Saia and Estes in Springfield, MO

The Estes terminal in Springfield is pretty small. Mainly a gravel lot with potholes. Kinda crappy for hooking a set with a full yard. They do have a dock to driver program, they do driving school twice a year. I THINK you hafta be a dockworker for a certain amount of time before you can sign up for it. (3 mos? comes to mind) but I could be wrong. They are integrating cameras in the cab across the fleet starting in July. Also no matter what position dock or driver, you will get the ever living $&%# micromanaged out of you. If @Bob Dobalina says there's a Dayton terminal in Springfield IMO that'd be your best bet. They have a good rep of treating their employees good, good benefits, good equipment, AND as an added bonus, from what I can tell they deal with long boxes and not pups. Also they pay overtime.

 

True story. All of the above.

 

Are you dead set on ltl or would you be interested in food service or beverage I'm also in the area and could point you in the direction that I know would hire you.

 

Hey no problem that's what this forum is for. It's a great tool. If they had a banner odds are they are looking for multiple positions. You can check them out online and look at what specifically that terminal is looking for. One thing about Springfield is they do not have a shop. They would send all their tractors and trailers that needed service up to us in St. Louis. And Springfield is a hub for Estes so it's fairly busy. When or if you contact them, I would lead with you having your CDL already. Estes might road test you and see that you know what you're doing and hire you straight on in a truck. You have more experience now than the dudes that just completed driving school. I'd see. But I would get your doubles/triples endorsement and hazmat before applying for sure. You need tanker also for totes that you'll haul. But if you pursue Dayton (which I suggest) they might not need you to have double/triples. That's something @Bob Dobalina would know. I'm not 100% sure what else is down in Springfield but if I was you I'd go
1) Dayton
2) Old Dominion
3)Fed Ex
4) UPS Freight
5) Holland/YRC/Roadway
6)Dohrn
7)Retail
8) Wal-Mart
9) McDonalds
10) Begging/Bartering/Panhandling
11) Prostitution
12) Homelesness
13) Suicide
14) Estes
2-6 can be moved a little bit either way without much difference, 7-14 I feel good about

 

Yep, no doubles at Dayton. Just need hazmat and tank for the bulk tote rule.

@KMB - I know of a dockworker who already had his Class A and they didn't require him to do a truck driving school (he had prior, but not recent, experience also). Same with a guy who had his Class B who was just trained with a trailer over multiple weekends and taken to the test. It's possible to get in driving the straight truck and move up after learning the system. The same endorsements would probably be required for that, though.

Also, the 2 year requirement is probably flexible from terminal to terminal. Many dockworkers have other jobs and have no interest in becoming drivers, so if a good worker is interested, I'm sure they'd waive that requirement and start the process.

As far as part time, some dockworkers work 2 shifts and are getting over 50 hours anyway. It's all about what you can tolerate in order to make it happen.