Man i want a LTL job.

I've read a bunch of posts about P&D and some food service - where's all the linehaul drivers here? Linehaul for me is where it's at. I wouldn't like LTL as much if it was just P&D, and I certainly wouldn't be interested in food service. I don't have to wait for shippers / receivers to load / unload because I don't deal with shippers and receivers. Traffic is manageable because I'm mostly on the interstates. I absolutely love linehaul, and I even cover the northeast, going to metro areas including NYC - yep, still love it. I'm not running downtown into cramped areas - I go terminal to terminal. I know all the terminals in the northeast now, so I'm very familiar and comfortable with finding my destinations. It's all just driving and drop / hooks.

As another driver posted, seniority is key. We all have to start at the bottom. Some terminals are better to work at than others. Some give more opportunities. As I like to say to student drivers hoping to get right into LTL, location trumps experience. Often it's not about how much prior OTR experience you have, but where you live. Same can be said for experienced drivers that are looking to get into LTL but don't want to be at the bottom of an extraboard for years on end. It all depends on the terminal and location. It also depends on the company. Some companies make you jump through more hoops than others. I love working for OD as a linehaul driver.

I know some P&D guys at my barn who would never wanna do linehaul, that's why they're P&D. To each their own, just wanted to represent some road drivers here by chiming in about linehaul.

 

They are all either running or sleeping, and don't have enough time to post here.

 

I thought about switching to linehaul next time we bid. The money would be better but there some issues. 1. Freight is down. I worked 5 hours today. We sit guys down in the city and when we do we usually sit guys down on linehaul too. 2. Linehaul where I am work their 14 hours out every day with a few exceptions. Usually those exceptions are really short nights which equal not much money. I didn't come over to LTL to run my 14 out every night. I did that running regional, making more money, and didn't have to commute to work to do it. With my commute, it means I would get about 8 hours at home every day. To me, that is not a life!

 

My issue with linehaul is that most of the runs are at night because you have to shuttle the freight that the city drivers picked up during the day. The exception might be if you work out of a hub/breakbulk where there's daylight runs, but these will go to the highest seniority guys.

Some guys can adapt to night running but I could never do it. That's why you see alot of daycabs at night in rest areas, chicken coops, or on ramps with the driver slumped over the wheel catching some z's.

And depending on where you work and what kind of seniority you have...you may end up working the dock at some point during your run. I know that at the FedEx Freight barn near me, very few of their runs are drop and hook. Their guys may drive 4 hours, work the dock 3 hours, and then turn around and drive 4 back.

Then on top of all that, pulling doubles in foul weather with a single-axle daycab will test your mettle. I've seen sets jacknifed and folded up like accordians when old man winter comes to town. One time, I took a detour off the highway and ended up on a dead-end road. Couldn't back up...had to break the set down in the road and put it back together to get it turned around.

But if you're a night owl and can handle a set in bad weather, then linehaul is definitely the way to go. Guys in my barn are doing $70k-$100k pulling sets at night.

 

while being paid by the hour.
take as long as you want to load me now!

 

have you never done OTR? I did OTR for a year and then landed my local gig. I've never looked back. the exploraring and seeing America just ain't all it's cracked up to be IMO.

They would have to offer me a pretty fat wad to go back out there again...

 

I would have gone for a line haul position, if one had opened up and hadn't been grabbed by a guy with seniority. But I lived close to the dock, and don't mind night work.
Of course, right after I retired, they had a line haul open up. . .figures.

 

I never have done OTR, I started locally as a beer truck driver and beer truck helper worked as a helper out in Lorain County, Ohio and then was transferred back to the warehouse running Cleveland's east side (Cleveland Heights area which was short lived) and then was transferred over to Cleveland's Second District- The mean streets of Cleveland's lower west side, right out side of down town and I stayed there until I tired of the alcohol business and moved over into the world of broad line food service distribution, which I admit I like better then beverage distribution.

You know I figured and individual results may vary, but I kind of gave up on any romantic notions of seeing the country through the windshield of a big truck a little while ago ha-ha. It's kind of hard to really think about seeing the country and all that jazz when you have a load and a dead line to meet and a job to do. Even my self as well, when I'm out working I'm not really out sight seeing I'm focused on the job I have to do. Of course I run the same routes over and over again the sights really do not change.

However I will say this one exception I have gotten to see the sun come up and it was really really cool and I said "This is one of the reasons I got into this." However usually when the suns coming up I'm in the back of the trailer loading up my two wheeler.

 

I still don't get the see the country thing. The he'll can yiu see from the highway? Like you said, an occasional pretty sunrise or sunset, a cool cloud formation? I mean, what else?

 

When I was in driving school towards the end of it before school stared I was talking to a fellow classmate of mine and I said to him "Yeah I think I'll work for one of the food companies." He goes "What? That's not seeing the country." I said "Yeah I've given up on any romantic notions of seeing the country." He gave me this look of complete understanding like "Yeah I think I know what you're saying."

You know really you're hauling interstate freight it's more of a okay were loaded and our log book is ready to go everyone get out of the way we got to roll everyone get out of the way you're all blocking progress right now." Oh the suns up that's nice, I wish this slow slow poke would get out of the way this load of pork rinds can not be late.

That's another thing though I see the OTR trucks driving around in the city going to these goofy plants and goofy factories in goofy places off of goofy streets and more then one occasion I've had OTR drivers ask me "Can I go down this street or under that bridge."

What I like about where I work is our trailers are just short enough where we can duck under most bridges and it's good, but if you're from out of state and do not know, that happened a couple weeks ago I was on my way back in on Thursday getting ready to go under a 13' 3" bridge and an OTR truck from California was driving by and the driver looked at me pointed at the bridge and I made a gesture with my hands to say "NO DON'T DO IT YOU WON'T MAKE IT." He gave me the thumbs up and went on down the street, but yeah driving an OTR truck in the city isn't really anything I want a major part of.

I suppose it's different if you work for like a private fleet like Giant Eagle or Walgreens or CVS Pharmacy,and are only going to those stores and there locations.