Complaint Review: K&B Transportation - South Sioux City Nebraska

The other complaints are true.  I was promiesed $1100 for a sign on bonus.  They sent me a bus ticket.  When I got to South Sioux City, by the time they picked me up and I arrived, the orientation was already in progress - and they knew I was coming.  So, right off the bat, I had already missed a lot of the fast-paced orientation.  When I got there, I couldn't focus on the information being presented in the orientation because they gave me a handful of forms to fill out and they were to be completed by the end of orientation.  During the day, it didn't take long to find out that they were deceptive about the sign-on bonus.  They said that they pay you $100 on your first paycheck, $500 after one year (both of which I received), and the last $500 after TWO YEARS.  That, to me, is not a "sign-on" bonus.  Then, they gave me a truck that was years old.  The odometer was showing 534789 miles.  Half a million miles - and it wouldn't surprize me if it was a million and a half.  We were required to inspect our trucks before we took them out, and sign forms detailing the discrepancies we found - and they were rushing us and not giving us a lot of time to look them over.  Why?  Because anything you missed they would later say that you caused - and take it out of your pay!  So, if you drive for them, don't let them rush you.  Do a complete inspection!!!  Otherwise, you WILL get ripped off!

After an incomplete orientation, when I got on the road, it was a while before they could get me home to get my stuff.  Then, they constantly rush you to make deliveries on very short schedules - meaning that you have to drive full out (in a truck governed to 64 mph) and run on the ragged edge of the logbook regulations to arrive on time.  This means that you can't relax while driving and you are always tired.  Then, they contact you (wake you up) during your 10 hour breaks to assign the next load even before you are half-way to the current one.  This makes you tired-er.  Even this isn't enough.  I was told on numerous occations to re-write my logbook page to fit the circumstances - even if it ment that I would not get a full 10 hour break.  They often asked for a split-log as well.  All these things mess with your sleep and you are like a zombie driving down the road.  I would not mess with my log though.  I'm not getting fined, or my CDL pulled, to please them.  That's why I was eventually fired.

They also promised a 2500 mile guarantee per week.  You were lucky if you got it.  More often than not, they would find some excuse not to pay it.

As for pay, I was hired at 34 cents per mile, later promoted to 40 cpm.  It wasn't really a promotion, though, because most drivers with my experience got the same thing.  They rip-off drivers so much that they had to go to it because so many drivers were quiting.  Even then they deduct for everything.  There are so many undecipherable deductions that you really aren't getting what you are supposed to be getting.  And you can't make heads or tails out of your pay slip, and payroll just gives you the runaround.

On the road, there are many short runs.  If I wanted short runs, I would have hired with a regional company in my home state.  Then you get a good run.  Let's say from Kansas to Washington State.  Then they schedule you for another one and before you get a good start, they "relay" your good run to another driver and you get a run that you don't want.

Then, when you get to your destination they consider that to be the start of your 10 hour break.  How can that be?  First you wait in line to get in the gate, then you are assigned a dock that you have to back into.  Often you must be present for the unloading in the warehouse.  How can you do all this and be sleeping?  Even if you get a nap during the unloading (assuming you can sleep with the noise and shaking of the truck), it isn't quality sleep.  The unloading can take three or four (or more) hours from the time you enter the guard gate to the time you exit.  Then you have to find a rest area or a truck stop to go park and "finish" your break (although a lot of times you can park right outside the gate of the receiver).  In any case, if you log a 10 hour break, and you haven't driven anywhere (or driven less than two miles or whatever the reg is), you are quasi-legal.  But you may have only gotten four or five hours of good sleep before your 10 hours are up and you are expected to drive for another 11 hours.  This also doesn't include getting a decent meal before you start, or going to the restroom, getting a shower, or anything.  If you do any of thoes things it takes even more time from quality sleep.  It may be legal on paper, but it really isn't legal.  The time unloading, especially if you are in the warehouse should be logged as: "on duty, not driving".  But, with K&B, if you log it that way, you're OUT OF A JOB!  This was an ongoing expectation from K&B, if you were at your destination - you had better be logging a 10 hour break - whether you were in the sleeper or not!

They are actually good about getting you home when you're supposed to be, and the maintenance on the trucks is better than other companies I've driven for, ALL THIS OTHER STUFF IS TRUE!!!