truck driver

laborer

local driver

truck loader

terminal manager

Bulkmatic Transport Company

I've been driving professionally for 21 years, having only worked for three companies over that span; all bulk carriers transporting different types of commodities ( one hauled specialty chemicals w/lots of HAZMAT, one hauled cryogenics of all types (flammable and non-flammable), and now here at Bulkmatic, dry bulk commodities).
I've enjoyed my career and learned a lot about the bulk transportation business.
This being said, my work schedule here works well for me. I was hired as a full-time weekend driver (Friday-Monday). This gives me off-time during the week (Tuesday-Thursday) to attend to matters that would be impossible for a standard Monday-Friday schedule. Remember, I am 65 years old and don't have the pressing needs of family for weekend activities. This is ideal for me and others in the same category. I really get along well with members of my terminal, both drivers and support staff. We seem to adhere to an atmosphere of respect for one another.
There is NO perfect driving job and I must amplify that so that the reader gets no wrong impression . . .
There ARE things that need improvement here, like anywhere; for example:
1) I recently celebrated my fifth anniversary here and am still in the same tractor I was first assigned to, 450,000 miles ago. As it ages, my downtime has increased exponentially. The last time it was for two weeks for something as innocuous as a set of brake shoes (of all things - such a generic part!). How this affects me is that I am forced to change tractors numerous times over the weekend to those driver's trucks not being utilized. At this point in my long career I shouldn't be forced to "slipseat".
2) Over these 21 years there has, in my opinion, been a major transformation in the corporate offices. We no longer have senior  executives that "cut their teeth" on operations, but instead have replaced them with executives with finance or legal backgrounds. This has been done to the detriment of those of us who operationally service our customers. Maintenance budgets have been cut in draconian fashion, parts inventories have been slashed (even on those items which are normal expendables). Whatever happened to the old logic, " for want of a nail, the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe, the horse was lost, etc. . ."
In closing, this has been a great stop for me enroute to my impending retirement. I will leave with just under 6 years spent here and the ride has been generally good. I've worked with good people, and our customers have been a blessing as well.

•	Organized and assigned work amongst staff of 5 ensuring a fully efficient Payroll and Human Resource operations within the department, terminals and corporate offices.
•	Maintained the Human Resource and Payroll information System records and compiled reports from database as needed.
•	Managed hiring, training, quality control and career development, discipline terminations of all employees for 17 states, 33 locations.
•	Consulted and analyzed with executive management, terminal leadership, and knowledge of work for employee development, training and coaching.
•	Oversaw the research, testing, implementation and confirmation of transferred records for software /hardware changes and or upgrades for Payroll and Human Resource systems.
•	Maintained compliance with local, state and federal regulations and laws concerning employment and payroll for DOL, DOT, ERSIA, COBRA, ADA and FMLA.
•	Plan Administrator and maintained records for 401K, Profit Sharing, medical/dental/vision/life benefits including open enrollment, along with optional benefits for STD, LTD, employee credit union and workers compensation.
•	Developed procedures and training programs for payroll department which included: prioritizing time lines for retrieval of payroll information, set up spreadsheets and templates to import information into ADP program, system for balancing weekly payroll, standards for hierarchy of liens, garnishments, and assignments.   Proper Notifications sent to employees, courts and attorneys and set up a system of task orientated checklists for daily, weekly, monthly quarterly and annual procedures for payroll related activities.
•	Controlled labor expense by enforcing compliance with wage policies, providing pertinent records and attended EEOC and DOL mediations and hearings.

There is no question that Bulkmatic holds a significant place in the world of dry bulk transportation. However, not all facets of this seemingly growing company are without fault. Based on the simple tenet of providing a specialty service with specialty equipment, the mission becomes muddied and diluted by growth and volume. The spectrum of service and coverage that the company takes on lends itself to large points of weakness and vulnerabilities in its operational integrity. I, for one, worked in one of these  locations where operations seemed to take place just outside the light of company priority. There are many locations, like the aforementioned, which function as  'step child' sites. The company is naturally always happy to take on more, but sometimes with an unwillingness to give too much in terms of company resources since priority goes to priority outfits. This also means that corporate really doesn't want to hear about things going wrong at the 'step-child' locations and with the 'step-child' employees, as they would much rather be dealing with preferred operational issues. On top of all this, there are those that fail to see this paradigm and demonstrate delusion in their inquiries as to why certain standards are not met or some quota not served. The point is that the company is ostensibly out kicking their coverage and as a result has diluted their ability to drive success. Not all parts are given equal consideration and resources, which results in undesirable outcomes. The frustration definitely comes to a head when department heads begin to meddle and ignorantly question the many reasons why, what, and how things are not on track. The answer lies in balance. Give me good equipment, I'll hire better personnel, and we'll uphold the standard of best in the business.

