What's new

ODFL | Estes vs Old Dominion

B

BronnWins

TB Lurker
Credits
0
What's going on guys.

First post on these boards... Didn't realize there was an LTL forum.

Anyway I am currently an LTL linehaul driver with Yellow out of New Jersey. Been with them for 3 years 10 months and I was with Swift for 5 months to start my trucking career. I have a clean MVR. Yellow has been great to me...it was a pretty relaxed and low-stress environment so it was an amazing opportunity to learn by experience but I am pretty set on changing companies in the coming months (I figure around late feburary would be good, as I think its easier to learn a new system in warmer weather).

There are several different reasons I am thinking of changing companies.

1. Better pay (obviously). I think last year I grossed just over 80k. I figure I could be doing better.
2. I am a single guy with no kids so I dont really need Union insurance and would be fine with what OD and Estes offers
3. I want to eventually move out of NJ (to probably Vegas, Texas, or Phoenix). This would save me $5k in State income tax and lower my cost of living. If I want to relocate with Yellow I'd lose my seniority/vacation/etc, while with OD or ESTES with their transfer policy I would be able to roll over seniority if I am not mistaken.
4. I don't really mind being an extraboard driver at this stage in my life

There are several guys on Youtube that post alot of content about Estes so I feel like I have a reasonable idea about their system. There isn't alot of content out there about OD though so I had some questions.
1. I am very unclear about how this "On-Call" system works at OD and I wonder whether it would be a positive or a negative thing in my life. How does this system work exactly?
2. Also most of the job descriptions for OD says that most linehaul drivers are home every day. Is this correct?
3. How many miles a week do you think I could get working as an on-call guy on the East Coast?
4. Job listings says 5 days a week. Can you work an optional 6th day?
5. Do you work the dock at OD?
6. What is the 401k match at OD? also, do you get employee discount for MLB tickets? lol
7. Lastly what's the cpm progression?
 
1. On call is for break bulk extra board. If you work at an “end of line” you’ll have a gate time, so you just come in with enough time to hook after pre trip to make it out of the gate a minute before that gate time.

2. We have some wild bag runs, if you’re interested in that you have to be at a terminal that has those. At my terminal and the surrounding ones we are all home daily. (Midwest)

3. Not really familiar with east coast operations. Someone more familiar will chime in. In my experience, in the Midwest on a 5 day week a little week is 2000 miles. Usually around 2600 miles is a good average.

4. You can call your local breakbulk or central dispatch for your region and work if they have anything on either of your days off. They always do, and are happy for the help in my experience. Also, I have had luck with my terminal if they are working to get preset for a dispatch after rest. I usually try to get the 6th day where I can bang out a 34 and not have to run a recap. I’ve ran on recap hours here a couple times due to poor planning on my end and all the people who I thought would care didn’t say a word.

5. Some terminals have combo runs, but in my experience they don’t force dock anywhere and the only place we end up waiting is in Chicago. It does matter what ltl company you work for Chicago sucks.

6. 3% and no. The MLB deal is done now as far as I can tell. If it isn’t I’d like to know why the new trucks don’t have the MLB livery all over them like the old ones.

7, It is different in all the regions, but 2 years would be top pay. Your terminal local to you might be starting at top rate and offering a hire on bonus, or if they are full staffed might make you start at bottom rate and work the whole progression.

I am happy with O.D. and the insurance for single is free for just you and cheap with family. First full year you’ll make over 100k. If you like working a 6th punch you can stretch past that easily. Plenty of ex-Teamsters here. With how good those jobs are, you’ll notice the “benefits“ we do have to pay for (if electing to take) are about equal to monthly union dues. O.D. isn’t helicopter employers in my experience, they pretty much just let you do your thing, if your doing your job they leave you alone.
 
You watching Chris on YouTube? He has some interesting takes about Estes, and ltl in general. I work with 3 Estes alumni at my terminal, and have seen 3 quit to go to Estes, not from my terminal. Lol. They must be pretty similar.
 
Not sure what his name is I only know him as Freighthauler87 haha. There is another guy that did P&D and recently switched to linehaul but haven't watched alot of his stuff mostly cause I am just interested in linehaul right now.

yeah they seem similar, its a pretty close race between OD and Estes for me.
 
BronnWins said:
Not sure what his name is I only know him as Freighthauler87 haha. There is another guy that did P&D and recently switched to linehaul but haven't watched alot of his stuff mostly cause I am just interested in linehaul right now.

yeah they seem similar, its a pretty close race between OD and Estes for me.
Click to expand...
8. Is it true that,Free lawn service for your home, is provided by OD, and their Mastio Award winning driver, Billio LLC?
 
BronnWins said:
Not sure what his name is I only know him as Freighthauler87 haha. There is another guy that did P&D and recently switched to linehaul but haven't watched alot of his stuff mostly cause I am just interested in linehaul right now.

yeah they seem similar, its a pretty close race between OD and Estes for me.
Click to expand...
Yep, that’s Chris. He interviewed with O.D. but ended up staying at Estes I think. Linehaul isn’t my first choice, but I like the money from it. Working nights sucks, but I am trying to pay everything off so I can quit trucking in my mid 50’s.
 
