9 month review at YRC

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by Digman943, Jan 17, 2017.

  1. Digman943

    Digman943 Medium Load Member

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    Not much on here about recent reviews of YRC so I'd figure I would share my experience.

    I got my cdl by completing the YRC driving school back in March. I had to get all my endorsements and permit as well as hazmat and medical card on my own time and dime. Just the permit was required before I could start the school. I enjoyed the month of school which was M-F. It was unpaid but I was collecting unemployment so it worked out for me. The school only taught us what we needed to know to pass our driving exam. The school is free if you sign a contract to give YRC a year of service. If you quit you owe them 4K which goes down the longer you work for them.

    I drove with a trainer for 6 weeks which included a week of mountain training. Trainers are decent but some are bad. I lucked out with a good one.

    After training I lucked out and got on a good paying sleeper team bid for the first 6 months. It paid well but was gone 6 days a week. I ended up staying with the same partner for another bid and we got a short week 4 days out, and a long week which is 6 days. I will be on this until our bid is up in April.

    I ended up making close to 65k in my 8 months of working at YRC in 2016. I feel that's pretty good for my first driving job. That is basically 30% under scale since they start you out at 15% under then there is the 15% give back.

    The medical benefits are 100% paid and union dues are 45 a month. I have not had to use them besides eye and I found out the dental isn't too good. The dental insurance didn't have any good in network dentists in my area. It's ok because I'm on my wife's dental and hers is pretty good. My benefits started at 90 days.

    The job is pretty easy. We just drive to the terminal and we switch off every 10 hours. Pull into the terminal punch our time and start getting paid until our load is ready again to leave. We don't build sets, hook, unhook or have to bump docks. My hourly is 18.09. We get paid for road closures, breakdowns, shop time, chaining, and fueling.

    I worked all holidays this past year besides Christmas. Worked holidays get paid 12 hours and unworked get paid 8 hours.

    I would say morale varies at different terminals. I'm at the Chicago Heights terminal and there's a lot of bad attitudes due to the give back and merger. A lot of older long time drivers here. Dispatchers are fair some are straight up butt heads. It is what it is. Can't blame them since a lot of the drivers are jerks towards them.

    Driver supervisors are ok. One is decent and the other one could be a tad friendlier to say the least. But there's only 2 supervisors for 500 drivers so I can only imagine their workload. Good thing is no one is calling you or looking over your shoulder. Pretty laid back.

    There's outward facing drivecams. Management cannot fire a driver due to footage of drivecam. Thats where the union helps.

    Sleeper trucks are decent. Freightliner Cascadias. Most are under 500k miles and are leased units. I was only in day cabs during my training so can't comment too much on that.

    I'm pretty burned out on these sleeper runs. I have no life but I knew that's how my first year would be. Sleeping in a moving truck takes time to adjust to, which I have, but gets very old. When my bid is up I'm going to try and hop on a single man bid but it's not likely I'll have enough seniority. I will at least run the extra board for a month to get some better driving experience. I have only backed a few times when we had a long box. I've never even bumped a dock. Haven't built a set since training. So I need to work on my skills to say the least.

    I'm not looking forward to the XB since there's no schedule. On call 24/7. But I need more experience besides driving down 80.

    I'm not sure if I'm gonna stay or not. I want something with more home time. I may look into beverage or food service. I feel like I'm dieing faster on these sleeper runs since I'm either sitting or laying down all week. I'm a pretty active person and like to stay busy. These sleeper runs are a lazy mans dream!

    Bottom line this is a great first driving gig! There's some BS but that will be with any company. I would reccomend YRC to any new driver in a heartbeat.

    Thanks for reading my long post. My intention for this was to give honest info on my experience to anyone who intends on applying here. Any questions feel free to ask.
     
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  3. Mike2633

    Mike2633 Road Train Member

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    I liked reading your story doesn't sound all that awful I suppose.

    The food companies will have plenty of work. For instance, today I had a helper (I was loaded pretty full.) and he had on his phone which counted steps and other things, by the time we reached 8 stop of the day he had walked 5 miles and had taken over 11,000 steps.

    Some of our stops are also pretty close so it's pretty much like driving from one driveway to the other, so it's a lot more on your feet.
     
  4. Digman943

    Digman943 Medium Load Member

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    Thanks.

    I used to work for a uniform, mat, and linen company. Had a local route with 40 stops so I'm used to doing some work. You'd be surprised how much mats and tablecloths can weigh!
     
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  5. Mike2633

    Mike2633 Road Train Member

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    Oh I know that stuffs heavy those mats are way heavy and all that laundry in sacks and stuff it starts to weigh a lot.
    Morgan Textile and Linen Service there step vans all have big lift gates on the back of them and from time to time I'll see one driving down the highway and the back of the step van will be riding way low, which means that thing is loaded down with heavy laundry.
     
  6. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    A&R Logistics has good hometime and the annual pay is decent. Non-hazmat tanker.
     
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  7. bzinger

    bzinger Road Train Member

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    That's pretty dam good pay for a first year driver that never bumps a dock !
    Good read op .
     
  8. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    ABF has the same program and pay probably the same.
     
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  9. Mike2633

    Mike2633 Road Train Member

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    That's what I thought that's pretty high on the hog for a job where you never even have to hook up your own set of doubles. Heck I hook doubles all the time, but have only ever pulled them once.
     
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  10. Radman

    Radman Road Train Member

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    Not all terminals are sleeper runs but maybe cause your a new driver it's how you gotta start out. My buddy got on YRC down in AZ. Runs solo and loves it. Think he does out and backs.
     
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  11. Radman

    Radman Road Train Member

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    Yup, their set is hooked and Pre tripped by a mechanic. They just jump in and go from what my buddy told me. Also you just drive in and park and jump out. No breaking the set from what I understand.
     
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