Are LTL drivers real truckers??

You would be wrong, sir.
That wouldn't be a bid run, but I've loaded 2 pups and run several runs like that from Cleveland to Chicago.
Did a laydown, woke up, and pulled another set back to Cleveland.
Want to know what tired is like?
You just explained it!!!

You think LTL is so great and yes, it can be.
But you gotta start out at the bottom getting all the crap runs, crap hours, sitting by the phone, not working during the winter, layoffs, etc.
It could take many years to get a bid and work steady depending on where u work out of.
At the barn I worked out of, they had a 21-man extra board.

 

I harbor no personal annimosity towards TL or it's drivers whatsoever - I really don't. We're all do doing our jobs. Some people on this side still seem kinda bitter about it so I was basically trying to explain that point of view - it was also mine at one point a few years back but isn't at all anymore. You're kind of an exception anymore with how long you've been behind the wheel which is why I say I trust the other LTL drivers more - I've been driving for over 9 years now and even though I have a lot of seniority at my terminal, most of the drivers under me on the board have been driving for 20 plus years as is the case with most LTL line-haul drivers so I tend to trust their judgement much more than the big OTR carriers drivers. Things have really improved here and I'm totally over it. Some people aren't happy unless they're unhappy so it just depends who you run into here that will form your impression. If you had dealt with me you'd be saying how fantastic and helpful those Freight drivers are..hahaha..

If we're not hauling the freight on our own pups I would much rather see on a TL trailer than the other outfits - your service % is far better and it's a much better group of drivers than most other outside carriers. Believe it or not, the reason you don't is the typical low-ball carrier is actually cheaper. We still get inbound loads with Western Express but booted them out of an outbound pull last week after they were 0 for 5 the week before making service on a Brooklyn pull. We now run Brooklyn directs with our own drivers and pups every night even though we come back empty so the freight makes service. You guys get one long pull out of my terminal but most are like 200 miles short - seems Total of Ms gets all the Dallas and AD gets all the Atlanta pulls. Other than those every outside carrier pull is short and into the Northeast to balance empty miles. Does TL still get the West Coast pulls from Milton? Years ago I used to load a CFI bound for Phoenix there.

The truck thing really is what it is. I would expect and hope you would get nicer power units over there since you more-less live in it whereas we just drive it from A to B and back to A. I can tell you from 8 years at CNW/CNWY that they spec trucks with the dollar bill in mind which is fine with me. The new Freightliners we have are actually very unCon-way like with XM and power windows - that said, I prefer the 8 series or re-furbished 3 series Sterlings because they pull a lot better and I'm used to the feel and characteristics of the Sterling tractor.

I would like to see all of us get a raise and for the first time in a while I think we'll actually get what used to be our normal June raise. I hope TL gets one along with us - I really do. We all work for the same parent company so your divisions success means as much to my stock as mine and visa versa. I'm definitely not the dude that wouldn't pull the set up and you're definitely not the driver that couldn't follow simple yard instructions so I'm sure we'd get along just fine man..

 

Actually, that's exactly what we do. We are paid hourly for everything though - drop/hook, dock, fuel, bad traffic, etc. Most of that time was at the destination but I would load my own trailers before I left so I wasn't sitting around. I ran night line-haul here the last few years and would put a lot of time in on the dock. Back in 09 I ran a shorter run, in the mid 300's, and 6 hours of dock time was about normal. Last year I ran one in the mid 400's and would spend 3 or 4 hours per night on the dock in the Richmond, Va heat and humidity before running back up through DC and Baltimore in morning traffic. I'm not complaining about it because I chose to and liked running that run, but after a 12 or 13 hour night of it I was whooped - that's why I took a year off and am just moving trailers around the yard with cushy early morning hours - will also go from over 87K down to about 52K but my body and mind needed the break. We make real good money here but it will wear you out man..

