Pitt-Ohio | Did Pitt Ohio Force Up Grades?

MikeJ

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Hi guys,

I read on here or at least I think it was here, that Pitt Ohio wanted all there Class B CDL holders to upgrade to Class A CDL's is this true?

I ask because the one thing I find goofy about this industry is it goes out of its way to ask for Class B CDL holders for certain things.
The reason I ask you guys is because from what I have seen Pitt Ohio has the most straight trucks out of all the LTL companies. Every LTL company has straight trucks, but you guys have more then the most of them, which makes sense especially for the Pittsburgh and Cleveland area.
Heck Pitt Ohio even has sprinters and smaller vans that don't even need a CDL. I just ask, because once in a while I apply for CDL B jobs (I have a CDL A and pull a trailer every day, but there's nothing wrong with doing both), if I think the job is okay, or a change of pace (don't think I can do beer deliveries for ever ha-ha) and eventually have thought about Pitt Ohio the terminal is much much closer to my house then where I work now, but where I work now has some perks, has a lot of faults, but has some perks, but I'm used to lift gates and pushing a two wheeler so doing local straight trucks for Pitt Ohio and pallet jacking and pushing a wheeler is nothing new to me. I drive local right now just wondering about the LTL world a little.

I guess LTL it's got it's pros and cons like anything else ha-ha! Trust me the side loader beer world isn't exactly slow paced either, my routes not all that heavy case wise right now, but it has the potential to be on certain days and they want us to move fast and get done and all that crapola which is no different then you guys the one thing though, being that some of are delivery accounts are COD which kind of blows. Just seeing what's out their for later down the line. Trust me I don't expect one to be any better then the other, or the grass to even be greener on the other side usually it's brown all around. However, if the benefits and pay are com-probable to what I make now which they should be and the terminal is about 30 miles closer to where I live then well, it might be worth looking at later down the road.

Also what's line haul like? I know what it is usually moving the days freight from terminal to terminal or terminal to main sorting facility (break bulk), but what's it like that would be my next thing to do night time line haul? Eventually I would kind of like to get out on the road a little bit and have some time away from the city.
 
Don't work for Pitt but I am in the LTL business. I worked in the soda delivery business with all the heavy lifting, dealing with the cod's for 11 years. I have been in the ltl business for 7 years and the grass is much greener on this side. Work is 100% easier, customer are way better to deal with and the pay is better. Wish I would have left way earlier. The only down fall is starting out it gets slow you may not work.
 
I never really thought about doing freight, but I am seriously considering it, switching in the next 7 months or so, will see. I don't know pushing a wheeler isn't all it's cracked up to be ha-ha :wink:. I don't hate it, but some of it can be a pain and in a way as much as I don't really like working nights, I would rather, just hop in the truck and go from my terminal to either terminal A, B, C or D. I mean right now I run a regular route and am not on the extra board, but my route Thursday has a lot of kegs and old rickety stairs and I'm kind of worried about my back and fighting all those stairs. All the older senior beer drivers where I work have all bid off of any routes with stairs on them.

The other thing, is hauling beer I don't do scales , truck stops or log books or slide tandems. So while I have city truck driving experience I still lack some experience so I was kind of thinking especially after a year or so, doing a 3-6 month tour of duty at one of the truck load carriers just to learn all that stuff and getting that experience and also learn how to do things at the big factories and warehouses. Although truthfully if it's city work just my preference I'd like to be in the straight truck division and then if it's line haul tractor trailer is fine. Although what ever I pull a 14 bay side loader normally which I like because it can maneuver in and out of spots bigger trailers can't and a 14 bay is about as long as a 28' foot trailer so it's not that much of a difference, but I don't know Pitt Ohio, always appealed to me for some reason, I don't know if there good or bad compared to any where else. We've delt with them at my Uncles welding shop and from a customer stand point there defiantly one of the better carriers out there to deal with.

Unfortunately one of the worst carriers we've dealt with was Yellow Freight back in the day. We used to do a little with ABF, and they were alright, but the billing was kind of strange and even a little with R&L carriers, but we had a falling out with them, but usually now it's FedEx Freight 98% of the time, but once in a while we get stuff shipped in via Pitt-Ohio or we ship stuff on Pitt-Ohio and they actually are not bad to deal with from a shippers stand point one of the better ones compared to some. There website is easy to use and is put together well and there not a bad company from a shippers point of view.
 
I sent you a PM but to answer the above question, It's the drivers choice if they want to sign up to be upgraded as needs permit. We have about 10 straight trucks at my terminal and maybe half of those drivers have a class A cdl. Some never drive a TT while others go back and forth as needed.
 
