Milk Trucks?

Has anyone on here ever worked for lonestar milk transport or know anything about them? There hiring in the OKC area.

 

SMS is down but here's their DOT number if you want to check later.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]837251 [/SIZE][/FONT]

 

I have done line hauls for a local guy, and he has the quad axle trucks to do the farm pick ups....so I have talked with those drivers, as I get loaded from them at a trasfer station.

The smooth bore tanikers take some getting used to, but it is a good way to improve your driving skills, as you need to be easy on the throttle and easy on the brakes. I really like the toe pedal brakes better than the hanging down brake pedal...but I have gotten used to both at my second job where we dont' have Peterbilts to drive.

Their work does not have any waiting time like I have....that is waiting in a line to get emptied at a plant. They only wait while they are pumping on a load at each farm. If I could find a part time job doing farm pickups, I would.

Their biggest challenge is getting through the gravel roads in the spring and winter...and they do get stuck once or twice a year and need to be towed out. The snow or ice in the winter is bad too, but they learn how to handle it.

Over the road milk hauling has been a good gig for me. The pay is average.

 

I forgot to mention, that my boss hires new guys, and so that is why he pays newbie pay at about .28 mile. He told me the pay is not great, but the work is steady, and he is right.

 

My brother has hauled milk from farms to the milk plants for 12 years now. The only things missing in all the other posts is that once you get to the milk plant, you can wait from 1 to 6 hours in line. Then it takes 45 minutes to empty then another 45 to get the tank cleaned. Long, long days, but he still does it.

 

I did it for eight years in Tillamook, OR.
Hard work, decent pay, lousy weather.

 

Well... I am with LSMT and can answer about any question you may have. Private message me.

As far as if they're a good company, let me simply say...
I have been in trucking now for 16 years, and have never had an easier job! If you are looking for a "driving" job, with NO pulling hoses, NO lifting, shoving, loading/unloading, load locks, or any of that... and you want to do what you do best, which is driving... then it's great!

Do they have their idiosyncrasies? Of course! What company doesn't?
But, overall, they are a very good company with A LOT of good folks, and great drivers. (we have drivers that have been here over 10 years, and the average driver has been here 5+).

As for the wait time... yes... there are about 4 or 5 plants that the OKC yard delivers to that pretty much are as slow as molasses! LOL! But, that time is yours. You can sleep, watch TV, BS with other drivers, or a combination of all. Also, what some have negated to say is, LSMT pays you detention after 4 hrs. at a minimum of $17.40 per hour. I.E. - I had to be detained in AL for 18 hrs! And, well, I received 14 hrs detention, and I slept 8 of them! Do the math... it pays off. Now, where you get "screwed" (if you will), is when you don't have the hours to log that. IOW, they mandate you log the paid time of your detention as "On Duty Not Driving". Some drivers will not do that, but... for the life of me, I don't understand why? Think about it... even though you are "wasting" hours (as some of our drivers see it), you are getting paid the same for the detention hours as you would if you were driving 60 miles in an hour! All except the first 4 hrs, that you don't get paid for no matter what! It all works out the same.

I work 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 days a week with 2 full days off. I drove a smidgen over 140,000 miles in 49 weeks last year, which averages about 2900 miles per week. Not bad in my opinion for driving! What does that equate to in pay? For a first year driver with LSMT, it would be $40.000, not including the bonuses, extras (like detention, repairs, etc). And if you are from my neck-of-the-woods (eastern OK), then that is a good wage!

I hope that helps you out a little. Any further questions... please message me.

P/S -- Please message me, and I will give you my name. PLEASE use me as a referral. We do get paid for Driver Referrals. Thanks!

 

#### man, you mean you don't know where the off-switch is? Just walk up behind the cow, grab her tail, fold it back up between her ears, reach in and feel for the off button. Now, on some cows it's located pretty far in so you might have to go full arm length. Don't forget to switch em back on before you leave. Oh, make sure you know the difference between cow and bull.

 

Been on both sides of The milk hauling thing. Dairy farmed in central Minnesota for 20 years and grew up with it. Took out my rotator cuff and have had 2 knee surgeries hence I no longer dairy. Did it the small farm Minnesota way, if there was a harder way we just hadn't found it yet.

All those years I thought the milk haulers had gravy jobs. When I sold my cows and the steer market went in the toilet I tried to get a job hauling milk. Nobody needed anyone at the time so started over the road for a friend. Well last spring a friend called me And wanted to know if I wanted off the road. We negotiated wages and schedule and low and behold I became a milk hauler. Those were the worst 3 months of my life! Loved the farmers and can bs with anyone but the political bs dealing with some of The union employees back at the plant just about drove me over the edge. Never in my life have I been in contact with so many unhappy people 3 times a day, 3 loads a day.

This is The same milk plant that 3 generations on my farm shipped milk to. I was shocked at the inefficiencies that I witnessed on a daily basis. As a farmer owned cooperative I expected better. No farm could run that way and stay in business.

It is possible that my issues stem from the fact that I still have a lot of equity there and know most of The people.

The other thing I did not like is The fact that every other day its the same roads, same farms, same everything.

I have much more respect for the farm milk hauler than I ever had and kudos to those who do it. Give me a Minnesota to California any day over that. Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

Big Jay

 

You had a bad experience Big Jay, that's all I can say.

There are about 3 plants (of the 20 or so) we deliver to that have unhappy, disgruntled folks working there. However, I find that if I joke with them, are smiling and cordial, (and buy them a coke too!), that all is cool with most of them. We all have bad days, and sometimes it's how we treat each other that matters.

Also, I would NEVER be a loader. Yeah, they make twice what the haulers do, but so what? No sleep, no time, no family time, nothing! Sorry, but that's not for me. I completely enjoy what I do, and where I work. After hauling dry freight, reefer foods and produce, haz-mat, and other tanker gases... this is the best job I've had! But... to each their own, as the old saying goes......