Could Use Some Advice About A Couple Potential Job Offers I Have

I love my current job with Swift, but I've been looking to make a change. Long story short, I've had a lot of extra expenses come up the last few months so I've been looking for a job where I could get rid of one of my cars and make more money as well. Also, the commute is getting to be a bit much (2 hours a day, 3-5 days a week). Even though I'm local, I feel like I'm never home. A bunch of my family live in the same city as me, and I only see them like maybe once a month or so. I could just get on a different gig with Swift, running a condo again but I want to be home more than every two weeks and make a little better money. Picky, I know, but there are so many opportunities in trucking that I can afford to be selective.

I've sent out a bunch of applications and heard back from two in particular that I'm interested in. One is McLane foodservice and the other is American Furniture Warehouse. At McLane, the pay is very good. They guarantee $52k a year as long as you're available to work each week, but in reality it's more like 60k 1st year, 70 the 2nd year, and 80+ after that. Like LTL , you start on the extraboard (on call) and eventually get your own run, which you bid for every 6 months. All night work, which is good because that means you don't have to work in the hot sun, and it's home every day/night. Thing is, it's a lot of work--you and a partner unload 30-40k lbs of groceries every night over 12-14 hour shifts (occasionally longer). I'm not afraid to work hard, but as a diabetic it does get kinda hard to manage my blood sugar when I'm doing a lot of physical work. But there is something about being home and not living at truck stops, even when you're only home to sleep.

At American Furniture Warehouse, the pay is better than what I make now but not amazing. Starts at .38/mile with stop pay. The hiring manager said to expect about 2800 miles/week and about $60k/year. The pay is not what appeals to me about this job though. I absolutely loved the environment there and left the interview with a "buzz," excited about the job. It's a home weekly job, and you're home for 36-48 hours (usually a full 48). If you want to hustle, you can just tell the planners you want to turn back around in 34 hours. They don't allow drivers to run recaps so a weekly 34 is required and it's always in CO (unless something totally unexpected like a breakdown occurs). The planning works a lot differently than what I'm used to at Swift. Basically, they plan the whole week in advance and give it to whoever gets back first for their weekly reset. You aren't pestering the planners for a load or running tons of miles one week and then none the next--it's pretty consistent. The best thing was the people though. The hiring manager, safety manager (who actually joined us at one point), and several others in management for the trucking division are actually former drivers who have been with the company for a long time and moved up. They have set it up so you fuel when and where you want and they give you total freedom on the road as long as you actually do the job. They have beautiful equipment and a huge emphasis on safety. They made a really big deal about how proud they are of their low CSA score, which is why they will actually have me perform a pretrip inspection for them. They insist that a proper pretrip and maintenance of their vehicles is their #1 way of keeping their score low. Trucks have APUs (if not, you can buy an inverter and they'll install it for you) and built-in fridges and Sirius XM radio already functional; trucks are pre-wired for CBs. They are also un-governed for the moment, but...that could literally change overnight.

Sorry, that was kinda long, but I could use some insight. I'm so starry eyed over the AFW job I'm not sure I'm thinking straight about all this. I mean, the perks are awesome at AFW and both jobs have good benefits and PTO and all, but I'm wondering if I should be holding out for something better. My wife isn't thrilled about AFW because I won't necessarily have weekends off, so I still won't be able to go to church. There are jobs out there, some even better paying, that would have me home every weekend, but they probably won't have all those perks. Home every night is nice too, but if I'm home just to sleep I feel I might as well just be gone most of the week if it means I can have a couple days completely off each week.

LTL:

Less Than Truckload

Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.

LTL carriers include:

• FedEx Freight
• Con-way
• YRC Freight
• UPS
• Old Dominion
• Estes
• Yellow-Roadway
• ABF Freight
• R+L Carrier

CSA:

Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)

The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I can't help with the driving , but I can a bit with AFW. Jake has built an amazing company, I think I bought my first couch back in 83 from them and was a loyal customer for 30 years until I moved to TX. They have had steady growth and profits for decades, great customers service in all departments and I watched their Fleet grow to more than 135 Semi's, 275 53' Trailers and well over 125 Local delivery trucks. Not bad for a Private Company, not bad at all!

Are those your only two options? Are you in a rush to change? I think you need to see what would work best for you and your wife. Do you not like LTL? That's about the best advise I have right now. Good luck.

I can't help with the driving , but I can a bit with AFW. Jake has built an amazing company, I think I bought my first couch back in 83 from them and was a loyal customer for 30 years until I moved to TX. They have had steady growth and profits for decades, great customers service in all departments and I watched their Fleet grow to more than 135 Semi's, 275 53' Trailers and well over 125 Local delivery trucks. Not bad for a Private Company, not bad at all!

Hey I appreciate the feedback! Any information is good information. It's good to know that if I do go with them I'd be joining a solid company with consistent growth. Almost everyone I've talked to specifically mentions how great Jake is.

Are those your only two options? Are you in a rush to change? I think you need to see what would work best for you and your wife. Do you not like LTL? That's about the best advise I have right now. Good luck.

