I hear ya there... our top 10-15 guys ALL do grocery wherehouses in the morning, then come back and run their routes... Many dont care to much for the wherehouse work, but they are the ones getting tons of hours..

As you know, some days are better than others... I love it when I am able to just take a layer off each pallet, and call it a day... BUT... then you get the times where you take 13 pallets in, and make 50 pallets out of them.... Ive done this once before, and I have the pics to prove it.. LOL!! They told me I broke the record for time spent unloading my own truck (8 hours)

 

My hubby is with FFE now too. He is finding he has to swap loads with people alot, either becuase he doesn't have the hours to get it there on time or the other person doesn't. Is this common? Is this just how it works?

 

Line haul is the almost long haul portion of an LTL company. by definition, dropping a trailer at a terminal full of freight is not LTL.

LTL

-pick & drop of a box or a couple pallets at each stop; home each shift
-line haul; dropping a full trailer or two at a terminal

OTR

-irregular route hauling from shipper to receiver
-irregular route hauling from multi shippers and/or multi receivers
^ that one is like LTL, just with a big sleeper and gone for more than a few days. 8)

 

I drive local/regional for a convenience store wholesaler. I've never driven OTR but like the other guys have said, OTR you might back up to a dock once a day. Also the places you go are generally a lot more open with OTR.

I've had times where I'll have a 48' trailer and sleeper and get to a stop on the route and think "This thing is supposed to go in there?". And you have to do this many times a day. I have pretty much set routes now so once you figure out the tricks to each stop to getting it in there it becomes easy.

At first though it can be nerve racking, and there are a lot more opportunities to get into an accident.

Plus like someone mentioned, often times you have to back in off really busy streets. It usually isn't too bad as long as you can do it quick. You have to train yourself not to think about "What if I can't nail this on the first try and then have to do a pull up into traffic, where there are already cars lining up, some of them chomping at the bit to get around you".

On the up side, you get REALLY good at backing up.

I watch OTR drivers dock at our warehouse and we have TONS of room to make a straight back, and they do all sorts of funky things and have to take multiple pullups to nail it, when it can't get much easier than our warehouse.

You watch LTL drivers and some times the things they do are amazing, most of them never have a problem backing up because they do it probably 20 times a day.

In short LTL can be more stressful at first but once you get used to it, you can't beat being home and the pay.

Unfortunately our company just went to a 4 day a week work schedule, which has amounted to a huge pay cut for me, so I'm looking maybe to change jobs here shortly.

I was thinking about Yellow, UPS, or Fedex. I have bills to pay though so I don't know if I'll be able to do it since you might start out making not very much money.

My other option is re-applying at Supervalu, maybe United States Food Service or Sysco....

 

LTL stands for "Less Than Truckload" - meaning it's more favorable from a pricing/logistical standpoint for the shipper to throw a couple skids on the back of one of our trailers than it would be on Swift's or Werner's. The opposite is true in TL (truckload/OTR) as those guys are priced to handle say, 26 pallets going to a single destination. The main difference has to do with breakbulk facilities and multiple terminal operations in LTL.

Line-haul is an intricate part of any LTL operation - just as much as P&D is. I hold a ton of respect for the linehaul guys but pullin' a set of wiggle-wagons when ole' man winter comes to town just ain't my bag. Plus, most line-haul runs are scheduled at night, which is when I like to be sleeping. Sure, there's more money to be made in linehaul but the hours are much better in P&D.

When you think about it, an OTR driver is basically a line-haul driver and P&D man all rolled up into one. He bumps the dock at a shipper (Pickup), takes the freight to its destination (line-haul) and then delivers it (Delivery). The problem is that he does the P&D work for free, gets only .27 - .44 cpm for linehaul, and sleeps in his truck rather than his own bed.

Been there, done that. No thanks! That's why I'll stick with runnin' LTL freight.

Yup. My sentiments exactly! :wink:

 

As long as we're talking LTL here, and all of you seem to work for different companies, what are some good ones to put on my list?

I'm going to wait as my performance review is coming up soon and see if I get a decent pay raise, if not I think I'm going to apply at some other shops..

so far my list is:

Fedex Feeder (I might have an in here as I know a big wig that works for their IT department)
UPS Feeder (Guess you can become a feeder right away in this area, though hours are questionable)
Sysco
USF
Yellow
Conway
Supervalu

Any other suggestions for good LTL companies? I wouldn't mind doing line haul either I don't think...

 

If you want a schedule and have an idea of how much money you will make consistently, then cross Yellow off your list. You will need many years of seniority to have somewhat regular work times or income. If you think you can live by the phone and never know when your working-then go for it. It is a very good job when you get some time in, but it is very frustrating until then. Summer time you will run your butt off then sit at home in the winter time wondering how you will pay your mortgage. I spent two years there and just could not take it anymore.

 

Is this the way it is at EVERY Yellow terminal? I thought it might still be worth it to sit down for an interview and explain I neeed to actually pay my mortgage and see what they say.

Oh I guess I could also add Vistar/VSA to my list.

 

In my experience, the better the LTL job the harder it is to get thru the rocky part. I haven't been able to do it yet. I've been laid off by Yellow and Conway. The best ones are tough to get into which include teamsters mostly and Conway (non union but union type benefits). Great pay and bennies if you can make it.

teamsters:
Yellow
Roadway
USF Holland
ABF
UPS

non union:
Fedex
Conway

These are the best but they suck until you have seniority of at least a couple years. Then things start to settle down.

 

No way would I put Conway anywhere NEAR FedEx on that list... 2 completly sepperate leagues.

IMHO of course.