[JERRYLEWIS]

I was interested in working for SYSCO in Portland Oregon and was hoping to find out if there where any current employees for them on the boards. My questions are what is the pay scale for them. How hard is it to stay on schedule with all the multiple stops. I currently do dollar tree dedicated for SWIFT so I am fine with the multiple stops and hand unloading. How much is family health and dental. Is there pension plan pretty decent? Any thing that a current employee can tell me would be great. Thanks

jerry

[Jackrabbit379]

I'm not sure how the pay would be up there, but our delivery guys make anywhere from $17-$25 an hour, depending on the route. The delivery guys get paid "Productivity" pay. The more cases that they have on their trailer, the sooner they get done, the more they make. Also, they make more for the less miles that they drive. It's weird. They combine delivery time, and miles together. If you have 500 cases, and you get it knocked out in 6 hours, and you put on 45 miles on a city route,(which is an easy day), you would make more doing that than, 500 cases in 10 hours on an out of town route that you ran 200 miles. The delivery guys make more on an in town route, than being out on a out of town route. They run a very tight schedule. When running a route, you gotta get it off the truck as quick as you can without having any mistakes :P . It is fast paced. I'm not sure what it would cost for insurance. I dont even know what it cost me. ops: I just know that it costs more, now that I am married. :P SYSCO has health, vision, dental ins. Also, they have Aflac ins. Life ins through Metlife. Stock exchange thingamajig, and 401k. Some other accidental death ins, or something.

[youngster]

I got my CDL at Sysco, Grand Rapids MI a long time ago-and all I can say is get out and apply at a good LTL freight company while you still can and build your seniority there. Unless busting your ass everyday with a dolly/ramp, lifting/sorting 12,000 lbs. of food everyday sounds fun, get on over to a "regular" freight company. The job will eventually wear you down, unless you get into SALES or Management.

[Ian Williams]

Assuming that you are young and able bodied Food P&D is a good way to get in to driving.

While it has its downsides it still better that selling your soul to a McMegaCarrier for a 4-12 months until you qualify for a better gig.

I second what Youngster says about getting into LTL land and building service rank if you decide that you want to drive truck long term. A "hard" LTL route with lots of hand much is still easier than an easy foodservice route.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by Ian Williams

Assuming that you are young and able bodied Food P&D is a good way to get in to driving.

While it has its downsides it still better that selling your soul to a McMegaCarrier for a 4-12 months until you qualify for a better gig.

I second what Youngster says about getting into LTL land and building service rank if you decide that you want to drive truck long term. A "hard" LTL route with lots of hand much is still easier than an easy foodservice route.

I agree. Food service would be like a 10 hour workout (minus driving time) 4 or 5 days a week. If you don't need that level of activity, LTL would be where it's at. 20 stops a day is still a lot of physical activity. In out - up down. Rinse, repeat. :P

[JERRYLEWIS]

Thanks for the replys. I don't mind the physical portion I was doing dollar tree unloading 40-50k pounds a day so 12k a day would be a cake walk. I just worry about the scheduling. I guess I will give it a try. Do you have any suggestions for some good LTL companies to try with that operate in the Portland, OR area?

[Colin]

Originally Posted by JERRYLEWIS

Thanks for the replys. I don't mind the physical portion I was doing dollar tree unloading 40-50k pounds a day so 12k a day would be a cake walk. I just worry about the scheduling. I guess I will give it a try. Do you have any suggestions for some good LTL companies to try with that operate in the Portland, OR area?

Saia would be the best in my opinion. Yellow close behind.

[west_coaster]

Hey Jerrylewis, my buddy in Portland bowls with one of the head scheduling and planning guys from Reddaway in Clackamas (I think that's where it is). He was saying that they are always hurting for people. He told me that they're always hiring both P&D and line haul drivers. Just a thought. Not sure where they're HQ is, but I'll talk to my friend if you're interested.

[Ian Williams]

USF is strong in the pacific northwest.

A few months ago driving on northbound I5 late on a fri in my POV on vacation on was counting the sets of doubles going south. I counted 3 sets for Con-Way and about a dozen for USF.

Yellow and Saia are booth good companies; if I had to pick between the two I would go with Yellow.

Con-Way is a good gig too, once you are off the extra board (on call).

Being on call sucks even more than the rest of LTL as there is no division between City and Line drivers. On the extra board you can run line mon & tue, not get called on wed and then be expected to work city thur & fri.

On the flip side the lack of a diving line means that once you have some seniority you can jump between city and line without going back to square one.

[JERRYLEWIS]

hey west_coaster if you could do that and let me know I would appreciate it.