Beware of Foodliner

layovr pay is for when you have hours to run and no work is available or you are broken down or waiting on a customer and we have that. I know because I lost a motor and been paid for sitting doing squat waiting on a ride home.

layovr isn't for running out of hours and having to reset the log.

that's a personal problem... and I've had that also...

 

what's on your DAC from Foodliner that's bad? when a driver leave's, dates of employment,DOT accidents, and type of departure are all that's reported.

 

OK, here it is people, a completely fair view of Foodliner:

I have read a lot of the comments out here, trying to make it seem like if you don't know about someone, they must not be worth knowing. The only reason I have not written more details is because I am too busy working for a living.

First off, let me tell you what you need to know about me, as it applies here.

I have been around trucks my whole life. I have seen my father work 20 hours a day, six days a week, so I know what hard work looks like. I don't work as hard as the old man did, but that's because I don't have 4 kids to feed. I do work hard though

In my 25 years of driving, I have done everything. I have done Flat, tanker, dry bulk, ocean container, and dry van. I have been over the road, and local. I have run in the old days, where we ran from Philly, to Dallas Texas, unloaded, then off to Chicago we would go. During the whole run, we would stop twice, for about 4 hours each time, including meals. Yes, I really did run that hard.

Now for Foodliner:

I was fired by Foodliner on the first day of September of this year, so my feelings are not good about them, but I will be fair. The fact is, you can make very good money driving for Foodliner. I was with them for 5 years, so they must have been paying OK at some point, or I would have left earlier. The problem with Foodliner, is that they are bringing in more people, as their company grows, who don't give a rat's behind about the drivers.

During 2006, I made $71,000 with FoodLiner. This year, I would have made less than $60,000 if I had finished the year with them. Now to some of you guys, 60K is good money, but not me. I bring a lot to the table, and I expect to be paid for it. I have 25 years experience, a near spottless driving record, and I ran New York City twice a night, for 3 years, with no accidents.

The problems started when the account I was on was taken away by one of our big customers, ADM. I was a dedicated driver then, still making about $1,300 a week. Suddenly I am making less than $1,000 a week. That was a 30% cut in pay for me. I was told to hold on, and they would find another Account to put me on. I was one of their most dependable drivers, so they always put me on their most critical accounts. I'm not bragging. I'm just telling you the facts.

Well, after getting paid bargain basement wages for 4 months, I finally get assigned to this new customer. My terminal manager gives me this big song and dance about what a big deal it is, so I figure it must be good paying too. The load would load in Yonkers, NY, and deliver to Bethlehem, PA. I never asked about how much it paid, because of the way they made such a big deal out of it, it had to pay good.

After living in the truck all 5 days of the week, running back and forth I-78, I made a whopping $1,035. I was making $1,000 a week getting home every night, but now had to sleep in the truck every day, 5 days a week, for only $35 more? That was a bunch of bull, and I told them so.

Now, my terminal manager was the type of guy who didn't like people to callenge him. If you threaten to quit, he will let you, just on principle. I can't complain directly to him, so I do the next best thing. I start griping to the next in charge, letting him know I am mad as hell, and will be leaving very soon. The very next day, the terminal manager takes me in the office, and tells me there is a better account coming very soon, if I can just stick with it.

The next account comes, and yes, it is very good. I can do 2 loads from Bridgeport, NJ, to Lebanon, PA. The pay for 2 loads will be $250 a day, or about $1,250 a week. This is good enough to keep me from quitting.

Everything goes good for one week, then my young punk dispatcher in Iowa gets his hands in it, and starts giving my work to other drivers. Next thing i know, I am only doing 1 load a day, while guys with less than a year with the company, are doing 2. This was a bunch of garbage, and I let my dispatcher know about it. It fell on deaf ears. I told my terminal manager I was not happy with my work being given away, but it once again fell on deaf ears.

FoodLiner had just hired a bunch of new drivers, and could lose 1 or 2, and not suffer, so suddenly I am not important to them anymore. I got on a website I am on often, and wrote about what was going on. I said I was waiting to take my 2 weeks vacation, then I would be giving my 2 week notice in, as soon as I returned.

Later that night, my terminal manager calls me and tells me (THIS IS AN EXACT QUOTE) "Due to what you wrote on the internet, Corporate told me to have you clean your truck out. You are done working for us."

Let me finish by saying a couple things.