There are some good things and some bad things with working at Bulkmatic (at least at the Columbus location).


Some of the things that I do enjoy about the company:

All of the staff seems friendly nd will be willing to help you if you need help. I personally have only had one minor scuffle with another employee but was able to easily work it out without evolving management or HR. 
I also enjoyed that every once in a while, there was a (I am going to call it) a random task (not pertaining to you normal job duties). You get to do something new that you might have not expected to to. You may have to fix or build/retrofit something and I find that these "random tasks" can be fun.


There were some things that I also disliked about working at this company:

You do not get any personal or sick days. If you are sick and call off (even during COVID), your off-time is counted against you PTO.

Speaking of PTO, you can not accumulate PTO hours. They reset at the end of the year and you loose any you have left (and you are not paid for the remaining hours).

My main issue with this place is the management at the terminal level. The terminal manager's management style is basically yell at anyone that does not do what he wants. He can be ok sometimes but you always seem to have this feeling that you are more at his mercy than part of a team being led by someone that values and respects you. The manager is also known to lie or throw his subordinates under the bus if it makes him look good, gets him out of trouble or gets him something that he wants.

Working at Bulkmatic has been a highly stressful and disappointing experience due to poor management and a toxic work environment. The VP of operations consistently displayed condescending and accusatory behavior, which created an atmosphere of fear and distrust among employees. Training and preparation for success were almost nonexistent, leaving employees to fend for themselves while being criticized for inevitable mistakes.

Additionally, the expectation to handle after-hours calls was excessive, with little regard for personal boundaries. Even during vacation time, the VP frequently reached out, making it nearly impossible to disconnect and recharge. The lack of respect for work-life balance was extremely draining.

The situation is further compounded by the fact that the manager has a personal connection to the head of HR, leaving employees with no safe avenue to voice concerns or seek recourse. This conflict of interest eliminates any hope of accountability or improvement in leadership behavior.

Micromanagement was another significant issue. Every task was scrutinized to the point of undermining confidence, and the overall culture made it difficult to focus on productivity without feeling constant fear of reprimand.

Overall, the lack of professional support, boundaries, and fair recourse made this role one of the most challenging and unsatisfying experiences of my career. I would not recommend this position to anyone seeking a supportive and respectful work environment.

Let’s start with the pros: 4 on 4 off schedule gives you time to have a personal life. They will work with you to keep you on days or nights. Basically what ever your schedule is. Possibly because they are so desperate?

The negative. First is sub par pay. 88 cents a loaded mile. Unless load is rejected then you don’t get it even though your loaded coming back. So really it boils down to 44 cents a mile since back hauls aren’t a thing at this terminal. Benefits are also some of the highest I have heard of in the industry.

Equipment isn’t maintained. Not sure if they even have a pm schedule. Safety has been telling us its due to mechanic turn over. Better off getting stuff fixed on the road. At the last meeting it’s because they can’t get parts. 

Lastly is pay. They have 2 different systems. One you see every Tuesday called your settlement, which shows you part of your pay, but not all it comes from bulkmatic. Then Friday you get your actual check stub which shows you other adjustments, it’s from adp. All adjustments are made threw the terminal manager and have fun getting ahold of him. Any adjustments are generically marked so its Hard to keep track of what you are and are not getting paid for. Also reimbursements come on a fuel card, rather than just on your check. 

I could really have seen bulkmatic being a great company if they would just get out of their own way. I get saving a dollar here and there is how business works. One has to ask though, is saving 100 dollars worth a driver who makes you thousands? 



