GeoTab has partnered with Transflo to provide us with a great new communication and logging device for all Decker Professional Drivers. These new tablets will replace the Omnitracs units that are currently in your trucks.
July 28th, 2020 YouTube LIVE
What can GeoTab do?
Hours of Service logging using the Transflo platform that you are already used to.
Scan documents and take photos with the built-in camera. You can even take the device outside of your
truck to send photos of damage or securement questions.
ALK mapping with traffic, road closures and weather updates. This will route you to your destination,
including fuel stops and breaks.
No more macros! The device automatically prompts you when you’re ready to be dispatched to an order.
Decker is committed to helping our Professional Drivers and Owner/Operators stay informed and educated about COVID-19 and assisting those who might be affected.
First and foremost – – thank you our Decker Professional Drivers for your commitment and dedication in keeping the supply chain moving throughout America during this state of emergency. You are the lifeline to society and it is critically important that we work together to meet the needs of the public in a SAFE and efficient manner. The daily news surrounding Covid-19/Coronavirus continues to put pressure on the entire world. We are seeing growing concern in our communities, businesses, and the world at-large; and at a time when there are more questions than answers, we want to take a minute to ensure you, our Decker Professional Drivers, of our commitment and ability to serve you and our customers.
We are closely monitoring the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Decker is committed to helping our Professional Drivers and Owner/Operators stay informed and educated about COVID-19 and assisting those who might be affected.
PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES:
As we have previously advised, just use common sense:
Practice social distancing
Wash your hands with soap often
Use hand sanitizer often
Sanitize with disinfectant wipes often
If you need to cough or sneeze, do so into a tissue or your elbow
Try to keep from touching your face
If you feel sick, following the very important steps below
WHAT TO DO IF YOU FEEL SICK OR THINK YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO THE CORONAVIRUS:
If you think you have been exposed to the virus or think you may have it, the directives we’ve received are to call or email a Telehealth Doctor or your Primary Care Physician. They have a screening process and will determine if you need to be sent in to a designated spot for a test to determine if you have the virus. They are not advising anyone go to an Emergency Room as they are not equipped for testing for the virus there and by going to the ER you would end up unnecessarily exposing others.
We at Decker offer MeMD (a telehealth option) for employees on our health plan (no charge) as well as those who are not on the Decker health plan ($67 charge). If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, you can reach out to a MeMD provider from anywhere for medical advice and direction. Seeing a MeMD provider from your home or truck will help you avoid crowded waiting rooms where germs are easily spread. If the MeMD doctor recommends that you get tested, care instructions will be provided and MeMD Care Coordination will help you find a testing facility. The CDC will cover the cost for the diagnostic test for COVID-19; please be aware that there may still be facility or hospital charges that will still apply to member’s deductible/out-of-pocket. CDC states that only the sickest patients need live, in-person/office care. The majority of people without additional risk factors (recent travel or other medical ailments) will be able to recover at home and don’t need to be tested right away. To start a visit go here: www.MeMD.me/group/decker or call: 1-855-MEMD-NOW (1-855-636-3669). They ask for an authorization code, check your email for details. You can also use MeMD for other non-emergency ailments as well.
PLEASE NOTE:
If testing is recommended, you need to follow instructions immediately and cannot be allowed to work until you get a negative result back. If the test is positive, you will be required to self-quarantine and may not return to work until cleared to do so by a doctor. For our Professional Drivers, this means in your truck or at home. If the test is negative you can return to work as soon as you feel physically able.
If testing is not recommended but you are still sick/symptomatic, you do still need to self-isolate in until symptoms improve and you are fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.
If you are not sick but believe you have been exposed, call MeMD or your Primary Care Physician to see if you need to be tested and follow the steps above.
Also, in response to FMCSA issuing Hours of Service relief for coronavirus assistance – – you need to operate as normal in compliance with the HOS regulations. If we have a load that meets the criteria for the waiver of the regulations under the emergency declaration, you will be notified.
