Why I went with LTL

I was talking about being a road driver doing LTL, not local.
Either way you look at it OTR truckload pay sucks.

 

do you work for pitt ohio by any chance LOL

 

Honestly that's the reason why I left FedEx and will never go back there. I don't care how much extra money you can make at a job if you absolutely hate it and makes your life miserable then what is the point? If I cared strictly about money I would've want back to the sandbox as a contract driver for KBR in Iraq making a few hundred thousand dollars a year first 100K being tax free when we were still there which would've been a hell of a lot more then I would've made doing LTL for several years. I didn't because quite frankly money isn't always the most important thing in life.

I've been OTR before and that does truly suck. However the last thing I want to do is go from one job I was miserable at to another job being miserable for a pay raise even if it is significant pay raise. Right now I'm local doing intermodal work. I make more then OTR guys but less then LTL guys and I'm content with it. I don't have the patience anymore to deal with extreme micromanaging which is common in LTL...I dealt with that in the Army and that was enough for me to last a lifetime. Also I don't want to drive unsafe equipment either and yes some of FedEx equipment was pretty unsafe. Having seen the LTL side of the industry I can understand why people don't want to go LTL because it does have it's down sides just like other parts of the industry do.

 

It's not all LTL companies that treat you bad. People chase the cpm and think that's how all companies treat their drivers. Then their brainwashed saying this is a great job when mostly they are being masked by their pay check. There is a reason why Fedex and Conway freight are having Union shops being brought in. I have a happy medium with my LTL company. Good pay not the top pay but compared to Otr its way better. Equipment is old but improving but I'm treated well and in a very laid back work environment. I've read on the FedEx board on another forum a 12yr driver getting fired for not logging a 15min break on his paper logs. Hmm I guess if I worked there id get canned too. I've been 5 yrs Otr, 1 yr of food service and 3.5 years of LTL linehaul and my LTL job is the better out of 5 jobs I've had.

 

Get your facts right..... The union has been voted against, and denied on the majority of the cases trying to get into Con way freight and Fed ex.

 

That plus LTL will give you the only skill(backing) you need as a trucker fastest! Better to hit 10-15 docks a day of all shapes and sizes instead of maybe one every other day or so. You will master of your truck much sooner! And I too found LTL paid better! I was making $1500/wk at Watkins Shepard in less than 2yrs.

 

Laredo of CWF just about became Union. Never said they were Union. Why would there be a vote and a filing if it was all hunky dory? Not cause of the pay they are top of the industry. Comes down to driver treatment and job protection from management. Not saying all Fedex and CWF treat their employees bad. But former drivers in my area that come from these places and stuff I read from other forums draws me to this conclusion on driver treatment and how things are operated in these companies. They all say the same things about these companies. Coming from in person from creditable people I trust and online. I'll rest my case there and I'm not going to continue to argue this point.

 

I say the same thing to my self when I see OTR guys. I've never done it and never will. But it really does seem like a lot of OTR drivers don't give day cab drivers much respect on the road at all.

 

Not all treat you bad but it's not an uncommon thing either to be treated bad. The OP and others on here that have commented prove that just by there mentality. Seriously if all you care about is pay you should've put in a job application at KBR to be a driver in a warzone. You would make tons of money compared to driving jobs in the states if money is all you really care about.

You can be connected to over 10 different containers doing multiple drop and hooks in intermodal. Honestly the amount of backing is about the same. Docks of different shapes and sizes is comparable to the obstacle courses older rail yards can be at times with chassis and containers dropped everywhere and the fact intermodal loads don't always go to large distribution centers. Hell the backing in a lot of local jobs is about the same.

 

No argument there, but the topic was LTL...