What I’ve Learned A Month Into A Local Delivery Job

Hi Anne,

Sorry for the very late response. Yes, it was me. I’m a lot better at shifting now, and I’ve driven a 10 and 7 speed

Here goes my update 7 months, almost 8:

Im tired of doing this sh*t. I don’t know how my coworkers do it everyday, but there are nights I take my full 12 hours (or more) for a small load and others where I knock it out a lot quicker.

I applied to a flatbed job that is out 5 days, home weekends. Pay is about the same as my local job. I just got several things going on at home, mainly:

1. Car project- I’m rebuilding the top end of my vette. My car project motivates me to show up at work everyday

2. Gym- I train martial arts and lift weights. Being in shape is a constant in my life and something I will not give up

That’s really all that’s keeping me. I support my girlfriend and my family loves me so it would be no different for me to be gone vs coming home every night.

I decided not go the flatbed route, cause I can skip a step. If the jobs pay the same, I will just do delivery for a year or so till I have money for my own truck. I can already buy one, but I want something nice and don’t want to jump the gun.

My main issue with my job is I don’t care at all about the “skill” I am learning. The coolers vary- tonight’s have been clean- but I see little value in learning how to organize and stock a cooler. I’m focused on learning what I can about the industry

I used to run a roadside service and met many owner operators who inspired me to get my cdl. They have a completely different mindset than the company ppl. I’ve made friends and contacts here, but there are a lot of as$ kissers and people who care a ton how they look to the company. I’ve never been able to fake interest or be excessvely nice to people who bother me. Mainly my boss. He is a giant **** who is in charge of 20 ppl for the first time. Hardly anyone actually likes him, but no one will say anything.

Just to give an example of his leadership- a merchandiser who rode with me got in a fist fight with a customer while lowering the tailgate. Both the merchandiser and customer were understandably mad at each other. One of the managers comments was I could have parked different. Long story short, I expected supervisor to be helpful and useful, but when there are issues he hides behind the ramparts of company policy and gaslights drivers’ judgment when they have issues. I can count on my hand the times the dude has had something positive to say.

Idk why I’m harping on this. My job is thankless minus the customers I meet and paycheck. The dude is a nuisance to deal with on top of an already frustrating job

He is one of the dumbest people I have met, but he spent 12 years at the company to get his position.

There was one thing I wanted to add about the personality issues. I'm not best friends with any of the people, but now that I've been there a while, I talk to them like equals rather than a noob. Idk if this makes sense, but for a new person, I would recommend learning the lingo and "acting the part' more than I did.

I was clueless and showed it. This doesn't mean be afraid to ask questions, but talk to the people as your coworkers and fellow drivers, rather than just a noob. ****, look up some stuff to say to them that makes you look like you know the part. Eg... "Man I was checking in at ___ and the clerk had me wait 20 min, can you believe it?"

Hey, man!

You left this diary ''high & dry!" LoL, it happens. Just wondering!

So,

Is this still your same place, doing this ?!?!? Shifting Video... ?

Either way; be safe!

~ Anne ~

It's a terrible time to go O/O. Equipment is priced too high, rates are low and fuel is high. If you're determined to go O/O it may be beneficial to get some flatbed experience on a companies dime. It'll give you more options once you buy your truck. You'll find that your best chances to earning more, after ALL expenses, is in a niche market something that is difficult to do just running dry van or reefer. If your plan is to get loads off load boards thats not a good business plan in my opinion. You need to get in with a local warehouse that has a constant need for independent drivers to haul their freight at decent rates. At the company I drive for there's O/O they contract with that get $4.25 - $5 a mile but the load usually needs to be picked up within 8 to 12 hours which increases the rate.

In regards to your co workers and management.....screw em. **this applies mainly to local work** I used to do what I could to go above and beyond. It hasn't gotten me anywhere or bigger raises, if anything it becomes expected to always bail someone out for their poor planning. I'll still help out where I can if it benefits me. It's almost always one sided in local work. Your workload is likely determined by the time you clock in. Why is it your responsibility to help a slower co-worker? If they can't handle the job maybe they shouldn't be there. If they just started maybe the trainer should've been more hands off and make the trainee do more by themselves, or the company shouldn't have sent them alone quite yet.

Last month I was delivering to our store and delivering LTL to a city an hour and a half away from our DC. I got a call from dispatch asking me to swing into another place in that city to pickup a load on my way back that got overlooked. I politely but firmly told them no. That cold storage facility often takes 3 hours or more to load the couple pallets we're picking up. I only get my stop pay until I sit for 1 1/2 hours then I begin hourly pay for detention. If that load had been listed on that route (we bid routes daily) I would've done a different run. I'm not out to screw the company over by any means. If someone keeps dropping the ball with routing/planning nothing will change until someone stops covering for them and it gets attention due to an upset customer.

Do you talk to management frequently? The only contact I have with anyone in the office is my daily call to choose my route for the following day, or the rare event im not able to resolve an issue myself. I don't care for most of our management team for ways they've handled things and I'm sure that ultimately plays a large role in my mentality. There's plenty of drivers that I don't even bother to engage in conversation with whether it's always cranky, brown nosing or whatever the case is. I treat everybody at my company with respect and professionalism, even make small talk such as good morning, where ya headed etc. There's only 2 (not including new drivers seeking advice) of the nearly 200 drivers I talk to regularly. I just want to show up, do my job I was scheduled to do that day and go home. If I can do my work well enough that people just leave me alone I'd say life's great.