Pilot,
Thank you for honest advice! I am leaning more and more towards employment with ABF (pending an offer of employment). As you said, the pay and benefits alone exceed anything I would make hauling fuel, not to mention the lack of OT with the fuel job. There is no pension in regards to hauling fuel. Just 401k/profit sharing. The biggest thing the fuel job offers is stability. But as you said, after a few years with seniority on the bid board, ABF will provide that as well. I will admit I go back and forth as to which is the better option for me. Also hauling fuel, you must be next to the trailer when you are dropping fuel, so regardless of the weather, you will be outside for 25-30 mins while you unload. I live in MN, so that can make for some cold nights (would work nights hauling fuel). If I knew more about the future of ABF, it would be a no brainer for me. Then again, nothing is known in life aside from death and taxes... Although on the flip side, if the fuel job offered OT, I would probably be driving a tanker...
Tough decisions that is for sure. I rarely if ever read anything negative about ABF (aside from Stoney), so that plays a huge factor in my decision. I don't like the lay off potential, on call status, but I can always plow snow during the winter months if I need supplemental income. I am at the age where my future is important to me, so am trying to make possibly the last job change I'll make. I can't say I know much about freight delivery, but sure willing to learn! I would prefer to to be a road driver rather than p&d, but I'm guessing so does the rest of the terminal...
Thanks again to you, and everyone else who has provided advice thus far. Just the few who have spoken up on this thread show me a great deal about how ABF is to work for. Now I sit and wait for my approval...