US Postal Contractor and Trucking Company Gone From Frederick

Blue Mountain Express is allegedly not in business anymore reports an ex employee.

I worked for Blue Mountain Express running a seasonal US Mail route for the Christmas season of 2007/2008.
That job was useful to me as I've been driving straight trucks since 1983 but I've only had a Class A tractor trailer licence since 2004, I wasn't near as good at backing up as I wanted to be and the mail run gave me some badly needed practice in backing up to a dock.

I've backed up to docks before, it just took me longer than some of the other drivers, what made mail different is we had a strict time schedule to keep. I could get to the mail warehouse 5 or 10 minutes early and have it take me 20 minutes to back in (and back in straight) making me late for my scheduled pick up.



It was really cool to have a good job ($19 an hour) that was local to Frederick Md, I could even ride my bike or walk there, it's a loss to Frederick Md CDL truck drivers to loose a job in Frederick.
The law of supply and demand is what determines how much we make as drivers, with fewer choices, that puts a downward pressure on salaries.





This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.

DOT Drug Screens

DOT Medical Drug Screen

Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 1:42 pm  

DOT random drug screen

Often truck drivers can find themselves in trouble when it comes to the required DOT medical drug screen.  A legal, prescribed drug from your family physician can lead to termination from the trucking company if you fail to follow the correct procedure.  Many times in the trucking industry, problems that arise that can cause a driver to lose his or her job could have been avoided.

The DOT drug screen looks for the use of a Schedule 1 drugs : amphetamine, narcotic or any other habit forming drug that is not legally permitted.  They also check for the usage of illegal narcotic drugs including marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine (PCP).  Very often, drivers who have received a legal prescription from their doctor fail to understand that this information should be provided to the motor carrier, especially when facing a DOT physical or drug screening.  Most importantly, the information must be provided to the medical examiner before the screening takes place.

As an example, often truck drivers can be given a legal prescription for Lortab which is a combination of a narcotic painkiller and cough reliever with a non-narcotic painkiller for the relief of moderate to moderately severe pain.  Since it contains hydrocodone, the hydrocodone is a narcotic,  which is one of the things they look for from a DOT drug test.   Therefore, if the driver fails to tell the company or medical examiner about the Lortab, the drug test will come back as a flagged and failed screening.

Most truckers understand that this type of prescription, though legal, contains a narcotic.  By telling the trucking company that they are on this drug or others like it, they face the possibility of their employer telling them to take the two or three weeks off until they are better . . . or however long their doctor has prescribed the medication.  This simply is not worth the chance of losing your job.  If you are called to take a random drug test . . . you will now find yourself in a tough situation.

I am hearing more from drivers who have found themselves in this position.  Don’t take the chance.  Random drug tests could become more random in the future.  If you have to be on a prescribed narcotic . . . tell your company immediately.  It’s better to follow company policy and be told to take the required time off, than it is to be terminated for not following the correct procedure.

© 2010, AskTheTrucker. All rights reserved.

This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.

Local Truck Driving Jobs

Truck Drivers, that phrase generally conjures up images of long haul over the road truck drivers.

Over the Road truck driving jobs have the mystique of traveling but they come with some really irritating quirks, not the least of which is you often don't paid squat for unloading time. Driving is great, you usually get paid by the mile, if there's not too much traffic congestion, you can earn decent money. BUT... and this is a big but: What if you have to wait to get unloaded?

Over the Road pay per mile is pay for driving, not unloading... you gotta get back to where you came from and the trailer's don't unload themselves! Truck drivers that get paid by the mile are NOT being paid by the hour, what if it takes 6 or 7 hours to get the trailer empty?

That's why I preferred local truck driving jobs, I like getting paid by the hour and getting overtime!
So you're looking for a truck driving job? What kinds of jobs do you look for?

Your pay is going to have a lot to do with how lucrative the cargo you're hauling is, or how bad consumers need what ever it is you're hauling. The economic boom is gone, we're in a post bubble era, industries that once were lucrative are loosing ground and the lucrative loads are getting fewer and farther between.

Trash goes every day regardless of the economy, Food goes every day, people gotta eat!




Slim pickings in today's Newspaper help wanted ads: 

Driver: Salvation Army thrift store - Part-time truck driver. - 15 hrs/wk. Heavy lifting, DOT card & good driving record req’d. $10/hr. Please apply at 467 W Patrick St.

This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.

Local CDL Truck Driver Jobs Offer Steady Work

CDL Truck Driving Jobs Frederick Md
You want a job that doesn't have ups and downs? Do you want to have the hours you get to work to be steady?

Deliver Food: Food Goes Every Day

It pays less than over the road, but you don't really make more when you sit waiting to get unloaded and you aren't getting paid to get unloaded with over the road trucking... take that into account and local CDL jobs don't look so bad



This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.

