Local driving for new cdl holder

superflow · May 14, 2015

imtimmy said: ↑

Sharno, I live in the Dallas area and work for Sysco now for 19 months. HOWEVER, I only have a class B license and now it's starting to bite me in the ###. I worked A LOT of overtime last year, generally 60-70 hrs a week. The main boss who came in 1 month after me started changing a lot of things though. Now to the point where my hours are being cut and talk of "dip" pay in July. At Sysco, all or most tractor trailer guys get paid on "dip" which is BY THE CASE, plus a straight time anything over 40 hours. There is a "premium" pay for cases of .26 cents a case if they have to go downstairs or upstairs or extra far deliveries. I have had my class B for 20 years now and should have bumped up to an A license years ago. Many more opportunities like what has been said here. As far as Sysco goes in N. TX. most of the guys who have been there for years are earning a decent living eg. 1000 cases a day or more, set route, able to get daily routes done and stay within 55-60 hours a week. The newer guys however tend to be getting less cases on some days, maybe more on others but when averaged out for the hours being put in per week, well not so much well off. Honestly it depends how much buddy buddy you get with managers who are all former drivers usually. The work is hard, especially when they bury the Fcn cases because of bad loads, bad routing etc. If not for bad loading, routing it makes the job not as bad. For me, I'm at the limit. If they want to try and dip me in a straight truck it's not gonna pay out as I will be working 60 hr weeks but taking home less than if I stayed on hourly. Can't fit as much in a straight truck and when they are loaded they tend to suck to work out of, just no room, causes a lot of delays stop to stop. I have been inquiring into truck driving schools locally myself to aquire my A licence if I'm gonna keep driving a truck for a living. Just don't want to go otr. I see a lot of city driver positions open but asking 1 yr exp. class A. So I have been checking local LTL carriers about student training programs as well, Con-way, ABF, etc. I have applied at a few dock positions within these companies just to get my foot in the door and than see about a driver training program too. Sygma is a part of Sysco, but it is otr with a team driver. For instance, I was making a produce delivery to Schlotzsky in downtown Dallas and Syma drivers were there same time pushing in about 500 cases of food. They were out of OKC and heading back that afternoon after being out all night. Best of luck, at least your in class and working towards tour A. I'm still checking on school tuitions and who's most reputable within Dallas. Continental and TDI so far from what I have come across, however just joined this forum tonight to get advice from the pro's.
Click to expand...

....... No CDL required to drive a switcher
I don't know if Sysco uses switchers or not but it's a great way to get you on your way to getting that CDL

Sharno · May 29, 2015

Hey guys! I forgot to update: I got my cdl last Friday, did the road test then went straight to dmv. Going to get my endorsements in the next week and then start applying for this long list of companies that I'm interested in.

My top choice would probably be SEFL, but have at least 10-12 I'm gonna consider.

SEFL
SAIA
CARDINAL
THYSSENKRUPP
CENTRAL TRANSPORT
PORT CONSOLIDATED
FLORIDA ROCK AND TANK
SYSCO
CBI
USFOODS
PUBLIX
PEPSI
COKE

Probably more but I can't remember lol

Sharno · Sep 12, 2015

Hey guys, it looks as though nobody will read this but I will update anyways.

I applied for 20+ companies and only got 2 callbacks, the job I ended up getting was through a friends brother in law. He was quitting his job at a small recycling plant and he told the boss about me, so the boss gave me a chance, he had me go out with a driver to test my skills and once I drove fine for the day I was good to go.

It's a pretty cool job, I run a container from west palm beach to port of miami twice a day Monday to Friday, and get a set salary, most days are between 10-12 hours so it's not too bad. There's 4 drivers, 2 go to port, 1 drives 53' regular trailers to pick up material from local businesses, and 1 drives a B class roll off truck. I'm pretty happy with it for my first job and the only place that would give me a chance.

FuzzFace2 · Sep 13, 2015

Good to hear you got a good gig.

I just started driving class A but had my B since 1983 kept it all the years.
I was lucky that I just got a gig with a smaller Co. driving LP tank trailers. They also do hot tar & end dump trailers and figure if it is slow in one area it should be good in another. It is long hours, pay is ok but I am home every night and am vary thankful they offered me a job driving tank trailers out of school.

It all comes down to being in the right place at the right time.
Good luck
Dave ----

Chinatown · Sep 20, 2015

Sharno said: ↑

Thanks Chinatown, gonna look into those. U always have the answers LOL
Click to expand...

Twiss Transport near Tampa has some local stuff. Local could mean runnining central or southern Florida. The website has one yr. exp. required, but a new CDL grad posted he was hired 3 or 4 months ago to run local.

Sharno · Sep 20, 2015

Chinatown said: ↑

Twiss Transport near Tampa has some local stuff. Local could mean runnining central or southern Florida. The website has one yr. exp. required, but a new CDL grad posted he was hired 3 or 4 months ago to run local.
Click to expand...

Hey Chinatown, I got a job, look 2 posts up.

And thanks Dave, that sounds cool, gotta start somewhere lol

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