Hey Anna A.!

ONCE AGAIN, y'all LTL folks, Banks, everyone, PLEASE give us an idea what a 'VAN (well, I mean a 53' full size)' would even DO in the LTL world?!?!? I really am just not getting this, 100% ....

Most of our Vans at ABF go to large customers like Walmart, Target, Chrysler, Urban Outfitters, etc… to be loaded by them. We then either pick them up and take them straight to the main terminal in Carlisle or bring them back to our terminal, strip them, then reload the freight onto trailers for local delivery or directs to Chicago, Dayton, Dallas, etc… We also run 53’s of mixed freight to Carlisle for various terminals up/down the east coast. That freight gets stripped in Carlisle and added to other freight going to same terminals.

There are also some local routes done with a 53. Just yesterday I filled in for a guy on Vacation. Pulled a 53 around all day, 7 deliveries, 4 pick ups. Was my 1st time on an actual route doing multiple deliveries and picks. Was quite a stressful day being a rookie, only knew where 2 stops were, luckily I was familiar with the area. Even so, a lot of trip planning between stops. GPS wasn’t much help other then looking at the map. Didn’t agree with most routes it gave me. I back tracked a bit to stay on highways and major roads rather then get myself in trouble.

Our "vans" or "53s" or long boxes what ever you want to call them go to various customers and gather the freight. They then bring it back to my terminal where it is separated into 28 ft trailer (pups) depending on its final destination.

Companies like Dayton, Pitt Ohio, Averitt, Central Freight do the same things except they do not put it on 28s they only use 53 footers.

Unfortunately I can not be much help with Pitt Ohio they do not have a very large presence out by me. On guy I know knows a guy who works there and he seems to like it from what he says.

I will be praying for you guys!!

ONCE AGAIN, y'all LTL folks, Banks, everyone, PLEASE give us an idea what a 'VAN (well, I mean a 53' full size)' would even DO in the LTL world?!?!? I really am just not getting this, 100% ....

Most of our Vans at ABF go to large customers like Walmart, Target, Chrysler, Urban Outfitters, etc… to be loaded by them. We then either pick them up and take them straight to the main terminal in Carlisle or bring them back to our terminal, strip them, then reload the freight onto trailers for local delivery or directs to Chicago, Dayton, Dallas, etc… We also run 53’s of mixed freight to Carlisle for various terminals up/down the east coast. That freight gets stripped in Carlisle and added to other freight going to same terminals.

There are also some local routes done with a 53. Just yesterday I filled in for a guy on Vacation. Pulled a 53 around all day, 7 deliveries, 4 pick ups. Was my 1st time on an actual route doing multiple deliveries and picks. Was quite a stressful day being a rookie, only knew where 2 stops were, luckily I was familiar with the area. Even so, a lot of trip planning between stops. GPS wasn’t much help other then looking at the map. Didn’t agree with most routes it gave me. I back tracked a bit to stay on highways and major roads rather then get myself in trouble.

Our "vans" or "53s" or long boxes what ever you want to call them go to various customers and gather the freight. They then bring it back to my terminal where it is separated into 28 ft trailer (pups) depending on its final destination.

Companies like Dayton, Pitt Ohio, Averitt, Central Freight do the same things except they do not put it on 28s they only use 53 footers.

Unfortunately I can not be much help with Pitt Ohio they do not have a very large presence out by me. On guy I know knows a guy who works there and he seems to like it from what he says.

I will be praying for you guys!!

Thanks tons, you guys. ALL y'all.

Hey, Don . . . . any revelations on YOUR end ?!?!?

Always,

~ Anne ~

Bump,

Tanks are looking better, all the time. The Truck One 'host of the most' wouldn't look Tom in the eye...nor answer any questions he had asked of him, at the Int'l Paper in Mt. Vernon.

WestSide folks have been great to us, and will take Tom on, even though we are 'south' of their acquisition.

AndHe.. thank you.

PJ, thank YOU, also. Always.

G'TOWN..thank YOU for tolerating me, as the active mod on board; I know, I'm all over the place.

JRayl, WST, and PittOhio (we don't quite understand that LTL world YET, though..) we still love y'all! Nothing's out of the cards.

Appreciate this place, this group, and.. everything trucking.

~ Anne ~

ps: Harvey; I'll think about it, re: the R/cuff. Thank you as well. (Marten in CMH is WM dedicated, still hmmm...)

I don't know why they use 53 footers. I follow pay and benefits because that stays solid for a year and I can remember it. Operations change with business needs and I can barely keep up with what's happening at FedEx. Imagine trying to keep tabs on the operations of every LTL company... They'd have to pay me a lot more lol.

The only gripe I hear from Pitt Ohio is that the drivers bid runs daily, similar to how Rob T works. It's not like other LTL companies that have a periodic bid. For example, at FedEx we bid seasonly.

