What's it like to drive for sysco foods?

Not enough. You also need 4yrs experience driving a train, and 6yrs with a tank.

 

I think he needs a couple of years of pallet jack backing before. Sysco is tough work, freezers in the plant and lots of hands on at multistop am-pm's or equivalent. Hard on the back.
Pneumatic tankers are not a bad way to gain experience, easy on the back money not to bad (at least out here in the west), lots of work.

 

1 year with werner 48 states is equal to that 10 year exp in easy mode ltl job. U will have the skills and freedom to work where u want. Where as that ltl guy easy mode job less likely to be able to adapt to changes way less versatile overall of a driver.

Yard hostlers can back real well but lack that versatility as real drivers out on the road compared to a guy who been doing werner 48 states.(assuming both drivers its their only driving jobs they ever did) This is another example. If u are having harder time understanding this.

So if u wanna learn to drive. Going otr is not a bad option emtirely. I highlighted some of the perks.

 

PERKS: Dirty Showers, so dirty you won't use them. People with attitudes, idiots parked in the fuel islands. Not sleeping because your worried that the goof next to you is going to hit your truck. Not being at home when you want, putting up with a dispatchers garbage. Never doing anything well enough for your company to be happy with you, pay checks that are short of what you expected, telling your kids happy birthday, merry christmas by phone because yet again dispatch doe not get you home, and the list goes on and on.

If you like running over the road great, but don't think for one second your more of a driver than any one else because of it, your not. All the drivers play a part, all the drivers have challenges they have to put up with. Driving a yard dog easy, not on your life, plus they set up trailers for the guys pulling joints down the road, and have to spot a hundred trailers per night.

Ltl, has there challenges as well, as do all the drivers. Over the years I have done most of it, some I like better than other jobs, but its personal preference. I like working yard that are busy I also like running USPS loads, and Whole Foods regional. But its just preference. You have to decide what you want, and not worry about the other drivers, were all here to help and support each other. No soapboxes allowed.

 

Thats the best of it. You wont know anything to consider a baseline normal. Chaos and some mental illness among the Sysco Crew is needed at times. I hate to pick on them so much, if you went to the Little Rock one on 65th street god help you. (If you don't get shot dead first...) But go to the one in Pokomoke City? You would not want to leave. Kind of hard to have problems in Paradise.

 

I don't even like going to the one here in Lancaster, CA. Too cold in there for me. Too many 4 wheelers to get thru on there deliveries. Same as delivering gas, well I guess they do deliver gas, just a different kind.....

 

My other post is less accurate. Tldr: There is some plus side of otr. Easier to find work. And teaches more versatility than doing the same few places.

 

Regarding your other post, I will agree with you that the 1 year OTR will give you a greater variety of experience in terms of geographic locations, but to say it's equivalent to 10 years in LTL is ridiculous. Also, referring to LTL as "easy mode" is hilarious. I can see someone who has done both P&D and linehaul for an LTL company (say, @MACK E-6 ) refer to linehaul as easy, but you can't possibly be talking about P&D.

I would suggest that wearing pajamas to work and driving with one's feet up on the dash is more like "easy mode," but I will grant that there's plenty about OTR that is hard, namely what it does to many driver's relationships with their families and the loneliness of the lifestyle in general. I speak from experience, having had a few sleeper jobs and a few daycab jobs, including both types of LTL driving jobs (P&D and linehaul). However, it's only my personal experience, so I won't claim what is true in my life will be the case for every other driver. To each his own.

What got me is your generalization that an LTL driver is less versatile and less likely to adapt to changes. I laughed (out loud, no less) and thought for a second it was a troll post. That thought could only come from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. No offense, of course!

The average P&D driver will back into more places and deal with more customers in 1 day than the average OTR driver will in 2 weeks. They wrestle with all shapes and sizes of freight and deal with all the challenges that presents. The entire job is about constant change and adaptation throughout the day, solving problems as you go. Try it sometime, then come back and tell us it's easy.

Linehaul, on the other hand? Sure, my job is easier than OTR. At least until there's ice on the road and smart drivers are shutting down for the night. You get to crawl into your cozy bed and I have to keep on going. It's those nights when I'd gladly trade my truck for yours.