ESTES Express (5 Year Review)

How long do the new hires have to run extraboard for before they can bid on a dedicated route? Do they do it by X amount of months/years with the company and you can bid, or is it something like the bids are open every X month and you can bid at that time regardless of how long you've been with the company?

Also, how do bids work at Estes? Do they have a web portal that lists all the dedicated linehaul bids that are available and then you choose your top 5 or top 10, in ascending order with your #1 preference being top on the list, and then depending on seniority it depends what bid (if any) you are selected for?

 

Depends on terminal. You could be on board 3 months or 8 years.

They bid once a year and print them out toss up on board with bunch of lines to sign.

You can hire on tomorrow and if bids come out Friday sign your name.

 

I was rehired two months ago on the extraboard but after the dust settled from our latest bid I start my new schedule run Sunday.

 

So I came across this question today on a practice test:

How often should you check the tires on a placarded trailer that has dual tires? At the start of each trip and every time you stop
EXPLANATION:Check the tire mounting and air pressure. Inspect the tires every two hours, every 100 miles, and each time you stop.

You guys don't have to respond if you don't want to, but when the DOT pulls your logs on a hazmat load are they looking to see that you have stopped the truck every 2 hours or 100 miles? Have they ever called you out on it and given you a violation if you drove longer than 2 hours without stopping and/or drove longer than 100 miles without stopping?

 

They changed that. Its now at the start of the trip and each time you stop. So no you wouldn't get a ticket.

 

Can you guys explain the boards a little better, this week I will do the interview for the terminal in Dallas, over the phone they were vague about it.

 

https://youtube.com/channel/UCXNl93o6TVBkIKUsyLlNWEA

Someone sent me this. Looks like he will answer more questions than you probably have.

He looks to be an estes board driver for some time and videos it all

 

thanks man I sent you a PM also.

 

I was looking, Charlotte to Atlanta would be a nice dedicated run. No mountain driving at least (yeah you got the Kings Mountain area but there's no steep grades). Although the endless construction from around the Spartanburg SC to the NC border is endless and terrible.

But if I could leave Charlotte around 8:00pm and get in and out of Atlanta by 2:00am, it really wouldn't be that bad as I would avoid the Atlanta traffic and then get back to Charlotte before the morning traffic. That Spartanburg to NC border construction stretch would probably be the worst of it. That's a 518 mile run from the Charlotte Terminal to the Ellenwood (just outside of Atlanta) Terminal.

Question for you guys: On the dedicated linehaul runs, how many days per week do you run it? For example that Charlotte to Atlanta run would be about 10 hours for on duty time and driving. So you could easily do that 6 days a week assuming no stupid traffic/construction jams.

On a bid like that, is it normal for Estes drivers to run 5 days a week or run 6 days a week and run as close to their 70 as they can? Or is it you run 5 days a week and get an OPTION of choosing to work a 6th day if you want/they have anything available. How does that work with bid runs?

 

It sounds like you’ve already got your preferred bid and start time picked out, but as someone already said, you’re not going to get anything good for months or years. It’s the wrong thing to focus on at this point.