dock worker

local driver

diesel mechanic

trailer mechanic

senior operations clerk

Saia LTL Freight

I showed up early every single day, clocked in on time. Ready to work 5 mins prior to my start time. I had never been late once! And I’m proud of that even if it went unnoticed. I’d say 60% of the time my work was not directly clear and outlined for me to do when I show up. I always had to find my lead and wait 5-15 minutes to figure out what I was actually going to be doing.  I was consistent, they were not. 

After my tasks were delegated, it was a matter of prepping work area and executing the actual work. Often times “my” work area would be left a mess from the previous shift, and seemingly NOBODY did it. Management never cared really unless someone important was coming to visit the shop. When I spoke up, things changed for a week or so, but then it would go back to the way it was. 

I learned through trial and error that there was not really a reward for doing the right or the wrong thing other than your paycheck. It’s a revolving door, they don’t have much to offer as far as retaining employees goes. You fire yourself at Saia and from what I’ve seen it’s mainly the time clock that gets you out the door. It’s human nature to do the wrong thing when it’s easy (and you don’t get punished). I wasn’t the perfect employee, definitely not the most knowledgeable person in the shop. But I gave it my all until I knew for sure that I was not going to be able to assimilate with what I know to be shady and dishonest. Which is disappointing because I really wanted to work here at one time. 

Attendance policy was ridiculous. 24 hours notice that you were gonna be sick. If you didn’t give them 24 hours notice, you accrued a point. You got 12 of them for a year. Even if you had a doctors note. And there would be blackout dates for taking time off, even if the people taking off were on 1st shift and you were on 2nd. The amount of personnel was unbalanced, the work was unbalanced. Turn around time on work suffered because of a lack of parts, being double worked. robbing Peter to pay Paul; take part off of tractor A, put on tractor B, take the bad part off of tractor B and put it on tractor A so it looks like you didn’t touch it. Encouraged by certain leads btw. 

Culturally, they’d do quality control checks. Which is great. If they were utilized correctly. Often times your work would be Quality Controlled and you wouldn’t hear about it, good or bad. Then what’s the point? Because management gets a bonus I’m sure. Gotta keep those numbers up. Proactivity was not rewarded in the sense that they wanted the least amount of units down so that the in service pool of equipment stayed over an almost unattainable threshold. Management also gets a bonus if the shops overall Direct:Indirect ratio is good. 

Overtime over 45 hours, because of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. Mandatory 45 hour work week. Saia could CHOOSE to pay overtime over 40 hours, but instead they want to squeeze those extra 5 hours out of everyone. 

The hardest part of the job (for me) was time management and time accountability. Saia uses a fleet management system where time and parts are charged out by the mechanic. Direct time for actual work on equipment, indirect time for parts chasing or cleaning. You spent more time typing in notes and creating ROs and trying to find the information you needed than actually turning wrenches. Also I was told to consistently lie and omit the truth in order for our direct time to be higher than it actually was. And forget working behind somebody on a job. Absolutely confusing and irritating, you’re better off starting the job over at that point. It also added an unpleasant feeling of anxiety trying to keep all the half-truths straight. 

Certain leads (which are basically supervisors called “Lead Mechanics” so that they too can be exempt from overtime after 40 hours) would totally disregard what higher management told them to do in order to make themselves look better. Certain leads talked to mechanics like they were animals. A petition actually had to be drawn up and taken to HR in order for anyone higher up to take us mechanics seriously, the lead in question kept his job. 

The most enjoyable time at this job was on a perfect day when your parts came in. Then you could replace the part you needed and accomplish a task. It was so very rewarding and satisfying (personally) to be able to be a part of something bigger. Keeping drivers and their equipment safely on the road was almost enough to make up for the aforementioned issues. 

I always believed and still do believe in being the change you want to see. The changes that I and others would’ve liked to see were out of our control. I refuse to accept the phrase “if you can’t beat em, join em”. That’s not me. And since it wasn’t in my control to make a lot of these changes, I changed the one thing I could control, which was my employment status at this company. 

