Tyson Foods after 2 years

After a miriad and long list of crappy companies over a 15 year driving career,and 2 turndowns from Tyson in 2002,and 2004 because I lived in Florida,I decided to call them in 2008,after moving to Tennessee in 2005. Much to my suprise they hired me away from Roehl Refridgerated ( a novel within itself). Orientation was in Springdale,after a 16 hour ride on the bus.(which broke down 3 times between Nashville and Memphis). Orientation was good,filled with a lot of useless information,and the instructor Austin B was a prick.(former Training Instructor in th Military only 6 mos. driving experience)But if you can bear through it it is worth the wait. I rode with another driver to North Wilkesboro,NC to pick up my truck. He was very informative,answered all my questions and he is now in the Safety Dept. at Tyson. Truck was In good shape,just needed detailing. I work pretty hard over here. I have a great dispatch team, I say team because you have 4 different dsipatchers 2 on days,and 2 on night who are supervised by a fleet manager. But even with 100 trucks on the fleet they know me by name and voice. The Driver Trainers (LOg Guys) are very knowledgable.All of them are ex-drivers wtih many years of experience. I average over 3000 miles every week. NO LIe for the past 2 years 2009 W-2 was for $68,000. I go home every 2-3 weeks to the Shelbyville plant and leave my truck there,I only live 24 miles away so no big deal. I have no problem getting home. I either deliver in Goodlettsville or Shelbyville,Or Wal MArt in Shelbyville. 98% of our loads are Tyson freight, or ingredents to make more Tyson freight. I hardly ever layover,now sometimes I get to a plant in the morning and load is not ready until late that night,well I like downtime so I use it to my advantage,and a lot of times I need the 10 hour break to run the 600 mile load for the next morning. Layover is great here and very liberal,the clock starts ticking when you send in your ewmpty call (message me for specifics on layover). Like any company you have to learn to work the system to maximize your miles. If delivering a plant to plant load, 9 out of 10 times you can drop it earlier than delivery time sometimes a day earlier. If you have a lot of time on a load like an extraday I can sk dispatch for a drop. And 8 out of 10 times I get one,if you have to sit on it you get a layover,yep even if you are under dispatch,as long as you ogt it there early and legal.

Equipment:
2010 International Prostar with 475 Cummins,Autoshift,and Carrier Apu. I love this truck very smooth riding Pretty good room inside,seats could be better. They are phasing out the Volvo's over the next 6 mos.
Trailer are descent. Some are older than others,and because of Greatwide they get dropped with out being repaired,just call Breakdown and they will get it fixed. You can not leave with a DOT shutdown repair. If you get caught oyu will be written up.Yard drivers tear the hell out of our trailers so check it out before you leave the yard.

Now the Cons:

1. Some of the plant personell are very rude and hate white people.(i.e. Vicksburg,MS.,Carthage,MS. and Blountsville,AL.)

2. Sometimes the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing,this results in constant reminder messages.

3. Get used to driving varying schedules, Daytime drivers need not apply. Most of my driving is at night becasue of the nature of our business

4. Get used to incompetant plant employees and delays. There are a lot of them,but if you are delayed just contact Springdale and they will handle it.The expression CYA comes to mind when dealing with plants.

5. Also weigh every load, I have had loads that supposedly weigh 30,000# gross out at 82,000#.

That is about all the cons.

Typical Day in the Life of a Tyson driver:

Leave Shelbyville,Tn. 2300- Drive 336 miles-Unload Kroger Shelbyville,In. at 0600 a.m.-Leave Shelbyville 0800-Deadhead 110 miles to Tyson Logansport,In.-Drop trialer-10 hour break-Leave Logansport 2300-Deliver Gooodlettsville 0600. Total Miles in 24 hours= 770 miles, with 5 hours to run.

Sorry about the length just wanted to dispell all the rumors,and give everyone insight, in my opinion one of the best fleets on the road. I will never drive for a common carrier again. Private fleets are the only way to go.

 

Kansas City Area is an excellent hiring area for us. One of our biggest distribution centers is in Olathe. Also we have 4 other plants around Mo. and a plant in emporia,ks.It would be a smart move for you,also a lot of shuttle work between Olathe,and NW Arkansas