New to ltl

Linehaul is the way to go if you want to rake in the big bucks, not deal with city traffic, customers, and most of management when you run nights.

I took a $12K pay cut swapping to day shift P&D. If you are single and happy being single, go for line. Your social life will be limited regardless of being home every day/weekends.

 

40 k lol id say about 60k first year

 

McLane is hiring out of Newburgh,4 day work week.

 

I just got hired on.Its mon,tues on,wed off,thrs,fri on,sat sun off.very good benefits and 401k.new tractors no slip seating,co driver/lumper,home every day.my(co driver too) own route after ojt.same everyday,week after week,bid every 6 months.new setup in newbrgh,gettin in early for seniority.i belive volvo i shifts all new,maybe fls too.28 or 32' trailers,48's to long island.5000 sign on bonus,half after 90 days second half after 6 months.they do have camera facing both ways in the truck.i hate them facing me,but the cameras go to a 3rd party and no one in mclane has control of them.dont like it,but the money is good and im a big boy and just have to suck it up for now.they are looking for good drivers.i can give a number if youd like to talk to them,very laid back and they dont BS you,atleast the people i dealt w/ didnt.youll go to syracuse for 4 days of training.i was told 2 years ago that place was a dump,but theyve turned it around and it is a pretty good place to work from what ive seen.all hand truckin off a ramp.

 

I'm a linehaul driver for Old Dominion. I'm familiar with our terminal in Newburgh. If you're interested in OD, you should contact the terminal by phone. OD doesn't always update their job openings on the website.

A few thoughts on LTL.

Even within the same company, each terminal will offer different opportunities. Some have more P&D opportunities, others more linehaul. Depending on the terminal, you might not even bid if there aren't enough drivers / runs. Some drivers stay wild (on the extraboard) for years before they can even sniff a night schedule, I've gained enough seniority in just 1 year to move to daylight linehaul. Those are two extremes. Typically, linehaul will pay better than P&D. I'll crack $70k my first year - and that's only because I was purposefully running light (360 miles a day) when I needed to be home more. Most l/h drivers at my terminal average $80k gross. Some drivers earn six figures.

Nice thing with OD is that when you run wild (extraboard), you still always run the same 5 days a week, and have a starting time within just a few hour window - i.e. there's no waiting by a phone for random calls on when to start. You won't be all over the clock with random start times. You can still have somewhat of a schedule, even if you don't have a schedule run. Some other LTL companies do not operate this way. Keep that in mind.

OD also gives you 6-7 (I can't remember off the top of my head) paid holidays, including your birthday. Vacation time and all purpose days start after 1 year - 1 week at one year, 2 weeks at two years, and up to 4 weeks after 10 years. Some LTL companies don't offer vacation time till 2 years of service. These are all things to keep in mind when comparing.

Obviously I'm a big OD fan. I could've chosen ABF, YRC, Fed Ex Freight, UPSF, Estes, Conway-Freight, R&L, NEMF, Pitt-Ohio, Ward, but I chose OD. You need to do the research and find out which one fits you best. Union vs non-union might be another deciding factor for you. At the end of the day, you might just have to go with whoever is hiring in your area.

 

mcclane might pay ok, but ltl freight is head and shoulders above foodservice. foodservice is much harder on the body, for no additional pay. go with linehaul freight ftw. see if you can get on at ABF or New Penn, pretty good jobs there.