Local driving jobs: Route job vs. Construction/other

I think you should celebrate and give thanks your GF actually gives a #### about you and accomodates your important work. Most men get lazy around women at home and refuse to accomodate them. And you wonder why we sometimes have issues.

I say this. Grab the Girl and take her on as a passenger, if not a possible future as a co driver.

 

My first local job was perfect for me at the time because it was basically "bankers hours" or as close as you can get to them in this business. However, there were a few drawbacks: 1) the equipment was terrible, and 2) the pay was equally bad.

But the schedule was exactly what I needed at that time, and the job still paid as well as many OTR jobs. It was what I was able to get with a minimum amount of experience, and the slight paycut over my prior OTR gig was well worth having a normal person's schedule and being home every night.

 

I've run mixers for LaFarge, worked full time at Yellow (YRC) as local P&D, and now run my own Tonka Truck in the dirt. I've also done the highway thing, both flats and vans/reefers, but that doesn't matter in this thread.

Mixers... LaFarge here is Teamsters, and their pay this year is around $38.00/hour CDN. You will NOT find a higher paying job driving anything else around here (at least in the big city. Oil patch is a different story). That is here though, and may differ depending on where you live. The cons? You are on-call... Only the higher seniority guys get a "day before" dispatch for the next morning. The rest have to put up with the bull-ish for a while. Good if you're young... You need to learn slumps, and other concrete crap if it's a dry-batch plant. You will be climbing and spraying a lot of water. There is actually quite a bit to constantly do when operating a mixer. It is not a "lazy" job when it's go time! Mistakes can easily happen. However, it's not physically THAT hard, as long as you can climb the ladder and spray water into the chute.

Yellow... Used to be good. Not anymore. Union members voted for such a reduction in everything, that I made more working for them 10 years ago, then they pay now. Complete joke. ABF didn't drop the wage here yet, but I'm sure they will eventually also. Old Yellow wasn't that bad to work for, but new Yellow (YRC) is a joke. When I went back, I lasted only a few months before I realized I was better off doing ANYTHING else other than working there...

DUMP TRUCK... Work day shift, Monday to Friday (at least I did, and do now). Depending on the company, and the jobs they take, you work regular hours. The money isn't that great (around $25/hour CDN to company driver here, but which is actually more than Yellow now pays here!), but the work I personally don't mind.

I own my own dump and pony now, and run that locally now. As much as I dislike working, I personally prefer hauling around dirt the best, out of everything else I've done, and I've almost done it all!

The money isn't the greatest (even as O/O), but I also value my home time. And if you get on with a good broker (ex-boss) like I have, you get steady work with decent customers, that actually will pay their bills! (You'd be surprised how many ops get ripped off and not paid for months of work!)