All routes up for bid

Sounds like a union job

 

Ltl line haul and a fair number of private carriers do this regularly.

 

Yea sounds union. Being the low man on the totem pole he should expect this. Happens in every company in the world. This is not trucking specific. Heck not even union specific, although unions tend to care a lot more about seniority.

 

Sounds like a union job. The new guys get the crap lanes and the older guys get the easy runs.

 

What was he hired for specificly? Or did he just get put on this bid?

 

I never bid on any lane and refused to. I preferred the open board so every week is different plus I was the top paid driver even though I wasn't that senior because I got lots of good runs the other drivers weren't allowed to run because they were on bid runs.

 

Bids are pretty much the norm in LTL freight companies, both union and non. When a bid happens, the most senior driver will get his pick from all of the runs (bids) at that terminal. Then the 2nd in seniority driver will pick from what is left and so on down the line. Some slots may be called "open" bids or "extraboard" and, as @Chinatown said, those will have more variety and may even pay better as those drivers often have to pick up the slack in the system.

If he doesn't like what he gets stuck with, he can always move on. But remember: longevity (seniority) has its perks when it comes to bidding on runs and possibly even other aspects of the job, like the ability to get prime vacation weeks and truck choice, etc. If he's patient, he'll have drivers below him in seniority soon enough and he'll get to hear them complain about being on the bottom. Everybody goes through it.