12+ hours shift daily never less and that is serious sounds good on paper wow i can make a killing but beleive me it gets old quick and you will be run down pretty quick.

Bosses seem good to begin with but all they care about is the numbers and how they get them does not matter.  They want you to produce a certain amount of work and hr, which is fine untill you add in they want ever damaged piece fixed, repacked, shrink wrapped put on a new pallet, is just not possible and i can get it done on  a fork lift.  The other hubs are sending out double stacked 53 foot trailers with not a single strap in the trailer, every trailer and i mean every trailer is jacked up badly.   They seem to want it all speed, done right, all freight to look perfect and just dont work that way tell your hubs to learn how to load a truck but they do not it never changes same thing day in and day out.  

Next is the lifts lets talk about the lifts.  Just junk they keep saying we are hiring more people they are right they are because employeed keep walking they will never get enough for a shift because of the turn over rate we were told in a meeting 51 dock workers came and went last year.  We work 12 plus hours daily 5 days a week some times six no one can keep up with that people either get fired because of call outs or being late but honestly you can not do these hours for ever with out needing to call out.  I have never seen a company so eager to cough up this much over time.  there are 2 shifts only and we say hi and bye to each other ever day.

and then the piece of rubbish is the fork lifts are junk they are all broke in some way.  no air bag inflatters, scanners do not work, tablets have problems, scales do not work, but make sure every thing is weighed lol, ever lift i drive every day you have to put in a different lift number because it is out of service and can not be used with its own number.  and on top of that there is not even enough to go around for the shift.  And seriously 3 or 4 people or more call out everyday if every one and is a big if every one showed up about 6 people will be standing around with no fork lift to use.  being told go out side and see if you can get a broken one to work good enough to use.  I had high hopes for this place it looks good on paper it really does but do not be fooled is a garbage place to actually work and not worth the time to get the process started in the first place.  Move on 

LTL work and LTL companies seem to be relatively similar to one another based off of conversations you'll have w/ other company drivers you'll run into throughout your day. It can be very stressful,  and physically demanding at times, especially in the heat. The pros: -Good pay (both hourly and CPM)with O/T over 45hrs, plenty of work(typically 50plus hrs a week), good medical benefits (free after 10yrs), ability to move into other job roles. Management is fair, but have a lot on their plates, it's a competitive,  fast paced industry so they can only do so much for you, but there is a willingness to work with you when possible. Equipment is pretty well maintained,  all automatic single axle trucks, mostly freightliner,  volvo, a few internationals. Personally,  I haven't had dispatch riding me about time, if I run into a hold up, I'll let them know and we go from there. 
The cons- Its LTL, at times the freight you'll deliver belongs on a flat bed or truckload, which means its heavy/awkward/difficult to down load, many of your stops won't have a dock or even a forklift, but if it shows up on the dock, it has to be delivered.  Driver facing cameras are annoying,  but a lot of carriers are using them. You have to be smarter than the camera, learn what sets it off (they don't constantly record, they get triggered by bumps, hard breaking/acceleration,  following distance, and yes, they record audio as well), unfortunately company safety relies on a small 20 second clip from the video, your side of the story will have little to no impact. Saia recently began to allow bluetooth/hands free which is good, but a lot of good drivers either left or were fired due to that policy,  most were caught on the cameras .They use these cameras to enforce policies,  it wouldn't be so bad if they were only used as a proactive approach to safer driving, but they're not. Lastly,  a high turnover makes your days longer, it's hard to keep city drivers, which adds to your workload. 
Overall if you don't mind the hours,  and some heavy sweating,  you'll make good money, Ive hit $1800-2000 gross pay several times, and rarely bring home less than a grand a week. It's not for everyone,  but it feels good to have the bills paid.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Everyone is on the same page, communication and expectations are made very clear from the start. Equipment is relatively new and well maintained, routing is clear and easy to grasp, and when things go wrong especially outside of a driver's control dispatch and coordinators simply reschedule instead of disrespecting or hounding the drivers delays in service or failure to complete delivery.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Mostly on the customer side, when the communication is poor, and they don't understand how big the equipment is, or what limited tools we have on board to unload, as we work with main streeet alleyways, rural homesteads, farms, feedlots, sometimes all in the same day. Overall not many negative experiences, just misunderstandings.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Boisterous, loud, but professional. A general feeling of other drivers and management having your back with things really go south or if someone needs to leave for appointments.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
(Personally) Arriving slightly before shift to get comfortable, finish food or coffee, pre-inspect the equipment, either wait for dispatch if the trucks are still being loaded or put equipment like pallet jacks and dollies in the trailer, review route and paperwork, power up unit, connect to trailer, check trailer condition, make courtesy calls to specific business and residential customers who request them, depart from origin, and proceed to delivery area (depending where that can be 10 minutes or up to 3 hours), and then deliver in either linear or appointment order anywhere for 6 to 20 stops generally in orbital patterns that start with the most isolated clients first and move inward towards the town center as they get unloaded rapidly as the day comes to a close. Return to origin, scan in all documentation, dock trailers, park powered unit, remove inbound freight, remove equipment, sweep and reset trailer, and clock out.

