ABF | Stupid questions or stupid not to ask??

Atupa

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I am looking at several jobs ABF listed for “City Driver” and “City Driver Training”. All of these jobs are in major cities. I can move to any of the cities. Don’t care where I live just want to stay busy with paid overtime.

In the city were the jobs are posted why is ABF losing its city drivers? Would this be to retirement? Is volume of freight picking up?

Currently 142 “Driver” jobs on ABF web site, 14 of them are for “Driver Training”

Is there some BS with hiring drivers just before a contract negotiation?

Hours worked for City Drivers? I am hoping for 50 to 60 hours (need the overtime), am I going to get it in a major city?

Low man seniority, will I be on a list to work or will I be working at least 40?

As a driver with low seniority what can I expect?
 
You'll start out as casual..meaning no guarantee of hours, or work. Call you if they need you, can send you home after a few hours if not needed anymore. I was at ABF for 2.5 years, and I will say that I have never had a more inconsistent job in my life. Learned quick I needed to keep a second job in my back pocket. I will say that they were good about allowing me to travel to another terminal 90 miles away when my terminal was slow, and work there. I drove home daily, and they paid my mileage back and forth, plus time worked. Did that for 6 months. My terminal, and the big terminals around mine have been dead as a door nail this past year (2017)..like, just never got busy, guys scraping for hours in August. I have since switched carriers, non-union, Was able to start at full rate, and have a linehaul run that runs 5 nights a week 52 weeks a year regardless of how slow it gets. Much nicer knowing that I know exactly what I will make every week, and that even being low man on the board, I don't have to worry about lack of work.
 
I am looking at several jobs ABF listed for “City Driver” and “City Driver Training”. All of these jobs are in major cities. I can move to any of the cities. Don’t care where I live just want to stay busy with paid overtime.

In the city were the jobs are posted why is ABF losing its city drivers? Would this be to retirement? Is volume of freight picking up?

Currently 142 “Driver” jobs on ABF web site, 14 of them are for “Driver Training”

Is there some BS with hiring drivers just before a contract negotiation?

Hours worked for City Drivers? I am hoping for 50 to 60 hours (need the overtime), am I going to get it in a major city?

Low man seniority, will I be on a list to work or will I be working at least 40?

As a driver with low seniority what can I expect?
Ya got to pay your dues, but, ABF is about the best you can get starting out. The key is get a letter of hire. Have them agree you get the hire letter the very FIRST day you start. Make 0 & I mean 0 accidents, very few mistakes, & most of all keep your talk @ work to the bare minimum. That way the perception of you is based on your work ethic, not the bull ::shit:: conversations. On the 31st day, you can preach all you want. Fed-ex right now is the better LTL outfit to work for. But ABF is my second choice. The medical & pension ( whatever that ends up to be) is still hard to beat. 60.00 a month union dues & 0.0 each week from you check for medical. Good luck. von.
 
You'll start out as casual..meaning no guarantee of hours, or work. Call you if they need you, can send you home after a few hours if not needed anymore. I was at ABF for 2.5 years, and I will say that I have never had a more inconsistent job in my life. Learned quick I needed to keep a second job in my back pocket. I will say that they were good about allowing me to travel to another terminal 90 miles away when my terminal was slow, and work there. I drove home daily, and they paid my mileage back and forth, plus time worked. Did that for 6 months. My terminal, and the big terminals around mine have been dead as a door nail this past year (2017)..like, just never got busy, guys scraping for hours in August. I have since switched carriers, non-union, Was able to start at full rate, and have a linehaul run that runs 5 nights a week 52 weeks a year regardless of how slow it gets. Much nicer knowing that I know exactly what I will make every week, and that even being low man on the board, I don't have to worry about lack of work.
Don't know how it is in your area but here in the city if they put you to work you are guaranteed 8 hours. If they call you in but send you home before you start you get 6.
 
