Dock To Local Driver Program - Advice?

Hey all, I've been reading the forum and articles on Trucking Truth for over a year now as I've been interested in pursuing a career in trucking but have had life circumstances prevent me from making the jump.

I recently moved back to my home town and found what looks like a great opportunity so I applied and have a phone interview in a few days. Very exciting but very nerve wracking!! I wanted to see if I could solicit any advice/feedback on how to make the best of it and how to approach the interview.

The position is being offered by a local grocery chain, basically over the course of a six month period they have you load trucks and work on the docks while training you to get your CDL and become a driver for their logistics company. This is all my conjecture based on the job description, but I am thinking that their drivers load their own trucks and then go out on the road to make their deliveries. When I worked at a grocery warehouse for another company years ago this is what they did as well.

I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced going through a dock-to-driver program and what it was like.

I am also curious whether or not starting with a local/regional job is going to hinder my career progression in any way if I decide to stick with trucking. I have seen a ton of their trucks around the area and they are all daycabs so I am assuming they don't stray too far from the general region.

As far as the interview goes, I think I am going to try and lean into my experience working in the periphery of the logistics industry. As I mentioned I already have experience working in a grocery warehouse, as a loader & sorter for FedEx, and I currently deliver in a cargo van for Amazon (about 1.5 months into that job). Not that any of those will necessarily prepare me to get behind the wheel of a semi-truck but hopefully it will help qualify me for the position of trucker-in-training. 😂

I completed the High Road Training Program on here a long time ago on a different account so I could use a refresher, but I feel like I could at least bring up the fact that I studied extensively for my CLP test in the interview as well.

To sum it up, I'm wondering...

1. If anyone has advice for how to succeed in a dock-to-driver program;

2. Whether or not starting as a local driver will hurt my case if I apply for other trucking jobs after my first year;

3. How I should approach the interview based on my prior experience working in warehouses and currently as a delivery driver, plus having studied for my CLP.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I seriously appreciate any advice you guys have because this job seems like it would be the best of both worlds for me: start a career in trucking while getting to stay near the city I love and come home to my fiancee at night. I know it probably won't be that simple but it'd be a big step up for me.

Cheers!

This is an excellent way to enter the trucking industry. If they take you, you will end up starting in a coveted local position. It will not hinder you, it will help you with other local positions should you ever wish to go elsewhere. It is still best to stay there at least one year. Hopefully it would work into a career. You could find some of their drivers to talk with. The questions I would ask are, what is your favorite part about working here and why? And, what is your least favorite part of working here and why? Best of luck in this new endeavor. I hope your phone interview goes well.

I'm wondering...

Whether or not starting as a local driver will hurt my case if I apply for other trucking jobs after my first year.

Unfortunately the answer could be yes, or it might be no. Things change rather fluidly in the trucking job market, but one sure thing is that starting with an OTR job establishes experience almost universally. That's not the case when you start with a local position.

It's kind of weird, in my opinion, because most local driving jobs are more challenging to a rookie driver's skills. But, we see it often in our forum. Drivers who start local run into two problematic issues.

The first problem: they get fired for having an accident, and then nobody will consider them. Other local jobs can't bring them on because they got fired for an accident at their last local job.

The second problem: OTR companies don't want to take a chance on them because they consider them as having zero experience.

It's very important to keep that in mind when starting local. You want to be flawless in your job execution if possible. Once you have put in a year of successful driving you'll have an easy time landing another local job. It probably won't go so well if you decide you want to try OTR.

These are not hard and fast rules, but they seem to hold fairly consistent unless there is really super strong demand.

As far as local drivers loading their own trucks, I don’t see that much where I go. I drive OTR reefer and we deliver the bulk loads to big grocery DC warehouses like Sysco, PFG, Walmart, Affiliated Foods, etc. Then the food chains own trucks are pre-loaded for the local drivers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s uncommon for the driver to load. Now, unloading might be on the driver as they make numerous deliveries.

As was said, simply ask one of the drivers where you would be working.

Working the dock means loading a truck, most often then a driver will take it out to make deliveries.

local drivers loading their own trucks

means the driver goes On Duty when they come to work and load the truck. That means the driver's work day starts several hours before they get behind the steering wheel to drive. Once a driver goes On Duty they have a maximum 14 hours in the day to do any driving.

Now most drivers get paid more than a dock worker because of their CDL training. A distribution center will therefore have warehouse & dock workers load, then the driver punches in and delivers the goods out to the store.

So working on the dock is a great way to eventually move into a driving job, but generally no guarantees about getting that promotion. This is something to take up in your interview.

I drove OTR for about 8 years and now have a home daily local job. While applying for local jobs, one problem I had was zero route driving experience. Most dock to driver programs will have you on the dock loading and unloading trailers. This is done with forklifts, pallets jacks and or by hand. Then you will be learning the driving part. Usually the day will be both parts. Some local positions require unloading at the customers, this would be done by hand, hand truck or pallet jack. If you would rather travel the country then company paid training is the way to go. Many companies have these programs. You should be aware that many of these starter companies are not hiring or not hiring as much right now. This could change by the end of the year.

I assumed you would rather start local. As stated above, this could be more difficult but not impossible. Many people start this way and have successful careers.

I would have gladly started that way, however when I was getting into trucking, none of the local companies were offering them.

