Bid Time (local Jobs)

I’m with Banks and like the variety of the job. Even though I’m on a bid, I’m essentially an on call utility driver since my assignments change almost everyday. The other nice thing about running local is your terminal only services a set geographic area. You go to the same customers often and get to know the roads and routes to traverse your area. After a awhile you know exactly how to approach the docks at customers, where the low bridges and restricted roads are and how to get around them. One down side to running local is residential deliveries, they are the toughest and are almost always an adventure.

One down side to running local is residential deliveries, they are the toughest and are almost always an adventure

Yeah, but you probably get to drive on those naughty roads that say, "NO TRUCKS OVER X TONS: except for local deliveries"😁

Forget the streets, it's the customers. You deliver to a business, they notate damage and move on. A residential with damage, you're going to hear about it. They're going to tell you how much they paid for it and ask "why do you always damage my stuff?" Even though I've never been there and it's my first time touching that shipment.

That's before we get to billing. My responsibility is getting it to the edge of the trailer, after that it's on the customer. If you want me to use the liftgate, that's a charge. If you want me to bring it to a door, that's a charge. If you want me to cross the threshold, that's a charge and it has to be signed and initialed before I do any of that. People want you to bend rules, but if I get hurt or something gets damaged I'm out of a job. It's considered theft of services.

I had one guy order a deli fridge with a display (like what'd you see in a deli) and he wanted it delivered to his house because he got a great deal on it, but it couldn't be delivered to the deli yet. I didn't have a lift gate and he had no way to unload it. By the time he was charged for liftgate service, over the threshold service (to put it in his garage) and a redelivery fee, that great deal wasn't so good.

Residentials is why I couldn't wait to get to linehaul.

Forget the streets, it's the customers. You deliver to a business, they notate damage and move on. A residential with damage, you're going to hear about it. They're going to tell you how much they paid for it and ask "why do you always damage my stuff?" Even though I've never been there and it's my first time touching that shipment.

That's before we get to billing. My responsibility is getting it to the edge of the trailer, after that it's on the customer. If you want me to use the liftgate, that's a charge. If you want me to bring it to a door, that's a charge. If you want me to cross the threshold, that's a charge and it has to be signed and initialed before I do any of that. People want you to bend rules, but if I get hurt or something gets damaged I'm out of a job. It's considered theft of services.

I had one guy order a deli fridge with a display (like what'd you see in a deli) and he wanted it delivered to his house because he got a great deal on it, but it couldn't be delivered to the deli yet. I didn't have a lift gate and he had no way to unload it. By the time he was charged for liftgate service, over the threshold service (to put it in his garage) and a redelivery fee, that great deal wasn't so good.

Residentials is why I couldn't wait to get to linehaul.

Sweet Jesus, that sounds horrible.

Yeah, but you probably get to drive on those naughty roads that say, "NO TRUCKS OVER X TONS: except for local deliveries"😁

Ha Ha…. Yeah we do, but trust me, most of them you don’t even want to be on even with a 28 pup let alone a 40 or 45 liftgate.

They are always tight curvy roads with lots of overhead hazards. Drifting into oncoming lane to avoid low branches and such. Fun times indeed!!!

Did my bid today got to keep my run, which is good I guess. Really sick of the traffic but I get to work days so it is a bit of a trade off.

One of our P&D guys said he did a residential delivery and the customer wanted him to pull the 300 lbs cabinet up the gravel driveway and he refused. Another was upset that she didn't get what she ordered, like the driver packed it and brought it halfway across the country.

Did my bid today got to keep my run, which is good I guess. Really sick of the traffic but I get to work days so it is a bit of a trade off.

This week I tried to work more daytime hours (starting my day around 330am) but then got irritated I wasn't getting home until after dinner. Plus the increase in traffic made me miss the midnight starts lol.

First week on the new schedule i did about 2175 miles with 25 stops. Warehouse held me up a total of 7 hours so paycheck should be around $2300. Downside is I put in about 65 hours. If I were still able to be hourly on this bid I'd have made $2200 but I would've been able to take an additional 5 hours of paid breaks . I had a few stops that I was in and out within 10 minutes. Easy $31.97 for each but i needed to drive quite a bit of 2 lane roads at 55 mph. Also had 4 backhauls that kept me almost an hour and half exactly so no detention time. Probably won't do many backhauls when I'm on my own unless they're D/H This week I've got a trainee Monday and Tuesday, plan on taking something to the Minneapolis area Monday then let him pick our run for Tuesday in case he isn't familiar with the other large metro areas we do. I'd hate for him to be overwhelmed and stressed the way I was my first time going there alone since my trainer felt going to Omaha every day was the best way to train. First time going into KC was morning rush hour. Talk about stressful especially with all their funky interchanges.

Did my yearly bid again last week, no more extra board. I took my old run back which is a meet , the guy who took it from me couldn't take the daytime traffic anymore. I shouldn't be called off as this runs everyday, at worst they just cancel the meet and send me to Indy.

It's at least 554 miles everyday, could be 581 if I go through Chicago.

I'm still living life on the extraboard. I don't plan on taking anything set in stone anytime soon.

Did my yearly bid again last week, no more extra board. I took my old run back which is a meet , the guy who took it from me couldn't take the daytime traffic anymore. I shouldn't be called off as this runs everyday, at worst they just cancel the meet and send me to Indy.

It's at least 554 miles everyday, could be 581 if I go through Chicago.

Nice!! I can only imagine the difference in traffic levels out that way. Would you say the difference is....night and day?

I'm still living life on the extraboard. I don't plan on taking anything set in stone anytime soon.

Any particular reason Banks? I can't recall but do you earn extra CPM being on the extra board or is it just a preference of having a variety? Personally I'd hate the idea of essentially being on call, atleast from my understanding of the extra board.

Since we bid in October I got bumped off my M-F and instead do Tues-Sat. We've had too many drivers many Saturdays so I end up just taking it off without pay to conserve my vacation time. I get around 45 routes to pick from on Saturday so I can make great money that day, however I value time with my kids more.