Thinking of turning down Conway Freight

The biggest rewards usually entail the biggest risk.

As has been said, if you can stick it out with Conway, the potential reward after time has passed could be well worth it. I am making a switch to an LTL company now (not Conway). While I go in knowing that it could be rough for a while, I am trying to think longer term (5-10 yrs down the road). I compare where I could be 10 years from now with my last company and with the LTL company, and I have determined that I want to take that risk.

You have to determine what you are willing to risk. Until someone else starts paying your bills, you are the best judge of that. Good luck!

 

Yes all LTL companies are rough to start out with. I got lucky at YRC with getting the immediate start time at 8am. The guy below me has to call in everyday. I have only missed four days of work due to no work. Although there would be more but due to no-shows, late, and extra trailers coming in,. Every LTL company is hard starting out with. The good thing with YRC is that if theres no work thats it for the day, see you tomorrow. At CWF they would call you in and have you work 2-3 hours on the dock just so the senoir guys dont get overtime

 

I myself am very biased on the subject. I worked for Consolidated Freight back in the day. Best job I ever had! Yes I drove teams but I was home every week and felt guilty cashing my paycheck cause it was so much. Anyway, Conway took my perfect job away or actually CF did by routing their freight through Conway to break the union. Lost my job with them in 1999 and I'm still bitter about it. Now it is happening with YRC. Only they are using the "we are gonna go out of business if you don't give up your pension and pay" tactic. Also they are routing freight to us non union guys at Reddaway in the west and probably to Holland in the midwest. Not just happening in trucking. My aunt was basically forced to retire from the city (fire dept) because they are changing the pension in the upcoming contract.

Well enough ranting. Most of the Conway guys I've talked to LTL or OTR seem to really hate their jobs. Haven't heard much complaining from the local guys but line haul and OTR talk bad about it. They seem over worked to me. I heard the line haul drivers have to load and unload their own trailers then drive. Forget that. Driving nights is tiring enough, the last thing I want to do is load my trailers before I drive and then possibly unload them. Now this is what I have heard and I did witness them loading their trailers in AR once when waiting for a load there last year. I was OTR then. Correct me if I'm wrong Conway drivers. Just doesn't sound to appealing to me.

 

You are correct. Depending on how busy the terminal is/distance of the run, you may work the outbound shift loading the trailers, hooking and driving to a hub/FAC, breaking the set putting the front box in the door and breaking/loading trailers for another 1-6 hrs then hooking, driving back home and short breaking the set. It is tiring. I just got to the yr mark and I am tired. Money was decent but working 70 hrs a week to get it is tough. You have no life during the week, Saturday is mostly shot too.

It is for some people. I really love pulling doubles, but it def takes a toll on your body

Work all night, sleep all day

 

Well century maybe you can get into another LTL company?

 

cool35 I used to work there as well. I quit CWF last year. I was treated really bad there and I took the move on just quitting(actually walking off the job) After working at YRC I would NEVER return again. Basically what you and Cenutry said is a 100% correct. One of my co-workers told me about the CF thing. I didnt realize you were part of that.

 

Yeah I was part of the CF destruction. I was shocked to be honest. Only worked there about a year but I sure was happy there. Then Yellow did it to me in 2007. Not like CF did but I got laid off and said forget it. I went back otr. Now with YRC (Redddaway) and non union but I seem to do better in non union shops. I have been in 4 union driving jobs and ended up going broke all 4 times. Now don't get me wrong, I love the unions. Especially when they were strong. For some reason they just don't mix with me. Guess I'm just not meant to have that pension since that's what I was always after.

Another thing all you teamsters, please don't bow down to YRC again. Stick together and fight for higher wages and get your pension back. All us non union drivers still need the unions (strong unions) or our pay will suffer more too. Be safe out there.

 

I have received a call from conway in kansas city kansas. The thing some guys are discussing on here scares me off a little. The winter months are so slow you dont work for weeks? You seem informative about conway ltl and I have a family to take care of. Please tell me how steady the freight is at all times of the year, how long it (really) takes to get a bid run, and how a typical day works at conway. Thanks so much!

 

From after thanksgiving till around feb, freight is scare/slow for both the LTL and truckload sectors. If you are at a busy FAC, you might not get out, but you might get the opportunity to get very acquainted with a toyota forklift.lol

A bid can be right away or take years..usally a year or more. Just all depends on what goes on in your terminal.

A typical PD flex board driver day. Call in at 6am. If slow you could be made to call a few more times to see if you can come in to do a pickup or make a delivery.

Come in, go to dispatch, get your bills and truck/trailer assignment. Get a handheld
Go find a pallet jack(good luck after like 9am, they are all gone)
Check your bills/freight to make sure its all there
Go pre trip your truck, hook to your trailer, lock it and roll out the gate. Time limit of 20 mins or you could get haggled for stealing company time or asked why you are so slow.
Go make whatever pickups/deliveries you have
Return to terminal. Get door assignment
Drop trailer, park truck
If busy and already did your 8, grab a forklift and a breaker and get to work till the supervisor tells you its ok to go home.
Go home and rinse and repeat for months/years till you land a bid
Some days, many at times you may get the right to stay home unpaid.


Day of a linehaul driver:
If on flex call in the afternoon(time specified) to see if there will be a run for you
Might come in to work the dock, if no run. go home

Linehaul driver(with a bid)

come in at assigned time usually 7
wait for trailers to be closed or you go grab a lift.
Get your assigned truck if on a bid. If not youll probably get the crap fleet.lol
Pretrip truck, go to dolly pile
Pre trip dollly, hook to truck and drop in front of rear box
Go find front box, hook dolly and connect the set.
Pre trip set, then dispatch
Drive to hub(FAC)
Break set, put front box in assigned door. If a pure trailer there is an area for that.
park truck, head in to dispatch and swipe
Grab an available forklift. Spend anywhere from 1-8 hrs depending on the length of your run, breaking and loading freight.
When the FOS thinks its time for you to go/HOS time constraints you get a set of trailers going home.
Hook set, drive home(usually tired) and break the set if you do not have a hostler.
Post trip truck, turn in bills, go home and do it again in about 10 hrs..


Hope his helps.

 

But if im not mistaken UKC is a big hub, we build a few directs there, so you might be ok.