

I started asking Jon questions about his situation. I ask the Jon did he record the conversation. He said No. I ask Jon if he had a copy of his lease, settlement deduction, and policy? Could make papers available for me to look at? He said yes. He said I'm with a different company now and proceeded to talk about his issues. Jon continued to go on and on about how much the total came to that they had taken from him. How much it came to totaling a certain number of drivers. Jon really just wanted to me to hear him out. (where is the action people?)

Now, Jon may come around after getting over the shock that he is NOT their number one driver, & that they don't really LOVE him. But nevertheless, the matter deserves to be looked into. Facts need to be confirmed and then action taken.

If this a situation where the wool is being pulled over this drivers eye, it should be dealt with!

[dieseljockey]

It sounds like these drivers may have a class action under federal truth-n-leasing laws. I bet someone will be paying more then just attention to this if true.