If you have questions, please call our Health & Benefits Manager, Andrea at 2350 or our Director of HR, Courtney at 2340. Also notify us immediately if any of the above situations occur.
Are you ready for Operation Airbrake? Sept 15-21st, 2019 is Brake Safety Week. Be prepared for additional inspections. The goal behind operation airbrake is to reduce the number of crashes created by faulty airbrakes and brake systems.
The vehicle portion of an inspection includes checking critical vehicle inspection items such as: brake systems; cargo securement; coupling devices; driveline/driveshaft; driver’s seat (missing); exhaust systems; frames; fuel systems; lighting devices (headlamps, tail lamps, stop lamps, turn signals and lamps/flags on projecting loads); steering mechanisms; suspensions; tires; van and open-top trailer bodies; wheels, rims and hubs; and windshield wipers.
The five most common vehicle violations detected by inspectors were for braking systems (4,578 or 28% of total out-of-service violations), tires and wheels (3,156 or 19.3%), brake adjustment (2,801 or 17.1%), cargo securement (1,991 or 12.2%) and lighting devices (1,875 or 11.5%).
The five most common Driver violations were for hours of service (1,179 or 37.2% of total out-of-service violations), wrong class license (714 or 22.5%), false logs (467 or 14.7%), “other” violations (351 or 11.1%) and suspended license (232 or 7.3%).
Are your nerves on end when you pull in for a DOT inspection or are you confident in your equipment, the maintenance of your equipment and your HOS…knowing you are coming out of there violation free?
Have confidence in your routine and random inspections by doing a proper pre-trip EACH and EVERY time you start your day and/or swap trailers.
Communicate with your maintenance department and fleet manager on equipment needs, repairs, leaks, and damage as well as Hours of Service.
How often do you do a full pre-trip? Are you checking all the lights, fluids, and hoses when you do a pre-trip?
Feeling like you are talking to a brick wall, and of course, that wall isn’t responding. You try reaching out about your, at the time, relatively small issue and get crickets in return. Seriously?! Where are those promises now? These are your frustrations!
Trying to get the truck fixed or the trailer tire repaired.
You weren’t home for your doctor’s appointment on time.
The pay is fine, but if you aren’t getting the miles, and you clearly aren’t, $1/mile isn’t even going to cut it.
Sound about right?
Those are the type of things that can build up, pile on until you are at your wit’s end. They are also the type of things that can easily be resolved, preventing a snowball of issues to stockpile.
Decker Truck Line faced the frustrations head-on. Instead of ignoring drivers’ requests for more home time, longer miles, equipment upgrades, additional incentives, and overall improved communication they came together, striving to meet expectations.
In 2018, alone, Decker Truck Line has implemented an improved monthly performance program, incentivized a referral program that could bring in over $11,000 more a year to the driver, expanded home time options by adding more than 15 different dedicated, local, OTR and regional routes, created driver-friendly policies including a pet policy, company paid navigation, increased truck speed, upgraded lane departure device and an enhanced phone system for direct lines of communication. Not stopping there, Decker also rolled out a series of weekly Q&As for drivers, family members, and others to participate in. A place where you can get additional information on Decker, their policies, the procedures, new opportunities, and fun games.
*NEW* Daily and weekly home time dedicated opportunities within our Midwest Reefer division. If you missed our #MMLIVE with all the details, here is a quick overview.
Le Mars
Daily home time is from Le Mars, Iowa to Sioux Falls, SD twice daily. This is a NEW opportunity for this customer, offering our drivers drop and hook home daily options. Hiring out of the Le Mars, IA (50 mile radius) area only.
Additional details on this driving position
Slip seating
12 hour shifts
7 am – 7 pm shift pays $275
7 pm – 7 am shift pays $300
Week one will be 4 days on and 3 days off; Week two is 3 days on and 4 days off.
Full weekend (Saturday and Sunday) every other week, a split weekend (Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday) on the opposite weeks
Council Bluffs & Omaha
Weekly home time, sometime on the weekend for a minimum of 34 hours. Possibilities of getting home during the week, but not guaranteed.
