Questions about local work from new driver

I live in socal, work foodservice. A ton of drivers at my company came from beer and said they didnt make crap there (about 800 a week gross)

My buddy got hired on as a cdl rookie at his beer company before he came here.

 

I cleared around 1200 every two weeks at the beer company.

As far as governed trucks, most beer companies don't roll like that however they dont always need to because some of those side loader trucks dont have a ton of power and usually go pretty slow.

However some fleets have newer better equipment and roll faster.

Beer trucking is more about stops and deliveries then it is about trucking. Really trucks and driving is the least of what you do beer trucking.

 

^^^^ I knew you'd set 'em straight~!!

 

You were supposed to come here and convince him to go foodie, blow smoke up his....... tail pipe, tell him bout your killer 6 pack, and guns, all the money you be flashin...

 

OH sorry I made a mistake,
Yes you should go and work for a food company the money is better then at beer and you get to work out as hard as you want. If you want to do 20,000lbs everyday the powers that be will certainly have that arranged.

You'll have money and be able to buy toys and stuff with that money and all the chicks will really dig you.

 

LOL! I took my CDL in test in an old Freightliner FL70 gosh was that truck slow it was probably an old beverage hauler if I had to guess and when I got on the highway the inspector said, "Hammer down, if were lucky will get to 55!"

The thing you must rember is beer companies are not like big fleets with Qualcoms and changing out trucks every couple years oh no they don't do that.

The smaller beer distribution companies buy a truck usually used maybe new, mix and match, and they keep that truck for it's economic life span which can be 15-20 years in some cases and even longer.

The trucks usually are pretty no frills and there city hoppers there pedal units there built to do stop and go city work. Beer distributors don't run by the same rules as the big OTR truck companies. Totally different business and cultures and set ups and everything.

I know where I worked we had these little junkie Freightliners with these stupid small under powered kitty Cat diesels and then the lease was up on those trucks and they went to a beefier version of the Freightliner M2 and those trucks ended up having Cummins Turbo Diesels in them and they were a lot better.

However no, the beer company we didn't have speed governors, but here's the thing you won't need a speed governor in a heavy stop and go city environment, because you'll be to busy doing stops every 3ft to worry about having to race Werner or Swift up a hill.

 

Now @Cardfan89 will be the first to tell you if you want to make the big bucks you can march right into the office of your supervisor at where ever you work and demand 1,000-1,200 cases and they will be more then happy to have that arranged and even if you don't want that many sometimes you'll get it any how! .

I remember I was talking to a US Foods driver from Twinsberg and ha-ha, he told me they were running short on drivers they had 4 new people quit in 4 days and that was just that week and the woman who does the load balance doesn't really have a great understanding of what she is really doing and how it translates into real life and he told me ha-ha that she packed him with like 1,000 cases or something and said to him "You can get that load done in like 10 hours? Right? Right? Please? "

The driver I was talking to he looked at this woman and just laughed in her face. Is what he told me.

I don't why they have such a turn over at US Foods in Twinsberg, I actually can't say I've heard anyone say it was bad, so I don't know what the problem there is. They have a lot of trucks and equipment.

 

I don't understand why they have so much trouble keeping drivers I guess it's because the cost of living is so low here and it really is a very good job for this area but I have been here for three years and still in the bottom 1/3 of seniority the majority of drivers have 15 years in. At the distribution center I would be the very bottom guy over half of them guys are 20+ years guys

 

Twinsberg is a whole other story the trailers have permanently affixed to them the sign that says NOW HIRING CDL A ROUTE DRIVERS APPLY TODAY!

The thing is we have probably dare I say higher cost of living? Gosh my property taxes on my house are almost $400 dollars a month and we have a lot of competition here we have every major food company here in Cleveland and then we have regional and smaller ones as well and I think that's all part of it. People hop around.

 

And we are in the cheapest part of the country low taxes and cheap rent and house prices.... we have all the big competition here too uni pro sysco Reinhart pfg but it seems here sysco and us foods are the destination jobs people don't quit hardly I don't know how I landed this gig just got lucky I guess.