US FOODS

US Foods and Sysco are in the process of merging pending FTC review.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/sysco-says-ftc-review-of-us-foods-merger-remains-on-track-1402924538

 

Digging for product is just "part of the job" in the food service industry....just so much room on a trailer. It may not be "all the time" , but it does happen frequently. I did for over 30 years for GSF....like I said just part of that kind of job. Don't know about the auto's , but we did have a couple. If "digging is a problem" don't apply.....

 

the trailer has 3 sections separated by removable insulated walls. Frozen food in the nose of the trailer, refrigerated in the middle,dry goods in in the back. 2 doors on the sides of the trailer. They cram the food in from a dock in the very back. When you open the doors from the side, you are going to have to dig through the food to find what you need, especially in the freezer. As Tony hinted to, if you are afraid of work, that is definitely the wrong job for you. Food service can probably rank near the top of the toughest driving jobs, depending on your route, stops...etc.

Digging through frozen food isn't that tough, just an aggravation. Frozen food is lightweight compared to the dry goods and those heavy blocks of cheese in the reefer section.

 

Sounds like you might have fought an ugly load or 2........described it to a T.

 

Every delivery job you gotta dig the product out. They jam everything in huge pallets. Sysco has a better system, they load you in order meaning your first stop is on the first pallet you see and on top of the pallet. Sounds easy right? Nope weight is an issue you can't have heavy on top so heavy cans and chicken are on the bottom. So now you have to take stop #2,3 and 4 off the pallet to get the heavy stuff for your first stop. Now these trailers are full to the back with pallets so where are you going to put stop #2,3&4? Either outside on the ground and then restack the wholeee pallet again. You'll repeat that till you have room to break down pallets inside the trailer.

Smaller company's who doesn't have much products like Pepsi/coke, they would load the pallets in anyway. Of course 12pack cans and 2L bottles are on different pallets. But they load it as what's easy for the pickers. So if the picker need 20 cases of Pepsi he would stack out on the bottom of the Pepsi. Now your first stop needs 2 cases. Well, you can just pull it out and hope it doesn't tip over or restack the pallet.

 

We have two US foods trucks parking here in our lot and they really like working there, they say it`s better than most companies and pay is decent, unfortunately they were just recently bought out by Sysco as stated earlier in this post,Sysco is also a good company as long as you can put up with there rules and company BS. they have dash cams facing the drivers and randomly take pictures to see if a cell phone is being used or your smoking or eating or do anything while driving.

 

SYSCO EMPLOYEE HERE... for two more weeks. Sysco is a okay company they do load trucks like crap but its a system to it if you have a large first stop you'll have space to start organizing by stop pay is pretty good at least in baltimore. We run mostly automatics single axle tractors not a bad job if your young. Now the bad management simply sucks corporates wants their hands on everything and its stressful my office is really bad 3 years there and ive decided to give it up i cant deal with the bs even for 80k a year. Oh those cameras ONLY activate under hard breaking swerves at times or anything that will jolt the truck potholes u turns stuff like that, it films 9 seconds before the event and 6 after and shuts back off they cant check it directly it has to go through the drive cam people first

 

Food service can be a lucrative gig--BUT--you will work for it,,,and WILL test your driving skills daily...and since this is a NEW driver thread--let me just add my 2cents--
If you are new--I would have to strongly advise you AGAINST starting w/either Sysco or US Foods right now--as has been stated they are in the process of merging--actually Sysco is buying out US--which is in the middle of a very lengthy federal process for approval--and although i DO biz w/both---whats really going on is WAY above mine or any employee's I interact withs paygrades...
and as I travel form facility to facilty the rumors ALL contradict each other---
BUT this YOU can be sure of--IF this goes thru--THERE WILL BE some type of change of operations..and it will take time to implement--and will almost assuridely involve some type of facility consolidations and staffing changes--which you can pretty much bet will involve--staffing reductions NOT additions--right now both companies are trying to fill vacancies to continue PRESENT operations..
But in a finite amount of time--there will be changes--and although there will almost HAVE to be some reduction at the highest levels---ALL the other reductions will almost certainly come from the bottom--so be VERY careful until this ALL plays out....
Good Luck

 

I worked for them about 6 or 7 years ago. As a lumper. Great pay. We hardly ever dug anything out. They were pretty good about lining things up with their destinations. I know this is a late response..