Local Central Texas (Austin, Temple and Waco)

All of the food companies have local, home everyday. Might work at night? That's a plus from the driving point of view. Traffic is better.
As I understand. Sysco charges as much or more than anyone. Might pay the same?
FedEx freight local. You do unload.

 

I had overheard a restaurant owner talking about his supplies. He told the other person that he wouldn't go with Sysco. They charge too much. More than any others.
Since this appears so. Maybe they also pay the best?

 

I live in a neighboring city of Killeen and I've been job searching locally for a while around here. There are plenty of labor intensive jobs hiring. McLane hires constantly, PFG, Sysco, etc. All of those will get you to the 50K starting point you're after, but you'll work for it. But with the physical activity you're already doing, I don't see it being a problem for you.

The best place for LTL related jobs would be in Waco, more so the Hewitt area. You've got quite a few that are right there together near the pilot in Hewitt. In my area you have Estes, SEFL, and R&L which just opened a few months ago, to name a few in the industrial complex. Keep in mind, most LTL's (not all) will put you in a "on call" position starting out if you don't already have LTL experience. There's also your typical day cab outfits that run belly dumps and end umps, but the pay isn't stellar unfortunately, at least nothing compared to LTL or food-service.

 

No problem. One thing I would keep in mind, is if you plan to travel on I-35 North, just know that traffic can get a bit sketchy halfway through Temple, up until you make it to Bruceville-Eddy due to construction. Once you make it to Bruceville Eddy, it opens up to 3 lanes and 75 mph. I mention that, becasue a one hour commute, could turn into a 2 hour commute to or from work, real quick. It's very hit and miss, you could hit that stretch of highway 2 or 3 days in a row with no problems, then for whatever reason, the rest of the week you end up sitting forever in that specific area. So just keep that in mind when applying to anywhere in Waco/Hewitt. There's some lucrative jobs there, but it can be a real pain in the ### commuting that way, at least until they finish the construction.

 

I kind of agree with that. I've seen plenty of LTL in that area. As far as the traffic is concerned, Austin is a big mess. I would prefer Waco over that. I would think Waco housing would be the most affordable. Austin is through the roof in home prices. Don't know much about Killeen. Killeen may be a close second choice.

You can do some research on city data in your spare time.
Texas Forum - Relocation, Moving, General and Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum

 

Be very mindful that some local home daily jobs, not foodservice persay, will have you driving up to 600 miles a day. An extra two hours driving back and forth will get old.