Con Way Truckload

Today was range testing.I passed all except the alley docking part.I have a retest tomorrow so if I pass then off on the road for me!If not, then back on the range all next week so the pressure is on.I talked to Christine yesterday she has my info and she said that the 16th of Feb would be my start.Where are all you Conway drivers?I hope your too busy gettin those miles and don't have time to post.

 

Con-Way Truckload guy here, checking in. Let's see if I can throw some stuff out here to help.

It's a good company, I have a little over a year in and have a good fleet manager. I leave him alone, he keeps me moving. I don't have much problem with short runs, multi-stop loads, whatever; as long as I am moving, I don't go crazy. Plus, on multi-stop or multi-pickup loads, you get $35 for each additional stop and/or pickup.

chevyryder86, if/when you come aboard and get your own rig, I hope you have a place in mind to park it. We have a drop yard off the south side on 285, but you probably don't want to go there unless you have to. We used to be one of the only ones renting space there, now there are so many trailers from us, werner, crst, north american, melton, etc that you can't move around at all. Last time I relayed there, I had to back out because there is no room to turn around. Anyone that has been there can vouch for this. It is a secure facility with a guard, but not a whole lot of fun to go to. Hopefully, enough complaints have been turned in and we will get a new one soon.

I will also throw this warning out there to potential hires: when you get hired, they try really hard to get everyone to opt to go to Canada. You don't have to, but they will snag you with promises of 2000 mile runs from Laredo to Ontario. Reality: out of the 10 or so loads I hauled into Canada last year, 2 were just over 1000 miles. The others were the little short hops, say from Chicago to Toronto or Fort Wayne to Grimsby. Plus, Canadian customs will hate you simply because you are there. It doesn't matter if your paperwork is perfect and you have all the right answers. For some reason, they think you are there to mess up their precious country and will grill you unmercifully as to why you are there, what you are hauling, why you are hauling it, why you live in Florida, why you don't have a passport, why your truck says CFI on it, when you are leaving, what you will be leaving with, what you will do while you are there, the last time you were there, the last load you hauled, how often you drive there, why you drive there, why the customer selected your company to haul it there, etc. If you blink at them wrong, they send you to immigration and search the truck. I must have blinked at them wrong almost every time. I have literally sat at customs crossing into Manitoba for 5 hours while they ripped everything out of the truck, sent me to immigration and the broker, they broke the seal and searched the cargo, x-rayed everything, and finally let me go. Remember, you are burning up your hours while sitting there, so the $25 you get for crossing the border doesn't really seem worth it anymore. I have never hauled anything over 700 miles out of Canada. US customs isn't quite so bad, but you will still be questioned and searched and lose a lot of time.
Needless to say, I opted out this year. Some people say that's a mistake, and that freight is picking up from Mexico to Canada, but I just don't need the hassle anymore.

You guys going through an independent school will be going to a one week boot camp in Neosho, MO just below Joplin. It is awesome! If you have any concept of driving, you will pass with flying colors. We had 25 start in our class. One left the first day, another later due to family problems. Out of the 23 left...23 passed. Always volunteer to go first. For example, if you take your road test first, you will have the rest of the time to kill back at the campus; they let me and my roommate (who is now my best friend) take one of the trucks out on the shifting range and obstacle course and practice by ourselves. A couple other guys stayed too, but they just goofed off. My buddy and I also scored better than they did on our following tests. You get fed lunch every day, which is pretty good cafeteria food. The hotel you stay at is across the street from WalMart, there is a little sports bar/ grill a couple blocks away which is a good place to hang out and celebrate once you have passed. (I forgot to mention, you get bused between the hotel and campus every day).

Trucks for solos are the remaining old Kenworth T600s, new KW T660s with 72" sleeper, Freightliner Cascadias, and some International Prostars which I have yet to see. Teams get the KW T660 with the studio (84") sleeper. New solo trucks will be fitted with APUs, but none of the existing non-APU trucks will be retrofitted with them. Teams don't get an APU simply because they don't sit and idle as much (obviously).

When I started, I was told 2500-3500 miles a week. That's pretty accurate, actually. Some weeks are great, with CA to GA runs, other times you get stuck running in circles in the northeast. You do get an extra $.05/mi running northeast.

