ABF Freight Conley (Atlanta GA)

jhurle9403 · Jan 5, 2019

Redtwin said: ↑

Would love to come aboard especially since the local terminal is a 5 minute drive from my house. They only ever advertise part-time positions though. One of the few times I wished I was still living at parent's house with no bills to pay.
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May wanna think about moving to one of our big break terminals in the spring or summer. I moved for this job and haven’t regretted it a bit. The big ones are Dayton OH, Carlisle PA, Winston Salem NC, Atlanta GA (Conley) and Little Rock AR. I’m sure there’s big terminals out west too, I’m just not sure where.

Moon_beam · Jan 7, 2019

Opus said: ↑

One more thing to consider........be sure to store up your nuts now....January through March can get slow sometimes. But other than that, you made a good move.
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Road board is very slow where I am at. Five people missing from September 1 and the bottom guys are only getting 2 trips per week. I am west of the Mississippi and there are rumors that 400 + contracts did not get signed.

jhurle9403 · Jan 7, 2019

Moon_beam said: ↑

Road board is very slow where I am at. Five people missing from September 1 and the bottom guys are only getting 2 trips per week. I am west of the Mississippi and there are rumors that 400 + contracts did not get signed.
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Thats a little scary. I sat at home for three days last week. It happens.

Opus · Jan 7, 2019

Like I said........

yankatank · Jan 12, 2019

jhurle9403 said: ↑

ABF freight
I’m putting this info out there because ABF is hiring drivers. Heck, they hired me before I even had a full year of experience.

About 10 month after I got my cdl and had some otr experience, I applied at several LTL companies. Had all endorsements before applying. The morning after I applied at ABF, the Atlanta (Conley) linehaul manager called me to schedule an interview for the next time I was home. The interview went well, and a couple of weeks later they called and said I was approved for hire after I passed a DOT/Drug/Hair test. I took the tests, passed, and started in August. The interview was very easy, seemed like most of what went on was making sure I understood the job and making sure all my questions were answered.

Orientation was 3 days, and I did one trip to Mississippi and back before going on my own. Orientation was 8 hours of pay per day ($24.92/hr) and I got paid for the one trip with a trainer as if I had been by myself (62.6 cpm).

Here is all the info I can think of to pass along:

You have thirty days of probation. I was at full pay from day one. Benefits start after probation ends. Automatic enrollment. Probation, it’s ok if you screw up, just don’t get in a wreck or a serious moving violation.

62.6 CPM. It is essentially hub miles. A few routes we run, there are quicker ways to get there than the pay route, but for the most part you’re truly paid for every mile. Want to go a longer way? Go out of route for some bubbas BBQ? No problem, just don’t expect to get paid for it.

$24.92 hourly pay. Hourly pay you get when you’re told to come in at 9, and the load isn’t ready or hooked yet. You get it for any time on other yards while doing hooking yourself, which only seems to happen 2-3 times a week at the most. If there’s a dock worker doing the hooking you still get paid the same to wait while they do the work. At large terminals like Atlanta, Winston Salem, Little Rock, Dayton, etc. you’ll never do the hooking yourself. Other terminals you may only do the hooking yourself at night or on weekends and whatnot. If you’re at a terminal and have to take the truck to a hotel, you get 15 min to drop your set. And another 15 when you come back to hook to your set. If the set isn’t strung, then of course you get paid actual time, not just the 15 minutes and depending on the situation you may get paid a penalty for your set not being hooked when you start your shift out of a hotel. You get hourly pay at the shop if you’re pretripping a truck and find a problem, and on the road if you are broken down and need roadside. No free time is given for that, it starts when the breakdown happens, not after thirty minutes or anything like that. Having started in August, I am averaging $1718.12 a week which is just shy of $90k a year if that average continues. There are drivers making over $100k here, and not just ones that have been around 20 years and have all the seniority. It is possible to hit $100k your third or even second year. I’ve had paychecks over $2600, lowest one was like $930 and that was only for 4 days work because of a car wreck.

We get five sick days per year, paid at 8 hours which is almost $200. Use them or lose them. If you haven’t used em by thanksgiving or so, start claiming them on your off days. You don’t have to call in sick to use them, but you can’t work on a day you claim one either.