Pay is based on experience.
Students
$.40 cpm ($.01 cpm raise every quarter for the 1st yr and then $.01 cpm increase annually thereafter)
1-5 months experience
0.43 cpm
6 -11 months experience
$.45 cpm
1 – 3 years experience
$.47 cpm
3 – 5 years experience
$.49 cpm
5+ years experience
$.50 cpm
$.01 cpm increase at 90 days
$.01 cpm annual pay increase until cap is reached – Cap is $.55 cpm)
$.10 cpm for all drivers
$5,000 paid after one year of service. Must have a MINIMUM of 110,000 miles.
Up to $.04 cpm per month as part of the monthly performance-based bonus
Clean DOT Inspections = $50.00, Referral Bonuses
Average 2200 miles per week
Additional Details
Mainly night driving with A.M. deliveries into Illinois and Wisconsin
Week 1 deliveries are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Week 2 deliveries are on Tuesday and Thursday
Picking up pre-loaded trailers in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska
Live unload deliveries to Chicago Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Get more information from our Weekly Live Q&As
If you are interested in a position with Decker Truck Line, contact a recruiter now, 888.668.0698 or apply online at www.DriveDecker.com.
Written By: Jesse Butler
Jesse Butler is a driver recruiter for Decker Truck Line. She has worked within the trucking industry for over a decade.
Pay and miles are a hot topic in the trucking industry. No surprise. It’s been that way for quite some time. What’s surprising is that Decker has created a honeypot for drivers to feed on in the Midwest.
Truck Driver Salary
Two, actually. After hearing suggestions from our regional drivers, our operations department put their heads together in search of a way to offer BOTH quality home time and guaranteed pay. This may sound like a fairytale to some of you who have been around the industry for a while, but I assure you, it’s legit. We’ve been offering guaranteed pay to our regional drivers who live in the Fort Dodge, Sioux City, Storm Lake, Omaha, Mason City, Chicago, and Milwaukee areas and have seen great success with it. If you are interested in applying, go to www.DriveDecker.com or call our recruiters at 888.668.0698.
Here is additional information on how it pays out and what the qualifications area.
FLATBED OPPORTUNITIES
Weekly home time – sometime over the weekend. Home time will not be the same every week. It could be starting Friday or sometime Saturday, depending on hours of service and load situation. A driver may go through the house throughout the week.
Primary running areas are IA, IL, WI, IN, KS, MO, and NE. First in, first out dispatch in Iowa. All other areas are preplanned the afternoon before the delivery.
Flatbed freight, mostly wallboard, sheet steel, coils, rebar, tubing, and lumber. Maybe some night driving.
Qualifications
Be available for dispatch the entire week
No load refusals
Turn in paperwork
100% on-time delivery – no preventable driver service failures
(If driver doesn’t meet all qualifications, regular MW Flatbed mileage pay applies instead of the truck driver salary)
Pay & Incentives
$1350 Guaranteed Pay regardless of experience (trainees will still get paid as regular trainee pay – once graduated from the training program, they are eligible for the salary pay program)
$.42-.52/mile (10 cpm per diem included) is regular MW flatbed mileage
$2500 Paid on 1 year anniversary. Must have a minimum of 100,000 miles.
$15 to tarp and untarp / $15 t secure and unsecure
$25 per pick & delivery except first and last stop
Detention, Layover, and Breakdown
REEFER OPPORTUNITIES
Weekly home time – sometime over the weekend. Home time will not be the same every week. It could be starting Friday or sometime Saturday, depending on hours of service and load situation. A driver may go through the house throughout the week.
Drivers will pick up pre-loaded trailers and deliver in the Chicago area including suburbs, proper and downtown. Loads may consist of multiple stops as well as live loads and live unloads. Freight will come back north and west to multiple locations including, WI, MN, Des Moines, IA, Council Bluffs, IA, Fort Dodge, IA, Sioux City, IA, Storm Lake, IA, Cherokee, IA and Omaha, NE.
