Utah LTL??

It's a pretty busy terminal. Pretty much everything each way goes thru there. Drivers out there seem pretty happy.

 

Actually the Salt Lake terminal is pretty gravy! They always hook our sets there, one of the nicer bigger terminals we have.

 

I am going through the pre-employment things now. So how is this terminal for a new guy will I stay busy?

 

It's really hard to say, I think their extra board is like 20 guys or so. I was in Denver and was #4 and the last guy. End of the line for Reddaway is Denver nothing running east.

I would work sporadically sometimes a week off when things were slow usually 4-6 days a week though. I transferred to Reno and now I'm number 11 on the board still last and so far it has been about the same.

When your at the bottom it sucks, you're at the mercy of everyone above you. They might send you to a different terminal for a week to help with p&d stuff, I did that in the bay area a couple of weeks ago.

You should stay busy because everything goes through Salt Lake. Denver, Vegas, Reno, Montana, Idaho. They go all directions there.

Just know ahead of time that you will be waiting for a call every night to see if you work. No guarantee you will or what time. I usually get called around 8pm to know if I'm running or not and sometimes it's a no we have nothing then they call you at midnight and they need you. Or it's a no that night then central calls you at 5:30am with work or you might go a week not working if they have no freight. It's always a huge question mark.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions.

 

The new guy going different places doesn't scare me but the not working does because I turned down another offer for this. The TM manager said they were busy and he wasn't over hiring just replacing guys up on the list who retired to medical reasons and/or transfer. He said the call blocks were 6-9 am and 6-9 pm and said work would slow down in the winter which I already understand being a driver. You have helped me a lot with your post. How do you make it work financially in the mean time? The healthcare is what won me over.

 

Well in Denver we were broke just due to high cost of living. Here not to bad we got a cheap place me, wife and daughter and works out fine. We just had 3 guys leave so I went from number 14 to 11 and I think they are hiring again to replace those guys. The free Healthcare is huge because at least when you don't work much 1 week you dont get slammed with paying your health insurance. We also don't eat out a ton. We both work and save our money for when things do get slow. I look at it like this, you might work the next month 6 days a week only having 34hrs off a week then things might slow and you get an extra long weekend. I try and enjoy my time off and usually you stay fairly busy. There has only been a few times that I had over a week not working. One of those weeks was before July 4th. They call it peak week where all hands on deck no vacations allowed which means the last guy on the extra board has nothing to cover unless there is extra freight which there wasn't. So I stayed home waiting by the phone.... or at the beach haha

 

Cool me and fiance discussed this as we are good with money. I figured these summer months will be profitable and I will put money away so I don't starve as bad come winter. Are the trucks 10 speeds? Also he explained to me that they call you with runs to choose from is that necessarily true?

 

Kind of, basically the bid runs work off seniority as well as the board so the number one guy on the extra board gets to choose first out of all the runs, that's why those guys make the most out of any one. Think about it if you ran 6 days a week 600 miles a day you could make a decent paycheck. Then each guy going down the line gets to choose until it gets to the last guy which you get to choose if there is anything to choose from or you take what ever is offered. Usually what no one else wanted.

Last week I got stuck with 2 Medford runs which is 310 miles just far enough to lay over so wasted 2 days for a crappy low mile low pay run. Just how it goes sometimes.

Honestly you're better getting hired now because you might move up a spot or 2 in a few months and have at least a little seniority before it slows down.

All trucks are 10 speeds and I think your Salt Lake trucks are governed at 65 might be 62 but out there they turn them up more than out on the coast.

 

Dang I thing he said he has 57 drivers here and they are running short and he also said he has never laid off an line guy only P&D guys. Hope all is true and smoke isn't being blown up my... Can the last guy say no to a run also?

 

Yeah sound right, they can't predict freight but it's a big terminal so guys leave regularly. You should move up soon.

As far as saying no to run, not really if you're last. They will blow up your phone until you answer.

Now I have said no when my tm said I could have the weekend off then central called me wanting me to run, I just told them nope find someone else. Usually they just work their way down the list until someone picks up. If everyone just let's it ring they move to the next guy get to the bottom and start from the top again unless you're the only one available, that's when they blow up your phone.

They won't lay you off, they need someone available to run whenever they have freight.