What is LTL?

I have done P&D for the last 17 1/2 years. I have literally ruined my body. My knees are shot, luckily my lower back is holding up. I have seen a trend that is not for the better when it comes to LTL freight and i blame it on the internet. Today, anyone can order oversized heavy #### off the web, click submit and not give a crap how its going to be delivered to their residence or strip mall. I am fortunate to have a route with a dedicated liftgate trailer. However customers as well as mgmt think the liftgate is a "DO ALL tool" its not. Another misconception with some mgmt, dispatchers and customers is that aliftgate delivery IS NOT an Inside delivery. Those are 2 different animals.Most outfits tell drivers its your responsibility to get the freight "out of the elements". If they pay for liftgate service but not inside del., thats exactly what they are going to get from me. One case in point, a residential customer ordered 4 Gaylord boxes of wood pellets for their wood stove. Why they bought this off the internet is beyond me. We have 2 stores in this area that only deal with pellets. They have their own flat bed with the fork lift that hangs off the back of the trailer and goes anywhere. Either way when i showed up at the residence, the driveway was 150' of nothing but gravel. I am a wopping 150lbs and trust me , you me and 3 other guys cant drag a pallet jack with a 1500lb skid of pellets up a GRAVEL driveway. Customers just could care less, they just want their crap. I would love to hang up local P&D however i am used to the fixed schedule, i know when i'm back at the yard, iknow my service area well and i make a decent piece of change. Biggest issue is i just turned 57 and its probably a little to late for a career change so i guess i'm stuck .

 

You probably don't know it. But you are providing great info to myself what to expect.
Your pain is not forgotten Mark. Us young fellers learn from yins. Thanks.

 

What does L.T.L. stand for?????????

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_than_truckload_shipping

 

Im just sore thinking about all f that LOL... and im only 24. One good thing about YRC if you werent capable of getting something off a truck and the customer refused to help they would never force you to do so... they would tell you to bring it back and they would figure it out from there. But then again our lift gates sucked, we had 3 40 foot trailers that had good ones, the others were all half lift gates with a big drop to push up. Made for a real pain with heavy stuff

 

Well despite my rant, i can still say LTL is one of if not the best driving gigs around. Decent money and plenty of home/family time. Just have to put up with crap every now and then.

 

We actually interline with YRC as well as ABF, OD , Daylite and SMT so i get the pleasure of delivering other carriers "Liftgate Goodies"

 

Yea some of the crappy deliveries we don't want they send out to cartage... We can only send out if we have everyone working, if they send guys home and then give freight to cartage then we file grievances and get paid for the day

 

Most of the YRC liftgate delv. are actually not that bad. Usually i get them when their liftgate is out of the area or down for maint. On the other hand i think ABF's freight is the worst ive seen PERIOD!

 

You should brother..This industry is on its last legs I believe. Well trucking will always be around, but it just gets worse and worse every single day.And even if I do decide to stick around for a few more years, I know I am not stuck like some drivers where driving a truck is all they know. LTL money is not bad for not going to college, but there is a great big world out there and I want to experience it. I run our longest meet every once in a blue moon, and I just could not do it for years on end. our top guy has been doing that run for over 20 years. Some days I love the freight business, some days I am sick of running the same lanes, working the same freight, seeing the same people every single night.
Im working on my pilot's license as we speak, I took an EMT course a year or so ago( never will be an EMT though), I took one of those correspondence diesel tech courses but I never finished..Just give yourself options man. With all the cheap carriers and homeless and destitute people out there wanting to drive a truck, linehaul will definitely be done for good in a few years I think. And I definitely do not like city work one bit.