Bidding process at ABF

At the terminal that I work at you need to have high seniority to be able to work the dock. New employees are put into training that includes working the dock but is not 1 1/2 years long.

 

@LtlAnonymous

 

I work out of Carlisle Pa. 042. At our barn, once a year I (we) can bid line haul or city/dock. Once you pick which classification, you are there for a year. All goes by seniority. After bid, another person in your classification... city or line, someone on the long term sick board when he or she comes back to work can bump someone with less seniority. When workers are on vacation or on sick board, extra drivers may bid that bid for one week intervals, also based on seniority.

 

I worked at a hub terminal doing line haul, so I basically made a deal with the devil. I was able to drive right from the start, and was initially told I would get a bid after 2 years. Then the 2013 contract happened which lowered the percentage of freight they had to hold for bids, and I quit at 5 years of 24/7/365 on-call.

I probably could have gotten a bid at that time, but I was working on my exit. Lol

In general, I would say ABF is a great career. Pension, spectacular health insurance, pay that's...medium to good for LTL (2013 contract knocked things back a little).

Lifestyle will depend on the terminal. At mine, you couldn't have a life. At Dayton and Indy, everyone had some decent time off. In general, the southern drivers had a decent life. Seemed happier than us northern folk.

Overall? I'd still recommend them. They're just not for me, in this area.