I was promoted 5 times in 5 years but after my most recent promotion back to the terminal, I learned very fast that my new Terminal Manager was racist to say the least. I asked me to do things that were immoral and not ethical. I left the company because I refused to compromise my moralities and feelings towards colored people any longer. There is no work/lfe balance and when my father was dying of cancer and flat-lined on the table I came to the realization that this company does not care about their employees and had little to no regard that we as people do have families that come first over any job. The man even went as far as cutting back full-time employees hours because he said and I quote "here are too many nice cars in our parking lot...." When I went to my regional manager about my supervisors stating/thinking our new Terminal Manager was racist I was told that if I went to Human Resources or if the conversation lett the room he would not reconsider firing me and would be sure to find a valid reason to do so. After that, even though I was making great money, I knew it was no longer in my best interest to continue employment for a company that condoned those values/beliefs. It may be hard for me to make up the time I spent "climbing the corporate ladder" and having to live on a very tight budget, but I sleep better at night and feel it is/was the best decision I ever made to leave that company and find something new, even though I was promoted several times while with Saia, but after my newest promotion and 10-12 veterans leaving the company within a 6 month period, I knew that by me resigning was in the best of my interest both professionally and morally....

Performance times calculated from incorrect clueless sophomoric algorithms. The engineering department has virtually zero understanding of actual  procedures in  trucking company operations. This results in thousands of man hours wasted on a daily basis. The daily unnecessary time delays spent by drivers is never viewed as a safety issue. Drivers are coming to work as much as two hours early due to operational problems at the terminals. The wasted two hours comes out of the drivers sleep.

The safety department is run by politically appointed directors with no professional experience in actual driving conditions. Clueless policies are put into place and actual safety issues are neither understood nor addressed. Drivers are constantly put into extremely dangerous situations due to out of touch-non sequitur "safety" policies. For example: Drivers are told to brake hard in order to avoid tripping the distance sensors. 

Instead of using in truck safety devices to improve safety conditions, they are used as weapons to attack the drivers. Wrecks are often caused by zero tolerance dispatchers who send drivers out in dangerous conditions. When the wreck occurs only the driver is held accountable for the accident. The dispatchers and dispatch policies are protected with a legal firewall and are never held accountable for their decisions.

The managers who have had actual professional driving experience have shown to be much better at making the system work properly. The managers who have had little or no professional driving experience do not seem to understand how to make the operation run smoothly and often make and enforce bad policy decisions.

