Mbm foodservice

Haha yeah the jobs not for everyone, ive never heard of Martin Brower, around here Golden State Foods distribute the Mcdonalds, and its the place you want to be if you plan to drive in food service.

 

Anyone ever worked for maines paper and food ? They are always advertising here in chicago...Wondering if that is a good or bad thing...I wouldnt mind giving them a try.. need to make some money..

 

Just wanted to chime in about MBM. I've been with them for less than a year, the first few months on extra board were really rough...I did a lot of sitting, and a lot of begging for runs. Now that I'm on a regular route, things are much better. Not much home time, I get my 34 hour restart and that's about it....but the pay is good. Pay can fluctuate depending on whether or not the route has a backhaul during the week, or if stops get pulled off because of weight..we are paid by number of stops and miles. When their ad says that their drivers average $60k a year, they aren't lying. I'm on track to do well over that. Overall, now that I'm pulling in the $$$ I'm very pleased with MBM. It's not the kind of job that you can stick with into old age, but I'll be with it as long as the body holds out.

 

Hi I work for them for 6 years,leaving for FedEx.Was an well paying job,we were union the pay was 23.40hr.Alot of NYC ,I was out of the Philly warehouse,very hard work,up and down stairs 10 to 15 stops up to 1000 cases on trl by hand.How old are you?The guys high up on the list got the pallet drops,the new guys got the bad runs.Alot of the warehouses pay by the pic/stop/mile,you pick up cash,checks.You have to like hard work,and also alot of backing into small lots.Food service is in an world of its own,not like OTR/LTL,ex,ex

 

Anyone know anything about them? Would like to hear from someone who has worked or is working for them.

 

Everything is not boxed up into containers!!!! It is dead stacked from the floor up, were talking about full case items, (gatorade, water, chips, full case candy, case's of smokes) The only thing that is loaded in totes are the small gmp, and single sell items, (combs, tylenol, condoms, quarts of oil) And yes we do have refrigerated items!!! 'C' stores are not the only thing we service, some 'C' stores recieve their lunch meat, juices, butter type cooler items, and then you have the Targets, which can get up to 200 cases of cooler, an 200 cases of frozen alone!!! Plus the get dry goods out the back end!! Granted their are two drivers on a truck, but that is mainly the grocery side of mclane, the foodservice which tend too all the quick serve resteraunts mainly run day cabs and are single drivers that do half their load, get a hotel, take a 10 hr break, then finsh up and drive home. I run the grocery side of it, and yes you get a partner, but when your logged in the berth your really up helping unload. I do not like running that way because somtimes your up for 24 to 30 hrs at a time with only an hour or 2 of sleep, but you kinda learn you eigther do things their way, or its the highway!!! Grocery is not for the meek, but you can make good money, just at a price!!

 

im glad u guys talked about mbm.. been looking for information and sounds like a tough job but i like work that will pay you for being productive. Of course i will start on the extra board out of columbus, does anybody have info on columbus mbm thx?

 

Just wondering if anyone drives for or has any knowledge of MBM foodservice? I have food service experience and was wondering what you can tell me about them. They are hiring near my new home and was thinking about them. Thanks

 

I'm going to be somewhat vague, as I don't want to incriminate myself. Who knows who's reading this.

MBM is a very large North American company (US & Canada). Last I knew, they had 31 distribution centers (DC). However, I believe they just bought another food distributor. They've, also, closed a couple warehouses. Mgmt doesn't give much info.

They've gotten to their size with buyouts. If there's a restaurant chain they think would be profitable for them to deliver to, they attempt to buy the distributor. They service only large chains.

As mentioned they deliver to restaurants. How the product is delivered depends on the customer and DC. MBM is a "customized foodservice distributor". Some customers receive roll-in service, while others elect tailgate service that involves them fetching the product from the truck. Some DCs have liftgate trailers. Some only have ramp trailers. Some have sleeper tractors. Some only have daycabs. Each DC is different.

Each DC delivers to certain restaurant chains. Since each concept's products are specific to their chain, there are a lot of different products. Therefore, a DC might only service two chains. It's not uncommon to have three MBM trucks, on the same street, at three different restaurants, and from three different DCs. That's just the way it is.

Again, each DC is different. Some slip-seat, while others are assigned tractors. In the DCs that slip-seat, the equipment is destroyed. There's not a straight bumper or cab extender on their properties. There's the ongoing problem of trash being left for the next guy. We've had slip-seat tractors where drivers have urinated and defecated in them. The slip-seat equipment is disgusting. It seems that mgmt doesn't care, as it doesn't affect them. Afterall, they've got a nice, clean office to sit in. The assigned equipment is much nicer. They're clean and the trucks are straight. At those DCs, there's accountability for the equipment. I don't understand why some equipment is assigned and others are slip-seat. Assigned may cost more upfront, but, saves money at the other end. Also, it helps driver retention.

The equipment is leased from Ryder. The maintenance at some locations is horrible and great at others. Again, this widely varies. I just know that I'll never, again, work at a company with Ryder equipment. If the shop doesn't think your complaint is valid, nothing happens. Look at any Ryder equipment and see if it's had new shocks put on it. Of all the equipment I've seen at various locations, I've only ever seen one truck with new shocks. Those were on the suspension, but, not new on the cab. If you need new shocks at one point, you need them at all. Exterior cleanliness widely varies, too. Some shops have a wash bay, others contract out washing. At that point, you're at the mercy of their schedule.

