Losing 9 drivers would really hurt. What's he got? 50-60 trucks? Losing that large of a percentage of his drivers isn't good.
And the long term employee's are drivers that typically aren't tearing trucks up everyday, its the new drivers that are difficult.
A total of 13 are setting out of 65 tractors. There are so many things involved with new hires cost
wise, training is the big one. Getting them use to all the shippers/receivers, the commodity being
hauled, refer temp settings, fuel stops, and so on. About the time a driver gets acclimated they
quit. But one huge issue is lying to a driver or decreeing safety is a priority, then a driver finds
a tire issue and he is told to run it-your late we will change it later and later never comes.
When the pay rate is 10 cents low it attracts drivers that are 10 cents low.
*
One of the big issues that came up is drivers are not paid while on Company owned property
{shop/yard} that Penske leases and controls the maintenance for the company. A service there
takes 5 to 6 hours to perform meanwhile the driver is on company property-if asked a question
related to his truck-that's conducting company business. The driver is technically on duty, not
making a living.
*
Apparently my name and the old shop came up several times, and the fact it was rare for any
of the drivers to be tied up past 1.5 hrs for service repairs. If that happened I worked something
out by moving them into another rig for a trip, to keep things rolling. That doesn't happen now,
and you know what? It isn't my problem anymore either, I did my job to the best of my ability
while I was there.