Postal Haulers... who are the good employers?

I hauled mail long ago into Springfield mass and I had a dollar truck that made it work that night. (Don't ask...) that particular mail run from central PA to Mass was a record run where the speedometer was on the other side of 100 and stayed there. Who knows what the speed was at times.

The one thing all of the dispatchers and one VP made sure I was instructed in was to drop that trailer into a very specific spot on arrival. It had to be there by the stroke of 2 am no matter what.

I was there 7 minutes to two, dropped it in the numbered spot ordered by my dispatchers and walked in to the yard boss in his office area. Gave him the papers to trailer and he sees my company hat. Checks his watch and says whats this?

Trailers dropped in such a such a spot number sign please.

He exploded. Ranted about how stupid drivers come in early 4 #### minutes and does what they please with his trailers on his property. Rant rant rant.

I left with signed papers and thoughts of arson on his precious trailer. I am not a pyromaniac, but it would have been quite something indeed. 4 minutes too early. Bleah.

Many years later on team runs with wife we were able to be three minutes to the good coast to coast on a few loads with a castrated truck and dispatch was pleased. But left innuendos that we could have wasted less time. Pray tell us what time is there to waste in a truck with no balls. Plenty I say.

 

We have had drivers with Eagle express do the same thing with some of our trucks. Leave dirty underwear on the floor. 3 weeks worth of trash, bottles of "lemonade". They no longer work here.

 

Describes my recent visit to the donation station at a Goodwill store to a tee. The exasperated clerk quickly handed me a standard receipt, pointed to a rolling table outside then ran back inside.

 

@mailman59 Hey. Can you elaborate on your current experience with eagle? Not how it used to be when you started but how it is now. I applied to a position for Indianapolis to Chicago and hope to get a call back. I just got out of the military where I drove trucks for 5 years? Will they count my military driving as experience? Are the trucks automatic? What is the road test like? Do you know anything about the Indy to Chicago run? Thank you and I hope to hear from you!

 

Hi Boski, I have done the indy to Chicago several times, easy run. I believe they are doing freight backhauls to indy so you have to take into account sitting in the dock times. Most of the trucks are 10 speeds, a few are automatics. daycab mack or volvo for short runs, sleepers for the longer runs. My military experience wasn't looked at when I hired on, they wanted 2 years cdl class A. Road test consists of looking over the truck , hook to a 53 foot trailer and take a 10 to 20 mile trip around indy. Text me if you have any questions. 3174146406

 

To each there own. I loved hauling mail, but like every job there’s pros and cons. I never had a problem with the dock workers.
Pros- decent money. I was making 25 a hour, majority of Holidays off and paid, good insurance with the Company I was with.

Cons- most mail carriers drive early morning hours, or night shift. I love driving at night so that wasn’t a con for me, but my biggest complaint was working six days a week, and it’s weekends. So I worked Tue-Sunday. By the time you go home and sleep on Sunday and get up it’s time to go back to work. It’s not even like a day off.

 

Are all mail runs unloaded by drivers ?

 

Like @speedyk said, some are touch and some is drop and hook. I always loaded and unloaded mine cause I wanted to get in and out ASAP! All the rolling stuff you can do. A’s, B’s, cages, etc... For individuals that’s never hauled mail. The A’s are on wheels n they are narrow. The B’s are big and are like a box. The cages, and hampers are also on wheels. You push them on, or pull them off. It’s not bad at all. Depending on how you, or someone loads you. They always have to do the pallets though if you have any. It’s a liability and you’re not trained on a forklift, or electric pallet jack, etc... Hope this made sense and helped a bit.

 

New Postal Service Business Model Creates Opportunity for Growth, Consolidation Among Private Mail Haulers