Stop False Information being Reported on CDL Drivers Dac Report

Make A Mistake in most careers and just don't tell any one about it... if you don't list that you once worked there, chances are no one will ever find out that you messed up.

Make a Mistake behind the wheel of a CDL Truck and your branded for life.

That's how it should be, after all, when we get behind the wheel of 33 tons, barreling down the Interstate @ 65MPH everyone else's lives are in our hands... that's why they pay us to be professionals.

Fair enough... but what if the companies that hire us decide they are above professionalism?
What if they discover that, should they choose to, they can threaten us, coerce us, get us to accept what ever the see fit to make us accept, at any terms they deem necessary?

What am I talking about?
DACs
Trucking companies can and do file DACs reports about drivers that are no longer employed by them.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Trucking Companies have been ruining Drivers careers for years by placing false information on their DAC report.

The sad part is that so many drivers don't even know that a DAC report exists about them, let alone how to obtain one. Every one reading this should request a copy of their DAC and know what companies have said about you, especially if you are having difficulty finding a job. ( the first report is free)

We are standing up for drivers to fight against this unacceptable practice that is used many times as a retaliation tactic against a driver. Many times the information is falsely reported is by an employee who just does not care enough to ensure the accuracy of the information that they are reporting AGAINST the driver.

Please sign the petition and READ some of the COMMENTS by DRIVERS of what FALSE INFORMATION reported on their DAC report has done to their careers.

Stop False Dac Reporting

Sign this petition for your fellow drivers whose lives are being ruined by the extreme difficulty or even inability to remove FALSE information from their DAC report.
It only takes less than 1 minute

__________________
Allen Smith

TruthAboutTrucking.com    

====

Let me just say that I am so angry right now! All of you who have
written me about the false info on your DAC...the absolute horror
stories explaining how you can't get hired because of false
information and reporting.

I started a thread on a forum explaining all of this and.............

Well, what they're saying is.... you're lying!!

On one of the forums a senior member said this:

"DAC is nothing more than a repository for information that many
 truck companies use to store their information. 99.9% of the time,
 DAC is used for what it was designed for and that is simply to
store the information and make it available to other companies
doing employment verifications. Having that information stored
speeds up the hiring process for a driver and saves time and money
 for the company. Most DAC reports are satisfactory and 99% of those
 DAC reports that are not satisfactory, are done so for good reason.

All that being said, I will agree that sometimes in very rare
 instances, a disgruntled boss or fleet manager uses DAC in a way to
 get back at a driver. But these instances are rare - much rarer
 than some people might want you to believe - and when they do
 happen, are generally "pretty easy to clear up."

***********************************************************

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?

In essence what he is saying is that truckers are lying and that the
companies info is correct 99% of the time.
He also said that it's "pretty easy to clean up" if there is a
mistake!!

This is nothing more than an attempt to stop people from spreading
 the word about the BIG MONEY MAKING SCAM of DAC reporting!!

Here is the link to the thread on the forum that was started! Read It Yourself

You owe it to YOURSELF and to your fellow drivers to make a
comment/reply to this ridiculous reply and out right lie that is
causing thousands of drivers their career from FALSE DAC reporting!

 

Thank you for all your support,

Allen & Donna

This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.

Just Got Your CDL? Now You Need A Job?

Just Got Your CDL?

Now you need a job...

You are not going to want to hear this... but you've just entered into a field dominated by old school people. No one is likely to take you seriously without experience.

It is what it is.

The oldtimers paid their dues!

You're going to have to take jobs that suck. Everyone wants to get paid to drive, not so many want to get paid to unload. You are the lowest man (or woman) on the totem pole. Last one hired is the first one laid off, take it like a man (there I go again, getting myself in trouble with the ladies, there are a LOT of women in this field..)

If the "ink is still wet" on your CDL, take a job and stick with it for a year, even if that job sucks. My first truck (non seasonal) truck driving job was hanging off the back of a trash truck.

My first truck driving job was a winter only job: I delivered heating oil, the job ended in spring.

In Frederick Maryland you could apply at the local refuse companies, we call it "trash", they call it refuse.. or recycling.

SHOW UP ON TIME

Being late is not going to win you any points in this industry, just showing up ontime every day will go a very, very long way in helping you "get your year in".

Driver supervisors will forgive a lot of stuff if you are known to come in, every day, ontime.

Strategy #2 (looks like I'm numbering them here...)

Take a job that's part time

There are a lot of part time driving jobs, hauling stone from a quarry for example.

The part that will suck? You are paid by the ton, not by the hour. You show up and wait... and wait, you might sit there for a couple hours waiting for your turn to come up.

It will suck... but you will get your year in.

Put in a year, somewhere, anywhere... you gotta get a year in

THEN go apply for a better job.

My 2 and a half cents worth

This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate description of what it was like to work there.