Bid Time (local Jobs)

One thing you'll see myself and other local drivers discuss is bidding. Most local companies have drivers pick their route/schedule once a year. Bids may happen sporadically throughout the year for various reasons but typically what you pick will last a year. My company bids days we work every October, but we pick our routes daily based on seniority. We also are in the process of bidding vacation time (full weeks currently, In a couple weeks we'll do single days).

We bid last week and this is my first week on new schedule. Although it's only the 2nd day, I'm extremely happy with what I got. I'm somewhere around 125 of 190ish in total seniority. Most drivers only want to work 4 days, even have a handful that work 3 days. I ended up taking a 5 day work week , Monday thru Friday mainly because nobody wanted to work 5 days. Getting on this bid required me to switch over to mile/stop pay to avoid the company paying OT. Although I'm not a fan overall of the pay by mile due to how much "free" time the driver is giving often times my company has it set up in a way it's beneficial for the driver in my opinion. I'm paid 57.3 CPM , $31.97 per stop, 15 minutes my hourly rate ($28.50) each for pre/post trip and hourly if load isn't ready at departure time or at a backhaul more than hour and a half. Im also paid my hourly rate if i need to wash the truck or get a washout, as well as anytime im in the yard grabbing a 2nd (or 3rd) trailer. This week off 2 days I have made roughly $700. Driven about 650 miles with 8 stops plus 3:30 or so detention time. Brightside is I've gotten more sleep and only put in about 21 hours. Tomorrow I took a $500 route, 570 miles with 5 stops which will probably be about 13 hours. Unfortunately I'm about 8 guys too low of scoring the frozen loads they're only taking off a couple pallets per store and earning over $650 for 12 hours of work due to the amount of stops. I've had to completely change how I pick my routes. I used to try to get close to 14 hours with backhauls I'd sit at for a while. Now I'm trying to avoid those backhauls, or avoid them altogether and take stores I can get in and out of quick (3 yesterday was less than 20 minutes each)

Weeks that I worked a 5th day I aimed for roughly 60 hours, which is the equivalent of me now averaging $400 a day. With the way our routing is setup that's not a problem. However, lately I've been trying to work an extra day then take a short 6-8 hour day Saturday to get home to my family. Weekends off is the biggest factor of why I took this route. If I was only on a 4 day week I probably would've stuck with hourly.

After my first couple days I'm quite happy with what I have until atleast next October unless I choose to change my work days. Every few weeks they'll post new working days to fit business needs and we can bid on changing to that particular bid. Other drivers at the bottom (and top) aren't happy. On the AM side our loads leave anywhere from 10p-10A with most between midnight and 2A. Last driver in seniority ended up having to switch over to The PM side where his loads leave between 1P and 3P. Fortunately he's a single guy but it goes to show how drastically things can change when people bid their schedules. There's also a guy that has done city work for the last several years from 12p-8P. He got outbid (he's like #40) and he could either shag or start running loads to stores. Also, ill finally be getting an assigned truck once it comes in. We're still waiting on our trucks that were supposed to be here back in April. 3 have come in so far, there's 10 more waiting ahead of me. It'll be a 2023 international day cab (what real truckers drive). I'd rather have a Volvo but atleast I won't be slip seating.

We generally bid seasonally. The fall bid was done in September, but we're doing another one this week due to lack of freight. 4 meets will be removed from the bid and those spots will be added to the extraboard.

On the fall bid, I went extraboard just for some variety, but I plan on going to a shuttle run (requires dock work) for this bid.

Extraboard is fine, but it isn't consistent and the work isn't there at this time. I'm working 3-4 days a week and my checks fluctuate. On a shuttle run, I'll have consistent work and make 1800-2k a week.

How are you sitting seniority wise Banks?

