ABF City Driver New Career Info Please Good Sirs.

Do a pre-trip,get your bills and routes,drive around all day picking up and dropping off products go back to barn,,repeat daily..

 

ABF is based out of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Little Rock has a distribution center which is rumored to be moving to Memphis, TN. The move should have no effect on city drivers, just road drivers and mechanics.

 

Basic info. LTL less than truckload.8 to 12 drops (1 or 2 pallets) dock to dock sometimes a lift gate drop.Then 2nd part of day 6 to 8 pick ups.Back to base.

 

As Bumbacladwa said....plus as a new driver you will start on the later shift, usually 9-9:30 getting back most days about 6:30 - 7 PM and then based on seniority you will be assigned a trailer swap at the end of the day. Sometimes this distance can be an hour or more one way from the terminal, adding two more plus hours when your exhausted at the end of the day. You will make stops at places without docks, fork lifts and.....residential stops in subdivisions delivering memory foam mattresses, furniture, hot tubs, etc. The nice thing is most ABF terminals will send you out with a pup, verses a 53' trailer like the company I worked for. I'm not negative, its just hard work and very long days, until a few years of seniority.
I know a lot of over the road drivers would love a job like this, the pay is great even as a new driver ($22-24) in our market......its a 62k-68k job......but its a young mans game.

 

I have a friend that didn't last 60 days because he was working off the extra board and there was not enough work to keep him busy. That was in a PA Terminal.

 

I guess everywhere is different, here in Nashville all of the big national and regional LTL companies are hiring and they will work you to death if you let you let them. The money and benefits were very good, but I got started too late in life to do that kind of work. I"m grateful for my current non LTL local job (no touch), I make a little less and work less hours, but still manage to make a great living..........the best thing, I can actually get out of bed each morning and I'm not all stoved up for the first 3 hours
Note: You must be a very proficient backer, as you will spend fair amount of time each day navigating tight fenced in properties, and dealing with heavy cross traffic. New drivers will run "wild' (no designated route) and be in different areas of town each day.

 

Make sure you start as a full time driver and not a "combo dock / driver" job. That can be a big jerk job........unless your not an experienced driver.
I saw some guys expected to be on the docks at 4AM and then work with a trainer from 9-5, they looked like the walking dead after a few weeks.

 

Apply to this job " Driver Training School - City Driver "
http://careers.abffreight.jobs/job/...aining-School-City-Driver/J3G0QV6DQVW4120MGM6

They may make you work the docks, but the focus will be on you getting your CDL, otherwise it will take no priority, as they always need good reliable people to work the docks.