My First Interview!

I have actually applied for positions to all of those companies you mentioned. That’s good to know, so you stayed with PFG for 1 year then? I know it’ll be physically demanding but if I can just make it through my 1st year then a lot of doors start opening up for me.

Did you like working for the company though? Just want to know your thoughts about the company in general. What the benefits were like, did they take care of you as a driver?

PFG job will be what I highlighted in my diary I previously linked. Very physically demanding and you'll be out there 2 wheeling groceries whether it's 100 degrees or -20. Rain, snow, freezing rain etc. Add in the frustrations of traffic, upset customers (they're never happy with when they get their order you're always too early or too late) and it's easy to get burned out. My first full year with them I made around $85,000 and ultimately wanted to find something less physical. I completely understand doing what you need to do to provide for your kids.

I know you tried OD but I see Saia, Fed Ex Freight, YRC, XPO, UPS Freight (now T-force I believe), Estes and ABF are all in Colorado Springs as well, perhaps it's worth checking them out if you haven't already.

Thank you for your input, I’ve applied for intermodal positions and not had any luck yet. I kind of figured I didn’t get the job, because of the commute and being a mom. Thank you for the warehouse idea, I’ll look into that as well. I applied for a gas station job but it’sa better idea to get on with a company that has trucks but just work in the warehouse and possibly work my way up

From a woman*s stand point... I want you to truly think about this

You are talking 3 hours of driving after your 14 hour work day. That leaves 7 hours to eat, sleep, shower, laundry clean the house and spend with the kids. By the time you get home you would be going to bed to leave again. This will leave very little time for the children at all. And it would be an excellent argument for the father to claim neglect. "She's never home so they should be with me".

That is in good weather. In bad weather you would be lucky to be home a few hours.

All that admiration of you being a dedicate mother is crap and was probably an easy way to let you down easy. Mother's have a tough gig and kids are the number one reason there are so few women in trucking. Women enter when the kids are grown.

Get a job in a local.warehouse for money and keep applying to companie in the mean time. If there is an internodal in your area that may be a good option. A warehouse may have their own trucks so you may be able to move later if hired for a warehouse job.

Good luck.

I hadn’t even thought of that G town, he did mention keeping me local but that was kind of a thought that crossed my mind and not having seniority there’s actually no way to guarantee a completely local position.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and advise, very helpful. A lot of good insight and different points of view

Something else to keep in mind, there will be times you will need to spend the night in a hotel if you are unable to complete your run. It happens frequently.

I'm glad you brought that up Gtown. That's one element I hadn't even considered. With PFG it's all seniority based and they DO have some runs that are scheduled as overnight and sometimes due to weather, traffic, or being held up for God knows what reasons it's possible you'd lay over. With foodservice companies they may take out a contract with a Healthcare group, nursing homes, or chain restaurants that requires them to deliver to all locations in a certain geographic area. Our warehouse was in Rock Island Illinois (just east of Davenport IA) and contracts they had required drivers to take overnight runs to Sioux Falls SD, Kansas City and St Louis MO, Lincoln NE among others. Some of those ended up being 3 days out because it was nearly an entire days drive to get there and do a couple stops. 2nd day was unloading usually a 48 or 53 foot trailer by hand and the 3rd day driving back.

That’s good to know, so you stayed with PFG for 1 year then? I know it’ll be physically demanding but if I can just make it through my 1st year then a lot of doors start opening up for me.

Did you like working for the company though? Just want to know your thoughts about the company in general. What the benefits were like, did they take care of you as a driver?

I stayed with PFG for about a year and a half. They sent me to driving school and I signed a 1 year contract (now 2 years). The experience you have will vary greatly at each terminal. At first I really enjoyed it. As time went on I started to get burned out, allowed minor things to irritate me and cause me to hate it. I ended up leaving because I felt the beating my body was taking wasn't worth the money when I could make more but do less work. I averaged 60 hours a week M-F. This type of work is difficult because the faster you work the more they'll expect out of you. That's not to badmouth the company by any means. Their main concern is customers getting their orders in a timely manner. Many complaints of how trucks were loaded were met with "it couldn't be that bad, you got it all unloaded". Whenever we had new hires they wanted to take it easy on them so my route grew because they knew I could handle it. A couple weeks in a row I busted my ass on Friday to finish my 12 hour route in 8 hours. What ended up happening is i had more stops added to me from others that struggled. The warehouse builds pallets with sometimes 6 stops on them depending on the order sizes. You need to downstack that entire pallet to find the cases you're looking for but also organize as you go to minimize the wasted movements since time is money. You're also going to climb up steps from the side door in the nose of the trailer and downstack cases. Many restaurants also have stairs you may need to push/pull your loaded 2 wheeler (sometimes several hundred pounds) to get to where the customer wants it. Injuries are very common in this line of work. At my drop yard I ran out of in Des Moines we had 2 guys out with back injuries, another tore his ACL falling out of the trailer. We only had a 4 or 5 person group of drivers out of there. A sysco driver fell out of the trailer and caused damage to his spleen. If you look at the guys(and gals) that have been doing this work they're all hunched over, walk with a limp and have had numerous knee replacements. Fortunately I got out without being injured more than just being sore, pulled muscles and skin on my hands cracking from the temp changes.

I'm not going to touch on benefits because they've since gotten a new union contract and things may have changed but they offered the typical medical/dental, 1 week vacation after a year etc.

I'm going to add a link to my diary again because this is exactly what you'd be doing, just different region and customers. PFG as a rookie

All that admiration of you being a dedicate mother is crap and was probably an easy way to let you down easy. Mother's have a tough gig and kids are the number one reason there are so few women in trucking. Women enter when the kids are grown.

