ABF | Full Time Dock Worker Questions

Jared Freeman

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Applied and Interviewed a week ago for a Full Time Dock Worker Postion at ABF Freight. Just had a phone call from Arkansas saying my application was completed and that it was moving on to the supervisor for approval. Is this a good or bad sign? Any help is appreciated.
 
Applied and Interviewed a week ago for a Full Time Dock Worker Postion at ABF Freight. Just had a phone call from Arkansas saying my application was completed and that it was moving on to the supervisor for approval. Is this a good or bad sign? Any help is appreciated.

Good sign , Brother.........Now all you need is the biblical patience of Job.........
 
Applied and Interviewed a week ago for a Full Time Dock Worker Postion at ABF Freight. Just had a phone call from Arkansas saying my application was completed and that it was moving on to the supervisor for approval. Is this a good or bad sign? Any help is appreciated.
It is certainly a sign that things are changing, in the past they wouldn't contact you at all except to ask you more stupid questions about your past and nobody would know anything unless or until they called you to go for your physical.

Now...full time dock? ewwwww do you get pills with that?
 
Applied and Interviewed a week ago for a Full Time Dock Worker Postion at ABF Freight. Just had a phone call from Arkansas saying my application was completed and that it was moving on to the supervisor for approval. Is this a good or bad sign? Any help is appreciated.


On the flip side. When you are trying to lift that 300 pound treadmill off the dock floor with you hands & your not yet injured back, take a look @ anyone who has been working on the dock for @ least 10 years & is 50 or older. Look for a lot of spring in their step, or not. Have they had any hips or knees replaced. Do they have disk problems? Do they look like they are constantly bent over while walking? A great sign of Spinal Stenosis. A person who puts in 30 years on a dock is going to mark off a lot to schedule their surgeries from the toll the dock has taken from them. I am not trying to project a picture of Doom & Gloom. What I am saying is go get the fork lift & using the blade tips gently lift the 300 pound carton. So hopefully you only need to schedule 1 surgery instead of 5. ABF is the best job I ever had. I worked the city dock & drive for 18 years & I had to go out on a Medical. Take care of yourself so you don't end with as many problems as the older crew limping down the dock. von.
 
What I am saying is go get the fork lift & using the blade tips gently lift the 300 pound carton. So hopefully you only need to schedule 1 surgery instead of 5. ABF is the best job I ever had. I worked the city dock & drive for 18 years & I had to go out on a Medical. Take care of yourself so you don't end with as many problems as the older crew limping down the dock. von.
Very wise words here, all should take heed. There is not enough education on self preservation for those of us who have to handle the merchandise. And to one extent you are better on the dock, there is always a machine there to do the heavy lifting, as well as other hands in the same boat who will be more than happy to help you make it through another shift without killing yourself.
 
Very wise words here, all should take heed. There is not enough education on self preservation for those of us who have to handle the merchandise. And to one extent you are better on the dock, there is always a machine there to do the heavy lifting, as well as other hands in the same boat who will be more than happy to help you make it through another shift without killing yourself.

I drove more city than dock & worked the dock when driving was thru. But I can tell you for sure more injuries driving than on the dock. Falling out of a trailer is the biggest one. The hand rails are a joke, if they are there. Never on a rental. More injuries on the lift gate truck than any other. 2,000lb skid ground delivery with not enough lift plate for you, the skid, & the pallet jack. Good luck with this one. Oh yea, don't forget the call in complaint from chipping a little paint as you man handle the 600 pound fridge in to the kitchen because of stairs so narrow the house was built in 1902. Help? Yea right. A lot of inside deliveries require 2 people. Dispatch thinks you dream too much. I can go on & on. Protect you health, protect your job. No one else will do it for you. von.
 
Yeah,.......private home deliveries.......People always ask :"Where's your helper?"......and I always say : " He's waiting on your loading dock."......

Or they say .......before you even ask........"I have a bad back and I can't help you.".........The ones that say that are always 20 years younger than you......
 
