Starting at Dollar General, what can I expect as a driver?

in other words, when some one looking for a job, requires he be home weekly, they (the trucking companies), figure you ain't gonnabe around for too long. they want drivers, not people that just wannabe always home. they cannot make money on drivers sitting at home. they need loads moved. that's how most drivers earn those big dollars.

so, when they get hold of a driver, that is demanding of home time, they put that driver on these dedicated accounts, that have almost always impossible locations, in the bad sections of the city, in very tight strip malls.

too many accidents WILL happen, and this gets one fired almost on the spot, with an accident on his record, as a newbie. this makes it MORE difficult to gain other employment.

best you run the road for at least 6 months, to 1 year, then you'll get a more local job, with not as many, if at all, very tight strip malls, and the bad parts of the cities.

 

to continue, the bad parts of the cities, in my final years of driving, before i retired, i had a slick local job, dedicated account, delivering to one particular customers, satellite locations.

with a day cab, and 53' trailer, tandems all the way forward, in downtown Boston (Chinatown), and Southie.

wanna talk OLD New England streets, one way, no way out, during pop up constructions? which in downtown Boston, i can assure you that i HAD to drive up and onto the center traffic island, to avoid several constructions trucks ,and light poles AT the corners..!!!

and the care bears at those locations?

waved me on by...they saw how i was able to finagle that large trailer, and not side swipe, or hit anything...

that takes skill.

hairy times..??

sure, for a rookie, but not for this old salt.

get some good solid road time, before you do any "tight areas", bad cities deliveries.

 

Every company with a DG account has lots of vacancies and the first people to rope into the account are newbies. You better be extra good at backing and have excellent people skills. Many of us would quit before doing that sort of work. Lots of physical labor into poorly designed locations with angry/lazy customers. You will hit stuff which is terrible for your career.

 

DG accounts used to use roller tables and the Drivers unloaded their 53's and DG staff wanted consistent product speed on rollers, and I failed "to adapt".
I gave it 2 days (the 2nd to confirm the 1st was real) thru a Driver Temp Srvc. in NC.

Roll Carts "should be better".

The 2 Locations were almost identical: TIGHT and CRAMPED.

CHEERS!!

 

Has to be one of the worst CDL jobs there is. Most don't make it more than a month or two. Many of the parking lots not made to accommodate a tractor trailer. Most don't have a dock. Rolltainer & lift gate. Depending on geography, perhaps on very uneven ground. Some of the stores won't have emptied the rolltainer from last delivery you must collect. Store staff is typically scraped up from bottom of barrel. It's a suicide mission on multiple frints.

Bring your patience for unending B.S.

 

You should have tossed them a baggie of crystal meth and said "One....Two ...,.Three.....HERE IT COMES!!!!! LOL! Almost every cashier or patron at a dollar store would appreciate a bit of "comped" motivation!

 

There is a reason why companies are struggling to find drivers for this account.
If you remember to get some one to help you. You can back in. Otherwise you are entering a T shaped parking lot. When you enter you are crossing the top part of the T. You want to be on the left side of the parking lot as you enter. Your then going to stuff the can to the left and cut your wheels to the right. If you align it correctly at the beginning, you will have plenty of room to swing the trailer around. Tho up here I have seen drivers put the cab to the right and dont have the room to steer the trailer. They end up cursing themselves for 4 hours.

 

I tried it in 2002 or 2003. It was awful. Then you had to haul one trailer load 5 days a week to make any money. Be sitting at your first stop when they opened. Cheating logbook and getting no sleep…..then working yourself to death trying to get empty so you could get back to the DC and grab next one and get to store for a nap. I didn’t make it through training myself.

 

I never did Dollar General but I did something like it. And I loaded a reefer over several pick ups per day for a week. Then I'd drop at the warehouse on Friday and off I went to another part of the country to do it all over again.

I would often load next to Dollar Generals, sometimes spend the night parked next to a dollar truck.

Lots of tight turns in parking lots and behind shopping plazas. You will spend a lot of nights in some areas that are probably higher crime. That bothers some more than others.

And the backing challenges of course will definitely be a thing.

I did my gig for 3 years. It didn't really bother me too much. Except the reefer was -30 so in the winter up north the job really sucked. It just felt like I was cold all the time. And the winter weather made the reefer feel even colder.

In the summer the job was great. It felt good getting in that trailer, especially in Southern desert areas.

If you do the job and you make it you'll probably walk out of there with some good driving skills.