hauling mail vs doing ltl

does a company need to have a good safety score to haul mail for the us postal service?

as far as wages it seems to be there with the ltl companies roughly, with this particular company in relation to the ltl companies of my area.

my main question is how reputable a company is that may be hauling mail, or does the post office not care so much? i'm not too much concerned about details of the job, that i kind of know already with the 2 companies i am considering. it's mostly about, i know that ltl if they lose contracts it's same similar job with the same/similar turn runs and stuff for linehaul, but with the company hauling mail, everything will change potentially if they lose the mail contract.

 

I've done a few mail runs out of usps in Binghamton. Easy peasy as far as loading/unloading. Wheel the light mail carts on and wheel them off. Most were way light 50-100lbs. Bout as much as i know. Probably less work than LTL

I just took em to the big sorting dc outside of Newark NJ

Edit: USPS sorry not fed ex

 

The situation you'll run into with mail is whether or not the sorting has been done when you arrive at the P&DC... if the mail isnt ready or the expeditor cant get to you to scan your freight off then you are forced to wait.

 

I’m just trying to figure out what LTL company pays less than a postal contractor. I thought those were usually in the $25/hr range, no OT.

 

Worked for matheson for 6 years. Pay was great the rest....not so much. Granted i did a team run but it was a pretty god awful job after a while. Trucks full of tatletails whistleing and yelling at EVERYTHING inside facing cameras, almost no real home time even when i was home ect. New drivers getting much higher rates then established drivers ect. The 2 weeks in colorado when it was -40F and we had no ####ing heater and were told run or else we are fired (i would have quit then and there but my team driver who was also family couldnt afford for me to do so without ####ing HIM over) the month in summer with no AC when it was 80+ out and being foeced to sleep in there. The constant headachs with the trucks (this job is where i learned to HATE isx motors btw, when they switched to paccar a lot of issues went poof heh) and more things then i can count.

Made $140k+ a year but at the end of 5 years according to friends "i looked like i was going to kill someone and had aged 20 years" End dump has me gone more but has more consistant real home time and my sanity has improved a lot. Also no more drive 11 hours. drive 2 hours to drop off my team driver drive 2 hours to my place sleep 8 and getting to enjoy a whole 6 hours off before going and driving 2 hours to get my team driver, driving 2 hours to work and then finishing my 34 in the sleeper ########. where i literally only got 1 week off a YEAR to enjoy some home time unless we wanted to risk our route.

That said ive heard the more "local" non team routes are much MUCH better but i cant warn you off them strongly enough.

 

the 6 days/wk kept me away.

regional was 5 1/2.

 

I had a mail run in the 80's....split the run with O/O..Each of us did 3 15 hour runs a week. Being in Canada we didn't run log books, HOS was still only a recommendation. Easy work, no waiting for load.

 

another thing to note is that company hauling the mail, it is offering option to do no benefits for 8 dollars more per hour, or could do benefits for 8 dollars less an hour. but if 60 hours a week all year, that's over 20k in year. I am thinking if I do my own health insurance I could pay much less than that per year, thus going the route of company not pay health benefits could potentially save me alot of money assuming I go cheap coverage?

 

If you like working during Thanksgiving and Christmas then have at it. I like my 3-4 day weekends with ltl. Not sure how mail is with all major holidays but I’ll take my measly 90-100k 5 day 55 hr work week over working holidays. From what others said about working mail I think work life balance is better in LTL. Part of the reason I left Mclane missed having holiday weekends off.

 

Why I went back to LTL.