One thing that worried me about switching to M-F was how many options I'd have this winter. Fridays and Saturdays I've had like 40 routes to pick from. Fortunately, my worst days I'll still have 20-25 to pick from. It should keep me out of the worst inclement weather this winter unless the storm spans our entire region. I'm not terrified of driving in snow and ice but if I can avoid it why wouldn't I.

How are you sitting seniority wise Banks?

I am number 80 of 87 on the linehaul board. When I was doing P/D I was number 38 of 70. It took me 3 years to get that linehaul board. I got on it in May of this year.

I'm not terrified of driving in snow and ice but if I can avoid it why wouldn't I.

That's how I feel about it. I go into the winter with no attendance points and use them strategically through the winter months. One of the benefits of pulling doubles is that it doesn't take much for them to be banned.

Funny you posted this I was just about to do the same, we are about to do our yearly bid. I hope I can keep the run I have now, I'm 22nd out of 54, they ended up adding 1 run and moved some gate times around. We have just enough freight for everyone most of the time so luckily we didn't lose any runs.

Sometimes I wish we got to pick runs daily so I could get out of Indiana I'm so sick of 80/94 and 65.

I'm glad you were able bid on a slot that works out better for you. Thanks for taking the time to explain the process. My father pulled doubles for UPS and I remember how happy he was when he had moved up enough in seniority to bid on a schedule that he really wanted.

My terminal bids every December for the next year. We don’t bid for routes, we bid start times. The senior guys always take the same bids which in turn, keeps them on the same routes. They know all their areas/stops and customers which ends up making things run smoothly and efficiently. Due to new hires, a few more bids were added. I landed on a noon to midnight city bid. I’m kind of an odds and ends driver. I do a lot of drop and hooks at our big customers, larger deliveries that would limit space on a city route trailer and some clean up duty when other drivers run out of space. I’m on the road from noon until 6-7pm, then work the dock until all our outbound freight is loaded. I am 26th of 30 on the seniority list already and 6 guys ahead of me can retire whenever they want

I will be 100% honest that I don't think I could handle all of the things that you local drivers do. My heart goes out to you because you guys have the toughest driving to do, the hardest backing to manage, and crazy schedules handed out. When the time comes that I have to be home every day, I will seek out a dispatch or load planning position of some sort.

I will be 100% honest that I don't think I could handle all of the things that you local drivers do. My heart goes out to you because you guys have the toughest driving to do, the hardest backing to manage, and crazy schedules handed out. When the time comes that I have to be home every day, I will seek out a dispatch or load planning position of some sort.

Not being home wasn't an option. It's why most of us go that route.

Crazy schedules is a toss up. I don't have a schedule and go "on call" because I like variety. See where Bobcat said

Sometimes I wish we got to pick runs daily so I could get out of Indiana I'm so sick of 80/94 and 65

I know exactly what he means. I have no idea what I'm doing today. I can just have the day off for all I know. I'm also paid well enough so 3 days of work isn't horrible. I'd rather do 5, but the closer it gets to bidding the more I'm leaning to staying where I am because I'm dreading doing the same thing everyday.

I will be 100% honest that I don't think I could handle all of the things that you local drivers do. My heart goes out to you because you guys have the toughest driving to do, the hardest backing to manage, and crazy schedules handed out. When the time comes that I have to be home every day, I will seek out a dispatch or load planning position of some sort.

Not being home wasn't an option. It's why most of us go that route.

Crazy schedules is a toss up. I don't have a schedule and go "on call" because I like variety. See where Bobcat said

Sometimes I wish we got to pick runs daily so I could get out of Indiana I'm so sick of 80/94 and 65

I know exactly what he means. I have no idea what I'm doing today. I can just have the day off for all I know. I'm also paid well enough so 3 days of work isn't horrible. I'd rather do 5, but the closer it gets to bidding the more I'm leaning to staying where I am because I'm dreading doing the same thing everyday.

I totally get where you are coming from, and I believe that you are paid well for it. I am just basically saying that all of you are better than me because I don't think that I could do the local gigs like you guys do.