You get paid by the piece, mile, and stop on the outbound. Backhaul pay and mileage for the inbound. You get detention, after 2hrs. Breakdown pay, after 2hrs (BS, as our Ryder stuff breaks down often). Washout pay. All amounts vary by location.

Motel policy is: you can stay in a room on the 2nd night. First night is in the truck. Daycab is obviously every night. I've always stayed in a motel. I'm going to bed clean and starting my day clean and looking fresh.

Company policy on loads is that the trailers will roll with a minimum weight of 34,500lbs. If the routes for the day don't meet that, they bust up a route and throw those stops on everyone else. This is a huge problem, as I'll get to.

Dispatch is a total lie. They use a system to help plan routes. It gives a default delivery time, depending on the concept. Not all concepts order the same amount, so this system sucks in that regard. One store may order 100 cases, the next 250 cases. It still allows the same time. Those entries need adjusted, but, mgmt usually leaves it for you to make happen. Zipcode to zipcode the system plans at 50mph (good luck!). Within a zipcode it plans at 30mph (more luck needed!). So, you can clearly see you'll be behind all day. The worst is when dispatch goes in and shortens delivery and drive times to squeeze in extra stops. The system won't release a route, if it is planned to be driving beyond the 14hr point. So, they cut as much time from deliveries needed to get the system to release it. On top of that, they'll throw extra stops onto the route that are from other routes. Or, they'll throw on "specials", which are stops where a customer was shorted, misordered, or needed extra product. Again, it's up to the driver to make happen. Bottom line is that your dispatch sheet may show 14-1/2hrs total duty for the day, but, the reality is that you may have a 17+hr day. Those extra hours come out of your off-duty time, because your first stop on day #2 is planned off a "legal" day #1. Imagine breaking your back for all those hours, then, getting an abreviated night of sleep. They don't run legal, don't care about driver fatigue, and seem to be ignorant of what CSA is about. Their day is coming.

You won't have any longevity here. Most of the senior drivers were employees of a company that was bought out. Or, that driver works at a DC that is mostly tailgate deliveries. The running up and down ramps will ensure that you have a short workspan. Liftgates are only at certain DCs and it seems that there's a company-wide push to get rid of them. That thing weighs like 3000lbs and mgmt view is that's product left off the truck. Anyway, a liftgate trailer still has to have cooler and freezer ran out the side doors. So, the liftgate only helps to an extent, on certain routes.

If you get hurt here, they won't take of you. Nearly every driver I've heard of, that got hurt, has had to seek an attorney. Then, the poor guy is hurt and having to fight it out in the courts before he gets fixed. I've heard of drivers going to the hospital and MBM not paying the bill. The hospital turns in the drivers to a collection agency. I tell all new-hires to lookout for yourself. Don't think for a moment that this company cares about you. They care about your production. When you're worn out or hurt, they just say "Next!".

I've seen an extensive amount of mis-handling of food products. If a box is to be shipped on the floor, the trailer must be washed out prior to loading (yeah right!). Every load out has stuff on the floor. Mixing of frozen and cooler product with the reefer set at 30 degrees, so to not let the frozen thaw too quickly or freeze cooler product. Full pallets of frozen/cooler sitting on an un-cooled dock for hours at a time. It's a difficult place to work, knowing this stuff goes on everyday there.

Delivering to customers is full of situations a truckload driver will never see. You'll do 5-10 drops in a day. See some of the nastiest kitchens in the world. Deal with mgrs and employees who've never even made it out of middle school. A lot of managers simply outlasted anyone else who's ever worked there. Therefore, they fall into the position. Show up on time, only to have the manager say to you "I'm going to the bank, I'll be back.". Yet, you've got more stores to make. They don't care about you and your schedule. Managers that tell you "You can't park on the lot, you have to park in the street out back and wheel it". Yet, there's not a car on their parking lot or customer in the store. Piles and piles of trash in the back doorway. From that trash is the most disgusting liquid you've seen leaked onto the floor. Customers, on the lot, that won't give you the least bit of break to get onto the property. Trying to get a sleeper tractor and 48' trailer onto a fastfood lot. Even better is trying to get into a restaurant built into a mall/strip mall outlot (the designers put those landscape islands in to keep trucks out). The list goes on and on.

The money is great, given the number of days gone. However, figure up all the hours worked and it doesn't look so great. Further, add in the toll on your body, potential for debilitating injuries, and the illegal operating and it looks really bleak. Compared to what I made OTR, in the mid-90's, I'm not doing much better. And, I physically suffer much more.

 

Christ in the morning you have it rough... I've been doing truckload reefer work for almost three years now and the only load I ever fingerprinted were some styrofoam shipping boxes for Omaha Steaks to the tailgate.

Here I thought it was rough delivering to a pet store in the Denver area a couple weeks back that didn't have a dock and kind of a weird short alley next to the store to offload (they put a pallet jack in back and one of their guys wheeled each pallet to the rear where the forklift could grab it).

Hope you make a mint for putting up with all of that.

Jim