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Smoke

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We’ve been thinking about investing time and money in the program at Crowder College and hopefully, hiring on at Con-way as a team.
I just moved to sunny AZ from Alaska. I’m a retired firefighter and have a CDL B with tank and air brake endorsements. I’ve driven various apparatus up to a 100 foot ladder truck.
My girlfriend of 3 years went to a Nebraska community college years ago and got her CDL A and would occasionally join her now ex in hauling loads in NE and SD.


I’ve been reading several forums, blogs and have contacted Crowder. I know the industry has been in a slump and there are alot of experienced drivers out there waiting for a job but I want your opinions on how teams are doing.
• Are miles improving?
• Is there a long wait for a truck for new teams?
• How often do you get home?
• What’s the drop/hook percentages?
• Does Con-Way offer health and life insurance? (I read they were reduced) Any other benefits such as 401k (reduced?), stock purchase, paid vacations, etc?
• Anyone know of a team with a home base in Arizona?
• Will Con-Way let me put red lights and sirens on a truck? (just checking to see if your paying attention)

Thanks for your help
 
Try

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AkSmoke said:
We’ve been thinking about investing time and money in the program at Crowder College and hopefully, hiring on at Con-way as a team.
I just moved to sunny AZ from Alaska. I’m a retired firefighter and have a CDL B with tank and air brake endorsements. I’ve driven various apparatus up to a 100 foot ladder truck.
My girlfriend of 3 years went to a Nebraska community college years ago and got her CDL A and would occasionally join her now ex in hauling loads in NE and SD.


I’ve been reading several forums, blogs and have contacted Crowder. I know the industry has been in a slump and there are alot of experienced drivers out there waiting for a job but I want your opinions on how teams are doing.
• Are miles improving?
• Is there a long wait for a truck for new teams?
• How often do you get home?
• What’s the drop/hook percentages?
• Does Con-Way offer health and life insurance? (I read they were reduced) Any other benefits such as 401k (reduced?), stock purchase, paid vacations, etc?
• Anyone know of a team with a home base in Arizona?
• Will Con-Way let me put red lights and sirens on a truck? (just checking to see if your paying attention)

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Try to get a in house dlv job with a local co,sm or lg, you will be happier.Good luck.
 
The good thing about the truck load side of Con Way is your time counts as senority in the entire company. So lets say you decide to move or get tired of the hole over the road life you can go in and bid on line haul or city on the con-way freight side. I have a freind that drives for Con-way truck load with her boyfreind they seem to like it and average 4500 to 6000 miles a week. So it would be a smart move to drive for them. They do offer all the insurance and junk like everyone else. The benifet is once your tired of the cross counrty junk and trust me it gets old quick and you want to settle down. Your already in with a large less than a truckload carrier and you won't start at the bottom with a city run or line haul.
 
[quote author=otrpetercar777 link=topic=67183.msg776420#msg776420 date=1262146006]
The good thing about the truck load side of Con Way is your time counts as senority in the entire company. So lets say you decide to move or get tired of the hole over the road life you can go in and bid on line haul or city on the con-way freight side. I have a freind that drives for Con-way truck load with her boyfreind they seem to like it and average 4500 to 6000 miles a week. So it would be a smart move to drive for them. They do offer all the insurance and junk like everyone else. The benifet is once your tired of the cross counrty junk and trust me it gets old quick and you want to settle down. Your already in with a large less than a truckload carrier and you won't start at the bottom with a city run or line haul.
[/quote]

Not true. You would be on the bottom of the board at Freight at the bottom pay rate for Freight but retain your retirement plan and bennies.. If you think you would would jump a Freight driver with 10 years in since you have 11 at CFI you're dead wrong.
 
Whether the right or wrong approach, jakebrake12 is right on this one. Our "preferential" status with respect to Con-way Freight doesn't amount to much. If a CTL driver and another guy off the street apply for the same job with Freight, the Truckload driver gets first crack at it. Beyond that, the Truckload driver starts at the bottom of the barrel in terms of seniority.

It makes some sense that we shouldn't jump someone who has been paying his dues for a long time on the Freight side of things. I can't argue that. A Con-way Truckload driver wouldn't bring much more to the table than a Crete driver, for example, regardless of experience. My only beef with the setup is that we would also lose our status in terms of vacation pay. We have contributed our share of profits to the bottom line (unlike our Freight brethren, at least lately), so the idea that we can't carry over our seniority with the overall company seems bizarre.

It's just one of those things. Plenty of Freight terminals have lots of extra room along the edge of the yard. But can we drop a trailer there and park to get some sleep? Sometimes, but not usually. Can we stop in to top off the fuel tanks (saving the company money in the process) or wash the truck? More often than not, no. It's the world of the bastard stepchild. We lost our 401(k) matching funds because the Freight side was losing money but we don't really share in any of the upside. The best way to look at it, in my opinion, is that Con-way is still a separate company bit they provide us with a lot of freight. Works for me.

The opposite also is true. If a Freight driver gets tired of the long hours and decides to hit the road, he'll get preferential hiring treatment but nothing more.
 
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