Central NJ/Asbury Park day cab opportunities?

Wow...I guess I shoud of kept in touch with the Stroehman drivers. Apparently a lot has happened since the last time I talked to a Stroehman/Bimbo driver.

Apparently, when Grocery Haulers took over Stroehman's fleet in Norristown over 2 years ago, that's about the same time that they opened up the new plant in Breinigsville.

All of Stroehman's plants and depots are union, under Bimbos ownership. Now when Bimbo bought out Stroehman back in 2009, they always intended on getting out of the trucking business and just stick with what they do best, manufacture baked goods. Bimbo Bakeries is the largest bakery in the US now, after the collapse of IBC/Hostess Brands. So when Stroehman's contract was about to end over 2 years ago, that's when Bimbo decided to get rid of their private fleet and contract Grocery Haulers to deliver their loads.

I know that Grocery Haulers took over Stroehman's union contract, and a lot the information I gave out about them applied to them over 2 years ago. I havn't really kept in touch with them over the years, but apparently a lot has happened during that time. I've always heard rumors that they were gonna close the Norristown plant, because of the brand new super plant that was being built, was only 30 minutes away. I just recently found out that they did in fact close that plant down. Now when Bimbo first opened up their new plant, their drivers were union, but as you mentioned before, apparently their not anymore. Most of Grocery Haulers is union, that's probably why you read about the pension on the website, but since Breinigsville's drivers is apparently nonunion now, they probably offer a 401k instead.

So I guess the information that I gave out would of been true over 2 years, but from what I read off of your reply, a lot of what I mentioned still seems to apply.

As I mentioned before, talk to one of the drivers if you get a chance, for the inside scoop, and I apologize if some of the information I gave out was incorrect.

 

Thank you for all the information I just had orientation today apparently it's a prevailing wage of $ 23 an hour plus $0.52 a mile and then you get half a prevailing wage for trailer drops a quarter of prevailing wage for fueling ect backhoes apparently pay triple the prevailing wage this whole system is new to me and is very confusing. They offer health benefits and a 401k no pension so apparently there now non-union but it was stated that they do post Union flyers on the information board for drivers . From what I understand Norristown is just storage for right now but apparently they're planning to expand an extreme amount that are hiring a lot of drivers.

 

Yeah, I gotta agree, that new trip rate is confusing to me as well. I new how their trip rate worked when they first opened up.

Before Grocery Haulers took over Stroehman's fleet, they were paid hourly, and everything was drop and hook. Stroehman was the same union local as Wonder Bread, so I new a lot of how their operation worked. Once Grocery Haulers took over their fleet, they then switched from hourly to their system of trip pay. Now from what I gathered from your replies, I think I have an idea of how their system works. Now the .52 a mile is probally what you get paid for the total miles that you drove for the day. Since you will still be delivering to Stroehman's depot's, that's probally the drop and hook runs. Now the $23 an hour is probally the hourly pay rate you get paid when not driving, such as when you drop and hook, fuel, and unload trays. Now half of $23 is what you probally get paid for drop and hook, quarter of $23 is for fueling, and the triple pay for backhauls might be a mistake, because I can't imagine them paying $69 an hour, or paying $1.56 a mile. Now Stroehman drivers never had to unload anything, but since you'll be driving for Grocery Haulers now, it seems you have to deliver trays of baked goods, probally to supermarkets, which is normally what the bread truck van delivery drivers are suppose to do. But from what I gathered off their trip rate, their seems be a potential to make a lot of money, I'm talking 80-100k.

Breinigsville started off with about 30 drivers, but now that they have their operation in order, it seems their expanding extremley quickly. That's probally why their rushing you in as soon as possible, because they need a whole lot of new drivers to cover all the work. Now that they closed down Norristown, their consolidating all the work into the new super plant, and Bethlehem is probally next, since their also only 20-30 minutes away, that's if they didn't close it down already.

You might want to talk to the OP as well, @DocWatson, since he's a new Grocery Hauler driver as well. Even though he's working for Bakers Express, you might want to compare notes, because it seems both your trip pay is very similar, even if one is union, and the other is not.

 

Click on the avatar, then click on the "start a conversation" link to send a PM. It'll send an email to the recipient notifying them to check their inbox.