Reimbursments are also prompt. You get reimbursed for scales, 1 shower per day (you usually just use your driver loyalty cards to get showers. Generally, 50 gallons of fuel gets you a free shower), truck essentials like coolant, washer fluid, oil, etc., faxes, minor truck repairs, and so on. You just fill out a reimbursment form, staple the receipts to it, and mail it in with the rest of your paperwork.

Here's an example of my miles; I got off hometime Jan 8.
Jan8- deadhead 70 miles to Theodore, AL to pick up load going to St Hyacinthe, Quebec. Drop and hook. Dispatched 995 miles to CWTL terminal in Taylor, MI. It turns out the load didn't deliver until the 13th, so instead of having me sit on it for a long time, I dropped it at the terminal and someone else (we have local drivers that only ferry trailers to and from Canada) took it to Canada later on.
Jan9- arrived at Taylor at night after sitting in a shop in KY for 6 hours getting trailer tire replaced. Not everyone stocks super singles.
Jan10- assigned load picking up in Port Huron, MI on Jan12, delivering in Green Bay, WI on the Jan13. This is where people start complaining, but at least you are at a terminal with all the creature comforts while waiting, and you get a reset. Plus it was snowing, and MI isn't very prompt about snow removal so I didn't mind sitting too much.
Jan11- sitting at Taylor.
Jan12- dispatched deadhead 77 miles to Port Huron. Pick up load of paper (live load), dispatched 554 miles to Green Bay.
Jan13- deliver said load of paper (live unload), assigned picking up a load in Tomah, WI to relay to a service plaza on the OH turnpike. Dispatched deadhead 164 miles to Tomah.
Jan14- pick up load (drop and hook), dispatched 518 miles to relay point. I ran through Chicago in a snowstorm so needless to say, it was running behind. It turns out, the outbound driver decided to sit at a truck stop instead of at relay point, so by the time I got close to the relay, it was snowing and he refused to leave the safety of the truck stop. So I had nobody to relay the load off to. Called ops, went to sleep.
Jan15- woke up, had 10 hr break by this point and other guy still refused to drive to pick up the load from me, so called ops and was given the go-ahead to take the load the rest of the way to Albany. Dispatched 550 miles to Albany. Dropped load, assigned picking up in Egypt, NY Jan16, delivering to Atlanta, GA Jan19. Dispatched 221 miles deadhead to Egypt.
Jan16- picked up load (live load), dispatched 976 miles to Atlanta. Currently sitting in Austinburg, OH after driving through yet another snowstorm in which my wipers decided to quit completely. Rain-x was my best friend today.

Hopefully this helps some of you guys out. Any specifics, just ask. I finally got internet for my laptop on the road and am loving it.

Later, John

 

It must be my pleasing personality. Because Canadian customs has never given me grief. It's always the ###wipes on our side that cause issues with me.

Now back in the day, before PAPS and PARS. It was awful just crossing, period. But the Canucks were always nice, just the same.

 

Appreciate the info greasemonkey.It seems that conway drivers are still gettin those miles given the sate of the economy.I plan on leaving my truck at the kroger or publix around the corner of my apartment.As far as going to Canada,I don't mind but if they give that kind of hassle, that would really piss me off.Don't care about the short runs because I would hate to be sitting.Couple more questions for ya. How long is the training period and how much do they start when it's time for solo?

 

Hey there GreaseMonkey!

Great post - very informative! I am scheduled for orientation on the 9th of February, so this took a little apprehension out of the process. You sound like you have a good attitude about the whole thing. One could only hope to get a FM and dispatch like yours.

Please keep posting. The more, the merrier. Could you tell us more about your internet access and how you are connecting to the net? Are you using wi-fi at the truckstops or do you have an aircard?

Thanks!

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Hey there Dance -

Undoubtedly it is your award-winning personality that is getting you through customs..... hehehehehehe

Good to hear from you bud!

 

I passed the alley docking today!hooray for me!I must admit that I need more practice on this and blind side parallel.But at least I get to hit the road next week to see how it really goes down.I've learned that backing a truck is not as easy as it looks when you watch other drivers do it.Truckers I salute you.The chevyryder will promise to back up when you need me to, and never cut in front of you again.Hopefully I take care of business so that I can make on time as planned to oreintation.

 

Good for you Chevy -

Good luck on next week. I am going to be doing the same. Lets just hope a bunch of nuns don't run out in front of me... hehehhhee (it was from a movie, and VERY FUNNY!)(ya had to see it)

Safe travels!

