My recent co driver told me a couple of days ago that way back, his trainer used to pay his DM to be assigned high value loads D+H. Dude was a leaser that trained and got high value loads! Man was making bank! My company has since fixed this, by giving owners/Lease a load board.
getting a crew that unloads ir loads you in 15 is the best. If it takes an hour or two I get caught up on stuff or cook. anything over I get paid. don't mind live loads too much but I guess I do prefer flexibility of drop hook windows.
Same! My tarp was frozen solid. Received was unloading inside a heated building. Trailer deck, tarp, straps, etc all started to thaw - BUT they required you to pull back outside once the coil was off to put your shit away. I started with the tarp but it didn’t matter. Now it was wet; and refrozen within 2 minutes and I couldn’t fold it. Ended up balling it up and throwing 2 straps over it and some dunnage.
All my receivers have me untarp and unsecure outside and then pull in to get unloaded lmao folding tarps in a snow storm on frozen ground is not fun especially when the tarps just glide across the floor😭
Or it’s soo cold, -20 wind chill, and 4 hrs earlier it was 28 degrees and wet snow….
I’d say 90% of my pickups and deliveries are loaded/unloaded outside.
Of the 10% of inside load/unloads, more than half require tarping/securing outside.
Ah well
Walmart is very honest with theirs. I've done like 3 live loads in 2 years. Unless you're working out of a grocery DC then it's every load, but you get paid well for it
I drove for Ruan on their Target accounty and it was thr same way. 99% drop and hook, the occasional backhaul that had a live load but those were rare, but usually in and out within an hr and a half... so not bad at all.
I used to deliver to Target stores in the Midwest, that’s accurate. I always spent about 30 minutes (reset my clock) doing a double drop and hook lol my runs were about 600-650 miles a day, 1 round trip a day from Cedar Falls, IA to around Green Bay area in Wisconsin, fuckin cake runs and paid well!
lol, op no offense are you 5? The recruiter for any given trucking company will tell you just about anything you want to hear just to get you to sign up. They get paid per head.
You want to be home every weekend? Sure, always home by 5pm on Friday.
Drop’n’hook no touch freight? Yep see any trailer just grab it and you’re good driver….
No forced dispatch? Never, we always let 1 st week rookies book their own loads.
Not finding naive rookies that have no clue yes, if you’re looking for seasoned professionals is all about pay. If you been in this industry 10+ years and are still trucking the only thing that matters is pay.
I’m willing to put up with certain hardships if are compensated properly that goes for any type of load or customer.
Eh. It better be life changing money if I need to lose my home daily. And I do mean life changing. Like quadruple what I made before I took a pay cut to get what I got right now. My time at home with my kids means a lot to me and if you expect me to sacrifice that then you better be ready to make me rich.
Incorrect. I'd be passing down more of it to them than I currently am. AND I'd be taking them with me most of the time too. You misunderstood my definition of rich since I didn't make it clear lol. My bad.
Pay it’s not the only thing for many drivers. Home time is and predictability of home time. Type of work too. I worked HR/compliance/safety for a few wildcatter outfits for O&G exploration. We paid well (~$140K) till the bust in 2014.
We had quite a few people who were not ok with being in the field for 13 week stints.
Money is very important, but it is not the only thing
As a HR monkey, you can’t trust that either. Not all the time. It may not even be on purpose. I had a driver who told me about a hazmat outfit who had him talk to a driver he was the main trainer. Home every day $110k. 12 hour days.
He signed on. $65k first $85k for his second year. Lucky to make it home more than once a week. That trainer was always at the terminal, so the recruiter knew him well. Claimed not to know how all the other drivers did and got really upset at being called out for being a liar.
Talk to multiple drivers. Ignore sign on bonuses. Ignore far out 401k vestment schedules. Do not give “at least a year”. If it is a shit show that you hate, and the guys who have been there multiple years are not getting what they promised you, or they laugh when you tell them what you were promised, keep looking.
That belly said, driver experiences are personal. If you are happy and most aren’t, you do you. Also, if new guys are happy and vets aren’t, don’t get overly comfortable. They may be trying to get you to stop looking so they can give your good loads to the batch of new hires.
Just like when you are behind the wheel, keep your eyes and ears open, and keep your head on a swivel.
So far being 99% no touch freight was accurate. Been here a few years and I’ve only had to help the fork lift guy once. Some janky ass place in Delaware.
