Houston Community College CDL School

So I haven't died. I got a new job in November in a different state that I moved to. I do local food delivery here - it has everything.

Driving in downtown with a trailer of any size from a class B truck to a 28/36/38/42/48 footer, having to back in from the street while people try to pass you from the back of your trailer or around your tractor swing, having to get into tight alleys then not being able to turn out because of the way people parked their cars and having to back yourself out onto the street, getting stuck in snowbanks bigger than your tires and waiting 3 hours to get towed out, parking on the street and delivering across traffic because a truck literally should not exist in this location, taking hundreds of pounds of stuff down 15 dingy basement stairs or up stairs only to go downstairs again, having only an address and no instructions about where to go or park, getting a different truck everyday that can range from a 2008 sterling (Which wants to make the jittery motion like it wants to kill itself empty on a 28 foot trailer in 3rd gear if you let off the clutch TOO slowly) to a 2019 volvo automatic, having to block streets quite literally because there's no other place to park and deliver and have people mad and yelling at you all the time while you're there for the whole hour, and a lot of other things I can't even remember right now.

We don't run on recaps, and I've been getting 70+ hours every week. (If I hit something like 65+ and have one more day scheduled to work I don't have to drive!) According to my phone, I walk 10-15 miles everyday, and according to the manifest I'm lifting AT LEAST 15,000 lbs of product a day (Haha good luck finding the one thing you need because this pallet has 5 other stops mixed in it and the warehouse decided to put your box at the bottom end of it where you can't reach it) . I miss when it was -10 to 20 F because I get way too hot now that it's getting in the 40s and 50s.

I've had a lot more headaches and bad days than I did at Schneider. Back then it was new to me and I wasn't used to it, so I thought I wasn't capable of handling the job, but I went through that once and didn't give up here when I was starting out on my own. It's been getting easier, and my gross is ~1600-1800$ a week now at bottom pay.

I'm a pretty big fan of these 28-38 foot trailers with a daycab. I don't want to deal with 53 foot/sleeper anymore because the leeway I have turning and getting out of places feels a WHOLE lot better. (Of course working inside the trailer is another story when they're smaller since they will find ways to pack the same amount of stuff that makes a 42 look full IN A 28.)

Glad to hear from ya. I've been out of the food game about 2 months now and do not miss it. Now the extent of my physical labor is lifting maybe 10 cases a day because pallet was too tall. I also gained 10 pounds in the first month before I started eating healthier and exercising. Whatever you do be sure you're always lifting properly. My body feels much better now that I dont do it but I still have some aches from the time I spent doing it. My suggestion is to save as much money as you can . The risk of injury is higher than most jobs and I'd hate for you to run into major financial trouble due to a work injury as you only make 2/3rds of your income. Please keep us updated!

Well someone got injured so I've been on a bid route for the last 2 weeks. I like it because of the familiarity even though there's lots of stairs to deal with sometimes. I look at the manifest and know where I'm going, what the place looks like, where and how I'm going to park, and what the layout inside/outside looks like. That's great compared to the first few weeks of not knowing anything or even the process of figuring out how to find out where to go.

I remember one day I had to go to this tiny-ass downtown area in a small town with a 48 foot trailer. It had lots of hills and was snowing that day. I'm still wondering how I didn't hit anything in that town, especially since it's an other one where people park on the street.

I haven't gained or lost weight at this job yet, which is not that great. I should want to gain about 10 lbs but I'm not finding it possible no matter how much I try to eat. (Seriously, I weigh 110 lbs and do you know how often the 2-wheeler pushes me up when I try to pull 200+ lbs of stuff down to get it moving?)

I probably had it harder on myself than I should have since I moved from Texas to a place I knew nothing about that had 40+ inches of snow (probably) this season. I'm starting to know my way around now, so that's cool.

According to my records, I only spend about 2-2,200$ a month on literally everything. And I'm taking home about that amount every two weeks. The rest just kind of gets piled up, and that's my plan for now.

Another thing I've noticed is how many new people (like me) come and go away so fast. There were guys I saw on the schedule newer than me that are now gone, and a few that had been here a few months before me who are now gone. But those people who stick around stick around for a long time.

I'm like position #110. Someone who has been here 3 years is like #80. Someone who has been here 18 years is like #60. 30 is like #10. It's crazy.