Piano Man said:
Yep, that’s Chris. He interviewed with O.D. but ended up staying at Estes I think. Linehaul isn’t my first choice, but I like the money from it. Working nights sucks, but I am trying to pay everything off so I can quit trucking in my mid 50’s.
Click to expand...
Yea working nights aren't ideal for me. I think there are two types of linehaul guys, those that don't mind the night at all or those that had to adjust to it in some way or another. I fall into the second category in that regard. As far as the actual work, I think I prefer linehaul to P&D though I have never done P&D.

I did see that Chris mentioned that he interviewed for OD. Estes for sure is an attractive option. I think a big factor for me is the 5 days at hotels vs home most nights. I agree with Freighthauler on a lot of stuff especially the part where he says he doesn't mind being away from home at all. In some ways, I actually view the free lodging at hotels as somewhat of a "life-hack". If I went the Estes route I actually have this strategy where I would just live out of hotels during my home time which I've heard some guys in LTL do. My idea is to combine this with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which will net me 10-15% on Hotel spending.

That being said being home daily is very attractive as well. I have been doing a layover in Ohio for the past few years and I don't mind it at all but I think being home daily has a lot of advantages lifestyle wise.
 
Could you imagine being a 20 year man in Florida and always being bottom guy because everyone in the rust belt transferring on top of you when they get a few years away from retirement? Is that how Estes really is? Taking company seniority is one thing, but getting ahead of guys at a different terminal would be frustrating to them I feel.
 
Yeah I've thought about that too and felt the same thing although I think alot of old hands make too big a deal out of seniority.

From what I understand at Yellow if you want to transfer you lose your time at the company (pay rate + vacation) as well as your seniority...which I think is crazy.
 
BronnWins said:
What's going on guys.

First post on these boards... Didn't realize there was an LTL forum.

Anyway I am currently an LTL linehaul driver with Yellow out of New Jersey. Been with them for 3 years 10 months and I was with Swift for 5 months to start my trucking career. I have a clean MVR. Yellow has been great to me...it was a pretty relaxed and low-stress environment so it was an amazing opportunity to learn by experience but I am pretty set on changing companies in the coming months (I figure around late feburary would be good, as I think its easier to learn a new system in warmer weather).

There are several different reasons I am thinking of changing companies.

1. Better pay (obviously). I think last year I grossed just over 80k. I figure I could be doing better.
2. I am a single guy with no kids so I dont really need Union insurance and would be fine with what OD and Estes offers
3. I want to eventually move out of NJ (to probably Vegas, Texas, or Phoenix). This would save me $5k in State income tax and lower my cost of living. If I want to relocate with Yellow I'd lose my seniority/vacation/etc, while with OD or ESTES with their transfer policy I would be able to roll over seniority if I am not mistaken.
4. I don't really mind being an extraboard driver at this stage in my life

There are several guys on Youtube that post alot of content about Estes so I feel like I have a reasonable idea about their system. There isn't alot of content out there about OD though so I had some questions.
1. I am very unclear about how this "On-Call" system works at OD and I wonder whether it would be a positive or a negative thing in my life. How does this system work exactly?
2. Also most of the job descriptions for OD says that most linehaul drivers are home every day. Is this correct?
3. How many miles a week do you think I could get working as an on-call guy on the East Coast?
4. Job listings says 5 days a week. Can you work an optional 6th day?
5. Do you work the dock at OD?
6. What is the 401k match at OD? also, do you get employee discount for MLB tickets? lol
7. Lastly what's the cpm progression?
Click to expand...
Both good jobs, I can only speak for estes, very laid-back,write your own check, stable company, very generous with raises, no one bothers you, like all ltl companies, good and bad,I have no complaints, gonna hit 114,000 this year,and enjoy going to work
 
Skyking68 said:
Both good jobs, I can only speak for estes, very laid-back,write your own check, stable company, very generous with raises, no one bothers you, like all ltl companies, good and bad,I have no complaints, gonna hit 114,000 this year,and enjoy going to work
Click to expand...
That’s what it is all about. O.D. and Estes must be pretty similar. Do your thing and they pay you.
 
Piano Man said:
Could you imagine being a 20 year man in Florida and always being bottom guy because everyone in the rust belt transferring on top of you when they get a few years away from retirement? Is that how Estes really is? Taking company seniority is one thing, but getting ahead of guys at a different terminal would be frustrating to them I feel.
Click to expand...
On a transfer the driver gets seniority restored after 90 days and can't bump people, have to wait for open run or annual bid
 
Ok so, I am still in the process of weighing the pros and cons. I realize they are both good companies but I'm just taking my time with it is all.

A question I had was about the upper limits of your earning potential. From browsing the forums, I see alot of people saying that if you hustle hard at Estes you can make up to 120k maybe a bit more than that. I was wondering if this is also possible at Old Dominion running the extra board...Would it depend on the location? Im interested in NJ,Nevada, and Texas. Would it be more difficult to make 120k+ at Old Dominion than it is at Estes?
 
BronnWins said:
Ok so, I am still in the process of weighing the pros and cons. I realize they are both good companies but I'm just taking my time with it is all.

A question I had was about the upper limits of your earning potential. From browsing the forums, I see alot of people saying that if you hustle hard at Estes you can make up to 120k maybe a bit more than that. I was wondering if this is also possible at Old Dominion running the extra board...Would it depend on the location? Im interested in NJ,Nevada, and Texas. Would it be more difficult to make 120k+ at Old Dominion than it is at Estes?
Click to expand...
There’s no way you wanna make that at OD they may paint you a picture but you’ll have to work 6 1/2 days a week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top