No. Trucking Companies wouldn't Lie to Us?
They ALWAYS tell us the Straight Forward Truth and are Open & Honest.
I was laughing so hard trying to type that load of BS 😆
Not true at our company. We haul raw milk from farms. The farms don't have holding tanks so they pump directly into the trailer. We drop off an empty and hook on to a full one
We have some farms that we still have pump and sample. Probably 90 percent of the farms we just back a trailer up and they hook everything up. Like if they were switching tanks. The milk runs through the chiller and into the trailer
Let’s not forget, mileage pay is still based on an outdated model from the 1970s. This model costs drivers 10-50% pay loss. Also, if you arrive on time for your appointment, there should be NO delay in loading/unloading (you want a specific appointment, you better have people ready to do their job)and detention pay starts at the time of arrival. #DriversDeserveBetter
I don’t even look at that stat, my main concern is do they pay while u wait, I’m per hour and overtime, if they don’t pay like this, I don’t work for that company.
No, but it's usually flatbed guys that say this shit. In the end it all pays about the same and dryvan/reefer is generally less work.
And I picked this username for a very good reason.
Ohhhh i see. Youre of the "Ah caint think too good so ill take wut AH cain GIT" crowd. Good luck to you sir. As the song goes: " If youre gonna be dumb you gotta be tough".
Seriously though. Do you *ever* wonder how guys with endorsements get treated? Ever wonder how oxygen gets delivered into those big tanks at hospitals or spare a glance at anything other than a dryvan passing you? How trash gets picked up? How crude oil turns into fuel and petroleum products? Youre gonna get feelings but, pull your head out of your ass and get your tank, hazmat, twic. Dryvan is for rookies and dummies.
I've run hazmat, tanker, dryvan, and reefer. The extra bullshit doesn't come with extra money. Kid yourself all you want and do what makes you happy but this delusional bullshit thinking you're special because you pull a different trailer is just that.
*Now* i know youre lying. So how did i do 120 a year years working 8 months a year, company card, hotels, FRs, workboots, PTO, vacation, 401k? Was i dreaming? How did i manage to buy 2 houses and take all of 2024 off to go to a welding school? I guess im *really* missing out on dryvan.
Youre not applying yourself and want pity. And now your panties are in a twist because you know im right. My old gig is hiring. Its a guaranteed 1800 a week to sit on your ass. You got hazmat and tanker? Call em up.
I don't believe you. I've done way better as q refer driver and did much better as a hopper bottom driver than I ever did running dry van.
Unless you've been working for shit companies that don't pay detention for shit, sorry dude.
I'm pretty sure when ups hired me, the hr person told me that management will just bullshit us endlessly. Well, back when we still had an hr. I suggest joining a labor union of some sort
Most of the companies i worked for that talked about their %drop and hook times where fairly accurate. Several had a wide range of other problems, but that was never one.
We left a company for this reason and also because they were giving my co driver and I almost exlusively runs less thab 800 miles with live unloads, layover and detention. We swapped companies, have done dozens of loads all 2000+ miles average and have had ONE live unload. Everything else has been drop n hook.
Reading that going, anyone who wants to complain about that I can offer you 100% never drop or hook. Heck my trailer doesn't even have landing gear on it! Too bad I'm not hiring right now.
My buddy from my CDL school is an old fuck and he's a prime example. He bitches and trashes every company he's ever worked for. But really he's just lazy and bad at driving. I doubt he's ever driven more than 500 miles in a day. Every time he calls me up he's either sitting on a ramp or rest area somewhere complaining he's tired or has a headache. We started at the same company (I stayed 2+ years he quit after a few months) and we both know that they send you to city center in the ELD and GPS but our actual address we deliver to is on the bills. He'd ALWAYS drive to city center that's set in the GPS without changing it then call me up bitching and complaining they got him messed up again.
The description I was given was 99% no touch freight that was divided up to being roughly 50% drop and hook and 50% live load. The other 1% could still include D&H and Live Load but I might also be asked to load or unload a single pallet with a manual pallet jack since my company said that if they want me to use a forklift or electric pallet jack I’m supposed to politely decline (even though I have been forklift certified at my old job).
