(Note: Please take the time to go through and look at all reviews in date order. There is a noticeable trend that any negative review is immediately followed by several 5 and 4 star reviews. This could serve to push negative reviews off the first page, while falsely inflating their company rating. I doubt that employees regularly check Penske's rating and reviews, then post a good review on their own to stand up for their employer.)
The sign-on bonus is paid in 60 days, but you must sign a promissory note for one year. If you leave or lose your job for any reason, including Penske "restructuring", you have to pay it back in 5 days.
You will be strongly "encouraged" to deliver all stops before taking break, no matter what. Not doing so can result in sitting at home on call all week and getting paid the 1200 dollar weekly minimum. You must be available all day to go to work on days you are on call.
They have installed Artificial Intelligence cameras in the trucks. They are driver management/coaching cameras that grade every movement, and are designed to be able to "coach" you audibly somehow. It can generate reports, which means more training from management. This I learned from the camera system's company website. Also has a live feed capability. Was not informed of this when applying, only that there would be driver facing camera. Management misinformed me of what it does; my direct managers may not be aware of what it does. Penske knows; when I spoke to someone at Penske, he immediately went into explainer mode by asking if I "agree that things can be turned on and off, like a cell phone". Almost anything qualifies as an "incident", even picking up a drink or a phone. This system can be used to terminate an employee for 'inattentive driving" at any time. This will likely disqualify you for unemployment, future employment, etc.
Lastly, they say you get a daily minimum, a weekly minimum, and get paid for all hours worked. After seeing first paycheck, none of these are true so far. Other drivers said they constantly have to complain their pay is not right. Now I can see why.
This applies to the Pepperidge farm account in Denver, PA. Driver managers are overworked and overstressed, and usually not pleasant to deal with. Any questions to Penske directly (Penske bought Black Horse transport) usually result in being told to ask your manager. Penske seems to be into micromanagement, and that may be an understatement.
