[madaxeman]

Originally Posted by Fredog

this remind me of years ago when my friend was all excited about his new job with MS Carriers, right up until he got to orientation and found out he was working for Swift, they forgot to mention that part to him

Yes, there is a lot of dishonest companies. Unfortunately, I guess it boils down to who lies to you the least. USF Glen Moore and WH Transportation were honest with me while Knight and Western Express were not. I didn't work for Schneider or Transport America after attending their orientations either. From my experience, the smaller companies that I worked for (less than 500 drivers) tend to care more about their drivers than these megacarrier mills...and pay better, too. Just because the company isn't gigantic it's not a guarantee to be the best job in the universe though. There seem to be a few great paying, larger companies like UPS, OD, Estes, R+L, Walmart...also heard FedEx and Conway...(YRC and USF Holland but who knows if they will make it), etc. That is the main reason I didn't apply at Holland. I don't think they are hiring and possibly laying off drivers. Glen Moore and WH were pretty rare gems for smaller companies that paid well and treated their drivers well. I will be looking into those larger companies and maybe some smaller/medium sized carriers.

[Snowman7]

Originally Posted by madaxeman

Hi, Snowman! Are you talking about company driver positions for all of these? I heard UPS is hard to get hired on unless you know someone or have worked your way up...or is that a different branch of UPS? Are these jobs running doubles pups (linehaul) or 53' dry van? Thanks!

Yes company driver. Estes and Old Dominion are LTL companies. LTL would include as you know Holland, YRC, Fedex FREIGHT, UPS FREIGHT, Conway FREIGHT, ABF, among others but those are the big ones. I mention Estes and Old Dominion because I feel that is your best chance to get hired and get some work. These companies all operate on seniority, they all have feast or famine times, they all have a city operation, and they all have a dock operation. You may get hired at any of them but you will have slow periods where you wont get alot of work until you build your seniority. Or the work you get, you may not like. For example dock or city driving. If you are a young guy who doesnt have alot of responsibility or debt, and who doesnt mind doing whatever, you could sacrifice a few years now at the bottom and you will be a fat cat later on. I work at UPS FREIGHT, I'm at .62 cpm and 24.50/hr. But if you dont like doing dock or city, and have to make a solid paycheck right away, talk to ESTES or Old Dominion about a "wild" linehaul driver job, or whatever term they call it. Your first dispatch of the week goes by seniority. After that its first in first out at a foriegn trerminal. So when you get where your going and they ask where you want to go tell them anywhere but home. Keep me moving. All your dispatches are terminal to terminal, drop and hook. When you get there if they have freight to match your hours they run you on, when you're out of hours they put you to bed in a motel. If you return to your home terminal then seniority determines your next dispatch. During good times you should get 2500-3000 miles and be home on weekends. ABF, Holland, and YRC also have wild linehaul but good luck getting hired there. UPS, Conway and FEDEX dont do as much of this, most of there runs are out and back every night and everything is relayed. So the seniority issue comes up everyday. Its not a problem when we're busy but when we're slow you'll starve. Unless you can get some docktime, maybe. Most of LTL is doubles and all require hazmat. This is a brief description and very broad. Conditions vary by company and even by terminal. Your best chance for one of these wild linehaul positions is at a hub operation which is different from an "end of line" or "satelite" terminal. All questions to ask at the interview. Nothing wrong with a satelite except that the runs are bid by seniority and the board moves agonizingly slow, nobody quits so it takes forever to move up. At a hub and running wild you make money sooner, but you stay out all week. A linehaul driver, at top rate, at any of these companies, who works everyday, is making 80-100 grand a year. The hard part is working everyday.

UPS FREIGHT TRUCKLOAD is non union regional OTR and dedicated logistics. I only mention them because its probably real similar to Glen Moore. Doesnt pay as well as LTL and run a sleeper. It will not get you any seniority or transfer rights to the freight side, just like Glen Moore and Holland.

UPS package. forget about it. Impossible to get hired off the street. Everybody starts part time on the dock. Full time is awarded by seniority and could take 5 years. To get a spot in a tractor trailer could take 10-20 years. Its easy to get hired as part time dock, but you wont need your CDL for years, and you will need a second job till you get full time, or a sugar momma. LOL.

[madaxeman]

Thanks much for the info and help, Snowman!

[geeshock]

madaxerman, I feal for you and hope all goes well. I work for celadon and am happy so far. not starving by a long shot myself but I understand. From what the glen more drivers that are staying with the company say they miss the most, they mention the benifits, what they miss the least is glen more didn't care what you had for hours, the load WOULD get to it's detenation on time. I do wish you the best of luck and might take note of those other companies listed above for later on. I wish you the best of luck and please keep us posted.

[madaxeman]

Geeshock, thanks! I hope it works out for you, too.

The benefits were definitely top-notch! I was NEVER forced to run a load illegally. In fact, I always told my DM if I couldn't make it or if it was cutting too close with the given timeframe. If they sent me a pre-plan and it wasn't happening, I told them right off the bat I can't make this time but I can and will do the load and get it there ASAP. Usually, they would say ok after they checked and would give it to me anyway. Sometimes, they would send me a different load, If I ran into a delay (loading, flat tire, etc.), I always communicated it so it was never an issue for me. Sometimes, they would have me relay the load to still make the appointment time if I couldn't do it legally. At least, I was covering myself and they couldn't come back later and say "why was this load late?" If drivers don't communicate to the office about any of that and just accept the load, they can't really blame anyone but themselves...and they would be expected to get it there by the appointment time.

As far as Celadon goes, sitting for up to two days without layover pay...or four hours without detention pay is completely unacceptable to me...and just plain wrong! Truck drivers already don't get paid for a lot of things. It's one job where companies can legally screw workers out of pay if they let them (unless it's hourly pay). For the most part, all we really get paid for is mileage (and it's short on every load at that). Even when you got detention pay, layover pay, stop pay, etc...it really isn't worth it versus the truck rolling down the highway (because all of that consumes a ton of your time for minimal or no pay). Practical mileage pay screws you far less than short miles. Right now, I am making more money not working than working. If and when that changes, I will get back out there.

[geeshock]

heh, i hear ya. it's nice to get some of those things done that keep getting put on the back-burner while we are out on the road. I do agree that 4 hours detention time and 2 day layovers b4 getting payed are not a good thing. One thing i can say is I got the layover for more than 24 hours only once or twice myself. and since I'm dealing mostly with drop and hooks I rarely ever have to worry about detention time. Also, the pay is .32 right now for me but the vacation pay every 30,000 miles bumps it up to .34 and when i reach the 120000 miles it'll be .35.

I guess it's a matter of what's most important to a driver and for 120 drivers that would be 130 different things

yup, not keeping dispatch up to date on your hours and road conditions is a common problem no mater what company your with and if you don't let them know what the deal is they can't work with you. If thats the case with these drivers, shame on them, they won't find the time thing any easier with celadon.

as always, BOL