 

Yep most(i would "guesstimate"80%) are NorthEast terminating loads for the most part,Buuuuut as of last week the "unofficial word" is the parent company is/or has dropped CRST YET AGAIN and are gonna shift their balance of runs(mostly west bound team freight to us at TL which is good(everything west we run is actually team freight/and or multi-relays) so that much hasnt changed,we nowhere run the amount of LTL freight we used to run(I used to avg at least 1-2 every week i was out) but now not so much)
I dont have a problem really with it all, even the "others" here that seem to want to argue the facts I lay out,we have policies(old CFI ones) that handcuff a drivers wages when it comes to pulling a Conway load(staging at least 10 hrs prior for full break,and the load we are to pull will be no longer than 515 miles as we are "dispatched @51mph" and planners must plan Conway 1st as a priority/and we no longer can DH longer than 200 miles for a load.

Just wish they(Conway) would push even more over to TL as we can handle it,lately getting to TX market is quite easy,getting out with decent miles another story as we have a "account" with TRactor Supply" that is like #2 in priority behind Conway and its all regional freight less than 500 mile s per load and same restrictions

On the trucks,I would not be to surprised id you see a Prostar on the LTL side soon(maxxforce engine has no restrictions and thats why we are buying them) i suspect in the near future tho, i see where our trucks will start to get smaller and lighter maybe like Primes new freightliners ,IDK but for the "rebuild side of things",all of our trailers now are being rebuilt by ROad Systems so,and our trucks are being "cycled" out at 750k now so they are pretty well "used" by then(they did try rebuilding a few low mileage T600's into LTL single axles but what i understood it didnt go well from a fuel stand point as the neutered the ISX's down and thus lost the power band.(Ive been to Road Systems a few times,and have seen the "projects")

I to wish for a more Common Company,,,a raise well we all want that for sure ,our pay scale is a mileage based one that as you longer in the company the leaner the pay raises get and are harder to achieve on a regular basis,but hey i am making a living (actually did a 3700 mile payperiod this week,and on ELOGS to boot lol,,,OH ELOGS well thats another thread

 

I run kind of LTL, I do round-trips home 2-3 days a week, usually have about 8-15 stops so it feels like LTL. But I drive 3000 miles a week average, but get paid salary regardless of the miles. It's the best job I've had driving so far. But it does make me respect the local guy doing all those drops every day, it sure ain't easy sometimes. I kind of figure driving a truck is driving a truck is driving a truck lol. It's just what would you rather do?

 

will also go from over 87K down to about 52K but my body and mind needed the break. We make real good money here but it will wear you out man..[/QUOTE]

WOW thats awsome money you were making and now 52k,well thats around top dollar here for about 300 days out a year(normal year for me,but the past 2 have spent the same amount of time out on road,but have taken a $8k cut two years ago,and then a $13k haircut last year) So everyday you dont run is a great hinderance on your pay,this month of march for instance,was out from 4th till today(will be home for 4 days btw) but i sat every weekend total of 7 days in 30 that i was sitting,hence no pay for that day,actually sitting "idle" out on road now more than actual time off at home

 

The Pa Pike always has bad weather but for the most part it looked worse than it was right - the set would be all caked with that brown frozen crap but generally it was alright. As you know, I80 across Pa in the winter with a set is about as treacherous as it gets east of the Mississippi - nothing like watching that wheel spin light from the Pa line out to the 260 right.

I ran the Pike a little last year and when they lose that road it sucks bad - one night they shut it down to doubles so I left my back box in Bedford and while I was at it I gave them my dolly too..haha.. We get a lot of happy trail wagons across there and it would be dry in Breezewood but halfway across 31 you'd be on ice/snow pack to Somerset - get back on the Pike and it would just be wet.

UPS Parcel is the best job on the road IMO, but not so great in the winter. They determine lead a kite by cube not weight - that's why they're always the first ones getting jammed up or just pulling off and sitting at the bottom of a big hill so they don't get jammed up. All those runs from New Stanton East must blow from November through April..

I've gotten stuck on the road a bunch of times with a set, but my crowning winter driving achievement was personally closing down I95 just South of the I95/I395/I495 split in Northern Va during the snowmageddon of 2010. I had to stop for an accident a few hundred feet ahead of me and I couldn't get going again. The Va State Police closed the entire road down and had a VDOT loader pull me up the hill..