Survey Says!

          I’ve given plenty of reasons why I love driving for Freymiller, but the cynic in me can’t help but wonder sometimes if you think I only say them because I’m paid to say them.  That really isn’t the case, honest. 

To show that I’m not just bloviating, I decided to ask a few friends what their favorite thing is about working here.  Their experience ranges from 1-17 years.  I found their answers interesting and wanted to share them with you.

                                         

Kirk: “Being part of the family, they treat their drivers like family and always have.”

Mike: “The compassion they’ve shown me through two major illnesses and the illness and death of a family member.  They didn’t hound me about when I was coming back to work, they just told me to go take care of what I needed to take care of.”

Steve: “Freymiller is big enough to be recognized, but still small enough that I don’t feel like just another number, the family atmosphere.”

Charlie: “Most companies advertise an open-door policy, but they really have one.”

Davina: “I love the fact that when they give me a job to do, they trust me to get it done.  They’re not breathing down my neck all the time.”

          None of my friends said anything I have not personally experienced.  I want to publicly thank them for their willingness to help me with this.  Really, that was a tough question… I’m not sure I would be able to nail down just one thing about working here as an absolute favorite.

www.spiritleadrevival.org

          Have you heard?  Our chaplain has a new website!

www.spiritleadrevival.org

          This website is one of the foundational steps in creating the vision the chaplain has of expanding his ministry beyond the gates of our terminal and out into the world to serve the trucking industry as a whole.

          I have spoken with Chaplain Olen several times about this grand vision he has where truck drivers can come to a safe place where they can get spiritual and physical needs met, while experiencing the love of Jesus.

          At the website, you will find information about the ministry and the people involved.  There are links to resources where truck drivers can find help for specific needs, along with opportunities to become part of the team or to partner with the ministry financially.  Also, there is a contact form and a place to send prayer requests.

          I would encourage everyone to visit this website and get more information.  There is so much more than I can share here and I don’t think I would do it justice.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

          This Sunday, May 7^th marks one year since we launched the blog.  My, how time flies.  It took me almost six months from the time the idea formed in my head until I worked up the courage to propose the idea to David Freymiller.  A year ago I had two concerns: what would I write about?  Would anyone even read it?  The fear that Freymiller would decide it was a waste of time and money after the ninety-day test run kept me up at night for a long time. 

          I can honestly say I have only sat in front of a blank Word document once hoping it would tell me what to write and that was when I was going through some very stressful personal stuff.  You almost got a blog post about relationship woes that week.  I usually know days - sometimes weeks - in advance what bizarre thoughts and experiences I will be sharing with you.

          I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.  When I look back over the past year, I’m not sure I have accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish, but I know I have accomplished some things that were a nice surprise.  I believe this experience has made me a better writer.

          I don’t pretend to know what the future holds.  At some point, the time may come to close this chapter in my life. Ten years of recovery from Codependency have taught me to live on the “one day at a time” plan.  So, for today… we have a blog.  I’m thankful for it, I’m thankful for the opportunity and I’m outrageously thankful for you, the reader.

          Peace out, my peeps!

Clean That Truck!

          “A clean truck is a sign of bad miles.”

          Laugh, it’s a joke  😃

          Right before New Year’s, I walked into the shop to find Heather Dayton, our Manager of Corporate Communications, being horrified by a couple of mechanics sharing tales of disgusting trucks. I couldn’t help but laugh; she looked like she was going to forfeit her lunch at any moment.  She looked at me and said “I’ve got an idea for a blog post for you!”  I said “Oh yeah?”  She said, “How To Clean A Truck.”  Being the undiscovered comedian I am, I looked at another driver and said “how do you clean a truck?”

          I’m not going to tell you how to clean a truck.  Honestly, if you don’t know how to pick up after yourself by now… I’m not sure you can be taught.  We’re grown adults here, at least in theory.  If David Freymiller can trust you with a truck, trailer, and thousands upon thousands of dollars in freight, I’m going to assume you know how to pick up after yourself.  Instead, I want to talk about the importance of keeping a truck clean.  I don’t think it’s a lack of skill, but a lack of interest.

          Some drivers take the same level of responsibility for company trucks as renters do for rental houses.  We see the same problem in the company cars at the yard.  According to a search on truckpaper.com a new Kenworth T660 retails for about $159,500 and new Peterbilt 579’s run on average $152,000.  That would be the price if you or I went to go buy a new truck.  Freymiller, on the other hand is what could be called a “bulk shopper.”  I’m sure there are some pretty sweet deals when you’re buying 20 or more trucks at a time.  Even at a 30% discount, that’s a lot of money.  I haven’t asked, nor will I ask, how much Freymiller pays per truck because it’s not my money so it’s none of my business.  It doesn’t matter.  I’m going to treat David’s truck like I would want him to treat mine.