I sent you a PM but to answer the above question, It's the drivers choice if they want to sign up to be upgraded as needs permit. We have about 10 straight trucks at my terminal and maybe half of those drivers have a class A cdl. Some never drive a TT while others go back and forth as needed.

That's kind of how I thought it should work, go back and forth as needs permit.
 
You don't need LTL experience to get on at Pitt. The freight handling and time management skills you've acquired at your current job would be a huge plus if you were to apply for a city job. Pitt has no breakbulk terminal. They have some "Freight Consolidation Terminals" that serve a similar purpose but freight is shipped direct whenever possible.
 
Well being a beer truck driver is no picnic either. Might be a different job, but so far I've worked my way up through the ranks and everything, even have my own route now and all that good stuff. I get all my work done, which is good, so I know about carrying my own weight and I work through problems that I have as much as I can on my own. Which good because I don't like calling the boss for anything ever.
 
Given your experience and work ethic, you would have no problem adapting to ltl. Like in your current job, problem solving skills are essential. You would likely be in contact with dispatch more than you're used to, but that's the nature of business.
 
I'm going to throw in an application at Pitt-Ohio in the next couple of months. See what comes up. Tossing beer kegs and throwing beer cases is alright, but it's nothing I want to do long term. Beer can be challenging at times, lots of stairs, trucks loaded out of sequence, bad product, oh yeah lots of bad product. Stuff breaking can make a mess. Beverage store customers who ask you on Thursday morning when the Colt 45 is going to come off the truck ha-ha! Had that happen this week. Guy from the housing project across the street asks me when I was going to get the Colt 45 16oz off the truck. The funny thing was I had already taken in 18 cases of 16oz and they were staring him straight in the face. The store owner and I had a good laugh about that one.
 
There are currently no driver openings in Cleveland but you may want to subscribe for alerts when a position becomes available. Things get slow after the first of the year but they will still hire if there is a need and they feel they can keep everyone busy.
 
Ive always said food/beverage delivery would be the last driving job I'd ever take. Ive never done it, never want to.

We do some physical work like hand unloads at nursing homes and hotels, but sometimes I will go days without hand unloading anything. That being said, Im a class A driver and cant really speak for what the class B guys do so much...

You are right about one thing, we have an insane amount of straight trucks. I think my terminal has 26, probably more than all the other ltl's in my city combined.
 
Ive always said food/beverage delivery would be the last driving job I'd ever take. Ive never done it, never want to.

We do some physical work like hand unloads at nursing homes and hotels, but sometimes I will go days without hand unloading anything. That being said, Im a class A driver and cant really speak for what the class B guys do so much...

You are right about one thing, we have an insane amount of straight trucks. I think my terminal has 26, probably more than all the other ltl's in my city combined.

I'm a Class A driver right now, the truck I drive, well my old truck is pictured in my Avatar the one with the Coors Light Trailer to the right of the Stella truck. Beer can be troublesome at times, customers not there when there supposed to be, broken product, today Target refused there order and I had to call it in wait for customer service to figure it all out and then proceed on with my day. Kegs bring the full ones in and take the empty ones out. Searching around for empty Kegs can get old after a while and 98% of my stops all the kegs go down stairs.

I have a movie theater that Hemorrhages Blue Moon and they buy the Blue Moon by the 1/6 barrel not the 1/2 barrel for what ever reason today I had (4) 1/6 barrels of Blue Moon to bring in. Blue Moon is a fairly popular draft beer, I don't get a ton of cases of it, but I do get a good amount of Blue Moon Kegs on my truck. In fact my trailer that I pull most of the time is a Blue Moon Trailer. Blue Moon a lot of these places, buy a lot of it because they also use it in there kitchens for cooking with.

The other beer that's popular is Pabst Blue Ribbon, the two Appleebees Restaurants that I go to seem to like to buy Pabst and Blue Moon Draught.
 
Sounds like he can carry his weight. It is very difficult to get any drivers. (Note. Driver shortage). Sometimes we hire people that never work out or they can't pass a drug screen or they lie on the application. Most of the time we have to just take a chance on a guy that doesn't have the experience. Since you have been doing a route style delivery you probably won't have too much difficulty making the change. Its probably harder for a new guy in the first 3 to 6 months and then becomes easier as you begin to see more of the same places. If you think its time for a change and would like to try Pitt Ohio. Keep an eye on the online job openings. Online is the only way to apply withmPitt nowadays. Good Luck!
 
Thanks for that, I want to do line haul work a little, bit get out of the city, I figured I would do the hardest thing first so I decided to apply to all the different food and beverage companies and I got hired on by a beer distributor. I'm in some pretty tight areas and thus far a lot of city driving experience actually that's all I do is city driving. I go to gas stations and convenient stores and bars and then I go in the old neighborhoods and do the bars there, and park in the middle of the street, because that's the only thing to do.


 
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