One week of vacation first year, two weeks after that. It builds up to five weeks after 20 years, I’m not sure when you get three or four. You earn vacation for the year after 180 shifts, or about 7-8 months of work depending on how much you work. Vacation is paid as 6 days of work and based on your average daily earnings.

Layover is paid starting at the 16th hour, with a two hour minimum. This would happen at the hotel. You get up to 8 hours pay, give ten hours for free, then start getting paid for up to 8, and so on. Meal allowance is paid as well at certain intervals as well as at a higher rate and more frequent interval if your layover starts on a Sunday.

Holidays are paid at 8 hours, again, almost $200. These include New Years, 4th of July, Labor Day, thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas Eve and day. If you work on a holiday you get the 8 hours as well as a 4 hour bonus, and of course whatever your run for the day pays. Your birthday and company anniversary date are paid as holidays.

Insurance (health, dental, and vision) is all provided at no cost for you, your spouse, and your children. This is not cheap insurance. It is blue cross for health, not sure what the dental and vision is. Very low deductibles and prescription cost, vision is very good, dental is very good. I’m a former HR exec and this insurance plan is one of the best ones available, free or not.

Retirement is sort of a toss. There is a 401k plan, but no match. The plan is decent, good investment options for the average person to set it and forget it. The reason we don’t get a match is because of the pension we receive. I won’t go into the pension because it will likely be bankrupt within a decade. I’m saving enough to not count on the pension or social security, and that isn’t difficult to do with what ABF pays.

Hometime: You can take off after 6, 12, and 18 shifts. After 6 shifts you get 58 hours off, 12 you get 72, 18 you get 96 hours off. If you aren’t at your home terminal at the end of your 6th shift, then the next time you end a shift at your home terminal, you are then allowed to take off as if it were your 6th trip.

Seniority date is based on your first shift. We have 139 or so road drivers in Atlanta, and looking at the seniority list it looks like people who have been here say, five years, are around the 90s-low 100s in seniority. A lot of guys here are nearing retirement age(or past it)so I imagine over the next five years people may be moving up the board very quickly. Seniority get you out of your home terminal first and gives you first choice of available runs. Expect shorter runs a lot for the first year or two with some longer runs mixed in, and as the longer you stay, that will reverse. Of course if you have the seniority and want the short runs, you could do that too I guess. We have bid runs, about 65-70 of them so about half the board. I would guess to get a bid run paying $90k+ you’ll have to be here 8-10 years. But $$80-90k is possible for a hard worker on the extra board from pretty much day one.

The hotels we stay at are decent for the most part, a couple are trashy, a couple are very nice. Once you punch out to go to the hotel they can call you as soon as 8 hours with a 2 hour notice to return.

Runs vary between overnight runs or one day runs but 90-95% are overnight runs where you’ll stay a hotel and come back the next day. 90% of overnight runs will get you back home the very next day. We don’t stay gone for more than one night all that often. It is a contract requirement that they get us home on the 4th day though. If not you get a lot of $ in penalties so it doesn’t happen much. We have 335 mile runs up to 670 mile runs. You may go direct, or 1,2,3,4 stop points in between. Most runs are either direct or just have one stop. We go to Winston Salem, Orlando, and Little Rock a lot. Shreveport, Miami, Tampa, and a few others are going to be frequent runs starting in January.

I hope this information helps. Forums helped me get started driving. If anyone has questions feel free to ask below or PM me.
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great info! I just put in my app a few weeks back, did my interview the other day, and now waiting on all background checks to come back. Curious as all terminals are run differently, I'll be out of WS terminal(if hired), and was told my first year would be around 60K. I'll start at 95% top pay, then after first year at 100% top pay. Also, I'm assuming I'd be home for 2-3 days(sometimes) with no work, just hang by the phone. Doesn't bother me. I'd like to pm you about a few questions or if anyone on here is out of Winston Salem yard that'd be great.

jhurle9403 · Jan 12, 2019

yankatank said: ↑

great info! I just put in my app a few weeks back, did my interview the other day, and now waiting on all background checks to come back. Curious as all terminals are run differently, I'll be out of WS terminal(if hired), and was told my first year would be around 60K. I'll start at 95% top pay, then after first year at 100% top pay. Also, I'm assuming I'd be home for 2-3 days(sometimes) with no work, just hang by the phone. Doesn't bother me. I'd like to pm you about a few questions or if anyone on here is out of Winston Salem yard that'd be great.
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PM away my friend I’m happy to Help. Yes there are slow times. Week before last I took two days off and then sat by the phone for 2 days. Still made $1300 for the week. It’s a great job. I go to Winston quite a bit.

rodman71 · Jan 12, 2019

Irontrucker said: ↑

Are they a part of YRC ?
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no

Brac68 · Mar 4, 2019

jhurle9403 said: ↑

ABF freight
I’m putting this info out there because ABF is hiring drivers. Heck, they hired me before I even had a full year of experience.