First, you can make good money at Foodliner. They have a $1,000 a week guarantee, if you don't give them any reason to take it away from you. The problem for me, is kissing butt there pays better than working hard. In my 25 years of driving, I never learned to be a butt kisser, so I didn't make what i was worth.

Also, let me give you a big secret: The local running pays a lot better than the road work. If you get a load that is 75 or so miles away, and you do 2 of them a day, you can make well over $1,200 a week. All you need to do, to be put on one of these accounts is learn to like the taste of your dispatcher's butt. The road stuff pays OK, but not as good as the local stuff.

On the down side: The people they have dispatching are the worst I have ever dealt with. They are all in their 20's, and think they are God's gift to the world. They are all, with the exception of Paul and Stacey at night, a bunch of creeps, plain and simple. They will ask you to cover their mistakes when they make them, and never really thank you for doing so. But the first time you have a little problem, they will throw you under the buss in the blink of an eye.

Go ahead an work for Foodliner, if you are a good kiss-up. They reward people like that. If, on the other hand, you want to be paid well for just working hard, you would do better looking elsewhere.

 

Just two things, you haven't worked with all 15 dispatchers and they are not all in their 20's.

 

To be honest, I didn't even think about that. You are right. I only worked with a few. But I did hear things from other drivers, and they all seemed as unhappy with their dispatchers as I was with mine.

I don't know what they pay the two night people Paul and Stacey, but whatever it is, it should be doubled. There was rarely a night that went by that I didn't have to call in, and get some problem solved. Wrong load numbers, or wrong Manifest numbers, that sort of stuff. Those two always took it all in stride. The 2 in the day hours were real works of art. Some kid who has been alive for less time than i have been driving, talking to me like I was some sort of problem child really annoyed me.

I always defended my dispatcher to the other drivers who complained about him. Honest to God, I did. I was always the one lone voice in the group of drivers trying to cut the dispatchers slack. Then came that first time I had a real problem. I read the start time wrong on the Peoplenet, and the way my dispatcher reacted, you would think me being late was an ongoing problem. 3 perfect years should speak for themselves. 2 of them being while i was running to Queens, NY should add to that. Suddenly, I have one bad day in about 3 years, and I am tossed under the bus. That was the last time i ever defended those guys.

 

Was thinking about this, not really that much info out there,
wonder if its gotten better or worse. No info about pay
mileage/hourly/% or by the load. Nothing about home time
daily/weekly etc. Quite the mystery still, there was one video
about it but the guy seems like a paid shill making videos
about different companies and never actually shows daily
driving videos, tik tok type of promoter. Lots of complaints
about 80 hour weeks and unpaid
labor/working for free, equipment that would fail a DOT
inspection. ?

"Class A CDL Local Company Truck Drivers

Albany, NY

Foodliner, Inc. is one of the largest bulk food carriers in the country and a Transport Topic Top 100 carrier. We are looking for Professional Class A Truck Drivers to join our team. Our current driver averages $95,000/year with the potential to make $120,000/year or more!

CDL-A Local Truck Driver Benefits:

• Home daily!
• Earn $90,000-$120,000/year! Potential for more!
• $4,000 Sign-On Bonus (must have one year of Class A tractor trailer driving experience)
• $8,000 Driver Referral Bonus
• Weekly Guarantee, PLUS Weekend Premium Pay!
• Paid Time Off-80 Hours in the First Year!
• Weekend Delivery Premium: $150 per day
• Monthly Cell Phone Reimbursement: $25
• Annual Loyalty/Seniority Bonus up to $2,750 per year
• Quarterly Performance Bonus, up to 5.5% of gross earnings
• Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision, Short and Long-Term Disability
• 401K with Employer Match
• $50,000 Company Paid Life Insurance Policy

What we need from a Professional Class A Truck Driver:

• Class A CDL
• Must pass all DOT Requirements, Physical Exam, and Drug Test
• Good MVR and safe driving record
• 12 months Tractor Trailer driving experience
• Must be at least 21 years old''

 

With these kind of benefits some companies advertise it makes you wonder why they constantly need drivers.I have never worked at foodliner I did work at ADM and would unload beside a lot of guys at foodliner and the one thing I noticed was the majority did not like working there it was rare to come across a guy that was happy.They seem to run bare bone trucks and didn’t seem like the company cared about keeping them clean they were constantly late don’t believe personally it was the drivers fault