Hey everyone I had a question to ask. I’m interviewing for a WM driver position an one of the requirements is to have a Air Brake Endorsement. When I was in CDL school I passed my General Knowledge,Air Brakes an Combinations to get my license. Do I have anything to worry about it when it comes with the air brakes being I had to passed that part in order to get my class A license?
WM will fire you if your truck gets hit 3 times. Doesn’t matter if it’s parked and someone hits it. That still counts. Doesn’t matter how small or large. 3 times and you’re out.
If you have an air brake endorsement on your CDL you are set... ready to go. If you do not have an air brake endorsement on your license, they wont hire you. You will have to get that endorsement added to your license.
Waste Management,,,peee-yeeew,,another one of those most important jobs, basically going unfilled. Our local WM has a constant ad for drivers, that nobody wants. And it's been revolutionized to the point, if you can handle the smell, one rarely actually touches the garbage, like the "walk alongs in the alleys" of years ago,, unless the whole dumpster goes over, and that happened the other day. I think they pay pretty well, but like all these "less than desirable "jobs today, fewer and fewer are doing this. Then there's the landfill where you dump the crap, oh, yeah, disgusting place, usually out of view from the public,,good luck.
It's not just WM, ALL of these "hands on" jobs are going unfilled. Local excavating company, BEGGING for drivers, I watched a guy go from the dump truck, to the skid steer to the excavator, I finally asked, what, are you a 1 man show? He said, he has a constant ad running, and nobody applied. He even offered me a job, $25/hr, but wouldn't pay cash, so that was that. With places like Walmart and McDonalds paying nearly that, combine that with people that just don't want to that kind of work anymore, I don't think in the future, it will matter what they pay. Man, I sure would have driven a garbage truck for $25/hour. Years ago, it was a poor paying job, probably still is.
Waste Management is a company with good pay & great benefits... But you can't work for them. The number of rules are atrocious. The rules change daily to suit the company or local office. Waste Management is micro managed to the point no one can stay there for any length of time. Its a constant revolving door. The garbage industry has come a long way from days past & is not really a bad job. Its just the idea of being a garbage man or when someone asks you what you do for a living, its just the perception that people have of a "garbage man". Its not that bad anymore. You don't have the hands on, touching the garbage or the cans like you used to. Oh yes, sure there are still some of that but, a lot of bigger companies like WM have gotten away from that, due to efficiency & less labor. Most residential is what we used to call "one arm bandits" where a hydraulic operated arm reaches out grabs the can, dumps it and puts it back. Essentially a "no touch" job. Front load is basically no touch. Roll-off is basically no touch. Landfills have also become less "trashy" as well. EPA & other government orgs have made the industry of landfills cleaner. Only trash out to smell is what was dumped today... no rotting garbage, etc. Its not like it was 50 years ago. Its obviously not like a laboratory environment with white coats but the garbage industry has come a long way and is truly not the "trashy/dirty" job it used to be .... at least for the most part. Waste Management is just so micromanaged until its virtually impossible to work for them.... at least for any length of time. Eventually, you're going to break enough of their constantly changing & increasing rules until you'll be got. Turnover at WM is atrocious. Great job, benefits & pay but extremely poor management from an employee stand point. Just my 2 cents after 11 years being WM employee.
Many of those jobs are a one-man operation. Driver doesn't have to get out of the truck. Republic Services picks up my garbage and it's a smooth operation.