Driving for Pepsi

She's home from after school care by 5pm. I leave for work at 7pm. That's 2 hours of quality time that I never had the time to spend with her before on a daily basis plus weekends off. That's a big gain in my opinion

 

I was scheduled to make 2 runs last night. My first run was to Piscataway, NJ. (6.50 hrs round trip plus .50 hr. for D/H and inspection). My second run was to Baltimore, MD. (2.50 hrs. round trip). I had 15 hours left on my 60, so I was reduced to 1 run to NJ. That leaves me with 7.25 hrs. available for tonight. My schedule tonight is Harrisburg, PA. then a Baltimore but it looks like I'll only get the Harrisburg run tonight. No more being able to fudge my log book as your log book has to match your punch in and out times on your time card. It kinda sucks but I look forward to an early evening off and not spending half of Saturday in bed.

 

What do you mean by they call you 30 mins before you get in? Is it to check to see if you have available time on your shift? Our supervisor keeps track of our hours on a daily basis, as we do also. He's only there from 7am - 5pm. Schedules are made a day ahead of time and changed according to hours available.
When I checked my schedule this morning after my shift, he had me running Harrisburg, PA. and Baltimore. It's a 5 hr round trip to Harrisburg, not counting if they live unload you, which could add on another 45 mins to 2 hours, so no way I'll run Baltimore tonight.

 

I liked my non union job also but needed to be home for my family. I loved running the road and enjoyed working my tail off pulling a flatbed. Working for Pepsi is like a vacation to me. It's all drop and hook. The only manual labor I do is the landing gear and opening the trailer doors. I work in the Transport Division, so we run hard and get plenty of miles, averaging anywhere from 400 - 500 plus miles per night.
As far as the Union itself goes, I completely disagree with their political leanings, as do probably most Teamsters. I'm in the Union because I have to. Maryland is not a "Right to Work" State and any company represented by a Union requires mandatory enrollment or...you don't get the job. It has it's advantages but it's a business entity, like the company you or I work for. They are in it for the money (dues) and anybody thinking otherwise is naive. I'll use it to my advantage as much as possible, retire in 15 - 20 years and hopefully collect a pension.