Hey, Banks .. me again, sorry ~ Do you remember this;

"Linehaul is a good gig, but like bobcat said I think you have some misconceptions here. There are a lot of days when you're sitting and waiting. You have to wait for another driver that has a trailer you need or wait for a single piece of freight that absolutely has to go out today... That means you're waiting for a driver to get there and dock workers to strip that trailer. I find that the piece of freight you need is always in the nose of a trailer with 20 bills and 25 handling units. Or there's freight sitting on a dock and you have to wait for it to get picked up by a dock worker. Then there are trailers constantly being overweight because dock workers just want to be done and they don't care about that.

I'm not trying to deter you, I'm actually happy for you and I hope it all works out the way you want it to. I just went you to have realistic expectations, rather than be surprised and experience the negative emotions you experienced on the Walmart account."

It was a reply to a driver, a few months/years back... Would it be like this, at Pitt Ohio?

Thanks for all y'all contribute, to our conundrum; apologies to Brett~

~ Anne ~

ps: DON? Cali bound, or WST ?

I can find out. In the meantime, I posted this in another thread.

That's what I pretty much figured, but in the job description, somewhere it says that there may be some offloading by the driver. That must be in the P&D driver's description, right?

I read the job description, I'm assuming you meant the part where it says

You may occasionally have to make a customer delivery or pickup.You may be required to help unload or load freight at a terminal. This includes lifting or pulling freight with dock tools such as pallet jacks, two wheelers or forklifts (PITT OHIO certified employees only).

I reached to some Pitt people I know to see if they can reach out to Grove City people to get the info for me.

They told be that dock work is not required, but is allowed. Some guys do it to get the trailers loaded faster to be on their way or just to earn some extra money, but it is not mandatory. They also told me that drivers in that building average 2k miles a week.

My assumption is that they include it in the job description in case things change in the future and it's required. Things change fast and policies change faster. I've heard "that's not my job" or "that wasn't in the job description" plenty of times and I'm sure they've heard it a lot more.

This is coming from a game of truck driver telephone. I can't verify any of it, but I give people the benefit of the doubt when they have nothing to gain by lying.

I wish you guys the best of luck and let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

I can find out. In the meantime, I posted this in another thread.

That's what I pretty much figured, but in the job description, somewhere it says that there may be some offloading by the driver. That must be in the P&D driver's description, right?

I read the job description, I'm assuming you meant the part where it says

You may occasionally have to make a customer delivery or pickup.You may be required to help unload or load freight at a terminal. This includes lifting or pulling freight with dock tools such as pallet jacks, two wheelers or forklifts (PITT OHIO certified employees only).

I reached to some Pitt people I know to see if they can reach out to Grove City people to get the info for me.

They told me that dock work is not required, but is allowed. Some guys do it to get the trailers loaded faster to be on their way or just to earn some extra money, but it is not mandatory. They also told me that drivers in that building average 2k miles a week.

My assumption is that they include it in the job description in case things change in the future and it's required. Things change fast and policies change faster. I've heard "that's not my job" or "that wasn't in the job description" plenty of times and I'm sure they've heard it a lot more.

This is coming from a game of truck driver telephone. I can't verify any of it, but I give people the benefit of the doubt when they have nothing to gain by lying.

I wish you guys the best of luck and let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Thank you SO much, Banks. Yep, that's the stuff. Would you say 2K a week is good, or bad.. for an LTL guy? That's a 'good' week, for Tom at FAB, actually. The pay structure is unique there, as well. He's never really understood it; that's my job..haha! It worked well, however.

We both sure do appreciate you; more than you'll ever know. If we ever share a common 'town' if even for a day, we owe you dinner bigtime.

Can't thank you enough; nothing beats word from the reality. (Recruiters...story for another thread.)

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: The ONE recruiter/mgr. that REALLY knows her stuff, is Karen at JRayl. Doesn't seem our best bet, however.

pps: He'd be driving the same tractor he's leaving; a bit of a comfort zone doesn't hurt. Nice equipment.

Would you say 2K a week is good, or bad.. for an LTL guy

At OD that would be average for linehaul. Above average for P&D they tend to he more in the 1,500-1,600 range, but they work M-F during the day.

Would you say 2K a week is good, or bad.. for an LTL guy

At OD that would be average for linehaul. Above average for P&D they tend to he more in the 1,500-1,600 range, but they work M-F during the day.

Gotcha, thanks! Pretty much what I'd figured. The pay at FAB wasn't sheer mileage, either.. Don could explain it better, were he to stop back. The OTR guys are the 'mile runners' .. per se.

The Pitt Ohio M/O confuses me, in that ... if the Job Tom is looking at IS IN FACT true linehaul , as they say, who then DOES the P&D stuff, and how .. in a 53' van? It's not the 'terminology' at all that confuses me (us) .. it's the wondering that the job they are offering is indeed, a mix of both.

Banks SURE hit it, with the above. He went out of his way to find the language on their website. (Sheer Wow. TYSM.)

We've got a handful of calls to make tomorrow; Tom's going in late. It's no big deal; he'll just get HOME later.

The flexibility we had is definitely going to be the greatest thing missed. I feel like I'm in the 'twilight zone.'

You guys have NO CLUE how grateful we are.

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: The benefits are much better than we'd had; that matters, too. Is that common in the LTL world? WMPF is right up there, though.. with bennies.