At the moment they're my two best options. I'm not necessarily in a rush to change. I'd like to make a change within the next six months, but it's either now or after the new year since I don't want to leave my boss scrambling to replace me in the yard during the busy season. McLane offer will probably be good for a while since they're opening a new division here in Colorado Springs. I get the feeling the AFW offer won't last long. I've considered LTL--the money would be nice but it's not for me right now.

Are those your only two options? Are you in a rush to change? I think you need to see what would work best for you and your wife. Do you not like LTL? That's about the best advise I have right now. Good luck.

At the moment they're my two best options. I'm not necessarily in a rush to change. I'd like to make a change within the next six months, but it's either now or after the new year since I don't want to leave my boss scrambling to replace me in the yard during the busy season. McLane offer will probably be good for a while since they're opening a new division here in Colorado Springs. I get the feeling the AFW offer won't last long. I've considered LTL--the money would be nice but it's not for me right now.

I don't know anything about either company. (I, too, have bought furniture from Jake's stores, and it was a good experience; but I don't know whether that translates to a driving job.)

I understand the excitement about AFW. When you meet a bunch of people who like their jobs, it's pretty nice. And a great thing about working there is that you're not dealing with a bunch of different shippers. Different receivers, sure, but it's definitely different to drive for the people who own the stuff you're hauling. That's what I've got now, and I really like that part of it.

I second the idea of continuing to look. I found this job after looking and looking, and looking some more. I like my new job so much I'm thinking about writing a separate thread about it this weekend.

A good friend of mine was all set to go to another flatbed outfit because his wife's hours were cut and he needed to make more money, but he decided to take one more look. He found a job that pays 1.5 times as much hauling no-touch tanker loads and driving a sweet long-nose Pete. He's home three nights out of five and every weekend.

Point is of course that some of the best jobs require a little extra work to find. You might have to call a bunch of employers to get details, but some of these jobs don't sound that great in the ad but in reality are better than you might think.

Good luck in whatever course you take!

Piano, do you live 2 hours' drive from the terminal? I don't know how you can do "local" without getting a daily local job in Colorado Springs.

On the other hand, there may still be something you can do as a shuttle driver. I have written at length twice about the shuttle job, two years ago, and four months ago.

You are home every day, but with little time to do more than sleep, shower and change clothes. But after four days of this you get two days off - a "weekend" every four days instead of five.

Find the shuttle FM at the terminal and see if there are possibilities, and you can still work with Swift.

I'm scratching my head over your response to the LTL suggestion. You already said you don't mind nights. You are aware that the extraboard is possibly something you'll have to put up with at one of the two jobs you did list. And you mentioned being a diabetic and hard physical labor. I remember you mentioning health issues before, months ago.

You want to make more money. You want to be home more. Why in the world wouldn't you be interested in LTL? To me, that's exactly what you're describing when talking about your wants. And why do all the hard labor of food service when you can run linehaul and make even more money?

Are those your only two options? Are you in a rush to change? I think you need to see what would work best for you and your wife. Do you not like LTL? That's about the best advise I have right now. Good luck.

At the moment they're my two best options. I'm not necessarily in a rush to change. I'd like to make a change within the next six months, but it's either now or after the new year since I don't want to leave my boss scrambling to replace me in the yard during the busy season. McLane offer will probably be good for a while since they're opening a new division here in Colorado Springs. I get the feeling the AFW offer won't last long. I've considered LTL--the money would be nice but it's not for me right now.

I don't know anything about either company. (I, too, have bought furniture from Jake's stores, and it was a good experience; but I don't know whether that translates to a driving job.)

I understand the excitement about AFW. When you meet a bunch of people who like their jobs, it's pretty nice. And a great thing about working there is that you're not dealing with a bunch of different shippers. Different receivers, sure, but it's definitely different to drive for the people who own the stuff you're hauling. That's what I've got now, and I really like that part of it.

I second the idea of continuing to look. I found this job after looking and looking, and looking some more. I like my new job so much I'm thinking about writing a separate thread about it this weekend.

A good friend of mine was all set to go to another flatbed outfit because his wife's hours were cut and he needed to make more money, but he decided to take one more look. He found a job that pays 1.5 times as much hauling no-touch tanker loads and driving a sweet long-nose Pete. He's home three nights out of five and every weekend.

Point is of course that some of the best jobs require a little extra work to find. You might have to call a bunch of employers to get details, but some of these jobs don't sound that great in the ad but in reality are better than you might think.

Good luck in whatever course you take!

Bud, I appreciate the candid response. You're probably right about waiting and looking some more. This job is pretty much exactly what I was looking for, except for the pay. If I wait a while and look around some more, I may find something similar that pays more.

I'm so excited about AFW, I'm having a hard time turning it down. I wish I had more time to just let the dust settle.

Piano, do you live 2 hours' drive from the terminal? I don't know how you can do "local" without getting a daily local job in Colorado Springs.

On the other hand, there may still be something you can do as a shuttle driver. I have written at length twice about the shuttle job, two years ago, and four months ago.

You are home every day, but with little time to do more than sleep, shower and change clothes. But after four days of this you get two days off - a "weekend" every four days instead of five.

Find the shuttle FM at the terminal and see if there are possibilities, and you can still work with Swift.

Thanks for the suggestion Errol. I live roughly an hour or so from the terminal (1.5 hrs accountiny for daily traffic). Unfortunately it would be more of the same commute issue I'm already dealing with.