Not as a casual. I was a casual for 8 months when I first started. Not one screw up, always Johnny on the spot, stayed til all was done. Took 8 damn months, during that winter, they laid guys off, and I worked until they got worked back on, I was booted, until they got laid off again, called me back. Buncha BS, 2 plus years of my life I won't get back. I made $23k there last year
 
Not as a casual. I was a casual for 8 months when I first started. Not one screw up, always Johnny on the spot, stayed til all was done. Took 8 damn months, during that winter, they laid guys off, and I worked until they got worked back on, I was booted, until they got laid off again, called me back. Buncha BS, 2 plus years of my life I won't get back. I made $23k there last year


It's unfortunate that ABF upper management is continuing to hold onto outdated work and hiring rules. That's mainly due to local managers wanting to have a docile and timid casual force that they can use and abuse. Little bit of a 1980's power trip........

As far as the UNION is concerned,.....and I speak as someone who was a steward for 16 years,.......you should be hired immediately off the street, and given full-time work......


Plumbers do it,....Electricians do it,.....Warehouses do it,.......Machine shops do it,........Why can't trucking do it? Or, at least,.....Why can't the management at the Union carriers do it?.......The non-Unions do it,.....The Truckload carriers do it..........

The Union contract,.....as negotiated,.....is a holdover from those Bad Ol' Days just after deregulation,......when companies held the upper hand , and dragged out the full-time hiring,....(..in some cases, for years,...)......merely to let the employees know "who was Boss..."

I am old enough to be a "pre-Deregulation driver", in that I was hired in 1975 for a Union carrier after 30 worked days,.....no two-tier wage progression,....no "foolishness" about on-call,......And,....as the ripple of layoffs started because of deregulation,...I was able to jump from one full-time job to another,.....with NO loss of pay,....and very little loss of time. Drivers were kind of a "hot commodity" back then........


When the steel mills and the mines shut down,...and those thousands of laid-off workers said: "Gee, I want to be a Truck Driver...That job looks simple.."......the trucking industry got flooded with a glut of drivers,........scandals with high-priced truck driving "schools",......and the rise of cut-rate, non-Union "employment-at-will", no- contract carriers who would hire anyone with at least two arms, two legs, and a minimum I.Q. of 40..........

This was when the high-wage (Union) carriers who were left negotiated casual/preferred casual/ probationary/new-hire two-tier wage progression language in the contracts to allow local managers to....."screen out",.....what they considered "trouble-makers".....Made a lot of hoops for guys to get hired,....about as close to begging for a job as it gets.......

The contract provides that any carrier who WANTS to put a guy on IMMEDIATELY,.....can do so.......That's the Union position.......

The COMPANY INSISTS on holding onto that outdated "casual/preferred casual/probationary/new-hire" language,.....ostensibly so they can...."control costs".......

In this age of the Affordable Care Act ,......where employers are.....(..Ooops,...were,...).....mandated to give all employees healthcare, regardless of their "status",.....and in light of the critical driver shortage,.....the increasing qualifications for drivers,...especially HAZ-MAT qualified ones,.....the increasing liability crisis in the industry,..........Good, Qualified, drivers are now "worth their weight in gold",...as it were......

But,......Union carrier MANAGEMENT,.....NOT the Union,.........INSISTS on maintaining old, discriminatory, outdated hiring rules,......for no other reason other than some sort of sick, perverted power trip.......

They have yet to realize that,.....here in the 21st Century,.....your Drivers will Make or Break you. WE,...Once again,...have the Upper Hand.

And,.....the carriers that figure that out,.....and start taking care of, and hiring good drivers,.....will be the ones to survive long-term.

The Non-unions boosted pay,...and are creating Single-payer defined- benefit pension plans modelled on the traditional Union plans........Looks like THEY'VE figured out HOW to get the best young drivers.

The ONLY impediment for the Union carriers to compete and gain the BEST drivers out there............is the MANAGEMENT of the Union companies.......(...."Aim Careful for About two Inches Down From The Big Toe,.....and Pull the Trigger!...).....
 
Ya got to pay your dues, but, ABF is about the best you can get starting out. The key is get a letter of hire. Have them agree you get the hire letter the very FIRST day you start. Make 0 & I mean 0 accidents, very few mistakes, & most of all keep your talk @ work to the bare minimum. That way the perception of you is based on your work ethic, not the bull :::shit::: conversations. On the 31st day, you can preach all you want. Fed-ex right now is the better LTL outfit to work for. But ABF is my second choice. The medical & pension ( whatever that ends up to be) is still hard to beat. 60.00 a month union dues & 0.0 each week from you check for medical. Good luck. von.
I don't agree with you statement " ABF is about the best you can get starting out"...Maybe a long time ago, but not now...I am stuck with them for about 2 more years and really don't have a choice..
 
