Ferguson Enterprises

Sorry for the delayed response.
Ferguson is definitely not OTR, day work only, home every night and no weekend work, ever, at least not for truck drivers (every 6 months there is a total inventory which, for whatever reasons, truck drivers are exempt from participating in, and no loss, either!).

You can go to www.ferguson.com and try searching there, but I have found that many locations use temporary driver services to find new drivers. It's easier to "fire" a temp worker - simply tell them you don't have anything for them to do tomorrow, don't come back. It's also cheaper to use them, though if you're good, they will talk to you about hiring on full-time.

Probably many drivers coming into our company are not going to get what I am getting paid - I spent several months working through my pay issues, as I had opportunities at other places which were paying more. I simply used my experience as a bargaining tool - their starting pay is equivalent to what a new driver just getting out of trucking school might expect to receive at 37k (you are paid by the hour, but if you start out at $15 per hour and don't get much overtime, you aren't going to make that much money).

I fell in love with the place because they promote from within, I eventually want to get out of trucking altogether. It's also very family and employee oriented, and have strict policies against employee abuse, including yelling and your basic mis-treatment issues. I also get so many paid days off per year it's crazy.

Anyway, what works for one driver may not work for another.

 

No, I have never heard of paid birthdays off, I am already getting 28 paid days off per year with out it.

Ferguson is the largest plumbing company in the world, but I don't work for the plumbing division, so I only see bathtubs when I go to the plumbing outlets for various parts that we need. I work for the Waterworks division - large underground piping; fire hydrants; huge underground valves, things like that. IN other words, everything for outside plumbing that goes up to a building or a house, but nothing for the inside of the house - that's where our plumbing division comes in.

They operate in all 50 states. They are not that widely known to the general public because they do not advertise. It is OPEN to the general public, but it's main source of business is contractors and plumbing companies. The plumbing divisions carry so much parts for all different brands of suppliers, their main warehouses are HUGE and filled with all kinds of little and big parts combined. If you need a part for a fixture, they probably will have it. If they don't have it, they can get it.

I don't do route deliveries per se, as in doing the same run every day. I get sent to all kinds of different places on a day-by-day basis as the need arises. And, I don't drive every day, and on some days, I do a few deliveries and then end up at the yard doing counter sales, stocking, cleaning, pulling orders and loading trucks.

As I say, it ain't for everyone. We have had many OTR drivers come in there through the temp agencies and just couldn't handle it. They were too used to drop and hook. Our company pretty much requires that you learn the product and that you eventually learn to pull your own orders, load your own truck. You don't just drive is all I'm saying, which sets quite well with me, I don't want to just drive, I've done PLENTY of that and am quite content to hang that hat on a wall somewhere and leave it there.

 

El: The corporate headquarters is in Newport News, Virginia. Corporate has lots of policies, ethics/morals/standards in place, there really shouldn't be any issues with any Ferguson employees - but then again, we're all only human.