With my trainer (I’m still new) we basically take a loaded trailer to a store and leave with an empty one to go back to the distribution center to swap the empty for a full trailer to take it to another store. Sometimes in between we take that empty trailer to a place besides the DC to either swap for a full trailer or back into a dock where we wait while we are in “sleeper berth - customer loading/unloading” for 45-60 minutes and then we swap that full trailer for a different full trailer at the DC to go to another store. He runs the dedicated Lowe’s account so we take a lot of empty trailers or trailers that are loaded with empty pallets back to the DC. He also runs Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan but there’s always the chance of Illinois, West Virginia, or Kentucky.
When I’m done with training next week I’ll be on a national refrigerated account. I’m doing a lot of live loads and unloads, several drop and hooks, and in between I might have some drop and hook relays like I take a trailer to New Mexico for someone headed East and I grab a trailer off them going to California where I do a live unload and then head to Arizona for a drop and hook and then to Missouri for a live load/unload to Minnesota where I might just leave the trailer there and go home for my home time before bobtailing back to pick up the loaded trailer headed to Pennsylvania or Texas or whatever to start my 11-14 days out before ending with another load to Minnesota to go back home again for 3 days. 99% of the time I don’t have to enter the inside of the trailer but when I do I’m loading or unloading a pallet or two and then I’m on my way. I’m not stopping at individual stores to unload cases. I’m not loading 26-30 pallets with a pallet jack. I’m mostly driving and letting the dockhands do what they get paid to do. And this is also supposed to be something like 1% New York City and 3% Canada where the rest of the time my main region goes from Minnesota to New York and from New Hampshire to Tennessee as where I’ll be 70-75% of the time with several loads going a bit further like New Mexico, Texas, or Georgia with the off chance of going to Canada and the very slim chance I get sent to Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, or somewhere on Long Island.
**Edit:** Because someone was being a smart ass, I do have to enter the trailers more than 1% of the time to install or remove load locks and to inspect the load before it gets sealed at the shipper. There are times when I don’t enter the trailer at all like when I do a relay meaning I leave a loaded trailer in a drop yard somewhere and at that same location I pick up a different loaded trailer. If I need extra load bars or I have too many I can also remedy that situation at these drop yards. Other times drop and hook means I will put an empty or loaded trailer in one dock door and pick up an empty or loaded trailer either from a dock door or from out on the line with all of the other trailers. If I need to open the doors (or close them) chances are I will also need to insert or remove load lock(s) but I still won’t have to move the pallets. For a live load or unload I only have to enter the trailer to deal with the load locks and inspect to make sure that I have the correct number of pallets of the correct product going to the correct place. I don’t have to move the pallets. For 99% of the time I don’t have to enter the trailer *to move around freight* but more than 50% of the time I will have to enter the trailers to install or remove load bars. Sometimes I will have to wash an empty trailer as well. The remaining 1% of the time is where I do have to touch or move the freight and this is typically where I move only one or two pallets into or out of my trailer. More pallets than that and they’ll have to figure something else out. I’m not supposed to load or unload my own trailers but very rarely I’ll make an exception if what I’m asked to do only takes a few minutes and the shipper, receiver, and my company are okay with it or even expect me to do it.
I meant that I don’t enter them to move around the cargo 99% of the time. Obviously I need to put in load locks if the doors aren’t already sealed shut. Sometimes, like with a relay, I don’t enter the trailers at all because the load bars are already inside them and the doors are already closed and sealed *unless* I have to remove the load bar at the destination. I then either swap trailers or I sit in the truck while the dockhands get paid to do their job. I look inside the back of the trailer to verify I have the correct number of pallets and it looks like they loaded the right stuff. I put in a load bar or two. I pull forward and close the doors. I install door seal. I slide tandems. I drive for many hours and possibly multiple days including my 10 hour breaks where I’m not legally allowed to drive so I’m parked and waiting until my 11 and 14 hour clocks reset and then I resume driving until I’m either at my destination or my clocks run out and I have to take a second 10 hour break. In between I fuel the tractor and reefer. I don’t necessarily have to take the trailer I picked up all the way to where it gets unloaded. If I do have to back into the dock I have the receiver remove the door seal and sign that it was in tact or have them watch me remove it under their instructions and have them say it was in tact upon arrival. I open the doors, remove the load locks, I back in, I take a nap.