Pay and home time was pretty good. Ins was bc/blue shield. I drove for them out of their Columbus ohio terminal. The dispatch was very poor to say the least. They constantly run drivers out of hours while unloading.They give you a 200 dollar permanent advance to pay for a cab and motel fare. They do this so you have money to pay for a cab and motel when this happens. The problem with this is two fold 1St there may not be a cab service close to you so you may have to wait awhile for them to show up. 2nd you may not be able to leave the truck sit on customers property. You are on electronic logs so there is no cheating. Seniority means nothing and management is a bunch of two face fall in line cowards. They will do only what benefits them and makes them look good. They will tell you one thing and be doing something totally different behind your back. They have cameras in the trucks that they say do not record all the time, but they do. To prove this ask them about the 10 second b4 and after an event happens. (They record the 10 sec prior to the event.) It's a buddy system and just not a very good place to drive if you just want to do your job and go home. DISPATCH SUCKS I can not be any clearer. They are all buddies and know the right people and kiss the right ?ss and do not have to answer for anything. I would not recommend going to work here. You will take all the heat for there short falls.

I haven't been at the job 60 days and I was fired for no undisclosed reason.  I believe the company itself is a excellent company to work for.  The environment is a very strict and disciplined environment dealing with food grade material.  Inspite of that it has many career opportunities and chances for advancement.  I would be aware of employment or job security.  As I said I had been working there for a short amount of time and was fired.  Usually with any company you have a 90 day probationary period to see if any employee is a good fit for the position.  It's not safe to leave a secure job for a place with so much uncertainty.  

I was told by employee's that I wouldn't be there long.  Unfortunately the terminal I worked at has a high turnover rate in management.  Inspite of that the work and day to day operations were not hard.  My only disappointment was there wasn't alot of comradery among employee's due to the lack of management presence.

Since my short stay, the hardest part of the job was building relationships in a work place environment.  There were no obligations for consideration among employees and no sense of dependability between one another which could cripple a business operation that depends on manual labor.

I'm a people person, that's the most enjoyable part of my job.  The environment I worked in was, emotionally, very cold.

A typical day is dispatching and working to solve customer issues.

The management is lacking any vision or direction. They promote a counterproductive environment to blame other departments for petty matters, which creates a toxic and demoralizing atmosphere.

Management claims a “promote from within” culture but that has proven incorrect. There are minimal opportunities for advancement. Managerial roles are being filled by external candidates which shows the company’s inability to grow and retain their current talent. 

Expect to be micro-managed. Instead of empowering employees to make decisions and take ownership of their tasks, there's a sense of being constantly scrutinized and second-guessed. It feels like there's a constant need for approval on even the smallest decisions, which slows down productivity.

Don't expect any support from HR; they focus on covering up issues rather than resolving them. The head of HR needs more adequate training as she constantly pushes the boundaries with colleagues and makes for an unsafe and uncomfortable working environment.

You will work afterhours, have minimal time off, if you need a sick day then you need to use your vacation time and you will be scolded for being sick and taking the day off with no notice. You will be bothered on your time off.

This was one of the best team atmospheres I've ever worked in, except for a bullying Terminal Manaer, who wasn't my boss, though was continually being enabled by his own manager, despite raising issue about his approach to situations (It was probably downplayed because it was the highest revenue generating terminal, yet I was actually the one planning the operation, sooo?). The Drivers, at least on my board, were awesome and very dependable.  Overall, the work was enjoyable and challenging, yet the workload and expectations were too much for one person.  Between the planning, emails, phone calls, putting out fires throughout the day, not being able to step out for a 20 minute lunch break without the phone ringing, early morning wake up calls almost every day for problems that you didn't create, nitpicking and exaggerating about minor issues on some daily operations conference call that became unproductive and an inefficient use of time, and the expectation to be on your email after hours and be glued to your phone, the workload was unreasonable.  Upon my resignation 
notification, not once did my manager ask what the issues were.  Again, overall a great team culture and interesting work.  There is significant understaffing for the workload.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 428 salaries reported	$94,804 per year
Laborer 35 salaries reported	$20.66 per hour
Local driver 6 salaries reported	$93,750 per year
Truck loader 20 salaries reported	$24.15 per hour
Terminal manager 19 salaries reported	$78,158 per year

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