starting at conway any advise (indy)

I once drank the con-way kool aid and loved this place..14 months later I hate it, and only hanging on till I can go somewhere else.

 

OK, so your a week in, what do you think now? Ive been there for a year and a half, and have found true what has been said previously, stay busy, stay under the radar, and you'll do just fine. I make good money, Don't get bothered (except for the occasional over the top safety program that comes out of left field) and I go home every day. I'm thankful for the good job!

 

That's exactly how I'm looking at it . Surviving the flex board is another thing though .

 

Testify man , spill it ! What don't you like about the job ?

 

Now I have to agree , three weeks on the flex board and this place SUCKS .

 

I haven't updated in a while because I wanted to wait until I "knew what I was talking about" , so to speak .

While it's true that if you stay busy management doesn't bother you , this place sucks in other ways than a nagging boss .

As a new guy you can expect to go on the flex board . They do a piss poor job of explaining to you what that actually means .

What it means is that you most likely go on night flex , which around here means you have to call in to dispatch around 7:00 pm to see when you can start work .

On night flex you can expect to start anywhere from 8:00 pm and later . It also means you'll probably do a line haul run to the next state over at least once a week . Which is a lot like OTR , cept your home within 24 hrs .

What that means is that you'll wait until you get your loads (unpaid , sometimes for an hour) , then you can start your trip .

When you get to where ever your going you'll work the dock , just like a regular dock worker . As a new guy you're probably the last guy to get there so you'll be the last guy to leave there to start your trip back home .

Not so fast new guy , see that freight sitting on the dock over there ? Yeah , it's yours . We know you've been working the dock for the last few hours but now you get to load up your two pups and go on a "VIA" .

A "VIA" is a buls%$t run to another terminal that is a whole lot closer to them then it is to your home terminal .

For what ever reason neither them or the other terminal could get the freight there , don't ask why I don't know or fully understand it .


When you get there you will break your sets and put them in dock doors , then you will connect your new sets and start home .


All the while you have to punch in / out on a pay sheet OR a dock clock computer at every terminal to keep track of your time . They want you to find , connect and PTI your sets in 20 minutes .

If you want paid correctly , don't screw the pay sheet up .

Or you might get "lucky" (depends on what you like to do ) and work the dock at your home terminal most of the night with only a few local runs .

Day flex is another beast altogether , but don't worry you probably won't have enough seniority to get on day flex anyway . If you do , you'll wait by the phone for them to call you to find out when you'll start .

When you do start you'll probably make a few local runs then come back and work the dock until quitting time .

Depending on when the freight is arriving at your terminal "kinda" determines what you'll be doing . You may be loading / breaking trailers , you may be pushing a broom or cleaning up the dunnage piles , it pays the same either way .

Also , EVERY accident you have to include bumping a trash barrel , fork lift or anything else WILL BE YOUR FAULT and might end up in your being written up for it . So watch what you're doing .


Oh yeah some more goofy ###### , the time of day determines what "setting" your supposed to be on in your hand held computer .


So you play this goofy game until you get a "bid" , an actual start time you can count on every day . So how long do you play this game ? Nobody can give you a straight answer on that .

I've heard as little as three weeks to as long as 4 months . Some guys actually bid to stay on the flex board .

All in all , if you're looking for some sort of "regular" (do this for x amount of hours then go home) job this is not the place .

If you don't mind never knowing when you're gonna start , if your working days this week or nights the next or what you'll be doing for an undetermined amount of time , con-way is for you .

As for me , I'm looking for a regular home daily , hourly type job so I won't be here much longer .


Hope this helps any new folks considering con-way freight .

 

I'm sorry man. welcome to con-way freight!!!!!

I've known guys waiting for a bid for 6 yrs. Still on the extraboard. It is a horrible way to live. Especially bouncing from night flex to day flex in the same week. Safety first right? And then you wait to get a call to work, you've slept all day and no work.. waste of a day.

It's horrible, but most want to do it because of the LTL money. I'm glad you found out for yourself without me saying much really.

Do you plan to stick around or what?

 

If you can, try getting on with old dominion.

con-way freight is kinda like the werner/cr england of the ltl world. turn over is super high.

 

I wonder how one's Conway experience has to do with the terminal you run out of. Every terminal has a different way of doing things. Luckily mine has a separate City and Road flex board.

 

that has alot to do with it and the area you live in. You might live in a freight blackhole that is inbound heavy but crap for outbound or have the best of both worlds. There are still crappy things that are just the same no matter where you go though.