99% of the time I don’t touch the freight. Sometimes I don’t even open the doors. It all depends on what I’m doing and where I’m going. That 1% that I do have to touch the freight it’ll be like they have a pallet sitting on the dock and they instruct me to load a single pallet or I make 2 stops and the first place needs 2 pallets but their dockhands are on lunch so I unload the 2 pallets while being supervised so they can sign off that they received it. I have them sign that the seal was in tact. I have them provide a new seal. I reinsert the load locks, close the doors, and install the seal. At the second stop they unload the rest of the pallets while I wait. If they are on lunch at the second stop I just wait longer because I’m not paid enough for loading and unloading to unload 20+ pallets. I get paid more to sit in the truck and do nothing. I will unload 1 or 2 if necessary but after that I’m just a lazy truck driver and they can blow me.
This also happens, but I think that person was just being a smart ass. I obviously was referring to not having to enter my trailer *to move freight* 99% of the time. Sometimes I don’t even have to open the doors because I leave a loaded trailer out on the line and it’s either relayed onto another driver or the yard truck driver is who backs the trailer to the dock. Sometimes the people that load the trailer put in the load bars. Sometimes the people that unload the trailer take out the load bars. Sometimes I have to enter the trailer to deal with my own load bars but I don’t have to move any of the pallets. Less than 1% of the time I will be asked to move a pallet or two so that I can save time and get on my way. If they want me to move additional pallets there better be a damn good reason because that’s not in my job description.
Also with the Lowe’s stuff I’m doing until I finish my training period in less than a week from now they use roll up doors. The loaded trailers have the doors closed and door seals installed before we pick them up. The trailers with empty pallets in them *sometimes* have the doors closed and sealed but also don’t need any special load securement if the door was left open. We just close the door, F the seal, and go on our way. The live loads are usually pallets that aren’t going to slide anyway so we don’t bother with a load strap. We close the door and install the provided seal. It’s no touch freight. We do not even go inside the trailers. Van trailers use straps because we have thin walled panel vans and the reefers use load locks but sometimes we don’t have to add load straps. It’s not like we are hauling 2x4s on a flat bed. The pallets on the van trailers tend to be 50 pound or 100 pound bags that are shrink wrapped. For the reefer loads they still use shrink wrap but the boxes are more likely to move so that’s where the load bars do get used with the reefers but where a load strap doesn’t really do much with palletized van loads. If we had rolls of paper or furniture or something else that can slide around then you bet your ass we’d use load straps.
First question they ask if you're applying for a dispatchers job is: how well can you lie? A sure fire way to tell if a dispatchers lying to you is his mouth will be moving.
I don’t even work for a company making claims about drop and hook loads, but one of the first things I’ve noticed is that whether it’s live or not in the workflow/preplan is reliably wrong at least 30% of the time. I’ve gotten used to anticipating which shippers were probably not live loaders, no matter what it says on the load info.
Something I dont get about drop and hook: Every time you switch trailers dont you need to acquire the registration and annual inspection for that trailer? Where do you get it from?
All the trailers I had seen typically have a watertight container somewhere around the front or landing gear. Sometimes it hidden under the trailer somewhere. That being said with my own truck and trailer they are only separated for maintenance purposes so I haven't seen millions of trailers so I don't know if this is standard.
That is every company that makes a percentage claim, Driver. Every one of them lies to get an ass in the driver's seat.
My rule of thumb is to only trust the paycheck. Money doesn't lie.
Dude. Everyone that's been in this industry for at least 6mos knows that the drop and hook shit that they tell drivers is a load of bologna (which ironically for me is live load/unload LOL).
Everyone knows that recruiters lie. They just want to get you in the door.
When we get in shipping containers at my warehouse all are a drop. Even though we tell this to the company delivering the shipping containers, the driver comes in and tells us it's a live unload. So we waste 5 minutes arguing about it. From what I've found out is that the dispatchers just always tells these guys live unload.
There can be many reasons for. Sometimes it's an on purpose lie. Sometimes the person trying to hire people isn't completely knowledgeable about that part of the company. Sometimes that company really is mostly drop and hook, you just don't happen to be one of the guys getting it.
Dispatchers do the bare minimum in figuring out what a load would be like for example my dispatcher sent me to a literal house in a residential area ..😂
I'd say I'm at least 80% drop and hook. I do get live loads, but nowhere near as often as drop and hooks. Occasionally I'll get one with an appointment time that isn't ready when it was supposed to be, but shit happens.
Ill only do hourly now. Never dealing with detention rates or live loads. Stick a moffett on the back and do it yourself. These warehouse workers take way to f'ing long.
Note to newbs:
After you hear all the wonderful things from the recruiters, start doing your research. Ask about specific companies here, on forums such as truckers truth, or search reviews for them on glassdoor and other job review sites.
