Estes Dock worker

When I was an electrical apprentice,,,,,,,4th year.......told this one foreskin in a very calm voice," The next time you scream at me, I will knock your front f teeth out."

I had my final check at the end of the day.

 

It's the calm voice that scares them. I've never had a problem with people yelling like some people do but a direct insult got a reaction, a few times I had square off and look someone right in the eyes and tell them to never insult me again. That always took care of the problem. They still yelled a lot cuz that's what they do but they dropped the insults.

 

Just take your time and ask for another trainer. I’m still learning new crap on the dock after 5 years. I’m a driver but work the dock sometimes 6 hours a night. It’s better to keep it cool and remember you get paid by the hour. It’s better to take your time than destroy the customers freight.

 

I know Estes in Indianapolis starts dock workers at over 23/hr and will then train them as drivers starting at 28. Seems like a no brainer.

 

I've been doing LTL for 9 years. Some of which to this day on the dock helping out until I get loaded out.

I have coworkers that I am friendly with until we hit the dock. Then you are dealing with someone that is putting together 7 trailers on 5 different dock doors and cram them with 100 combined bills. People will absolutely lose their #### on you if you place things in the wrong area, give them bad info on pallet count, or tear up their pallets.

"What in the #### did I tell you?!? If the zip code on the bill ends with 2, 5, or 9, it goes behind door #3, if it ends in 1, 3, or 8 it goes behind door #5, if it ends in 4, 6, or is divisible by 7 or 12, it goes behind #7. You are a complete disgrace to the dock and your mere presence made my day longer."

I am working on something that you would probably get a kick out of. It describes the issues you are dealing with now.

Keep your head up an embrace the suck. I promise you things will not improve by much.

 

I just started the YRC training program. Two weeks in the dock (99% forklift) and then four weeks driver training then four weeks driving route with trainer.

I have a really excellent trainer. Several forklift videos and quiz. Discussion. Then baby steps on the forklift. I am training by loading and unloading trailers. I am pretty slow but trying to be safe and work the forks and wheels smoothly. We encourage yet all sorts of weird situations and the trainer patiently walks me through it all, letting me go alone on tasks he feels I have down and close coaching in new things. Nice stacks, crooked stacks, crashed stacks, 12 ft threaded rod bundles, damaged pallets, food mistakenly put on with inhalation poison, free astray, scanning way bills, opening and closing trailers safely in logging in the system, straps and deck bars and air bags. Helping other dock workers with scattered pallets, broken bundles, spilled containers, loading city trailers versus line haul ones. A ton of learning at an easy pace in three days so far.

My couple of years in commercial driving seems to be there is always one or a few jerks that treat people like dirt. Most are decent though. If you aren’t learning much then talk to HR about a different trainer. These freight companies are HURTING for good dock workers and drivers. If no satisfaction try another company. YRC has been great to me in every way so far. ODFL gets great praise from many people. You have options. Don’t endure childish tirades and abuse and not learn much.

I drove a haul truck at a rock quarry. Everyone was chill and great except one lead that screamed bloody murder if my 80,000 lb truck was 6” too far or too near his loader when I back up to it. At 50-80 hauls per shift a few missed marks unleashed red face fury. I talked to our manager and the next week the lead started acting like an actual adult human. Like every where else they are short drivers and can’t afford having grizzled, angry long timers chasing off promising new drivers.
Having been a manager in my previous career I believe in at least talking with the supervisor to give them a chance to correct things. But I always have a Plan B in case they do not.

 

Your comment really should be its own separate thread. You should chronicle your training in it's entirety. There are lots of people on here lurking without their CDL that could benefit from this.

 

Thanks. I think I started commenting on your (?) old YRC CDL class thread. But perhaps I should start my own work diary thread. I heard mixed things about YRC but they have been responsive, very relaxed, forthright and helpful to me so far.

Hopefully with this workforce shortage of drivers companies will start treating drivers as well as any other employees. I have seen both ways at different companies. One set of rules for office, mechanics, factory employees and another worse one for the truck drivers.

In this day it seems ludicrous that drivers cannot enjoy the same state and federal mandated decency of office pukes: convenient access to clean bathrooms, regular 15 minute breaks and half hour lunch away from work space, no questions asked safety lock out of damaged or worn out equipment, predictable work schedule with bonus pay for off shift work, decent motels for OTR and ensuring opportunity for good rest every 24 hrs regardless of DOT, etc. These are all no brainers for factory, grounds crew, mechanics, assembly workers. Why are many truckers treated like subhumans?

Anyway thanks for the suggestion about a new thread.

 

First off, congrats on landing the gig. I recommend you just keep your own work diary. It just makes sense to chronicle your own experiences so people can see a new perspective.

YRC is nowhere near the top or the bottom. It just kind of stays relevant to keep itself alive. A lot of it is the amount of pull the union has with Congress. I won't get into the politics of it because of TTR rules, but YRC tends to get more financial help than any other company.

Do yourself a favor. You are probably under contract with YRC and are required to work there a full year. If all the new guys not under contract get paid $60k a year, you being a dock to driver worker will probably earn $52k your first year. This is for YRC to recoup your tuition and having to have you be with a driver trainer for several weeks. Ride it out. Do not quit until your contract is up.

Whatever you are dealing with your first year, this will be your new normal. You will get crapped on from time to time. You will be expected to do more pickups or deliveries than you reasonably have time for. It's ok, some of these runs are designed with the intention of you having returns. Don't rush yourself into an accident trying to impress management.

Plan your bathroom breaks around your stops, not your stops around your bathroom breaks. Make a note of all the customers that take forever to unload you and pick out the ones with the best breakrooms and cleanest restrooms.

Never ever run illegal or with defective equipment. YRC and all of it's subsidiaries are notorious for running GARBAGE equipment and one person's trash is another's burden if they accept it. Read the DVIRs. I usually go back 3-10 shifts to see how often and why the truck broke down. Accepting a truck with a open write up will land you on the wrong side of the law. And those DoT tickets get expensive.

Best of luck and feel free to DM me if you have any questions.

 

When I worked on an LTL dock 15 yrs ago the drivers would help in the way of reading bills to make things quicker and more efficient. Any who tried to run fork lifts generally just ended up in the way. It’s insane how fast you end up learning to work while running those lifts 50 to 60 hrs per week. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, it’s impossible to keep up with the people who really get the work done night in and night out. It’s no offense as that’s not your job.

That dock was so #### dangerous. Wide open all the time, pushing freight, loading freight, lifting freight. Many of us took the governors off our lifts so they would really hunt. lol.

Oh the memories.