How hard is it getting into LTL?

Guess it depends on the terminal, he says there's a lot of rules that they bust your balls over. Gotta honk before backing, seatbelts anytime the trucks or forklifts are moving even if it's just moving a couple inches to reposition, no earbuds or headsets on the dock, everyone takes pictures of everything to cover their ###, they want you to wear OD branded clothes even if you're just a dock worker etc.

He says they also rank all the workers and publish the stats daily next to the time clock as a ranking system. OD apparently ranks everyone on like everything. He said he was rated for how often his truck went above like 1400 rpm or something. Seemed very micromanaging to me. I guess some people would do really well in an environment like that. I'd rather not have to deal with that kind of stuff. He said one of the bosses there said he didn't smile enough and act friendly enough to customers from what he'd heard from customers.

I'd have told the boss I'm not here to make friends or be some chipper salesman, I'll be polite but I'm here to get the crap off and on the truck and get home asap. I'm not going to stand around and blabber for 20 minutes at a stop to some random dude about the weather and the local sportsball team.

 

I also heard that you can't smoke......at all.....ever

 

I don't think I've ever worked at any trucking company that allowed smoking in the truck or on company property. Smokers may as well be second class citizens these days. My last job wouldn't let you smoke or even vape in your own car with the windows up.

 

I think it depends on the terminal, don't know if all of OD is that way. The smaller ltl I'm at isn't super micromanaging but it's definitely the corporate world of driving gigs for sure. Especially for P&D.

I've been lucky to not work docks much. I know some places all the P&D guys run dock everyday according to other drivers I've talked to. Sounds like central transport is the worst, lowest pay rate pay locally, 60 hrs a week, and dock work every morning with many 14 hour days.

The OD, XPO and FXF seem all content. Central guys look like death warmed over, and I rarely see any Saia guys in person. They're like ghosts, I see them on the road but never at stops. Estes guys usually are really quiet and don't talk much so can't speak for them. I know locally here the Estes linehaul and FXF linehaul are usually psychotic drivers. I think FXF contracts out linehaul here a bit so I often see them wrecked out in the winter. Or pulling triples in the mountains and snow with predictable results.

I think FXF is the only company I've seen pulling triples in the winter. And they're usually driving like the load is the only thing that's going to save the planet before the doomsday device goes off. They're second only to the black smoke billowing white Volvo pulling a big blue Amazon trailer with a magic carpet hanging in the windshield and Alberta plates.

 

I'm at the 2nd largest OD terminal in the system and there's absolutely no micromanaging here. It's the wild west and guys do whatever they want. I'm always amazed when I read stuff that is absolutely false and ridiculous.

 

I can understand why LTL would be hard to get into. I got into a position once and never will do it again. Worst experience ever. The trailer I pulled was swing door, the ONLY swing door driver there was. Needless to say, I got tired real quick of getting in and out of the truck four friggin times at each and every stop to open and close those doors.

 

Man, I am telling you. It wasn't so bad the couple times I got to pull a roll up door trailer. But swing door? No...just no.