ABF

I did call and check in on the app I put into the Albuquerque terminal for a line-haul gig. I pay my own health insurance after getting fired from some place a year and a half ago, so I guess that's a thing to look forward to again as well(less money out of my pocket). Overall, if I could stay in NM and stick to a consistent gig to where I could finally get this vehicle ownership debacle taken care of, then I'm willing to latch onto the job and take it should I be offered it.
I've already applied to similar positions in TX and CO, but if I could keep my CDL in one state for just a little while longer, the better. That and NM is pretty cheap after having had lived in CA for almost all of my life prior to 2012.

 

ABF up in my area is really slow right now, and has been for quite some time.
A lot of guys are not working; some of the newer guys haven't worked for several months, yet....
They are still posting ads advertising for new drivers.

To anybody considering signing on with ABF, I would give a warning;

I actually worked for them awhile back. When I was in my initial job interview with the terminal manager, he raved up and down as to what a great job this would be, and that he expected me to keep pretty busy. After some careful thought, I gave my resignation notice to my previous job and signed on with ABF.

I only worked four days that entire month, I was completely off every day the following month, and completely off the following month after that.

The terminal manager had lied to me. Period.

Also, because I had "quit" my previous job, I had a real hassle with unemployment and it took three months to clear it up and to finally receive any unemployment checks.

Going to ABF was a huge mistake for me and I finally quit them and moved on. Total waste of time; plus it cost me big time, financially.

By all means, do your research and speak with actual drivers, in person, and then make your decision.

And if the terminal manager tells you, "ah shucks, don't listen to anything that the drivers say, the guys just like to gripe about nothing".....

Run, don't walk, out of that terminal immediately!

 

Albuquerque is a wheel board for linehaul drivers which means you'll work steady. If you like the area I would jump on it

 

Estes and YRC also got back to me. We'll see where these three go. Scenery is nice, rent's quite cheap, and the night-life is quite amazing. Now I've just got to see if I could get days off in the middle of the week as opposed to the actual weekend. Yeah, some people aim to have M-F with weekends off as the ultimate goal. But after the years, I've found some quite amazing things to do during days off on a Wednesday/Thursday.

 

Don't just look to JUST the mega fleets for LTL. Look at the little guy too. They LIKELY sit less, you won't make as much, but its more consistent work. Especially, if they have a good partner carrier, as well as their own freight.
Or, if they are like my boss. We have several different freight bases. One division hauls milk, another mail, and mine. We do LTL during the day and auto parts at night.

 

You got to watch out though. Reddaway was an outfit like Walmart. Hard to get into unless you knew someone. Pay raises, kept equipment up looking like new. People didn't want to leave this job. Then the owner of Reddaway sold the company right before the economy dropped to big ole YRC. Then it's been a big drop off since.