Did you quit Conway?

I'm gonna attempt to answer every question you've asked in one post as honestly as I can (might not be nice though) since I've worked at Con-way freight for about 7 years now even though I have no idea which division he works for.

All of this is based off how the Freight side works.

Seniority - your number on the driver board based off the date you were hired. If the terminal had 99 drivers and you just started you're driver number 100. You select your job based off seniority. If your number 55 you're the 55'th driver to select what you'll do for the year whether it's a start time or you decide to run line-haul. I have well over 100 drivers under me on the board now so I can do whatever I want other than day line-haul since my seniority does not allow me to do that yet. I currently run the same destination every night on night line-haul.


Flex board - that is where you start here. It's a call in board. The bigger terminals split it into a day and night flex so at least you know which you'll be working. You get called in based off your seniority number for extra runs that are not covered by bid drivers. At the East Coast terminals around me all the flex board drivers pretty much do the same thing every day since we're so busy out here.


Have I moved to get an LTL job - no but I've moved twice for the company since I started here 7 years ago to keep or advance my LTL job. The first time I had to in order to keep my job since my terminal was one of the 40 that the company closed in 2008. I had to move 3 hours away to keep my job but all expenses were paid by the company and there was a bonus on top of that. The second time I did not have to move but chose to because of the location and where I would be on the board. Once again, all the expenses were paid and there was money on top of that.

How long does it take to get a bid - there is no real answer to this. It took me around 18 months to get a bid which was city but we have drivers here that have line-haul bids with less less than a year in. The flip side to that is there are drivers at some our Michigan terminals with more company time than me and they're still on the flex board while I have over 100 drivers under me here.

Did I quit Con-way - no or I would not be posting here. I thought about it in early 2007 but stuck it out. I made $82,500 last year running line-haul and I may break $90,000 this year. If not, I'll be within a few hundred of doing so. The drivers from my terminal that run NJ will be right around 100K and the drivers that run up into NY will be around 110K. Why would I quit that? I might bid the NY run next year just to see how much money can really be made driving a truck. We have it figured that if you max your time 115K is very possible.

Car, this is not a family oriented company. I'm not sure if LA is Los Angeles or Louisiana but I'm guessing it's Louisiana. Our pay rates up here are much better but the job is the same. If your relationship cannot handle him working at Con-way Freight you two have absolutely no chance if he's gonna drive. Not trying to be harsh but that's the truth. He's home daily and makes good money.

I have my issues with the company but it's irresponsible of you to blame them for the failure of a relationship. Con-way is in the business of making money - not making you and your hubby happy. You'll notice in another post I made her in one of your threads I took full responsibility for a failed relationship I had while working here. Your relationship with him has nothing to do with Con-way - keep that in mind..

 

JakeBrake tells a lot of valid points and how things work on the freight side. He has helped me a few times just by reading his posts.
Car- just reading your posts, i think that your husband is in the truckload side of things, but I could be wrong.
I will tell you my side of it and what worked for me, and hope it helps. Trucking is my second career, and before I came to Conway Freight I was over the road. I told my wife that I would only do over the road for one year at the most, for the experience and than get a local job. It took 10 months and I landed at conway. While over the road, I worked for a company that had something called a hometime fleet. I chose this company for this reason. I was gone for 14 days and than home for 7. I took a hit on money but I was able to spend valuable time with my 2 year old. When I was on the road I carried a laptop and was able to webcam with my wife and daughter, which seemed to help a lot. We all stayed real strong, but we also knew that it would not last forever. Now at conway freight, i am running linehaul at night, and working long hours. It is still a struggle, and I am tired a lot, but I make it work. I able to see my family every day for dinner and I switch myself back to sleeping at night during the weekend to spend time with them. Working 13 hour days consistantly is not easy but it is a living. It can work but it does need cooperation from all sides and everyone has to be on the same page. If your husband is over the road, than maybe a local job should be worth a shot.
As for the quitting part. That is kinda interesting to me. At my terminal and the FAC's that I go to a lot of guys complain a lot, and talk about leaving, but it seems not a lot do. At least the guys that have a little bit of time in seem to be staying. the guys just starting off, it is about 75%stay. Gotta wonder why if everyone is so miserable, why does everyone stay? I have my complaints too and wonder how long I can work this many hours, and there are other things that I do not care for, but there are good things too, that I really like. You have to weigh the pros and cons of your situation. I will not leave this job for just any job. If I reach top pay before my patience is up, it would be real hard to leave. We will see what happens.
Good Luck to you and your husband. I hope it works out, and maybe give the freight side a try.

 

Well, I for one did quit Conway. It was after I had been here for about 4 months. I came in one morning and turned in all of my uniforms etc. As soon as I got back to the house my phone is ringing. It was my terminal manager asking me to come talk to him because when I was in the office he had been too surprised to say anything. The reason I had quit? 25-30 hours per week. I had been asking for more but I guess he didn't realize how serious I was. I can't support a family on that and they come first. If that means going back OTR then so be it. I agreed to stay if I could get at least 40 hours per week. I've been just over 3 years now and have had plenty of hours. My one real beef with the company is that it takes 4 years to top out on pay. I do the same job and better than some who have been here 15+ years but make much less money because the step increases are rather small until that final jump to top out pay. If they would at least spread the increases out it would help a lot.

 

Previous to the four months I wasn't at Conway. I did say my "first four months"

 

I doubt there is overtime pay as we fall into a weird nitch of labor law that doesn't require the company to pay.

 

Con-way freight pays OT at 8/40 up here - I think it might be 10/50 down South but OT is payed.

 

What sucks where I am you have to take training classes. They tell you to log them. Do we get paid for our time? Nope!

 

Freight or Truckload?