Food Serivice or LTL?

Haven’t worked in foodservice, but I tell ya I’ve sure seen a heck of a lot more guys around town that have been with the same LTL company for a few decades than foodservice drivers. Most of those I’ve seen have been pretty fresh on the scene, so that tells you something about the longevity.

 

No that’s wrong on experience. Foodservice is looked at highly. I had interviews with UPSF, turned down USPS after I got approved, and got hired by Saia. I was at Mclane. We hired guys from Sysco and other Foodservice all the time. They know your all about the hustle coming from Foodservice. Plus Foodservice drivers can drive. You got to put a trailer in some really messed up places. I drug a 48” into Taco Bell’s all night long sometimes during daytime when they get bummed rushed by lunch.

 

Why I went to LTL same money no physical labor as in linehaul. But your right about writing your own check. They are a lot more laid back then LTL. Your replaceable in LTL then Foodservice. Foodservice is happy that you showed up. Plus new drivers nowadays don’t want to work physically so food service is always undermanned. Always plenty of work at Foodservice even if the economy slows down. Cause everyone’s got to eat.

It’s no more harder then being a construction worker for twenty years. Truckers in general are lazy. So any physical labor they think it’s the worst job in the world. There are plenty of regular people that do manual labor for a career at other jobs that’s more physical then Foodservice.

 

What are some LTL places to look at? I have all my endorsements but limited in experience . Just trying to plan for the future.

 

Saia, Estes, Old Dominion, FedEx freight, UPSF, XPO, R&L, ABF, YRC.

 

Food service. As a junior ltl driver you will never see the light of day.

If you do go ltl don’t go yellow. I’m not sure they will be around much longer. Abf and r+l are union and so is ups.

Don’t forget booze delivery it’s all union here too. Once you get some seniority you can just deliver whole truckloads to be unloaded by forklifts at stadiums and what not.

 

I'd say grocery if your ambitious and solely money motivated.
People have to eat in both good and bad economies. You'll always be busy. More and more warehouses are becoming autonomous and most deliveries are palletized with electric jacks and drop gates if your not bumping a dock.
You'll become an excellent driver in any situation as you'll go into a lot of metro areas and drive in all weather as most perishable are exempt from weather bans.
Try getting on with a company that does grocery stores or bread accounts. Usually load and go to one or two stops with docks and all palletized or bread on rollers. Usually two runs a day, a short and a long.
Pepperidge farms, grocery haulers, stop and shop, jb hunt does c&s and big y, shop rite, Lilly does whole foods, Ryder does trader Joes, Walgreens is CDC, blackhorse does aldi's. Forget Martin Brower or sysco or pfg. To much work and not enough money.
I worked for black horse doing aldi. You load your truck and let yourself into the store and unload yourself. Dock to dock. Lot of city work. LOTS OF HOURS! No problem hitting 100k. With the recent driver shortage and raises a runner can do 120K+. That's before the 15,000 sign on. You will work weekends and you will work holidays but they will pay you holiday pay at 175, plus 75 if it's your scheduled day off, plus your load pay which averages between 350 for a slouch to 525 for a hustler. 525+175+75= 775 holiday, it's worth it. It's criminal how much you can make but you will work your 14 every day to be a top earner. 100 bonus for 6th day and often 200 for seven if they really need you which they always do. The more efficient you get the quicker you load and unload and the higher your hourly rate because your on load pay.
The only way to make more money when your ltl on hourly is to slow down and drag out your day or wait for a raise. That is the pits and even with overtime after 8 at 30 plus an hour your not matching load based pay that incentivizes you to hustle. Then you pay union dues and fees out of that hourly rate and forget about it.
LTL you'll run a forklift for months or years covering routes every now and then. You'll finally get a route and still be making a much lower hourly rate compared to the load based pay of a grocery guys starting pay from day one. Not to mention union red tape. The equipment sucks. The freight is often cumbersome and dangerous. You're out in the elements both making deliveries and working at the cross dock facilities. You'll probably get weekends off and home by 6pm unless your line haul. As a company driver you can rarely make more than a grocery guy, even ups doesn't make more than grocery anymore. The downside is you WILL live at work too make the good money. Forget family and home time. Work to home, sleep to work, rinse repeat. Day after day, year after year. You can haul grocery and have a ten hour day and make 275 or 300 and make 70000 if that's all you want.
Run don't walk from beverage like coke or Pepsi.
If you have hazmat, when you do get experience take a look at praxair and similar outfits. Great pay and excellent hours. The best of both worlds. Also check out fuel delivery.
Good luck driver, your getting in to the business at an interesting and good time. Get your experience and get local. Autonomous trucks will make it to the cities and delivery jobs last, if ever. Before we know it the big box companies that hire newbies for training will be trading in newbies for robots and it will be hard to get experience.

 

Ok scratch r+l if he wants union.

Op where are you located? Right to work or no?

You ever thought about using your cdl for construction? If your state isn’t right to work you can make good money in construction with really good benefits.

 

@Chinatown can help you with your options if you would post your town and state. He is the resident job finder.

Otherwise I would stick with a restaurant food service. Sysco would be good if they are hiring. They are the original BJ's or Sam's Club.
A LTL carrier you will have loads that should not be carried and would require special handling.

Just my 2 pennies