Yeah,.......private home deliveries.......People always ask :"Where's your helper?"......and I always say : " He's waiting on your loading dock."......

Or they say .......before you even ask........"I have a bad back and I can't help you.".........The ones that say that are always 20 years younger than you......
You ever tell them you will have to delay their delivery till you can get some help? Now the customer has got to shi* or get off the pot. Amazing how fast their bad back becomes better, or not.
 
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You ever tell them you will have to delay their delivery till you can get some help? Now the customer has got to shi* or get off the pot. Amazing how fast their bad back becomes better, or not.
Speaking if which, that reminds me on how long it took me to train our rockheaded dispatcher. How many of you have heard, "You can put it in here, sorry but we don't have anybody to help you", only to see five guys show up when you tell them that you'll need a $65.00 for the inside delivery charges?
 
Yeah,.......private home deliveries.......People always ask :"Where's your helper?"......and I always say : " He's waiting on your loading dock."......

Or they say .......before you even ask........"I have a bad back and I can't help you.".........The ones that say that are always 20 years younger than you......
My response to their bad back thing is, my back has been bad for 31 years now also.
 
Ask yourself, how much are you willing to sell yourself for? is the full scale wage of 24.00 an hr worth it? For this? 2 years before a vacation? The looming next contract? I look at it like this, I would not recommend my son work here, neither would I to anyone else. They constantly look for a way to work you more for less, get rid of you and their liability towards you and any other Union member. Why the aggravation? go work elsewhere and for less, you will be more proud, happy and healthier. just look at all the grumpy, sad, hateful, mean people on these forums.. me included.
 
Ask yourself, how much are you willing to sell yourself for? is the full scale wage of 24.00 an hr worth it? For this? 2 years before a vacation? The looming next contract? I look at it like this, I would not recommend my son work here, neither would I to anyone else. They constantly look for a way to work you more for less, get rid of you and their liability towards you and any other Union member. Why the aggravation? go work elsewhere and for less, you will be more proud, happy and healthier. just look at all the grumpy, sad, hateful, mean people on these forums.. me included.

I have a son that I recommended to stay away from LTL freight.....

He is driving for a Union lumber yard, making just as much, and in the same pension and benefit plan... ...

And....much better working conditions....
 
Gees, teamsters are complaining no one wants to work for the union and the teamster is the first to say stay away when someone ask a simple question about how to go about getting hired. Wow he's the guy that'll pay for your retirement. Jared only thing I can say use your brain and not your body as in that heavy item your about to deal with if you become a slab pounder and always keep in mind it's the customer that pays your wage and treat it as your buying it yourself . If you get into the driving rather be city or linehaul drive as if your family is riding with you always have the mind set that the other vehicles are counting on you to do their driving too.. As for asking questions like this on TB your better off stopping and asking a driver sitting somewhere. And always stay off topic on TB because that's how it rolls never ever is there a seriousness on any debate or question... just my .2 worth, hope you land a job with them it's still a very good job.
 
Applied and Interviewed a week ago for a Full Time Dock Worker Postion at ABF Freight. Just had a phone call from Arkansas saying my application was completed and that it was moving on to the supervisor for approval. Is this a good or bad sign? Any help is appreciated.
My advice is to take the job. This is the best LTL company there is to work for. If you don't like the job you can always go somewhere else. A job with ABF will look good on your resume should you decide to try another career. I had rather regret something I did than pass up an opportunity.
 
Gees, teamsters are complaining no one wants to work for the union and the teamster is the first to say stay away when someone ask a simple question about how to go about getting hired. Wow he's the guy that'll pay for your retirement. Jared only thing I can say use your brain and not your body as in that heavy item your about to deal with if you become a slab pounder and always keep in mind it's the customer that pays your wage and treat it as your buying it yourself . If you get into the driving rather be city or linehaul drive as if your family is riding with you always have the mind set that the other vehicles are counting on you to do their driving too.. As for asking questions like this on TB your better off stopping and asking a driver sitting somewhere. And always stay off topic on TB because that's how it rolls never ever is there a seriousness on any debate or question... just my .2 worth, hope you land a job with them it's still a very good job.

