TruckersReport Review
Lazer Spot dba Lazer Logistics is a decent company to work for if you're looking for local work and your area doesn't have a lot of options available to you, as far as that's concerned. Having said, your experience will vary GREATLY based on the site your assigned to, and what type of site manager you have. One thing consistent across the board will be the high safety standards, regardless of which site you're assigned to. Having said, this job is not for you if: 1. You have issues with your performance and driving behavior constantly being monitored, as well as abiding by idle time restrictions. 2. You aren't able to work both efficiently and safety at the same time while ensuring the customer site you're working at, all of their needs are met. 3. You cannot perform the repetitive task of hooking and dropping trailers possibly 30+ times in a 12 hour shift which will require you to get in and out of your truck possibly 100+ more times in said shift. 4. You aren't able to independently troubleshoot simple issues including customer complaints and/or vehicle and trailer issues. 5. You aren't able to follow A LOT of rules - both Lazer rules and rules specific to your site - and be alright with managers and lead drivers, and sometimes even the customer, constantly looking over your shoulder to ensure these rules are being followed. 6. You expect the equipment to be in excellent shape. On the other hand, this job may be a good fit for you if: 1. You have little to no experience, or are returning to trucking after an extended period of time out of a truck (as I was), and you have a positive attitude and know how to talk less and listen more, and learn as you go. 2. You are a retiring OTR driver but still in decent enough physical shape to be able to perform repetitive tasks frequently throughout your shift. 3. You enjoy a consistent schedule and don't mind doing the same thing day after day, driving around in circles, and won't be bored by it. 4. You are a flexible person who knows how to just roll with the punches and doesn't let minor inconveniences fluster you. 5. You can work well in a team environment as this isn't your "typical" trucking job where you'll constantly be alone and in this role you'll frequently (if not almost always) be working closely alongside others. 6. You don't mind working in unpredictable conditions (varies site by site) with equipment that's barely hanging on to dear life (as noted above and will likely be the case at most sites). Here are some things that were specific to my site: A. I had an AMAZING site manager. I was very fortunate for this. He always had our backs and was a supportive and encouraging leader. It can be a double edged sword having an on-site manager. But with mine, I was happy to have him. B. We did not have any EV trucks. I was located in the upper midwest and they shy away from using EVs in our area due to the harsh winters. As such I had a 15% or less idle time restriction which = basically turning the truck off every time it was stopped for more than 3 minutes. (We went through starters like crazy and often were cold in winter or would be hot in summer). C. Our customer was very hostile at times. It made for some difficult shifts. They were often rude, abrasive, and on occasion downright nasty to us. This is probably more the exception than the norm, but it was my experience. The site itself was also just nasty - disgusting - terrible lots with potholes the size of moon craters, dusty and muddy, and simply not designed for heavy trucks. I destroyed a lot of clothes while working there. D. Our equipment was so/so. We had 6 trucks on site. Almost always about half of them were out of service (or should have been.) As Lazer has all different types of equipment scattered at these various sites across the country, there is not a one size fits all solution to fleet maintenance. Each site manager is responsible for it on their own. And in our area, unfortunately, the shops we were dealing with just flat out sucked. E. We were chronically short staffed. All trucking companies in my area struggle to find drivers and Lazer was no exception. The industry as a whole is this way. The issue is, unlike truckload, you can't farm out any of the demand to outside entities. The customer expected us to have 3 drivers on per shift 7 days per week. They could care less if we only had one or two (and they were rightfully entitled to such). This put so much extra pressure on those of us which were stupid enough to actually show up to work every day. I was getting great overtime almost every week. However it did lead me to feeling burnt out quickly. Had it been a "normal" driving job I wouldn't have minded working 60+ hours per week. But with the physical nature of the work I really struggled working that many hours. I was wholly unimpressed by recruiting in helping us address the staffing issues, and hardly impressed by them either during my personal initial interview and onboarding process. F. The hours at my site was terrible. They split the week 3 1/2 to 3 1/2. This means that you either always work the weekends, or always end up having the weekends off. The site manager wanted to change this to a rotating schedule, however not everyone would agree to it. I worked the weekend shift, and as you might imagine, the folks who didn't want to switch were the non-weekend shift drivers. I don't know when trucking stopped being a 7 day per week operation, but that seems to be the way of it these days. This often left me working by myself on Friday and Saturday nights, which were arguably the two busiest nights of the week. But since Lazer doesn't mandate OT and or schedule changes to meet the business needs (exception if you're a lead driver), in conjunction with the fact that we were already short handed and couldn't afford to run people off, we weren't successful in making a schedule more fair to everyone at the site.
Oculus Reviews