About 10 month after I got my cdl and had some otr experience, I applied at several LTL companies. Had all endorsements before applying. The morning after I applied at ABF, the Atlanta (Conley) linehaul manager called me to schedule an interview for the next time I was home. The interview went well, and a couple of weeks later they called and said I was approved for hire after I passed a DOT/Drug/Hair test. I took the tests, passed, and started in August. The interview was very easy, seemed like most of what went on was making sure I understood the job and making sure all my questions were answered.

Orientation was 3 days, and I did one trip to Mississippi and back before going on my own. Orientation was 8 hours of pay per day ($24.92/hr) and I got paid for the one trip with a trainer as if I had been by myself (62.6 cpm).

Here is all the info I can think of to pass along:

You have thirty days of probation. I was at full pay from day one. Benefits start after probation ends. Automatic enrollment. Probation, it’s ok if you screw up, just don’t get in a wreck or a serious moving violation.

62.6 CPM. It is essentially hub miles. A few routes we run, there are quicker ways to get there than the pay route, but for the most part you’re truly paid for every mile. Want to go a longer way? Go out of route for some bubbas BBQ? No problem, just don’t expect to get paid for it.

$24.92 hourly pay. Hourly pay you get when you’re told to come in at 9, and the load isn’t ready or hooked yet. You get it for any time on other yards while doing hooking yourself, which only seems to happen 2-3 times a week at the most. If there’s a dock worker doing the hooking you still get paid the same to wait while they do the work. At large terminals like Atlanta, Winston Salem, Little Rock, Dayton, etc. you’ll never do the hooking yourself. Other terminals you may only do the hooking yourself at night or on weekends and whatnot. If you’re at a terminal and have to take the truck to a hotel, you get 15 min to drop your set. And another 15 when you come back to hook to your set. If the set isn’t strung, then of course you get paid actual time, not just the 15 minutes and depending on the situation you may get paid a penalty for your set not being hooked when you start your shift out of a hotel. You get hourly pay at the shop if you’re pretripping a truck and find a problem, and on the road if you are broken down and need roadside. No free time is given for that, it starts when the breakdown happens, not after thirty minutes or anything like that. Having started in August, I am averaging $1718.12 a week which is just shy of $90k a year if that average continues. There are drivers making over $100k here, and not just ones that have been around 20 years and have all the seniority. It is possible to hit $100k your third or even second year. I’ve had paychecks over $2600, lowest one was like $930 and that was only for 4 days work because of a car wreck.

We get five sick days per year, paid at 8 hours which is almost $200. Use them or lose them. If you haven’t used em by thanksgiving or so, start claiming them on your off days. You don’t have to call in sick to use them, but you can’t work on a day you claim one either.

One week of vacation first year, two weeks after that. It builds up to five weeks after 20 years, I’m not sure when you get three or four. You earn vacation for the year after 180 shifts, or about 7-8 months of work depending on how much you work. Vacation is paid as 6 days of work and based on your average daily earnings.

Layover is paid starting at the 16th hour, with a two hour minimum. This would happen at the hotel. You get up to 8 hours pay, give ten hours for free, then start getting paid for up to 8, and so on. Meal allowance is paid as well at certain intervals as well as at a higher rate and more frequent interval if your layover starts on a Sunday.

Holidays are paid at 8 hours, again, almost $200. These include New Years, 4th of July, Labor Day, thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas Eve and day. If you work on a holiday you get the 8 hours as well as a 4 hour bonus, and of course whatever your run for the day pays. Your birthday and company anniversary date are paid as holidays.

Insurance (health, dental, and vision) is all provided at no cost for you, your spouse, and your children. This is not cheap insurance. It is blue cross for health, not sure what the dental and vision is. Very low deductibles and prescription cost, vision is very good, dental is very good. I’m a former HR exec and this insurance plan is one of the best ones available, free or not.

