[Ian Williams]

Originally Posted by Graymist

Nice and detailed response, Snowman. I too have a few questions for you....firstly, what exactly does dockwork entail ? How physically taxing is it ? How much handbombing is involved ? I ask, 'cos I have a back which flares up every now and then, and also a knee injury when I fell off the back of my truck last year.

Secondly, seeing that you're from Ohio ( I presume that's the Buckeye state ), how much do you get to run in western PA ( Pittsburgh and general area ) ? Do you guys have any terminals here ? How busy is this freight lane for you guys ? Thanks in advance.

The physical demands of LTL dockwork will vary with your freight mix. 95% of the stuff we get at my barn is on skids, 3% if light stuff like auto body kits thats too bulky to ship parcel and the remaining 2% is a royal PITA.

My bid is 90% dock, 5% city driver, 5% road driver. But Con-Way is a hog board company where you can be asked to do most anything as long as you have the hrs.

The hand-muck intensity level can vary. Last year my company had a national account that shipped concentrated cleaning supplies to restaurants, hotels and nursing homes. A lot of it was inside delivery wher you put it on your two-wheel and dropped it off in their laundry or storage room.

My barn has city drivers in their 40s & 50s who do just fine. If you are in ok shape you should be able to do it.

You could find a barn in your area that would allow you to work as a casual dock worker to get an idea of whats its like.

[Snowman7]

Originally Posted by Graymist

Nice and detailed response, Snowman. I too have a few questions for you....firstly, what exactly does dockwork entail ? How physically taxing is it ? How much handbombing is involved ? I ask, 'cos I have a back which flares up every now and then, and also a knee injury when I fell off the back of my truck last year.

As a road driver you can get out of alot dock work if you really dont care for it. Less than half the runs involve working the dock and senior guys tend to bid these because the hours are more prediciable and they are always on the clock the whole time they are working. Extra board doesnt work the dock unless they are covering a bid run. If you had to cover for a guy one night just request to not work the dock when you get there. You would wait in the break room until your freight is ready, not getting paid BTW. Its mostly fork lift but there's alot of up and down off the fork lift. Remember we have single shipments of all sorts and sizes and its not stacked all pretty in the trailer. Plus you have to match the bill to the freight.

Originally Posted by Graymist

Secondly, seeing that you're from Ohio ( I presume that's the Buckeye state ), how much do you get to run in western PA ( Pittsburgh and general area ) ? Do you guys have any terminals here ? How busy is this freight lane for you guys ? Thanks in advance.

Pittsburgh terminal is exit 40 off I79, Irwin is I70 and I76, and one in Erie. And yes I've been to all three. Pittsburgh quite often.

[Graymist]

Originally Posted by Snowman7

As a road driver you can get out of alot dock work if you really dont care for it. Less than half the runs involve working the dock and senior guys tend to bid these because the hours are more prediciable and they are always on the clock the whole time they are working. Extra board doesnt work the dock unless they are covering a bid run. If you had to cover for a guy one night just request to not work the dock when you get there. You would wait in the break room until your freight is ready, not getting paid BTW. Its mostly fork lift but there's alot of up and down off the fork lift. Remember we have single shipments of all sorts and sizes and its not stacked all pretty in the trailer. Plus you have to match the bill to the freight.

Pittsburgh terminal is exit 40 off I79, Irwin is I70 and I76, and one in Erie. And yes I've been to all three. Pittsburgh quite often.

Thanks for your response, Snowman. Going by what you said about dockwork, if one were to opt out of doing any dockwork, by how many hours / dollars would that impact one's paycheck every 2 weeks ? In other words, as a road driver, how many hours of dockwork does one get to do on an average every day ( which one can opt out of ) ?

[Snowman7]

The guys who are on bid runs get 3-4 hours on the dock. Maybe less if its a longer run. It definately adds up. You can't opt out if your assigned one of these runs but if your just filling in and you dont know what you're doing anyway they would rather you werent "in there way". But they will probably bitch to your home terminal and tell them next time send someone who can work the dock. If you "suck" on the dock then they'll think twice before sending you :wink: . Just depends on the workload at your terminal,seniority, the runs available, and the drivers available, some guys like the dock.

Working the dock isn't bad at all. Most of the labor involved is done by the tow-motor since the majority of LTL freight is palletized. You might have to get off the motor and re-stack some boxes on a pallet or something, but that's about the extent of it.

Then again, it all depends on what kind of freight your company hauls. If it's cheap freight, you'll generally do more stacking/lumping. And it depends on how they load trailers, too. Some companies jam every piece of freight into a set of pups with no dunnage/racks, etc. Others hire junkies and transients off the street as dock workers. After a few rough roads, hard-braking, hair-pin turns, etc you'd better be careful opening that trailer door LOL. Then you've got your work cut out for you.

[Snowman7]

Originally Posted by ColdFrostyMug

Working the dock isn't bad at all. Most of the labor involved is done by the tow-motor since the majority of LTL freight is palletized. You might have to get off the motor and re-stack some boxes on a pallet or something, but that's about the extent of it.

Then again, it all depends on what kind of freight your company hauls. If it's cheap freight, you'll generally do more stacking/lumping. And it depends on how they load trailers, too. Some companies jam every piece of freight into a set of pups with no dunnage/racks, etc. Others hire junkies and transients off the street as dock workers. After a few rough roads, hard-braking, hair-pin turns, etc you'd better be careful opening that trailer door LOL. Then you've got your work cut out for you.

Yeah its alot easier to get it in the trailer than it is to get it out at the other end! The guy who loads you can make all the difference in a good nite or a bad nite LOL.

[Truck Driver Dave]

Hey snowman, I put in my inquiry on the ups freight site about 2 weeks ago and got a call today for an invite to fill out an online app and set up an interview! So I guess 1 step is down and a few more to go. Could you tell me how the process goes and give me any pointers? Thanks!

[Snowman7]

Thats good news! I was wondering what happened with you. From what I have seen getting a call back from your reply is the hardest part. After that its just a formality. As long as you dont have any "skeletons" in your closet! Fill out the app and they should call for an interview. At the interview be yourself. I was nervous because I really wanted the job and wanted to impress the guy but it wasnt necesarry because by that time they've pretty much made up their mind to hire you. Its more of a "dont blow it now" kinda thing and they just tell you about the job and you let them know if you want it. Then they road test, pee test, physical, etc and you'll be started in a week or two. If you've never hooked doubles dont worry they'll allow for that as long as you have the endorsement. Then be ready to run! I did 1970 miles this week in 4 days on the extra board, called off Friday (1st time in 8 months) and with d/h pay grossed $1119 not counting sick pay. It was probably around 49 hours (2 avg nites, 1 short nite and 1 really long nite!) and I was back in the yard every morning between 6 and 11 AM. Not bad for 4 nights! BOL Keep us posted.

[brucog]

what kind of experience does UPS require for the dockworker plus CDL.
I have the ratings but practically no experience on the road. Do they train at all. I was on the road for about a month with Maverick.

[Truck Driver Dave]

I think the good part this all is that I know a guy that worked on the dock, so he gave me a name of the HR guy in the terminal. So I just called him and the next day had a call back from the lady that set me up online for the app as well as set up an interview all at the same time. So I'm thinking that is a good thing.

I'm ready to work! I currently drive for a larger company in town, but things seem to be slowing down for us. I'm on a test account, basically one that they don't have anywhere else so everything is up in the air all the time. I'm looking for something that will keep me busy!

I'll keep ya posted on how things are going. Thanks for the info!