My 2 & 1/2 Years with McElroy Truck Lines, Inc.

Thanks and you are welcome. Backing is ALWAYS dangerous, so even to this day, I only "back" if there is no other option. And, if I am doing extreme backing, I too will stick my head out the window, but for a straight back or simple curve back, the windows should suffice. If it is raining very hard, I have a "TRICK" for ya: Turn on the "heated mirrors" if your truck has them. It will burn off the excess water and make visibility better

 

I agree, and would add that you should always go take a look at your FORWARD destination before you leave out. I cannot tell you how many places I have delivered to (to this day) that have one of those "pull in the first driveway, drive around to the back to be unloaded, then drive around the other side of the building to exit out of the second driveway" type setups. The PROBLEM is, if you don't first take a look up the second driveway, you may get yourself stuck in a "no way out" situation because their "exit" is jammed up with parked cars, stacked pallets. dumpsters, you name it.

One Bluelinx customer in particular (right here in Va. Beach) wants you to drive down their second drive way and turn right behind their shop. Only they ALWAYS seem to have all of their local van truck guys totally blocking the back of their building so that once you are pulled all the way in, you are virtually trapped. So, the last time I delivered there, I pulled in just off the street, walked back to the back, and told them the truck is up front if they want their load. The guy says - "why didn't you drive back here"? I said "because the last time I did, your people wanted me to do a 2 football field straight back in between parked cars on BOTH SIDES and then do a 90 degree back into traffic and my boss says it's too dangerous". Long story short, the manager of that shop made ALL of his employees move their cars and trucks and THEN I pulled around the back

 

Good Job on checkin with a current Driver! That is almost always better than talking to an "ex-employee" because the info is fresher. Hopefully when you are ready to sign on they will be ready to hire.

Things are going fairly well with me. I have to admit, I'm not crazy about the hours though. When I first interviewed for the position with Bluelinx, I was told that "most days you come in at 6:00am, occasionally 4:00am". Well, the reality is, I report at 4:00am at least two or three days a week. This means that my alarm goes off at 3:00am. That means that even going to bed at 9:00pm (which I HATE doing), I still only get five or six hours of sleep on those days. The other trick is, as I mentioned before, if you go in at 4am, you are almost guaranteed to have to run a second trailer, which puts you into overtime. Now, overtime pay is a good thing, but when you have been up since 3:00am and it is going on 4:00pm, then you can go ahead and "put a fork in me" because I am done. Other than that, my 45 working day probation is up this coming Monday, so that means a dollar more per hour and the fancy uniform for me LOL!