People just don’t care.  I can’t make you care.  I wish I could.  It’s disappointing to come to the yard and find out a driver has been terminated because of the condition of their truck.  As of this writing, we are not subjected to truck inspections.  There are companies where the drivers are subjected to truck inspections.  I hope we don’t get to the point where truck inspections become policy, but I wouldn’t blame David if it did.

The Purpose Driven Life

          Several days ago, Don Freymiller sent out a fleet message to announce that Freymiller had procured a copy of the book “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren for every driver.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to see that message.

          Rick Warren is the pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.  Saddleback is also the birthplace of the Celebrate Recovery program, a Christian 12-step program that has completely changed my life.

          “The Purpose Driven Life” was another life-changer.  I was in the process of reading this book when I started working here in January 2012.  If you’ve ever felt like your presence on this planet is random or accidental, I would highly recommend this book.  Not only did this book help me to understand that yes, I am here for a reason; it helped me to figure out what that reason is.

          Even if you are not a Christian, I would still recommend reading this book.  I have studied philosophies that are contrary to my Christian beliefs and still walked away with a new perspective because I look at alternative beliefs and ask “can any of this apply to my life and how does it fit in with my beliefs?”  (The Secret was a great exercise in learning how to do this.)

          This book is comprised of 40 mini chapters that introduce you to new ideas and end with questions that challenge you to look closer at your own life.  Love it, love it, love it!  What makes it even better is if you buddy up with someone and work through this book together, discussing your answers at the end of each chapter.  I have asked another driver to do this with me and he said he would.  I look forward to peeling back another layer of myself and hearing the perspective of someone new.

          I’ve heard it said that small minded people talk about people, average minded people talk about things, but your big thinkers discuss IDEAS.

          I am a huge fan of personal development so I’m really looking forward to reading this book again.

          Again, I encourage you; if you’re a Freymiller driver, to get up to the company store ASAP and get your copy.  It doesn’t cost you a dime to pick it up.  It only costs you time to read it but you have so much to gain.

Synergy

Dictionary.com defines synergy as:

noun, plural synergies.

  1.   The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism.

  2.   Physiology, Medicine/Medical. the cooperative action of two or more muscles, nerves, or the like.

  3.   Biochemistry, Pharmacology. the cooperative action of two or more stimuli or      drugs.

Last week was Truck Driver Appreciation week.  Freymiller does a lot for the drivers during that week: catered lunches, drawings, giveaways... they really put forth a lot of time and effort to help the drivers feel appreciated.

We hear it time and time again that "without the truck drivers the companies would not exist."  Okay, I will buy that, but at the same time.... without the support staff the companies wouldn't exist either.  

          Two years before I was born, Don Freymiller laid the foundational bricks of what we know today as D & M Carriers; DBA Freymiller.

Everyone at Freymiller plays an important part in the success of the company, from those with the last name Freymiller all the way down to the Porter who does cleanup work in and around the shop building.

I just wanted to take a minute to say I appreciate you all.

Load Security

                There have been several messages come out over the Qualcomm in the past week about seal integrity and using lock boxes.  Honestly, it blows my mind that we have to be told this. Over and Over.

                Have we forgotten that we are at work?  Have we forgotten that we’re transporting thousands of dollars in products between our customers? I was thinking about this today; about how if I left the grocery store after purchasing a couple of hundred dollars of groceries, got home to find that two of my bags never made it out of the store, I would be going right back to the store to get those two bags.  Wouldn’t we all?  Don’t we expect to receive what we pay for?  We expect cashiers and baggers to properly handle the products we bring to them for purchase, shouldn’t our customers be able to expect the same from us?  It is our job to ensure that our customers are getting what they’re paying for (look at the bills) and then to transport those products securely (seals and lock boxes) and then to make sure the customer has received all of their order (look at the bills after the delivery.)  If there are any discrepancies, we have policies in place and people to contact to deal with problems that do arise from time to time.

                Why are we slacking in that area?  And do we understand the risks when we do?

                When I am training a new driver, I explain load security to each one, as many times as necessary.  Freymiller issues security tools to each driver upon being assigned a truck.  They expect us to use them.  When there is a cargo claim, there is a $1,000 insurance deductible.  A driver can be charged that deductible if he/she fails to use these tools.  I tell my trainees “I can’t force you to use your lockbox when you’re in your own truck, but understand this… the decision to not use it is the decision to risk $1,000 of YOUR MONEY if someone breaks into your trailer.”  This isn’t a joke; this is our job.

Why Freymiller?

                Financially¸ I hit rock bottom in January 2012.  After having been a broke single mom for 3 1/2 years, I was losing my home.  My choices were go live in a cardboard box or get back into a truck after having been out of trucking for 12 years.  My brother, Dennis was working here at the time and he told me that Freymiller had a “friends and family” training program.  Most of the time the situation was where a driver would train his wife and they would run team, but not always.  It was unspoken but understood that if Dennis trained me, we would not run team after my training.  I love my brother, but I’m sure even he would tell you there is a reason that siblings grow up and go live in different places.