I don't agree with you statement " ABF is about the best you can get starting out"...Maybe a long time ago, but not now...I am stuck with them for about 2 more years and really don't have a choice..

Hah!,......Brother,......change that to : "THEY are stuck with me for 2 more years".........

And, I guarantee you'll have a lot more fun with that mindset.............
 
Well I had what I thought was a good interview and was on my way. It’s been close to 8+ weeks and I have heard nothing. Week 2 received a copy of my DMV report only (from HR) and since then a big nothing.

Was applying for Driver Training position Los Angeles, I have my permit and TSA approval for Hazmat.

Now I am working on Roadmaster for my CDL.

I am a little disappointed I may not be a Teamster, but that’s life sometimes. Not afraid of hard work or earning seniority, but maybe ABF was afraid to hire me. Over 50 with a clean DMV and Hazmat, I should be good for another 10 to 15 years.

Good luck with your contract, there may be hope for me still but I better make other plans too.

ABF should know an unemployed person can’t sit and hold their breath for several months.
Why do companies hold out carrots, just shoot straight with me, a yes or no in a few weeks is reasonable.
 
I don't agree with you statement " ABF is about the best you can get starting out"...Maybe a long time ago, but not now...I am stuck with them for about 2 more years and really don't have a choice..
Just curious, give me some examples of better.
 
Just curious, give me some examples of better.
well, no carrier is perfect by any means..but being a newbie, I would elect OD or Fed Ex..now disect this any way you seem fitting, but that is the route that I would go at this time, especially looking 20 years down the road..will OD/FX be here, you bet. ABF/YRC, if I were a betting man, I would say that neither will be around 10 years (or sooner)
 
well, no carrier is perfect by any means..but being a newbie, I would elect OD or Fed Ex..now disect this any way you seem fitting, but that is the route that I would go at this time, especially looking 20 years down the road..will OD/FX be here, you bet. ABF/YRC, if I were a betting man, I would say that neither will be around 10 years (or sooner)
By design, maybe not Abf but I will bet arcbest will be around.
 
By design, maybe not Abf but I will bet arcbest will be around.

Seeing all the pieces moving into place, I think you are right.

All of the sales staff resigned as ABF employees awhile back to be rehired as Arcbest employees...told "strictly due to being able to sell arcbest products"

Buying Panther who is now regularly seen making the expedited freight pickups in the LA basin that was previously done by ABF for the now defunct UE runs.

Purchasing all of the arcbest reefers....don't expect ABF drivers to be in chicken hauling tractors soon!

Upack revenue taken away from ABF? My google-fu is weak on finding out what revenue Upack generates by itself...since it is divorced from ABF is the tonnage representing what is shipped in transit as terminal to terminal dunnage, or empty? We have at least two drivers that all they do is Upack van loads, several more to supplement with shag runs, and usually 3, but always at least two flatbeds that run cubes non stop.

In the LA basin, the drivers tell me that they see non-stop 53' trailers loaded for distant points for common carriers while linehaul is sitting at home....I was told that dozens of bills are loaded onto a 53' but the bills are migrated into a single bill, so this helps it pass muster...ending most all of the billing clerk positions and centralizing it in ABQ for the region probably greases the skids. I asked my BA about it, he told me "They give us all the numbers"...okayyyyy 10-4 backdoor!

I ran into an ABQ linehauld driver a week ago, first time he worked in 8 days, the day before an LA basin driver told me they had loaded a 53' common carrier load for ABQ.


Region 10 is a bloodbath, multiple terminal manager have been axed in Southern Ca., in PHX the terminal manager walked off the job to XPO/PHX, two weeks later the District Sales manager (2000-2018 RIP) followed him out the door to XPO/PHX. We had a super salesman that previously worked out of PHX, got promoted to terminal manager in Vegas, then onto a high level sales position for region 10....this is a guy everyone thought would be at corporate leadership one day, a very bright individual.....gone, I don't know the details but it is said he is at XPO/PHX also. With that level of knowledge base about our operation going down the street, and their base of contacts...and, with XPO's pricing structure....doesn't bode well for us croakers to put it mildly.

