why

Very soon all that will be left are the big companies,and choices for work will be limited.
Me, I'm going to drive a taxi, and laugh at the loonies in the back seat.

 

i agree; i know that con-way is mega money, but i've not been interested for one main reason and recently another reason:

1) too strenuous for money, which again is good money, but not good enough for the work involved. This notion is beginning to change on my part.

2) i don't like the new logo and paintjobs as well as the new equipment.

 

Very valid - especially starting out. I don't think the work or schedule involved is worth the money here starting out. Most of the drivers that stick it out don't mind the work and by time the realize it, they've moved up the pay scale and it's almost impossible to quit.

Turnover here at the bottom is very high but goes down quite a bit after one year and is almost non-existent after five.

 

Actually, it's not so much the work, but the scheduling;

Unloading a set of doubles, then loading your set, the going to a terminal(which if you're just starting out will be a short one), unloading your set, then loading your new set then driving back, then unloading the set etc..... believe it or not, to me, is not bad.

UNTIL you throw in the part that this all has to be done in the middle of the night!

But i'm becoming more mature and working at night doesn't faze me as much as before, so who knows? i may be taking the plunge.

a) i just feel when you're younger especially, working when you should be sleeping is bad.

2) And the new logo......i mean come on! Basically, someone just took a magic marker and in 4 secs said, "hey that's it!" People keep trying to re-invent the wheel. When somethings good, leave it. It's like the old coke , new coke thing that happened.

i love the the old color coded schemes for each division---they really looked good complete with painted frames and axles.

 

Absolutely. I just saw a video the other day with the old CCX uniforms though and it was definitely time to put those to bed. I always though the old CSE division had the best looking color scheme on their equipment.

Oh well, if it pays the bills they can paint the trucks pink and brown if they so choose.

 

Working nights has its downside but the money compared to a daily P&D run makes it worthwhile to me. After a while a lot of drivers here like myself use the dock time as a way to hit the number you wanna make. My number is $340 per night. My run pays $232 to drive, drop/hook/fuel usually makes around $40, so I need enough time on the dock to make another $70-75 to hit my number. That takes a little over 3 hours and since the hub I run closes too early to work that long, I come in early and work our dock for an hour or so till my loads are ready and I can leave.

I'm not too concerned with color schemes - I'll drive a pink truck and wear a lavender leisure suite for a uniform so long as they pay me for what I'm doing. Day line-haul is the holy grail of bids at Con-way but I'm years away from getting a sniff at it so night line-haul is what I'll do for some years to come.

 

I have absolutely no qualms about driving a brown truck,...If fact I am quite happy driving a brown truck,...

 

No doubt.. Brown truck + brown uniform = a lot of green..

 

It took a few years to land a gig like this,....But at this point I guess it was worth it,....

I was very lucky,...I'll take luck like this any day,...

 

So anyways, let's discuss con-way more; i see you grossed 82K last year. Which blew my ##### out of the water at 50K.

i'm more mature and mentally calmer at night as compared to before, so i think i may be able to handle it.


Could you tell me more about operations? Maybe a typical work day for you?

i heard you had to basically go in and unload a set, load a(your) set, go to the terminal, unload your set, load another set, then drive to the next terminal.