Backhaul Driver for U.S. Foods

Backhaul is exactly that. Picking up backhauls from warehouses and bringing it back to the distribution center. The position is usually filled internally.

 

US Foods is mostly union shuttle drivers there are usually guys that worked there forever. Unless it’s a small terminal or satellite then you might be able to walk into one but it’s a seniority base gig. Put your time in to do the easy stuff.

 

As far as I know, they pull 48s or 53s. It is pretty unusual to hire off the street for a backhaul position, but not impossible. Just take note of the part of the job listing that says “may be called upon to perform the duties of delivery or shuttle driver” and make sure to ask how often that might be.

 

That's generally a red flag when a company can't fill shuttle jobs internally. It means a whole bunch of guys declined the job so now they gotta hire off the street.

These runs open up because most shuttle work rolls at night and alot of guys want to stay on their daytime bids. And not sure how foodservice seniority works, but in LTL when you jump from job classification (like city to line), you lose your board seniority. So guys don't want to lose their bids and go to the bottom of a seniority list. Those shuttle runs might be on-call, no start time, and maybe filling in for guys hurt/off/on vacation/etc so the hours and money could be all over the place. Alot of guys don't like pulling doubles either, especially if you live in an area with harsh winters.

It's best to ask some of the drivers at that terminal to get the inside scoop. If it checks out OK, then hire-on but not until you do your DD. Don't listen to the TM, he'll just blow smoke up your ### because he needs to fill those seats.

 

When I was at US Foods you don’t lose seniority when you move around in the company cause it’s union. A janitor of 20 years can get his CDL and bump everyone. I had a guy bump me. He was a driver and bid on a warehouse position then came back to driving. Bumped me off my route.
Guys there would bid warehouse in the winter then drive in the summer. Also shuttle work was generally 10-15years of seniority before you could get one at my yard when I was there.

@DrummingTrucker yes they pull pups for shuttle. You just got to ask questions when you interview. They might be doing something different.

 

At our yard the backhaul driver just does backhauls. He is on a separate bid board and doesn't get hour pay. I'm not 100% sure what his pay is but I have heard through the grapevine its considerably less then us delivery drivers and shuttle guys but you know how that goes. I know he is gone a couple days a week. He doesn't run delivery but will run a shuttle If we are slow. Hope this helps