Usxpress family Dollar account

I worked for Werner my first year of driving, I trained on the Family Dollar account and helped out once on the Dollar General account. Towards the end of that year I tried to get on the Family Dollar account because I needed some exercise, but they didn't have any openings.

Also, I've found that a lot of the people who do hard physical labor seem more upbeat and happy, and that's not just with trucking. A hard days work will help ensure a good night's rest and occasionally give a sense of accomplishment.

The troublesome thing about these 'component pay' accounts is the amount of hours actually being worked. All the drivers I talked to would tell me it only took about an hour to unload the trailer. This was a myth that allowed them to log fifteen minutes for unloading at each stop (three or four stops on each trailer), when it would actually take several hours per stop. The trailers are floor stacked to the ceiling, completely full front to back. Even if you could just throw all the cases off the back it would take well over an hour. The driver would use a set of conveyor roller assemblies that would hook up to the store's conveyor and fill it up. Then the driver has to wait for the store personnel to start pulling the cases off the conveyor. I only went to one store where they could take if off as fast as I could load it, so lift the box, wait, lift another box.

This also allowed them to complete their ten hour break in six or seven hours. If I remember right they would take out two or three trailers per week. At the time the pay was over $1000 per week, which was pretty good for a driver with no experience, but they would break their 70 hours every week (and break it by no small measure), they just wouldn't log it that way.

The time I went to help out the DG account (because they were short on drivers) I knew it was a temporary thing so I didn't bother with the component pay, I just logged and billed hourly. I didn't care about the money, it was nice to do something different. They made me do a reset before I started and I was out of hours after my second trailer, I had a hard time explaining it to the dispatcher who promised to fix my logs and get me more hours, but I ended up not taking the third trailer.

 

and this is what a loaded trailer looks like.......

$ Store by Opus posted Jul 9, 2017 at 8:49 AM

 

Its a shame you have to do that but, Ive notice when people who don't have to put their hands on the product have the best ideas. Personally I never had to deliver to Family Dollar. But, I have a friend who just dogged them out in a conversation. But, good for you Buddy!

 

And yes the picture above is exactly what it sometimes looks like. It is supposed to be stacked better than that but some loads look worse too. I just pulled one that had the back third of the freight fallen before it left the gate and no it wasn't me bumping the trailer.

 

**Ring, Ring** "Hello." "Yea Dispatch, uh I'm not unloading this Hot Mess you call a trailer." "You can send some one out here to pick it up at I-30 mile marker 247. Have a good weekend."

 

$ Store by Opus posted Jul 9, 2017 at 8:49 AM

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That would never happen if your trailer had a roll up door, because you wouldn't be able to open it.

 

Actually the ones that have fallen really aren't much harder to unload as long as you can safely get into the back of the trailer. There have been times I've used a ladder to get into the back of the trailer safely and rearrange it so that I could work it at the customer's location. When it gets dangerous is if the driver tries to climb into the trailer and a wall of freight falls on top of them pushing them out of the trailer. There's nothing like falling four feet off the back of the trailer flat on your back with 200lbs of ketchup on top of you. Of course sometimes stuff falls out when you open the doors but that's easy to avoid if you use the door as a shield as you should with any trailer every time. In any event they train you how to work the trailer.