We cannot watch a quarterly video without hearing the lamentations about what great numbers OD has compared to our own, and how the pension problem with all the "orphans" needs to be addressed (which has some merit)

When you go to Google.com and type in ABF Phoenix, you get this picture:
cbk

I remember Roy Slagle telling us how big the check they cut to Google for top billing of Upack on search results...:disillusionment:



No gloating over any of this, it is rather quite sad.....It doesn't take a crystal ball to see what is going on.
 
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Seeing all the pieces moving into place, I think you are right.

All of the sales staff resigned as ABF employees awhile back to be rehired as Arcbest employees...told "strictly due to being able to sell arcbest products"

Buying Panther who is now regularly seen making the expedited freight pickups in the LA basin that was previously done by ABF for the now defunct UE runs.

Purchasing all of the arcbest reefers....don't expect ABF drivers to be in chicken hauling tractors soon!

Upack revenue taken away from ABF? My google-fu is weak on finding out what revenue Upack generates by itself...since it is divorced from ABF is the tonnage representing what is shipped in transit as terminal to terminal dunnage, or empty? We have at least two drivers that all they do is Upack van loads, several more to supplement with shag runs, and usually 3, but always at least two flatbeds that run cubes non stop.

In the LA basin, the drivers tell me that they see non-stop 53' trailers loaded for distant points for common carriers while linehaul is sitting at home....I was told that dozens of bills are loaded onto a 53' but the bills are migrated into a single bill, so this helps it pass muster...ending most all of the billing clerk positions and centralizing it in ABQ for the region probably greases the skids. I asked my BA about it, he told me "They give us all the numbers"...okayyyyy 10-4 backdoor!

I ran into an ABQ linehauld driver a week ago, first time he worked in 8 days, the day before an LA basin driver told me they had loaded a 53' common carrier load for ABQ.


Region 10 is a bloodbath, multiple terminal manager have been axed in Southern Ca., in PHX the terminal manager walked off the job to XPO/PHX, two weeks later the District Sales manager (2000-2018 RIP) followed him out the door to XPO/PHX. We had a super salesman that previously worked out of PHX, got promoted to terminal manager in Vegas, then onto a high level sales position for region 10....this is a guy everyone thought would be at corporate leadership one day, a very bright individual.....gone, I don't know the details but it is said he is at XPO/PHX also. With that level of knowledge base about our operation going down the street, and their base of contacts...and, with XPO's pricing structure....doesn't bode well for us croakers to put it mildly.

We cannot watch a quarterly video without hearing the lamentations about what great numbers OD has compared to our own, and how the pension problem with all the "orphans" needs to be addressed (which has some merit)

When you go to Google.com and type in ABF Phoenix, you get this picture:
cbk

I remember Roy Slagle telling us how big the check they cut to Google for top billing of Upack on search results...:disillusionment:



No gloating over any of this, it is rather quite sad.....It doesn't take a crystal ball to see what is going on.
just googled...we'd not guess this on Wheel of Fortune? Aye Bee Ffuh doesn't spell FedEX
 
Just for point of clarification and to point out the obvious, when the Google mapping vehicle mapped out the terminal, it captured the neighbor from the FEDEX terminal driving by. If I am cutting huge checks to Google monthly, I am demanding a photo re-take.....out to lunch.
 
Just for point of clarification and to point out the obvious, when the Google mapping vehicle mapped out the terminal, it captured the neighbor from the FEDEX terminal driving by. If I am cutting huge checks to Google monthly, I am demanding a photo re-take.....out to lunch.
welll, I guess the FedEx trucks backed into our customer's dock and then took our (former) freight? Can you cover with Google! LOL
 
welll, I guess the FedEx trucks backed into our customer's dock and then took our (former) freight? Can you cover with Google! LOL
Oh... I misunderstood your earlier inferrance with bee fluff/ wheel of fortune, or whatever that was all about.
 
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