Refrigerated freight, mostly fresh meat. 98% night driving.
Qualifications
Be available for dispatch the entire week
No load refusals
Turn in paperwork
100% on-time delivery – no preventable driver service failures
(If driver doesn’t meet all qualifications, regular MW Reefer mileage pay applies instead of the truck driver salary)
Pay & Incentives
$1250 Guaranteed Pay regardless of experience (trainees will still get paid as regular trainee pay – once graduated from the training program, they are eligible for the guaranteed pay program)
$.39-.50/mile (10 cpm per diem included) is regular MW reefer mileage
Do you feel like your working your tail off and not seeing the incentive amounts you were hoping for? Ever hear of the phrase “work smarter, not harder”?
We have no doubt you are working hard day in and day out. Although, just because you are working hard, doesn’t mean you are being productive or getting the most out of your time. I say this with a guilty conscious. I am constantly trying to get more time out of my day to get things done, not possible. We all have the same 24 hours in a day and, well, some of us are better at managing that than others. If you are anything like me, you want to be more efficient and more effective. So, how do we all “up our game” so we can get the most out of the work we put in? Know what needs to be done and determine the shortest path possible to achieve that.
Take a look at the criteria we have for our monthly incentive bonus, we call it our Driver’s Scorecard Bonus.
Your score is based on the number of miles you ran, driver-related claims, driver-related service failures, preventable accidents, and driver-related CSA violations. Knowing the criteria and being aware of expectations from the company as well as your current performance all contribute to YOU meeting YOUR monthly bonus goals. Each division’s mileage breakdown is different, communicate with your fleet manager throughout the month to ensure you are on track. If you wait till the end of the month, you may not have time to rectify the situation and increase your numbers if they are low.* Below is a breakdown of the miles expected and the points associated per division.
Always remember, your fleet manager’s goals are to improve your numbers. They are there to help you. Allow them to be your advocate.
ALL points will be forfeited for any (driver-related) claims, (driver-related) service failures, preventable accidents and CSA violations for the month. Remember this is a monthly bonus, so if you do lose points this month, it will have no bearing on next month’s bonus.
Here are some tips for over the road truck drivers to maximize your monthly bonus payouts by improving your MPG, idle time, miles, claims, service failures, preventable accidents, and CSA violations.
Ask for preplans a day or 2 before you get empty. Plan your trips by knowing where you will be shutting down for the night.
Plan your breaks so you have your full 14-hr clock when you start off the morning and before you pick up a load.
Plan your speed to maximize fuel efficiency.
Use your APU. If there is an issue with your APU, report it via Qualcomm right away so you will not get your idle time charged against you and we can get it scheduled for repair.
Follow fuel routes.
Communicate with your fleet manager on idle time, fuel solution compliance and miles weekly, don’t wait till the end of the month.
Schedule longer home time at the end/beginning of months instead of long breaks in the middle of the month to keep your miles more consistent month to month.
Together we can improve your efficiency and Decker Truck Line’s and see larger bonus payouts for you each month. Call your fleet manager with any questions.
Company drivers can make an extra 1 penny to 4 cents per mile. Owner Operator drivers can make an extra 1 penny to 3 cents per mile. Lease Operators drivers can make an extra 1 penny to 4 cents per mile.
If you are interested in a position with Decker Truck Line, contact a recruiter now, 888.668.0698 or apply online at www.DriveDecker.com.
Written By: Jesse Butler
Jesse Butler is a driver recruiter for Decker Truck Line. She has worked within the trucking industry for over a decade. You can contact her at 406.203.4413.
It can be difficult to stay healthy on the road. Let’s be honest, it can be difficult to stay in shape no matter where you are. Having the right equipment and knowledge to live a healthy life could make the difference between wanting to change and actually changing. Here are a few “tools” for you to borrow from our toolbox.
Truck Driver Exercise Equipment
Resistance Bands – Heavy duty pull up assist bands, resistance bands, these bands are great to improve mobility & test your strength as weight lifting bands.
