Any milk haulers out there?

main reason i worked for those wages was that I was 18 years old when I started. I was married then but didnt need much to survive on ...could I do it now? heck no...but for an 18 year old it was a great gig and gained the best experience I could have ever gotten...

 

Milked cows for years. Sold cows and got a job picking up milk on farms and hauling to the local cheese plant. 3 loads a day. I was never so miserable. Was paid by the hour and went by my place 6 times a day but never time to stop for lunch. Invariably one farmer got started late in the morning or the second guy was late and then the guys in the cheese plant would be repairing something on the intake, etc.etc. Made selling my cows look like the dumbest thing I ever did.

I hope I'm never so poor to have to do that job again. Visiting with the farmers was great fun though.........except for one guy, he was a loon (at best).

 

Just be careful hauling milk, especially for a big co-op like DFA. Hauling the milk itself is not bad, it is the wait times you are going to face once you get to the processing plant.

Now, every place is different, but you are going to have days - many of them, most likely - where you might have to wait 3 to 5 hours just to get in a bay, then an additional hour or two getting unloaded/washed. And let me tell you, because it is only milk, a lot of these places hire the dumbest people they can find. Chemical plants have receivers that are a lot more on the ball because you can't hire idiots when dealing with some of these hazardous loads.

Alas, if you really want to get into the tanker business, milk is great for experience. There is plenty of work since milk never sleeps but it gets old real quick at a lot of these places.

 

Man just reading all these posts on hauling milk in the us, makes canada a walk in the park..

 

Not all pay that lol .... .38-.42 per mile where I will be going in 2 weeks. 10 per stop pay, 14 unload and 14 washout. My route pays 280-300 per day on a 4 day a week schedule ( every other weekend ) putting it at as much as 1200 a week for 4 days. My cousin also hauls there as well. Not every milk hauling job out there pays a slave wage There's also hourly pay in for detention or break down times. Will I make 100k a year, no but I know I will make 55-60k my first year and I can live with that for 4 days a week work and home every day.

 

Worked for Lone Star Milk Transport for six years, mostly as a route driver. The equipment is top notch, they are constantly buying new equipment. My last truck was a 2013 Cascadia, very nice. Trailers are all in very good condition, even the older ones. The trouble is, the integrity of the company is nonexistent. They frequently demand that you run illegally - Usually overweight and way too many hours. The dispatcher will tell you any lie he has to in order to get the load moved, and will conveniently forget the conversation very quickly when you try to call in the favor. Pay is really awful unless you're a route driver, and there are very few of those positions available. There are other companies out there that are way better to work for. Stay away from this one.