                While he was checking into the process of getting me hired on at Freymiller, I checked into a couple of other options, just in case.  One of the companies I called wanted me to give up my CDL (that I’ve held since 1993), go through their school and go take the CDL test again.  Another company wanted to put me through a 2-week refresher course (doable) and then have me with a trainer for about 4 months (not doable.)  I felt like these other two companies wanted me to jump through flaming hoops to be able to work for them.  I wasn’t willing to give up my CDL just to go get it again and I couldn’t afford to live on training pay for almost 5 months.  Thankfully, Freymiller gave me the okay and I was scheduled for orientation.  The rest, as they say, is history.

                There are probably hundreds of companies out on the road today.  Periodically I get asked why I work for Freymiller and not for someone else.  My answer is always the same. “I love it here.”

                 Freymiller gave me the chance to earn my dignity back.  They gave me that chance without making me jump through hoops.  Without prejudice, Freymiller gave me the opportunity to prove myself.  Freymiller is a great place to work.  Let’s change the conversation a bit.  Instead of why do I work for Freymiller, have you asked yourself why don’t you work for Freymiller?

My Freymiller Family

      Something really cool happened on July 14^th that I want to share with you.

      Without going into all of the uglies, I recently went through a divorce and am starting over at square one again.  It’s okay, Square One is a place I’m familiar with.  I have a pickup truck that I’m going to have to sink about $10,000 into before I can drive again.  I started saving money as soon as the divorce was final, but I was starting to get discouraged because it wasn’t happening fast enough for me.  Last week I decided that I needed to buy something cheap so I can at least get around while I’m working on my pickup.  I started looking online and got to OKC on the 14^th with a few cars that I wanted to go look at.

      While it never surprises me, I’m still always very humbled and honored when I express a need or concern and the amount of people who step up to help.  Ronnie (in the trailer shop) gave me the name of his insurance agent and also some other places to look for a car if none of the ones I looked at today panned out.  Chaplin Olen sent me a few websites and also drove me around to look at the cars.  When we were on our way to see the first one, I told him “if this car gives you the heebie-jeebies, don’t let me buy it.”  He offered his opinions and explained why he felt the way he did.  We left the first car behind and as much as I wanted a set of wheels today, I was comfortable with the decision.  I couldn’t get in touch with the owner of the second car (although she did contact me back later) and I did get in touch with the third, but we couldn’t get our schedules to mesh.  When the second one called me back, I texted the Chaplain and asked him if he could take me to see it at 3:00 and he said yes.  We got back to the yard about 5:00 with my “new to me” car.

        I had confessed to the Chaplain earlier in the day that because of some personal turmoil I have been going through for the past week, I hadn’t written my blog entry for the week and I was still at a loss as what to even write about.  When I went back to the Chapel trailer to thank him again for helping me so much we were talking about how generous and compassionate the people at Freymiller are.  That was when it dawned on me what I should write about this week.

        Two weeks ago, my trainee told me that all trucking company recruiters will tell you there is a “family atmosphere” at the company they work for, but at Freymiller, she was glad to see that family atmosphere really does exist.  It really does.  I joke that being at the Freymiller yard is like being at a family reunion for me because I can’t turn around without smacking into a David, Tom, Mike or Dennis, but it really does feel like family here.

Lights, Camera, Action!

In 2014, "dash cams" were installed in 10 trucks.  It started with the CNG and Local trucks.  To date, all of the 2016 and 2017 trucks have them.  Honestly, I was leery of the idea of cameras in the trucks.  It felt a little too "big brother is watching" for my comfort.  

      Then I got some information.

1. The cameras run/record on a constant loop, but the only accessible data is what's saved to the memory card.

2.  They only record data onto the memory card when there is a "critical event" or the driver hits the "panic button."  When either of those occur, they save the 10 seconds before and 20 seconds after the incident.

3. There are only 3 people in the company who can access stored data from the memory cards.... David and Don Freymiller and the Safety Director.

4. No one has the ability to pull up any truck at random and "spy" on the driver going down the road (or when they're parked for that matter.)

     After giving this a little more thought I realized that when I worked in retail, there were cameras all over the stores I worked in.  There are cameras all over the terminal.  Really, this isn't a big deal.  I think in my mind it was a big deal because in a sense, my truck is my home.  That felt a little invasive, but once I got the facts on how the cameras work and reminded myself that the truck isn't just "my home" but my workplace... it wasn't such a big deal anymore.

     While no one can randomly access the camera in my truck to see what I'm doing, if they could all they would find out is....

1. I chair dance.

2. I'm pretty good on the air guitar but not coordinated enough for the air drums.

3. I eat.  A lot.  Well, not a lot per se, but often.

     There is nothing I do in that truck that I'd be afraid of anyone seeing me do anyway, except getting dressed, but that's why they have sleeper curtains, right?

     Have a safe and happy Independence Day!