GymBoss – This is a free phone app. It makes it easy to change the number of intervals, sets and time.
Yoga Mat – Offers support in stretching, core and mobility exercises.
Improve Your Physical Fitness & Personal Health
We are here to support you on a path to health and fitness. Feel free to download this free workout routine designed for drivers out on the road.
Improve your health even further by cleaning up your diet. Track your diet to see ultimate results.
New to working out?
The amount of exercise will vary from individual but recommendations from American College of Sports Medicine is atleast 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week. That being said, HIIT intervals are proven to be as effective if not more effective then aerobic exercises because of the intensity level.
Stay hydrated
Clean eating
Warm up
Cool down
Listen to your body
Check your health
Make and set realistic goals
Make it a habit
Know your limits
Do what feels right to you
There is a difference between pain from injury and pain from pushing yourself
Stay motivated – have an accountability partner
10 Benefits Of Working Out
Makes you happier – Increased endorphins
Weight loss
Build & maintain strong muscles and bones
Increased energy levels
Reduces risks of chronic diseases
Helps skin health by increasing blood flow
Improves brain health and memory
Helps with relaxation & improved sleep quality
Reduces pain
Strengthens cardiovascular system and improves endurance
If you are interested in a position with Decker Truck Line, contact a recruiter now, 888.668.0698 or apply online at www.DriveDecker.com.
Written By: Jesse Butler
Jesse Butler is a driver recruiter for Decker Truck Line. She has worked within the trucking industry for over a decade. You can contact her at 406.203.4413.
You may think saving money is impossible in your situation, but like most of us, once you take time to really evaluate where you are spending your money and what you are spending your money on, you’d be amazed by how much money you can really save.
In both of this week’s LIVE events, Facebook and YouTube, we discussed ways drivers are currently saving their money on the road. Take some suggestions from some of these truck drivers and use your rewards cards along with the truck stop’s associated apps to get free meals, laundry services, maintenance, parking and more at designated truck stops. Think smart, when planning your day. Know when and where to fuel to get maximum savings. Plan your meals in advance so you can not only save by buying in bulk or at expensive quick stops but also maximize your clock and choose healthier options. You can use last week’s meal planner to help you with that.
Review your purchases and create a budget. You may be amazed by how well that can help you manage your money. Saving money on the road is possible. But remember, be good on your home time as well and don’t go wild with your spending.
Tips and Tricks To Save Money
AVOID unnecessary expenses.
Purchase food items in bulk at grocery stores or super stores instead of individually at truck stops where they are usually more expensive.
Plan your meals and snacks a week in advance so you are not spending money at every stop.
Make a budget and break it down into amounts to automatically transfer each week into savings accounts for monthly, quarterly, yearly expenses so they don’t creep up on you.
Pay yourself first! Take advantage of Decker’s 401K match. Reduce taxable income by putting more into your 401K versus sending to the IRS.
Not every week will be a 3000 mile week, try and put money aside for an emergency fund. (ex: $.05/mile until 3+ months of expenses can be covered if need be)
Listen to Dave Ramsey’s podcast for peak financial fitness.
Avoid cash advances.
Take advantage of the fridge and APUs Decker provides in the trucks to save money on eating out.
Be sure to claim the appropriate amount on your federal and state taxes. Many people claim too much and then get less take home each week because of it.
Reduce taxable income by putting more into your 401K versus sending to the IRS.
Track your spending.
Turn in all your paperwork / documents as the load delivers to assure getting paid for the load on time.
Keep a log of advances (if you MUST get them)
Resources
Here are helpful resources that were provided by ATBS and others. ATBS provides tax, bookkeeping, and accounting services specifically for truck drivers! They also have some great FREE resources available on their website, www.atbs.com.
Jesse Butler is a driver recruiter for Decker Truck Line. She has worked within the trucking industry for over a decade. You can contact her at 406.203.4413.
Decker Podcast
Always remember, your fleet manager’s goals are to improve your numbers. They are there to help you. Allow them to be your advocate.
