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MikeJ

MikeJ

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So today I had my final interview at the beer company and they said they would give me a shot.
The beer company has all kinds of equipment from side loaders, to pup trailers to road trucks.

There fleet is a mixture of manuals and automatics. I think the road trucks are manuals and the newer city trucks that pull the pup trailers or side loaders are automatics which would make sense.

What they have me doing is starting off slow, with another person and gaining experience that way and then eventually working my way up to being on my own. No weigh scales, no log books, off on weekends and major holidays.

This company has it's own shuttle so if I wanted in time I could eventually be a shuttle driver and drive the road trucks to drop lots or to other company warehouses or stay as a route driver, they said there route drivers do just fine and some make around $60,000 a year. I'll stay there as long as I can, and get the most out of it as I can.

I did ask because I was curious and this particular company does not own any B trucks. I think they had a handful at one point, but they got older and they aged out of the fleet.

Any how this sounds like a fine place to work, so I took my drug test and the HR man said call us in a couple days and will get a start date figured out.

I have a new pair of steel toe boots ready to go, so I'll break those in when it's time to start. It takes the drug testing lab 2-3 business days to get it all sorted out anyhow, how probably Monday or Tuesday I'll call HR and will get a start date going.

I don't mind the hard work or anything else a little apprehensive about driving mainly because road experience in school I though could have been better, I scored an 81 in road when I was in school and a 90 in yard. I don't know though it's tit or tat because my road test for the actual CDL test was just fine and that was a bigger trailer combination then what beer trucks pull so it's 6 of 1 half a dozen of the other.

However I hope that in time, I can do it all for them so if they need to send me to Quicken Loans Arena or Ceder Point I can go and make it happen there no problem. Or if they need me to take a road truck down to the warehouse in Columbus instead of running a side loader that would be fine too. The beer company is like a cousin to the food companies. There are differences like your route in a beer truck does not involve as much driving the stops are a lot more dense. You might have 4 stops on the same block.

I told the man, I'll show up to work on time, do the best I can and just work really hard.

The man said "Well I have no problem hiring you, I like your work ethic I like what you have to say."

So pretty soon I'll get it all going and will see what happens.
 
No weigh scales, no log books
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Go over 12 hours or 100 air miles(~112 road miles) and you will have to use a logbook unless they have E-logs in trucks. If a scale is open, you still have to enter it.
 
double r said:
Go over 12 hours or 100 air miles(~112 road miles) and you will have to use a logbook unless they have E-logs in trucks. If a scale is open, you still have to enter it.[/COLOR]
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Yes if a scale is open we do have to enter, most of the time, it should not be a problem with scales because the side loader trailers are hard to over load not saying you couldn't over load a side loader, but usually its not an everyday thing, same with operating within 100 miles of the terminal. I think some of the road trucks do have to keep logs because if I have to take a road truck from Cleveland to Columbus then that's a run that would need a log book.

This company has drop lots all over the place, to keep people from having to use log books and having to drive to the main warehouse/headquarters.

I asked them what the average case count is and they said a typical day is 8-10 hours they said now and then everyone has a 15 hour day, but that's only a couple times a year, usually 1,000 cases or less. They said it would be very hard to fit 1500 cases onto a side load trailer, carrying beer. The man said I would have to handle Kegs, but Kegs are not the main thing.

I asked them flat out if they run heavy and the man said "We try not to, not saying we never have, but we try not to all the computer software, knows what everything weighs."

So will see now what happens I'll get into some kind of routine and then after a couple months of this, and feeling more comfortable at it, I'll be able to go get a weekend job at one of the limousine companies around here. Really all in all this seems like a pretty good way to start at least for me.
 
MikeJ said:
Yes if a scale is open we do have to enter, most of the time, it should not be a problem with scales because the side loader trailers are hard to over load not saying you couldn't over load a side loader, but usually its not an everyday thing, same with operating within 100 miles of the terminal. I think some of the road trucks do have to keep logs because if I have to take a road truck from Cleveland to Columbus then that's a run that would need a log book.

This company has drop lots all over the place, to keep people from having to use log books and having to drive to the main warehouse/headquarters.

I asked them what the average case count is and they said a typical day is 8-10 hours they said now and then everyone has a 15 hour day, but that's only a couple times a year, usually 1,000 cases or less. They said it would be very hard to fit 1500 cases onto a side load trailer, carrying beer. The man said I would have to handle Kegs, but Kegs are not the main thing.

I asked them flat out if they run heavy and the man said "We try not to, not saying we never have, but we try not to all the computer software, knows what everything weighs."

So will see now what happens I'll get into some kind of routine and then after a couple months of this, and feeling more comfortable at it, I'll be able to go get a weekend job at one of the limousine companies around here. Really all in all this seems like a pretty good way to start at least for me.
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15 hour day? They do know that the 16 hour rule is no more, right? You are only limited to 14 hours in a day(Can however work ON-DUTY past the 14, just can't DRIVE past 14). And if you start and stop at the same place everyday and run the 100 air miles, you do not have to take the 30 minute break. DOT over looks local drivers on that now. However, companies can still mandate a 30 minute break, per company policy. And weight is not the only thing a scale will pull you around for. If they want to inspect you, they will inspect you. We have no issues with weight, per contract, company pays all fines if our trailers are over weight but the DOT sure does love to inspect our well maintained equipment. One of these days they might find a screw lose and be all excited that they can finally write us up for something, LOL. Twice in six months I was hit by the local DOT, twice I and the truck passed with flying colors :-)
 
