Milk delivery (non bulk)

Wolf, how many trucks do they have out on the road doing deliveries like you? What time are all those guys getting back? Are you out on your own or still training? What kind of equipment are you running are you in a pup trailer, or straight truck or 10 wheeler or 38 footer (pretty common trailer for food work)?

 

LTL P&D is probaly your best bet. It's basically daytime work starting around 10am and finish around 7pm with weekends off. That's why I mentioned about Fed Ex Freight, because unlike the other LTL companies, they start you off around $23, depending on location. And some FXF terminals have a training program as well. Linehaul is nighttime work. Excellent income if you're willing to do it.

 

Your not going to want to run line haul for USF Holland I'll tell you that right now, that's for single people like me ha-ha! Ugh! Um the beer distributors, the one I worked for was 40-45 hours a week you start early, but not 2am early. Get done about 2-3pm off on weekends, pay is going to be on the lower side.

The thing about trucking is, and I'll tell you my exact mind set when I got into this now it's easy for me to say this, because not married, no kids no significant other etc etc, but I said to my self nights, weekends, holidays and bad hours expect to work all of them. So far so good on that I've worked every Holiday there has been that has been on a weekday (except for Thanks Giving Thursday) there's jobs out there, not every job out there in trucking though is going to be for everyone and trucking isn't for everyone. Local delivery is a pain and the hours are long. Night line haul is what it is night time on the highway a ways from home. Over The Road is a lot of goofy politics and gone away far from home.

There are grocery store outfits like Talon Logistics which is the private fleet for Giant Eagle they might have an okay quality of life, just bumping docks and dragging off pallets. Probably get 2-3 runs a day. That might be a good place for you.

 

Hey Wolf, I realize it is tough on both of you right now, but keep in mind that nothing is forever. Seems to me like it is way too early to give up on this. Things do tend to smooth out with a bit of time.

 

The thing about the trucking industry, especially when you're first starting out, is the job doesn't work around YOUR schedule, you have to work your schedule around the job. We've ALL had to put our DUES in, and made a lot of sacrifices in order to get where we are now. Believe me, like Big Don said, things will get better with time. Now that being said, usually in this industry, you have to at least stick with a company at least 6 months to a year MINIMUM , before you can start looking for other opportunities. If Milk delivery is something that you think you can't handle, what I would suggest, without going the OTR route, is look for one of these LTL training schools. A lot of foodservice and beverage delivery companies will train you as well, but it won't be any different what you are doing now (no disrepect Mike). You got people on this thread with a wealth of knowledge and are more than willing to help you out to make the right decisions and to help you succeed. So like I mentioned, if milk delivery is not what you want to pursue, get your CDL, and look for one of these LTL schools, and work your way up from the docks to a P&D driver, and in a couple years, you can be making around $75k, which is not bad for a daytime gig with weekends off.

 

No kidding I remember the first day I was out on my own on a side loader route for the beer company, first time solo I had a helper with me who didn't have a CDL didn't know the area any better then I did, that may have been top 10 one of the worst days of my life. Going through Cleveland Heights, Ohio in an 18 bay side loader it was a long long day at the office that day. I sit back and smile and laugh a little about it now. I remember getting home at like 7:00pm that night my hair was all disheveled and I was beat red, my cloths were all dirty, and I was green as a blade of grass when I did that route.

For a while there when I was at the beer company I had some long months. I mean I was always bottom lower middle back to the warehouse. The day I got robbed out in Cleveland I was the last driver to check out that night. I remember over Christmas time we got released late from the warehouse and it must have been 7pm at night and it was freezing cold and dark out and the neighborhood I was in, wasn't going to win neighborhood of the year and I remember getting to my last stop 25th street gas station parking on the street place was an old Clark Station so it didn't have a big foot print didn't even feel like attempting to get a 16 bay into that lot so I was unloading the side loader in the dark with traffic going by fun fun fun!

One thing though do expect a long day now and then. When I switched routes at GFS a couple months ago, the Tuesday that I ran that route it was 975 cases the load quality was not the greatest 5-6 stops in I was still struggling, however I'm not brand new and help wasn't on the way ha-ha! 13.5 hours later I crawled back into the yard.

Big Don is right (he's been around the block more then a few times) things do stabilize I have to arrange my life around work not the other way around, I know it's not appealing to a lot of people, but work comes first and everything else comes second to a degree I guess. I mean I don't plan much on my week days let me put it like that ha-ha!

This isn't punch out at the same time everyday type work. This is you work from 2am-? Pretty much go till your done. These trucks hold a lot of product and they cover a lot of ground, it's a lot of money on the line everyday.

 

Yep, absolutely agree with you. I've also worked in foodservice as well, not quite what you do, but I remember working holidays and weekends and putting in 12-14 hour days as well. I'm glad I'm in a different industry now, getting too old for that...haha.

Yeah, I remember getting robbed as well when I first started off in reefers. I was looking for lumpers at a grocery distribution center and didn't know NOTHING about how lumpers worked. The guy asked for about $80 bucks and ran off with my money. Boy I tell ya, that's Philly for you. You live and you learn.

 

I recently put in app with the Dean's Foods/Creamland out of Albuquerque. It's been a few days and still no word back. Just one of my many ways of trying to get back to a bigger city(small towns and cities are okay for families and retired folk, but people like myself have to learn how to walk on cultural difference eggshells). I've been doing the bulk loading from the farms themselves and would much rather get back to a point where I'm starting at the same exact time each day.
Also, I find the physical nature of the job a plus. Beats sitting and driving for hours and then trying to find a packed gym with all the MMA wannabes hogging equipment.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...hreads/2-local-drivers-in-albuquerque.324951/