Typical day of a linedriver

Spoke too soon, just had my shortest run, 7.5 hours, 303 miles to a layover. Would've been less but stupid 50mph speed limit on i84 in CT, plus made a few stops along the way

 

Man, I'm pretty jealous of those southeastern guys and their pre-hooked sets, and not having to work the dock like I do at Con-Way. If the local Southeastern hub has an opening sometime, I may have to give it a look-see...

 

id rather hook my set..if the hostler hooks it for me, it throws me off my routine and i feel very uncomfortable for the entire run..weird i know.

 

hate to say it but Id rather hook my own sets as well. Makes me feel much easier.

 

We do hook our own sets at the smaller terminals. Really only the large break-bulk terminals have hostlers that hook for us. I hook my set leaving LAF every night. I do not break a set when I get back in the morning though. Just drop and park. However, I can if I want to. But if the hostlers are busy and you may have to wait a while for your hook, they will let you hook your own set. They pay us $8 per hook or break. And that's where you can make pretty good extra money. Some runs to smaller terminals may require the initial hook at the home terminal, drive to terminal XYZ, break set, swap either lead or rear and rehook, go to next terminal and break set. Build new set then go home and break again. Thats 3 hooks and 3 breaks per night....and extra $240 a week. Those runs are actually very common, and I sometimes wish I had a run like that....until the weather gets bad then I change my mind...

 

No dock work required either, unless it's a combo run. But then again, all you have to do is say the word, and they let you clock in and work the dock all you want.

 

My yard hostler hooks the set but they are pretty trust worthy. Just have to back under with my tractor pre trip, scale, and book. On my run no stopping to hook or drop. Straight thru 540 miles then layover (mind resets) then turn. No dock work here unless you go to a small term and have to drop a pallet or two which usaully the guy is there to unload for me. Easy money!

 

Hmm normally at a bulk break terminal they already have a truck and set hooked for you. So if you got a good one you might go home with junk. At a handful of small terminals the will hook your truck, sometimes you make the set, sometimes it's per-hooked etc. today I did a 240 mile to a terminal, switcher parked the van, and I hooked the truck to a built set, drove 134 miles to another small terminal, left the set pre-hooked and hooked the van and drove 142 miles home.

We don't work the dock AT ALL doing line-haul. We used to have utility/velocity drivers that would drive to a closely bulk break terminal (fairly close) they were paid hourly the whole time. Mainly they would load their own trailers for their own freight.

Some of our terminals have different unions for the dock guys. Some places the dock men are longshoremen

 

We don't slip seat. Our tractors are assigned, and we just back under the sets and roll. If working the dock was something I enjoyed, then they have some pretty sweet combo runs that receive a good mixture of mileage and hourly pay. But combo drivers are not in the same "job class" as linehaul drivers. I would have to leave linehaul and lose my seniority to bid on a combo run if one ever came up I liked. I don't know jack about working the dock though....

 

We don't work dock at all either but once in a blue moon they couldn't fit all the freight on the drop trailer so they ask plus you don't want to wait 2-3hrs for the guy to get there. I've done about 15min of dock work in a year. I know most of Reddaway backs under their sets. I'm non union though. We slip seat like crazy here. Even at the away terminal. I get there my tractor is gone before I hop on the shuttle. My truck runs non stop during the week. City guys desire the model of my truck too so it always gets used first.