You will go home at night needing a valume You will be MICROMANGED like you have no Idea, they will have you BREAK OSHA rules daily climbing in and out of the back of the trailer 60 times to hand unload freight with no lift gate, you will be called into the office every 2 days or more because you burped in the truck. they don't care what your obstacles are at all, you will be ridiculed and talked down to on a daily basis. You will start at 19.74 and not see 23.65 for 18 months, its a revolving door, good drivers quit on the spot constantly and they could care less on why you quit  you are ALWAYS wrong and they are ALWAYS right , corporate will not have your back they allow the supervisors to treat there hardworking drivers like dirt. you will be TOLD to stay home weekly when your trying to feed your family. the only people that were nice were the girls in the office. 18 plus stops a day of back breaking work you WILL go into residential neighborhood's with a 48ft semi to deliver one box from amazon.com they wont get box trucks for that stuff and you will risk your CDL Daily with all the dangerous obstacle's they put you through. you will be  on call daily no set schedule  they will lie right to your face in the interview don't plan nothing during the week you will peddle 18 stops all day and told to bring it in then on way in you will be told when you get to the yard hook to an empty and go swap and confirm 30 bills one by one before you can go home, they are rotten inhuman self center egotistical maniacs ALL city drivers here are the most unhappy group of drivers I have ever worked with that's pretty sad.  O they have cameras in the trucks recording everything BEWARE

I worked here for 2 months. I was given 3 days of training then left to do stuff on my own. Only support is to ask others over teams.
Initial warning flag was getting an interview, told I’d hear back in a week. I was offered the job an hour later, just to have representative call and stay on the phone until all onboarding paperwork was completed. (This felt very rushed and forced.)
The position was advertised as a reception-esque type job setting appointments and getting pick-ups scheduled. This turned more into customer/consumer service as time went on. Three days of fast paced training was provided after a month, however, there was no follow up if you needed help later. The terminal manager took almost 3 weeks away within the first month and a half leaving me as the sole person at the terminal. Only support was over teams or calling other terminals to get help. When you have a customer in-person or on the phone only suggestion is to call others to see if they’ve experienced the issue. This can take upwards of 30-50 minutes leaving customers more irritated. 
Issues with documentation not being properly filed. Became an issue when lack of training mixed with urgency led to complaints from other management. Again, only suggestion is to “ask others” or “do what you can” even when other management is threatening to escalate to higher management.
When entering position was told this position is brand new, then told at least two others were in this position before leaving due to stress. 

This company seemed great the pay was the highest for forklift drivers and benefits are awesome they train you pretty good on how to the job properly and the steps of their process. The downside is when you clock in you better be ready to go or they will call you out over intercom what’s taking so long with your bill even though your restacking a pallet that fell over or looking for something specific that a zone supervisor wants right away. Here they don’t care about safety guys work right next to each other unloading freight moving very fast to meet production which is what the company cares about most they don’t care if people bump into each other on the forklift or almost run over someone because I seen that every hour everyday you got to be alert at all times because someone will get seriously hurt. What happens when people are under so much pressure they get edgy and they take out on one another that was a all day thing people getting in each other faces and getting into arguments because they don’t want to fall behind on production and lose their job because I was seeing that happen all the time. It was a toxic environment to work in because you felt like someone was going to get aggressive with you when you just want to put your head down and work mind your business respect others but that wasn’t enough there people would still try to intimidate you regardless because you just couldn’t say or do anything about it because you didn’t want to lose your job and in the end I still got fired 

There is a reason this company pays the way they do.. If not, they would have no employees.. That goes for dock workers, drivers, and supervisors. They push their employees beyond limits, full time employees to be exact. If you are part good, its a good job as they cant force you to stay like the others.

Their culture is to push their employees beyond breaking because they wont hire as many employees as they need. Same goes with equipment. Employees stand around waiting on equipment or get sent home as the company believes less is more apparently.

Upper management wont change their tactics. Managers and supervisors aren't allowed to run things the way they know it should be run, which is turn causes backlogs, employees to quit, and freight not to be delivered in a timely manner. 

As a supervisor I talked to customers a number of times a day asking why their freight was not delivered. All I could say was it was put out, unfortunately for some unknown reason it was not delivered. This was caused by to much freight and not enough drivers. I came into a load of problems everyday caused by not enough drivers. And they wonder why there are so many complaints... Upper Management just says get it delivered without giving any more resources or a helping hand.

This company is a joke.. DO NOT APPLY FOR  A JOB HERE. All the good reviews are by either part time employees which don't see the real problems at this company, or are employees from their Home Office writing good reviews as part of their jobs..

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