Any questions from prospects or lookers from real Watkins and Shepard drivers?

Your driving record and work history sound good. Do you have any felonies? As far as I know Watkins takes care of their drivers, but nobody's gonna hold your hand. As long as YOU do your work and YOU are on top of taking care of your truck and trailer. American-Trucker has a thread about his experience about W&S. How much he ran, made, all that stuff. Their recruiter was really helpful for me and got me into working for Foodlink getting my CDL.

 

Just curious how bad unloading furniture is in the middle of summer since its just around the corner. Whats it like in Texas when it's 100+ degrees outside and god only knows how hot in those trailers. Do most stops come off pretty fast, or could you be back there for an hour or so waiting on the customers. I know we only have to tailgate it, but I'm guessing if the folks on the ground can't keep up it can slow things down a little?

Ill be running out of Conover so it will be a big part of my future, I'm just trying to get a feel for what to expect?

 

RoadCall I passed my Lift Test today in Hickory. One step closer. Tough but not impossible if a 60 year old can do it.

 

well its hot! Most stops are under 10 peices so they come off as quick as you can throw them off. Sometimes like at Thomasville Distrobution centers you"ll have a full trailer of stuff to unload which can take up to 2 hours to do.




American Trucker

 

Even at a DC, backed up to a dock, they make you tailgate the load?

$20 for 2 hours of work, hmm. Watkins is the only company I ever heard of that doesnt have stop pay as well as unloading pay.

Oh well, guess most stops are real easy, got to take the bad with the good.

 

they do have stop and unload pay if you actually unload anything, not sure where you got that. i dont remember how all it works, its not millions or anything but its there. if you are at a dc they will probably be doing it, so you will only be paid for the stop. and theres a $50 cap on a stop i think.

 

The way it was explained to me was $20 flat for all stops on Conover loads. I was told by Conover recruiter that they don't pay additional unloading pay, it's just $20 per stop. Was my recruiter wrong?

 

The stop pay is different depending on the freight. With furniture, whether it comes out of Conover, Myrtle, or Santa Fe Springs, it's $20 per stop, regardless of piece count. If you only have one stop, and the trailer's full with 120 pieces, you get the standard $20 to unload it. UNLESS you are at one of the five or so truckload deliveries from Conover that pay $55 per unload. Most of the truckload deliveries I've done only required me to ready the boxes for the warehouse guys to hand truck them off the trailer, but that does sometimes require you to climb up and pull stacked boxes down. I've always been able to get help if I needed something heavy unstacked, and a lot of those warehouses have ladders if you need them. Unloading a whole 53' trailer of furniture is a slight workout, I won't lie, but I've never minded it and with one or two guys running hand trucks it usually takes me about an hour to empty the trailer. Unloading in the summer ain't no picnic, though, no matter where you are--those trailers get hot inside, even the ones with opaque aluminum roofs.

To be completely honest, the truckload deliveries aren't the most fun, BUT they don't usually take any longer than waiting for some forklift driver to unload you at most other warehouses, AND you get an extra twenty bucks. You also get a little exercise, which is something most of truck drivers get very little of anyway.

 

As always thanks Henley. I appreciate all of your input throughout my process. Guess I was told correct, you get a flat $20 for every stop except for the few you mentioned. The $20 covers both the stop and unloading pay.

I was just trying to figure out a worse case scenario in the summer. I know when it's 100 degrees outside those trailers are going to be like saunas inside. Bottom line, the more drops the better the money, not to mention the less time spent in that trailer at each drop.

 

No, ltl out of myrtle is $25 a stop! If your putting $20 on your envolope your throwing money away







American Trucker