Tan Tara trans My wife broke her foot and I needed to get home for my 12 yr old daughter and when I spoke to Dave in safety about it I was terminated on the spot and left stranded in muscataine I sat in a Gas Station for 8hrs til I found a ride and he stole $77 from me what a PR#@k and companies like this wonder why they can't keep any drivers Internet

Dear Mr. Michael Tungate out of New Castle, Indiana:  As a representative of TanTara Transportation and as myself, Dave Riggan, I would like to take a moment to respond to your attack on my character and our company.  As all of us in the trucking industry know, there is a driver shortage in America.  Furthermore, our industry experiences a much higher turnover rate than most other industries because of this. 

It is the duty of great companies such as TanTara, to not let the driver shortage result in the lowering of standards for the folks we hire.  In the realm of safety, we have not and will not lower our standards in regards to the drivers whom we employ.  However, there are other areas, such as job history and personal character where a company sometimes has to make exceptions they wouldn’t have otherwise made, if not for the shortage of truck drivers in our great nation. 

Mr. Tungate, you happened to be one of those exceptions.  When I first reviewed your job application my first instinct was to reject you due to your extremely poor job history.  According to the application you filled out, you have had 13 jobs in the past 8 years.  Statistics prove that pattern of behavior is likely to continue in a person and therefore, most managers in my position would not be interested in hiring you.  This being because you are not likely to stick around long, most likely struggle to cooperate with coworkers and employers, and in the end, you, in short time, would potentially quit or get fired.  On average, it costs a trucking company $5,000 to hire, orientate, and train a new driver.  Therefore, why spend that money on a person who you are not likely to get your return on investment with?  This is where the driver shortage comes into the picture. 

Yes, we at TanTara are always hiring drivers.  There are two reasons for our continuous hiring:

1. Growth.  We are a growing company and we are striving every day to continue to create more jobs and grow our business.  2.  The driver shortage that results in high turnover in our industry.    That said, we at TanTara are fortunate that we do not experience a turnover rate nearly as high as the national average.  We have a large percentage of our drivers who have been here for more than 5 years, 10 years, and a few that have been here 15 years and even close to 30 years. 

Now, in regards to your “separation” with our company.  On your final day of orientation, you came to me stating that you needed to get home because your wife had injured herself.  You had not yet completed orientation and you had not yet worked for our company.  Having experienced scenarios similar to this in the past, it is often true when a scenario like this presents itself, the driver could be lying and just looking for a way out because he didn’t like what he saw in orientation.  He or she would rather take the easy way out, make up a story, get back home, and we never hear from them again.  As a hiring manager, I was forced to make a decision that was best for the company.  And in your case, it was best we just cut ties right then and there because it was likely that this was not going to work out for you or for the company.  I say this due to your poor job history.  Again, you have had 13 jobs in the past 8 years.  My decision to end your potential employment with us was based upon your job history and my observation of your character during the 2 days you were here in orientation.

In regards to the $77 you say we stole from you, that is certainly a false statement.  The money you speak of was issued to you in the form of a $100 check from TanTara.  This is a standard procedure in our orientation.  We issue a $100 “Road Expense Advance” to all company drivers.  This is so they do not have to dip into their own pockets to pay for things out on the road (such as scales) that are reimbursable by the company.  We had issued you that check, you had cashed it, and then you told us you were leaving to go back home and I then made my decision to end our relationship permanently.  Therefore, I asked for our $100 to be returned.  You had already spent some of it (obvious misuse of company funds) and were only able to return $77 to me.  In fact, you owe TanTara $23.  Please feel free to mail a check to our office.  As for your statements about us stranding you at a gas station, again, not true.  I told you that you were welcome to wait in our lounge for your ride home to arrive.  You chose to walk across our lot to the gas station and wait.  Said gas station is located on our company property and is approximately 100 yards from our office so please, Mike, do not insinuate that you were “stranded” anywhere.  Best of luck in your future.