Keep us posted.

Thanks for your replies everyone. It seems like the biggest sticking point as far as the long-term career consequences of taking the job go is that local experience doesn't transfer to OTR and in some cases the opposite is true as well.

Frankly I'm mostly interested in the pay and benefits which is way beyond anything I have ever made as a young man and the chance to get my CDL , which I notice a lot of other jobs require or strongly suggest you have. I don't necessarily want to lock myself out of other trucking jobs but at the same time I'm really just trying to get a job that will help me professionally overall while I wait out trying to apply to become an electrician apprentice with my city's union. I guess time will tell though if I am head over heels for trucking and the money's there then why not stick with it?

It's kind of weird, in my opinion, because most local driving jobs are more challenging to a rookie driver's skills. But, we see it often in our forum. Drivers who start local run into two problematic issues...

In what way would local driving jobs be more challenging? I assume there would be a lot more backing throughout the day (multiple deliveries each day) and dealing with more city driving, is there anything else that a new local driver should be extra aware of?

As far as transitioning to OTR I'm not sure if that is really on the table for me at this juncture. Like Big Scott mentioned I keep hearing many starter companies are not hiring as much right now or over the past year in general. Would companies that offer sponsored CDL training put someone who already has their license through their program and have a trainer go out with them to kind of "transition" them maybe? This is something I have always been curious about but I'm not sure if I have seen it mentioned here.

You want to be flawless in your job execution if possible. Once you have put in a year of successful driving you'll have an easy time landing another local job. It probably won't go so well if you decide you want to try OTR.

What are some of the biggest issues people who start local have had? I'm wondering if I can ask for extra help during my training period with the most common reasons for accidents and such to help me stay safe and keep my job if I get it.

Now most drivers get paid more than a dock worker because of their CDL training. A distribution center will therefore have warehouse & dock workers load, then the driver punches in and delivers the goods out to the store.

So working on the dock is a great way to eventually move into a driving job, but generally no guarantees about getting that promotion. This is something to take up in your interview.

That makes sense to me. Like I said it was mainly conjecture on my part as far as how they run things goes, having seen other drivers load their trucks at my last grocery warehouse job. I guess it would have been more of a distribution center than a "holding" warehouse.

As far as getting promoted to a driver goes, I will certainly bring that up. The job position was for a "CDL A Driver Trainee" so I kind of just assumed as long as I excelled at the dockworker and driver training I would be good to go. Will have to clarify that during the interview today.

Most dock to driver programs will have you on the dock loading and unloading trailers. This is done with forklifts, pallets jacks and or by hand. Then you will be learning the driving part. Usually the day will be both parts.

This is something I was curious about as well. I wasn't sure if they would just have me on the dock for 6 months to have me prove myself and THEN start doing the training or if it would be mixed in with the whole program. Also something I'll have to clarify.

One last general question: it was mentioned that major OTR companies tend not to go for candidates with only local experience. If I ended up working for a local company, would it be possible for an OTR company that does company-sponsored training to either put me through their program or have a trainer go OTR with me in order to kind of make the transition? I've always been curious about this but never really saw it mentioned.

Sorry for replying so late, I appreciate the advice and things to consider everyone has shared with me. My phone interview is in 2 hours so we'll see how it goes. I have other potential jobs lined up as well unrelated to trucking. Honestly I thought it would be a great career move to get my CDL and have driving experience generally but I'm thinking about applying for the electrician's union once I meet the residency requirement in my state again and needed a productive way to fill the time until next January.

If I get hired and finish this training program I will be on my own in February and I'm up north near the mountains and such which is kind of a sobering thought considering I'll have to not make any mistakes to keep my job (and my life!). I don't want to handicap my career in trucking or myself so maybe it would be better to keep it in my back pocket for now. Would appreciate some insight on the timing as well. Thank you all so much.

Personally, I'd say to do the dock to driver program. I didn't do it, but we've had many successful drivers in our yard do it.

If you are mostly interested in pay and benefit local driving tends to pay more than OTR. I'm at 79.5 cpm or $36 something per hour doing linehaul. plus we get a raise next month will know next week how much.

Should you decide to go OTR at somepoint they may just make you go through their training program like a brand new student.

Yeah, it would have been nice but I ended up telling the interviewer I'm not interested. It was up to a year working on-call as a loader before you get CDL training and then another year to a year and a half before you actually get the opportunity to join their union and reach the payscale/benefits they describe in the listing. Until then they randomly flip-flop you back and forth between driving and loading on-call.

I've seen other companies in the area with dock to driver programs that seem a lot more structured in terms of the hours and progression. This place I just interviewed with it seems like it would be really easy to get stuck in the weeds and I don't know if taking on the extra risk of driving a semi truck for $20/hr is worth it when I make the same amount driving a cargo van right now.

How did you get started doing linehaul , Bob? Did you go OTR first or start regional/local with a company after getting your CDL?

How did you get started doing linehaul , Bob? Did you go OTR first or start regional/local with a company after getting your CDL?

I started with a regional company for 2 months then got onto linehaul when they had an opening. Unfortunately, linehaul is pretty slow right now so hiring is basically nonexistent.

However, it might be worth looking into a LTL dock to driver position if you are still interested, I think our dock pays starts over $20, once you become a driver it is over $25 a hour I believe.