Yeah,.......I probably did sound a little disgruntled...More to do with lack of representation and rotten contracts than anything.......

Companies will be as good,.......or as bad....as whatever the Union will let them get away with.....and lately, our so-called IBT "leadership".......has been non- existent at best........

I say that as a steward who's watched important conditions and grievances get frittered away because of "politics"...

We have people on our Joint Council who were actually caught collaborating with a company to fire a guy perceived as a political threat.........And that person is still there, despite a petition from at least three Locals to remove her......and she's still sitting on grievance panels......

LTL in my opinion, has distinctly gone downhill.......but my opinion is a 40 year view,.......

In the short term, LTL is no better or worse than any other trucking job...,
 
Gees, teamsters are complaining no one wants to work for the union and the teamster is the first to say stay away when someone ask a simple question about how to go about getting hired. Wow he's the guy that'll pay for your retirement. Jared only thing I can say use your brain and not your body as in that heavy item your about to deal with if you become a slab pounder and always keep in mind it's the customer that pays your wage and treat it as your buying it yourself . If you get into the driving rather be city or linehaul drive as if your family is riding with you always have the mind set that the other vehicles are counting on you to do their driving too.. As for asking questions like this on TB your better off stopping and asking a driver sitting somewhere. And always stay off topic on TB because that's how it rolls never ever is there a seriousness on any debate or question... just my .2 worth, hope you land a job with them it's still a very good job.
I wouldn't say that stating that nobody wants to do these jobs anymore constitutes complaining about it, it's simply stating a fact. I wouldn't mislead a guy and tell him that things are good just because I want to sucker him in to pay my pension either. I would like to know if you work the jobs we are working. Not where or in what capacity exactly, just are you doing the work? Are you out in the 100 degree heat slugging freight around? Are you out in the windy 0 degree cold rubbing the ice off of your beard and/or mustache? Are you dealing with the homeowner who's trying to get you to break your back getting his 2000 lb trash skid of hardwood flooring over the hump into their garage? Or telling you that you are to put his playground out in the back 40 of his estate? How many 235 lb treadmills have you taken down the steps into the basements while the homeowner stands there telling you not to ding the walls? How many times have you stood on the dock with your TM, salesman, dispatcher or coworker gawking and laughing about the hideous crate that some poor driver is going to have to bust his balls the get off of the truck? How many 600 lb Lifetime sheds have you wrestled off the back of the trailer? Sorry buddy, but to me this job is not worth it and I pity any young man who comes into it. The work sucks, the pay is insufficient and the Teamsters suck and there are better jobs out there to be had.
 
I wouldn't say that stating that nobody wants to do these jobs anymore constitutes complaining about it, it's simply stating a fact. I wouldn't mislead a guy and tell him that things are good just because I want to sucker him in to pay my pension either. I would like to know if you work the jobs we are working. Not where or in what capacity exactly, just are you doing the work? Are you out in the 100 degree heat slugging freight around? Are you out in the windy 0 degree cold rubbing the ice off of your beard and/or mustache? Are you dealing with the homeowner who's trying to get you to break your back getting his 2000 lb trash skid of hardwood flooring over the hump into their garage? Or telling you that you are to put his playground out in the back 40 of his estate? How many 235 lb treadmills have you taken down the steps into the basements while the homeowner stands there telling you not to ding the walls? How many times have you stood on the dock with your TM, salesman, dispatcher or coworker gawking and laughing about the hideous crate that some poor driver is going to have to bust his balls the get off of the truck? How many 600 lb Lifetime sheds have you wrestled off the back of the trailer? Sorry buddy, but to me this job is not worth it and I pity any young man who comes into it. The work sucks, the pay is insufficient and the Teamsters suck and there are better jobs out there to be had. You are correct. I know some who switched from the city to the road. The road has it's problems, but medical wise a lot less damage to the body over a 30 year period.
 
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