 

Appreciate it scooterdawg.I think we started the same week (Jan 5th) you have just been posting a hell of a lot more than I have.Let's hope I dont scare the state of Georgia next week being I have never drove a stick before!I said I wouldn't get a hair cut or drink till I got my liscense,But since my hair is gettin too long for my comfort and I passed I'm doing both tonight!Pray for me!(kidding)So is Conway your first company of choice?I've pretty sure its mine but there is a little window for Roehl as well.Safe travels to you also sir.

 

Yup, Conway is #1 on the list. Roehl is a great company, and I wished that they fell into the list, but Linda and I aren't married on paper (common law) and they only allow spouse, children, or step children as riders. Plus, my Daddy (who is getting up in years) recently told me that he has always wanted to ride in a big truck, and he would not be allowed either. Plus no pets, and that was pretty much the "last straw". But they look like a great company to work for and I would probably recommend them to someone if they asked. KLLM is second, and Star (TN) is neck and neck with TransAm. So we'll see what happens.

Who knows? Maybe we'll show up in the same class. It would be a pleasure to meet you, my friend.

Talk Soon!

 

Yeah, a lot of people tell me the same thing, but the US side now seems more interested in getting their customs fees/ bridge tolls collected. Once they have their money in hand, they welcome you back into the country with a smile. Only once did I ever have problems coming back; crossing through Pembina, ND. Later, I learned it is the "training ground" for the customs agents so they do everything exactly by the book and search EVERYTHING. They even sorted through the tire chains in the side box.
Canada, on the other hand, starts out nice enough. When I hand them my license and they do their computer thing, they freeze up. It may be because I have 0 record, I have never even gotten a parking ticket. Maybe they think I have a made up identity because they almost always sent me to immigration afterwards.

For internet, I have T-mobile as a provider. I got a phone (T-mobile Dash) that doubles as a modem for my laptop. It is $20 a month for unlimited internet, plus I have another phone line. Yes, it is way slower than cable but for my uses it is great. I used to use wifi at truck stops, but a lot of times it is down or my computer wouldn't connect. So this way, I can always connect and have access to emails, maps, etc.
I have Streets and Trips for my laptop, which works great. I have found that Google Earth is a great tool too. Sometimes, on a GPS the address is approximate, but if you look at a satellite view on Google you can see everything, sometimes even the docks you will back into.

You will be on your trainer's truck for 7500 miles (about 3 weeks average). During that time, you get $.26/mi. That's a ton better than the whole "You get $325 a week to train!" My first week, we ran pretty good and I cleared $700something. Don't be afraid to ask your trainer everything you can think of, or ask him/her to show you how to do things. They are making an extra $.10/mi for every mile you are on the truck. Make them earn it! The thing I like is that it is all run as a solo operation. You will drive, your trainer is supposed to be awake and alert in the passenger seat watching and training. Of course, they help you with trip planning and navigation, they aren't just there to judge you. My trainer wasn't exactly the greatest as most of the time he fell asleep when I drove, but I felt confident enough in myself to make it on my own. Plus I woke him up when I had questions. (The KW T2000s have power windows- my rolling down the passenger window in 30 degree weather always woke him up. I could usually get it rolled back up before he realized exactly what woke him in the first place. "Oh, since you're awake, I was wondering..." haha) During your training period, you are supposed to have 8 hrs backing practice. You will probably go through a couple terminals and drop yards, which are ideal for practicing backing. You don't have to worry about some supertrucker slamming through the gears in the truckstop and running into you. After your 7500 miles, your trainer will assess you, and pass you or you will be required to do more training (with a different trainer, I think). I don't know how much driving there is though, as I have never heard of anyone not passing.
After your 7500 miles, you jump to $.30/mi.
At 60,000 miles, you earn $.32/mi.
At 90,000 miles, you earn $.34/mi.
At 120,000 miles, you earn $.36/mi.
After that, I don't know. I haven't reached that point yet.

As mentioned somewhere else, a hazmat endorsement is now required. You will be reimbursed for it.

Another thing- when you go to boot camp, they will pay for the bus ticket. You can also fly or rent a car, and you will be reimbursed the bus ticket price. So, you may be out a bit of money, but a whole lot more comfortable.