Beer Trucking In Pictures

Are you RL Lipton or Maple City Ice. The House has bulk trucks.

 

Maple City Ice Norwalk, Ohio I used to when I first started long ago worked out of the Lorain drop lot for Superior over there at the old Ford Plant next to Heidelberg. Actually we had 2 guys from Heidelberg come over and another driver about a year or so ago from Maple City Ice come over as well he works out of our little drop yard in Lorain.

 

He used to do Elyria for Maple City Ice I think.

 

I haven't known of to many leaving to go to Superior either those guys out at Superiors Lorain yard have it made, but word on the street is Superior has been having a hard time as well retaining drivers especially at the warehouse I wouldn't leave Maple City Ice to go to Superior that's a sideways move.

How many routes does Maple City Ice run? I think Superior had maybe 10 routes out in Lorain it was weird because they had all kinds of different equipment out there during the week they have those big strange looking high cube 28' trailers and I'll tell you what they would have pallets built all the way to the ceiling in those things, but for the most part they were packed tight and they shrink wrapped the snot out of those things, but they shuttled doubles to that yard usually this goofy looking 28'-14bay sideloader combination infact Thursday night I saw a Superior shuttle truck on it's way to the warehouse on I-480 east bound near the Airport it was a 28' high cube with a 14 bay side loader on the rear. Superior is a company that has a lot going on. I will say this about Superior at the core at the core the company absolutely has the right idea, execution wise there are somethings to be worked out, but at the core and at the heart of the operation they have the right idea without a doubt. I would have stayed at Superior for a while longer, if GFS didn't want to pick me up, but GFS was career wise a much needed move I needed to get the driving of stick shift trucks down and bigger trucks in general, it was curve going from a single screw Freightliner M2 automatic up to a full size Volvo 600 standard shift twin screw.

However all that aside would I work at Superior again? As a route truck driver bulk or side loader no absolutely not. Would I work there again as a delivery driver at GFS who is burnt out on delivery and could not get a transit or volume truck run, but knew they could get on working at Superior as a truck load driver in there OTR division (which isn't really true OTR it's just going to Dayton and back or running night shuttle's to the drop yards.) While that job doesn't pay the big money GFS pays nor does it have the good GFS fringe benefits, it pays about $52K a year I like my big time GFS money better, but say I couldn't get the run at GFS I wanted, which by the way my whole goal at GFS is to hopefully eventually be a transit or volume truck driver, I don't want to do delivery forever, but for right now it's fine it pays good, make hay while the sun shines as they say.

However, would I work at Superior again as an OTR driver or shuttle driver the answer is yes I would give that side of there operation a try, I would rather do night shuttle to there yards or go down to the brewery in Dayton, I wouldn't do Great Lakes OTR though as a right of passage at Superior who ever you are you have to do Great Lakes OTR for a week when you first start there and it's a good testing ground and run and Great Lakes OTR should really be named Great Lakes shuttle. Going from the warehouse to Great Lakes brewery and back 5 times a day 5 days a week. Great Lakes is a pain to back into especially the rear dock in a 48' trailer sometimes the way people on the street park it can't even be done. The warehouse at Superior is fine it's modern plenty of space and room no problems there, the other dock at Great Lakes isn't as hard to back into it's no picnic, but it doesn't bother me as much, but you have to watch out for the cars cutting around, you but that run to me is to old to boring it's not enough driving for my taste and it's Ohio City been there done that have no desire to go back so there Great Lakes run during the day doesn't interest me, but the rest of what they do like there night shuttle that's alright I would give that a shot go down to the lots sometimes pulling doubles other times pulling a 16 bay maybe take a 38-40' to a yard that's no biggie.

Like I said at the core Superior is a hell of a company they do a lot of things right, it was a money/experience thing with me at GFS just better all the way around, but I'll tell this to anyone when I worked for Superior at the core and the heart they did a lot of things right. I can't complain at all about the loads we got from Superior as far as how the side loaders were loaded. The way they loaded the side loaders actually made perfect sense and would have been the exact way I would have done it, if it was my company.

Also the 28' trailers out in Lorain doing work side loaders used to do is not a bad way either really. It it was me we would have the same 13' 28' trailers we have at Gordons, because I'm always concerned about clearance, but the 28' I thought were a really efficient way to do some of the routes they had, much better then hanging off the side of a side loader. Now that being said where I ran out in the inner city a 28' I guess you could have forced it but taking a 28' trailer with a lift gate and pallet jack to do a 10 case delivery isn't a good set up, side loader made more sense for Ohio City, but out in Lorain and Sandusky area the 28' trailers at a drive through that orders a 2-3 skids of product is a piece of cake park the truck where ever and just drive the pallet right to the front door and roll it all in pretty fast set up really.

I did Cedar Point a couple times with Chuck when I first was starting at Superior and we went there in a 16 bay once and a 14 bay another time, Superior did have an older International 12 bay parked at the warehouse that they never really used and that's the truck that should have went to Cedar Point I know Maple City Ice had 1 or 2 12 bays that would go to Cedar Point, but Coke over there Elyria sent a 16 bay into Cedar Point so it wasn't that bad going to Cedar Point in a 16 bay.

 

Rib's
Today I was training a fellow on the route I am leaving and he we talked about delivering out in Lorain he's an ex Heidelberg guy and he said yeah Maple City isn't what it was and everything you have said about it is true. Maple City isn't to hot to update and they should get some bulk trucks going.