SAIA and other trucking companies that consolidate freight

You're making it too complicated... They just collect freight from one market and try to max out a trailer going to another market. Freight might change trailers 5 times getting to its destination, but it's far cheaper and efficient than hiring a whole truck to run 4 pallets to another state.

 

It's the LTL segment of the industry. ABF, Yellow, Estes, R&L, Old Dominion, Conway, Fedex Freight, UPS Freight are the other big players.

 

Your answer is within the definition of the word consolidation/consolidate

 

P&d drivers collect the LTL frt and then bring it to the terminal then the dock workers break up the loads and rebuild the loads according to their destination terminals, then the line haulers come in at night and run those loads to their turn around terminals and swap loads heading back their home terminals or the load will continue South bound until it gets to it's destination terminal, the loads will be broken up again for the p&d drivers to deliver in their drop zones, they get the deliveries off and call in for pick ups .... Then head back home and the process starts over again
.... Hope this clear things up for you, LTL jobs are one of the cream of the crop jobs in trucking and also one of the best kept secrets in this industry, it's not for everyone tho because p&d in the city can be very hectic and stressful for some drivers ,
M thru F OT after 40 paid, and other benifits as well, starting pay is no less $20 hrly and tops out around $28 hrly, home everyday off on weekends usually
This is a family man type of work

 

Not to mention the customer pays a higher premium for LTL frt then it would be for a whole truck load
A load of ltl frt pays Alot more than what one of the mega fleets can pick up

 

A buddy of mine is a line haul driver for saia out of the Omaha terminal and made 85k last year ...nota bad way to go .

 

Yeah, they do OK
Thing is, that 3rd shift really takes a toll on your health after a few yrs
.... I like the p&d side better, myself

 

Yep your right ...I'm ex Clark bros line haul and never could get the hang of goin back and forth on sleep schedules .
When saia bought em I went back otr .
Was hard on family life too.

 

I dunno. While I don't work for an LTL, I do delivery to hospitals in the Columbus area, and I think it's a tie between delivering an average of 60 pallets of freight a night and simply working overnight as to which has a greater impact on my health. Wouldn't be so bad if the warehouse didn't constantly stack pallets too tall and put all the heavy stuff on top every night. Or that I'm 5'6" and the dock workers are all like 8' tall.