Profile For Bobby W.

Only having driven a 48 isnt much different than a 53, just have to remember you have 5 extra feet back there. During a road test what they're looking for is you can safely operate the vehicle and are proficient enough at backing that you're not going to damage their equipment. I only drove a 53' while in school, went to PFG and drove only a 28' for a year and a half and got a job driving a 53' delivering to grocery stores. It was a alot different in my case but the concepts were all the same I just needed more space. Some guys love foodservice work and others don't. You guys are a special breed that stick with it. To me the wear on the body wasn't worth the compensation I was getting.

Out of curiosity why don't you want to drive all day? Personally I enjoy getting out of the truck quite a bit to move around and socialize (while unloading), helps me feel more alert.

I'm worried about long term damage to my body also, maybe for other reasons. I know eat right and walk and what not but that looks difficult living in a truck. I've also driven 4 hour stretches here and in the dark it is difficult to stay up. I can't imagine 11 hours. I doubt that I would want to jog or lift weights after 11 hours of already working either. I have no kids or girlfriends or any reason I have to be home so I can't use that as an excuse. That P&D looks pretty nice though, the OD guy mentioned 55 hour weeks so I could probably handle driving that. I've heard people talk though about getting worked 70 then getting a day off to reset and doing it again.

I'd do it for a year just for experience but I doubt anyone would hire me if I said that. Time off is really my bottom line. 3 weeks or 4 would be great. I would drive 70's if it meant a month off. If were not getting side tracked what does normal time off look like? I've accepted my situation is normal for food service so consider that resolved.

Where do you live? LTL compaines for P&D work might be a good fit for you. At Old Dominion you generally would not work more than 50 to 55 hours in a week. most LTL would have you working about the same amount of hours as I understand it.

I'm in Ohio. Dayton. I know we've got Dayton Freight. I might ask them. While I've got some attention is 2 years about enough experience to bail? And will only driving a 48' trailer matter? Do I load and unload P&D? My ultimate goal is to make decent money, not get obese, and also not work 70, reset and do it again till I die.

Well shoot that settles that. I'm lucky by your standards. Thanks guys. I'll just keep driving this truck here I suppose.

Hey guys,

I've just been reading this forum for like 2 years it's been useful. I need help or to vent. I work food service and the job is burning me out. I've done this about the entire 2 years I have been driving, the same company. It goes up and down. Maybe it's just down but when I get a route done in 12 hours, they just add more work until it is impossible.

No one ever says anything about running over the clock. I ask them all the time to remove the added work from the routes and they will not. They have scheduled me backhauls 3 hours from base after 12 hours of work. I did this route for months once a week until they had us bid and I got out of there. My new route was doable in 13 hours but I feel like someone just wanted to squeeze that last hour and added additional stops. I work four 14-hour days (sometimes, usually, one turns into 16.) Nobody is telling me I have to work that long but they are also refusing to fix it and just send me out week after week and if I say it takes 16 they tell me you're only allowed to work 14. If I refuse to go they ask me if I want to quit. The icing is that after four 14's every week, once or twice a month they tell me I am on call for a potential 5th 14-hour shift. We get no holidays and 1 week a year off.

There you have my story. I would like to get fired to collect that juicy unemployment. I would also just like to work 50 hours a week doing food service. I really distrust our government and our regulating agencies so I don't want to complain and honestly, I don't think I have a complaint because nobody is forcing me to do anything. I have tried bringing back the extra stops, they just whine about it and there they are again next week and I miss out on some money leaving them. Any advice? Are all the foodservice jobs like this? I am looking for other work but I insist on food service or a pepsi truck or something where I don't drive all day. Thank you