double r said:
15 hour day? They do know that the 16 hour rule is no more, right? You are only limited to 14 hours in a day(Can however work ON-DUTY past the 14, just can't DRIVE past 14). And if you start and stop at the same place everyday and run the 100 air miles, you do not have to take the 30 minute break. DOT over looks local drivers on that now. However, companies can still mandate a 30 minute break, per company policy. And weight is not the only thing a scale will pull you around for. If they want to inspect you, they will inspect you. We have no issues with weight, per contract, company pays all fines if our trailers are over weight but the DOT sure does love to inspect our well maintained equipment. One of these days they might find a screw lose and be all excited that they can finally write us up for something, LOL. Twice in six months I was hit by the local DOT, twice I and the truck passed with flying colors :-)
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We were throwing around lose numbers, they said most of the trucks get back to the yard about 12:30-2:00pm. Most guys report in at 4:00am and are done around 2:00pm. This company has an okay fleet of trucks a lot of the local ones are leased from Pensky and they have there own fuel and shop at the main warehouse. Usually Internationals or Freightliners. Only around the 4th of July, New Years and Christmas are they real busy.

The road trucks the company has are okay to nothing super old maybe a tad beat up, but nothing awful. Beer trucks are pretty much no frills, doesn't make them bad, but there the little business class trucks.

There is one company in town here that has a fleet of older circa 1993-1994 Ford L9000 B truck side loaders.

I forgot all about the 30 minute break for the most part the beer trucks run the same routes everyday and it's all very local. Really there isn't a ton of windshield time driving the beer truck you pretty much, work constantly.

Any how it should be interesting and I look forward to it, I don't mind the hard work, I won't have to go to the gym any more and I might even tone up a little bit.
 
I was told that the 16 hr rule was still in effect for drivers that meet the criteria, I called the OK HP and asked the LT in charge of CDL enforcement.

Enlighten me please? We are still doing the 16 hr thing, the OHP man read me the article and paragraph that says we can still do it.
 
grocerythrower said:
I was told that the 16 hr rule was still in effect for drivers that meet the criteria, I called the OK HP and asked the LT in charge of CDL enforcement.

Enlighten me please? We are still doing the 16 hr thing, the OHP man read me the article and paragraph that says we can still do it.
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I'll have to look it up. Heard conflicting reports.
 
Good luck MikeJ and thanks for the story, it makes for interesting reading. It reminds me of the days when I was enthusiastic and motivated-those days have long since passed. I am almost 56 now and have been driving a truck of some sort for about 38 years. When I got my license all I had to do was sign the card stating that I was already driving what were Class '3' vehicles at the time, now they're Class 'A'. I was 18 at the time and prior to that anyone in PA with a license could drive anything that was highway legal. 38 years and God only knows how may miles later makes for a worn out body. Do a little research on that beer work, look at the ages of the drivers, look at any elders who might have been there the longest and look at how they walk, look at how well their arms and shoulders function and look at how they perform their jobs. I believe that side loader beer work is hard on the human body over time. The human body wears out and the parts are not so easily replaced. As I age and ache and limp around in the morning I wish I had learned a little more a lot earlier. If someone tried to tell me it went in one ear and out the other. So, be careful in how you handle that stuff, particularly when it's at or above shoulder height, use safe lifting practices.
 
Are you sure GT? I don't remember but then again I have alot of crap going on.

MikeJ good luck with the job. I started out in pop/beer. I didn't drive for them but I was a route helper. Once I got my cdl it helped me get into foodservice because I 2 wheeler experience.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
So I got a call from the HR department today at the beer company, and my drug test came back all clean and they asked me when I could start and I told them Monday, so coming this Monday I am going to be a full time employee of a company again. 6:00am start time, I have to go through orientation and everything. Gosh I haven't gone through being the new guy in a while, but here we go again! It's like being a kid again and getting ready to go to the first day of school again, but you know at like a new school like the first day of high school or college, more like the first day of college, new place, new people, totally unfamiliar territory, but you know what after the first day or two it feels just like home and you ease into it pretty quickly.
 
Yea, school, job and marriage all have that in common. Anticipation, can't sit still waiting for it, first day :wee: and then the rest of your life. :crybaby:
 
MikeJ said:
So I got a call from the HR department today at the beer company, and my drug test came back all clean and they asked me when I could start and I told them Monday, so coming this Monday I am going to be a full time employee of a company again. 6:00am start time, I have to go through orientation and everything. Gosh I haven't gone through being the new guy in a while, but here we go again! It's like being a kid again and getting ready to go to the first day of school again, but you know at like a new school like the first day of high school or college, more like the first day of college, new place, new people, totally unfamiliar territory, but you know what after the first day or two it feels just like home and you ease into it pretty quickly.
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Great Mike!!!!

Are you sure you passed the crack cocaine....uh...I mean drug test, you are from Cleveland after all..LOL!!!!

Congratulations Brother Mike!!!!!!!
 
grocerythrower said:
Great Mike!!!!

Are you sure you passed the crack cocaine....uh...I mean drug test, you are from Cleveland after all..LOL!!!!

Congratulations Brother Mike!!!!!!!
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Being on Crack Cocaine is a requirement for getting a job in Cleveland. Or is that the requirement for being a Brown's fan? Get those confused, LOL.
 
double r said:
Being on Crack Cocaine is a requirement for getting a job in Cleveland. Or is that the requirement for being a Brown's fan? Get those confused, LOL.
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:LMAO: To be a Browns fan and support truck stop Jimmy and the rest of his clowns you have to be high on Crack Cocaine.
Today I drove by First Energy Stadium formerly Cleveland Browns Stadium and I just shook my head.
 
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