Retirement is sort of a toss. There is a 401k plan, but no match. The plan is decent, good investment options for the average person to set it and forget it. The reason we don’t get a match is because of the pension we receive. I won’t go into the pension because it will likely be bankrupt within a decade. I’m saving enough to not count on the pension or social security, and that isn’t difficult to do with what ABF pays.

Hometime: You can take off after 6, 12, and 18 shifts. After 6 shifts you get 58 hours off, 12 you get 72, 18 you get 96 hours off. If you aren’t at your home terminal at the end of your 6th shift, then the next time you end a shift at your home terminal, you are then allowed to take off as if it were your 6th trip.

Seniority date is based on your first shift. We have 139 or so road drivers in Atlanta, and looking at the seniority list it looks like people who have been here say, five years, are around the 90s-low 100s in seniority. A lot of guys here are nearing retirement age(or past it)so I imagine over the next five years people may be moving up the board very quickly. Seniority get you out of your home terminal first and gives you first choice of available runs. Expect shorter runs a lot for the first year or two with some longer runs mixed in, and as the longer you stay, that will reverse. Of course if you have the seniority and want the short runs, you could do that too I guess. We have bid runs, about 65-70 of them so about half the board. I would guess to get a bid run paying $90k+ you’ll have to be here 8-10 years. But $$80-90k is possible for a hard worker on the extra board from pretty much day one.

The hotels we stay at are decent for the most part, a couple are trashy, a couple are very nice. Once you punch out to go to the hotel they can call you as soon as 8 hours with a 2 hour notice to return.

Runs vary between overnight runs or one day runs but 90-95% are overnight runs where you’ll stay a hotel and come back the next day. 90% of overnight runs will get you back home the very next day. We don’t stay gone for more than one night all that often. It is a contract requirement that they get us home on the 4th day though. If not you get a lot of $ in penalties so it doesn’t happen much. We have 335 mile runs up to 670 mile runs. You may go direct, or 1,2,3,4 stop points in between. Most runs are either direct or just have one stop. We go to Winston Salem, Orlando, and Little Rock a lot. Shreveport, Miami, Tampa, and a few others are going to be frequent runs starting in January.

I hope this information helps. Forums helped me get started driving. If anyone has questions feel free to ask below or PM me.
Click to expand...

Thank you for all that information. I had been searching forever for answers about orientation. I put in my application back in October of 2018. It was a long process, just went for drug test hair follicle test and DOT physical today. I didn't think to ask Mr. Roberts in Kernersville (Winston Salem) any questions about orientation or training.
So that being said, Staring as a road driver, I am assuming that Orientation will be at my home terminal? (Kernersville/Winston) And does all their new hire road drivers go out with a trainer?
Thank you in advance.

jhurle9403 · Mar 4, 2019

Brac68 said: ↑

Thank you for all that information. I had been searching forever for answers about orientation. I put in my application back in October of 2018. It was a long process, just went for drug test hair follicle test and DOT physical today. I didn't think to ask Mr. Roberts in Kernersville (Winston Salem) any questions about orientation or training.
So that being said, Staring as a road driver, I am assuming that Orientation will be at my home terminal? (Kernersville/Winston) And does all their new hire road drivers go out with a trainer?
Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Orientation will be held there at your terminal. They made me make a run (just a turn, so we were back home that evening) with a trainer. The other guy in my orientation had pulled doubles before and felt he didn’t need a training run so they didn’t make him. I was happy to take a training run.

Orientation is paid as 8 hours a day. I think ours was 3 days. The training run, if you do one, is paid as if you were doing a normal run by yourself. It is a good way to practice your paperwork and ask questions.

Brac68 · Mar 4, 2019

jhurle9403 said: ↑

Orientation will be held there at your terminal. They made me make a run (just a turn, so we were back home that evening) with a trainer. The other guy in my orientation had pulled doubles before and felt he didn’t need a training run so they didn’t make him. I was happy to take a training run.

Orientation is paid as 8 hours a day. I think ours was 3 days. The training run, if you do one, is paid as if you were doing a normal run by yourself. It is a good way to practice your paperwork and ask questions.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I have only ever pulled 53 ft trailers, never doubles before. So, I welcome a training session. I have also never hooked doubles before, so a little nervous, but I know I will pick it up in no time. So thank you for all the info.

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