Choices, choices, choices, got any suggestions?

I know it may seem like an odd question but I cannot help but ask it.
Are you open to relocating?
I ask this because if you can get on with DOT foods working out of another area then you can eventually get moved back to your area.
This is a good option for new drivers that are single.
If I was not married with a house payment I would do this with Walmart. Because I do not live near a DC and must live within 50 miles of one to get hired.
Talk to them and see. It may be an option. Or they may say to move and then check with them. That option I would not follow due to lack of a guarantee. But if they agree to hire you in another area it would be a good option.
Plus you could live in an area with a lower cost of living. That is always good as a driver where your income is pretty well fixed at a med level.

 

Since you mentioned that hand loading/unloading doesn't bother you...

Check out dairy warehouses/distributors. HP Hood is the predominant one in my area (which is a long way from yours, so you're on your own as far as researching them)

The pay is excellent, as are the benefits, they don't often advertise, and they (Hood) take drivers fresh out of school- might start in a yard horse and in the warehouse, then move into a driving position.

Another good thing about Hood was that they would also promote drivers into management, sales, and safety departments. (I don't imagine the pay goes down either, if you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down)

Now, it is a physical job (milk weighs about 8lbs per gallon, 4 gallons per case, 10-12 cases per dolly) but as long as you pass their "Human Performance Evaluation" (lifting test) being a woman is irrelevant.

Like I said before, HP Hood is in my neck of the woods, so this may be irrelevant but I imagine they drink milk in Los Angeles, so there must be somebody in that sector of the market out there.

Good luck.

 

Remrie, I am going to see if I can bring you over to the dark side of flat bedding, because from talking to you I get the feeling you might be able to not only handle it, but rock and roll with it. I see no reason a girl who punches through cinder blocks cant hack pullin a skateboard.

Id call TMC, they have a flatbedding school that teaches you how to tarp and how to do load securement. And you can tell my advice here is genuine because well I HATE TMC.

They Bought Yellowstone trucking when I was leased to them and messed up a really good deal I had going. I have met a lot of TMC company drivers, they are usually pretty happy with where they are at, and they do run nice equipment. If you go to work for them work as a company driver, do not, I repeat do not lease a truck to them.

But I do honestly feel that TMC is a place you could find a home for a couple of years and then if you decide you want to step up and become an owner opperator you will want to find a new home.

They also do have divisions that run RGN's and step decks, if you can eventually get under a step and learn all about stepdeckin you would be miles ahead of the rest.

I think you would like flat bedding, the hours are better than when you are bumping a dock, and when you unload somwhere it is usually some one who actually acts like they want the freight. Oh, and you dont have to mess with lumpers, or "Asstastic" warehouse managers.

I guess you could title this post "What id do in your shoes"

 

Oh and one more thing on the subject, because of all of the agriculture in SOCAL you can regularily get flat bed loads out of there, there are a ton of vans competeing for the loads that leave socal, you can get anything from a container to produce to machines on a flat bed.

SOCAL is a place you can wind up sitting, and I know with a flat behind me I wound up sitting alot less than others I knew with box vans.

 

She weighs about 110lbs. Not that she isn't tough but her and a 150 tarp and a Santa Ana wind? Central Ref. is near you. (fontana) I did really well at Central. They are pretty much Swifts private sister company. They are smaller and more family oriented though. Your chances of getting a dispatcher that gives a crap about you is much better, and your DM is your bread and butter. They also have local positions that open up from time to time in your area. If you are professional and know what you are doing you can make good money with them. They went above and beyond in some situations with me. Ideally you want to try to stick to the smaller companies. Maybe you could even find an owner operator willing to take you on and show you the ropes.

 

I do not think she would have any issue with tarps. Much of that is just knowing how to move the weight properly.
Most of the time she would not have to pick up a tarp that size often. Shippers and receivers know that 8' drop lumber tarps are to large for many drivers to move well, thus they will normally pick them up with the fork lift or other method to get on top of the load and off.
It was very very rare for me to ever see a large lumber tarp like that when I was on flats. We stuck with steel tarps. Much smaller and lighter.

 

Your experience parallels mine, chromedome. Bodyweight and brute strength aren't as important as understanding leverage, angles, and so forth. You certainly can't be truly weak, but that is hardly the case with Remrie. An athlete who is trained in tossing people around wouldn't have much trouble with an inert weight like a tarp, I don't think, and the "female factor" doesn't figure into it all.

As for the much-feared (and often repeated) stories of climbing a ladder with 150 lbs on your shoulder as a regular thing, I never saw it. That you could do it if necessary would be a plus for any flatbedder, of course, but no shipper expects it that I ever encountered.

In fact, I don't recall ever seeing a tarp that weighed over 70-80 pounds used by anyone. The companies that use the old style, heavyweight, non-fitted tarps (because they are so much harder to tear and don't need a lot of maintenance), usually break their sets into 3 or 4 pieces because of the weight issue.

 

Driver you sayin she cant do it?

 

anyone who wants to carry their tarps up a ladder... I won't stop em, but I won't do it. All I gotta say is "Hey, Mr. forklift driver! Come here for a minute!" and my tarps magically appear on top of my load.

 

The only time I ever did was from necessity. A lumber load where I was the last truck of the day, and they wanted me off the yard before tarping so they could lock the gate. A few yards beyond the gate were some angled RR tracks that rocked my trailer enough that one of the tarps they'd put up with a forklift rolled off.

Just as I was climbing my ladder the gate locker flew by in his pickup, glad to be finished for the day. Middle of the Oregon woods and no one around for miles, so when I saw a tarp was gone it was either get it back up myself or wait until morning. lol (I can imagine what my truck boss would have had to say about that.)

It wasn't easy, but I think anyone with reasonable strength could do it. (It was half a fitted, rubberized lumber set... about 75 lbs.)