Get a job in a local.warehouse for money and keep applying to companie in the mean time. If there is an internodal in your area that may be a good option. A warehouse may have their own trucks so you may be able to move later if hired for a warehouse job.

Good luck

Discretion is the better part of valor. Have you noticed two common threads in the replies you have received?

1) everyone admires your determination and attitude

2) everyone is urging caution about the commute.

Kersey’s advice is sound wisdom. Forget any job with that brutal schedule. Get something local until you can get a job without a 3 hour commute. Have you noticed that no experienced driver is saying “Great job opportunity! Go for it!” ????????)

Remember, a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Thank you so much for all of that insight. I just got notified that I didn’t get the job, so I’ll be looking at a yard jockey position with either OD or AFW to get my foot in the door with a company and hopefully work my way up to driving for them. Thank you for the link, I’ll definitely read that to get a better understanding of those positions

That’s good to know, so you stayed with PFG for 1 year then? I know it’ll be physically demanding but if I can just make it through my 1st year then a lot of doors start opening up for me.

Did you like working for the company though? Just want to know your thoughts about the company in general. What the benefits were like, did they take care of you as a driver?

I stayed with PFG for about a year and a half. They sent me to driving school and I signed a 1 year contract (now 2 years). The experience you have will vary greatly at each terminal. At first I really enjoyed it. As time went on I started to get burned out, allowed minor things to irritate me and cause me to hate it. I ended up leaving because I felt the beating my body was taking wasn't worth the money when I could make more but do less work. I averaged 60 hours a week M-F. This type of work is difficult because the faster you work the more they'll expect out of you. That's not to badmouth the company by any means. Their main concern is customers getting their orders in a timely manner. Many complaints of how trucks were loaded were met with "it couldn't be that bad, you got it all unloaded". Whenever we had new hires they wanted to take it easy on them so my route grew because they knew I could handle it. A couple weeks in a row I busted my ass on Friday to finish my 12 hour route in 8 hours. What ended up happening is i had more stops added to me from others that struggled. The warehouse builds pallets with sometimes 6 stops on them depending on the order sizes. You need to downstack that entire pallet to find the cases you're looking for but also organize as you go to minimize the wasted movements since time is money. You're also going to climb up steps from the side door in the nose of the trailer and downstack cases. Many restaurants also have stairs you may need to push/pull your loaded 2 wheeler (sometimes several hundred pounds) to get to where the customer wants it. Injuries are very common in this line of work. At my drop yard I ran out of in Des Moines we had 2 guys out with back injuries, another tore his ACL falling out of the trailer. We only had a 4 or 5 person group of drivers out of there. A sysco driver fell out of the trailer and caused damage to his spleen. If you look at the guys(and gals) that have been doing this work they're all hunched over, walk with a limp and have had numerous knee replacements. Fortunately I got out without being injured more than just being sore, pulled muscles and skin on my hands cracking from the temp changes.

I'm not going to touch on benefits because they've since gotten a new union contract and things may have changed but they offered the typical medical/dental, 1 week vacation after a year etc.

I'm going to add a link to my diary again because this is exactly what you'd be doing, just different region and customers. PFG as a rookie

Yeah that’s very true, I’m looking at warehouse and yard hockey positions and hopefully working my way up to driving. Definitely rethinking things and trying to think outside of the box. Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated

All that admiration of you being a dedicate mother is crap and was probably an easy way to let you down easy. Mother's have a tough gig and kids are the number one reason there are so few women in trucking. Women enter when the kids are grown.

Get a job in a local.warehouse for money and keep applying to companie in the mean time. If there is an internodal in your area that may be a good option. A warehouse may have their own trucks so you may be able to move later if hired for a warehouse job.

Good luck

Discretion is the better part of valor. Have you noticed two common threads in the replies you have received?

1) everyone admires your determination and attitude

2) everyone is urging caution about the commute.

Kersey’s advice is sound wisdom. Forget any job with that brutal schedule. Get something local until you can get a job without a 3 hour commute. Have you noticed that no experienced driver is saying “Great job opportunity! Go for it!” ????????)

Remember, a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Of course, it’ll be great to keep track of your progress. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that, with patience, you will find a suitable job.

Thank you so much for all of that insight. I just got notified that I didn’t get the job, so I’ll be looking at a yard jockey position with either OD or AFW to get my foot in the door with a company and hopefully work my way up to driving for them. Thank you for the link, I’ll definitely read that to get a better understanding of those positions

Is the OD near you hiring dock workers? If they are that would be great way to get your foot in the door. We have a bunch of drivers who came off the dock, prove yourself reliable and they will probably move you into a driving position at somepoint.

There's a DC right off 85 and i25 in fountain, last time I was there, they had a help wanted sign out, check with them for a yard dog slot. I think that would be a fun job and I bet it would be great experience for backing.

Also I usually see at least a couple shuttle and or yard dog positions in craigslist.

I live in the springs part time so I know the challenges we face with wether and traffic. My terminal is in Denver. It takes 4 hours in bad wether and wrecks. Think about working and trying to get back home. High of 15 today, 6 to 12 inches. Monument pass will likely close by tonight.

The weather is bad enough that I actually take my home time in Dallas and fly to Denver during the winter. It works out cheaper by far because I can't run for a week at a time due to weather shutdowns if I'm there. If I understand what others who have experience are saying, you will still have to run in that weather.

I respect your drive, I'd say take that drive and apply it to something in springs or even Pueblo. There's several DCs right down off 50 in Pueblo. I would go down there in person and beat on some doors. They Always seem to need staff.