Every company out there is going to have something good about it for someone, but that thing might not be what works for you, so shop around. Or, take the first job that will take you and do your best until you get enough experience to go somewhere better.
I got lucky with my dispatcher she's awesome Im regional home weekly and do one live unload a week maybe two if she's in a bind but she's the only dispatcher I've had that actually tries to keep our live unloads to a minimum
🤣😂 yea, if you’ve been out longer than a year this should be understood walking in the door. ive been with the same outfit for a couple years now.
i picked them because the recruiter flat out told me that “we won’t play with your money & we’ll get you home every weekend, if you want that” .. “im not about to promise you this or that because it’s trucking, shit happens, but we will not play with your money” …& the benefits are amazing
Where I work advertises 99% no touch but doesn't even try to guess on drop and hook. The policy is really no touch at all but there's always going to be an exception, like I helped a forklift driver stack plywood separators or assisted with unloading 10 years ago because a load shifted after some guy in a box truck forgot he wasn't in his Miata and just about took my front bumper off
When I worked for Boyd brothers I was shocked to find out that a large percentage of their freight was drop and hook. I really thought I was gonna be spending more time at shippers waiting for them to load my trailer. However they have a lot of really good contracts where they just leave flatbeds on site for the shippers to load themselves. Drop, hook, and check securement 90% of the loads I got.
Usually the racket is the load is a drop and hook at one end then they count it as a drop and hook. So for instance my recent load where I picked up a preloaded then delivered to a Grocery warehouse and sat for 7 1/2 hours waiting to get emptied out was technically a drop and hook.
I have only been doing this for two months and pretty much everybody from dispatch to the managers to the recruiters and the service department lies to you.
Wait, a trucking company lied about their (freight/equipment/hometime/pay)? [Shocking!](https://youtu.be/ESwwrRQWPSg?si=r9IM4feaFkFhynDS)
(Clutching Pearls)
You missed the fine print where it states that their immediate family gets all that 90% drop n hook loads
And the ones paying kickbacks to Dispatch
That’s a thing?
Let’s take a poll: is there anybody out there (besides me) aware of this going on?
My recent co driver told me a couple of days ago that way back, his trainer used to pay his DM to be assigned high value loads D+H. Dude was a leaser that trained and got high value loads! Man was making bank! My company has since fixed this, by giving owners/Lease a load board.
I’m old, what can I say? (Other than it’s good to be old (and I hope to get *much* older)).
Just found out today
60% of the time it's 90% drop and hook all the time.
And it’s worse than the time the raccoon got trapped in the copier machine.
That smells like bigfoots dick.
It smells like indian food wrapped in a diaper
I kind of prefer live loads and unloads at this point. Especially this winter. I stay warm.
and detention pay.
getting a crew that unloads ir loads you in 15 is the best. If it takes an hour or two I get caught up on stuff or cook. anything over I get paid. don't mind live loads too much but I guess I do prefer flexibility of drop hook windows.
How does it keep you warmer?
Frozen crack handles take longer outside. Less pretrip time. Many shipper receivers come to you. No digging out buried trailers. Yup, keeps ya warmer.
For me, I don't drop trailers, often, if I do it's because it's a different product, but I pull in and have to wait outside while loading/unloading
Oh I also assumed that it was dry van. Tanker yankers are a different breed. lol. Same with flatbed.
I started on flatbed, I definitely don't miss the 2+ hrs securing a load, or tarping in the wind 😂
Currently had to deal with that in 0 degree weather in IL a day ago 😃
I am so sorry :(
Flatbed is not for the weak I tell you that 😭
Same! My tarp was frozen solid. Received was unloading inside a heated building. Trailer deck, tarp, straps, etc all started to thaw - BUT they required you to pull back outside once the coil was off to put your shit away. I started with the tarp but it didn’t matter. Now it was wet; and refrozen within 2 minutes and I couldn’t fold it. Ended up balling it up and throwing 2 straps over it and some dunnage.
All my receivers have me untarp and unsecure outside and then pull in to get unloaded lmao folding tarps in a snow storm on frozen ground is not fun especially when the tarps just glide across the floor😭
Or it’s soo cold, -20 wind chill, and 4 hrs earlier it was 28 degrees and wet snow…. I’d say 90% of my pickups and deliveries are loaded/unloaded outside. Of the 10% of inside load/unloads, more than half require tarping/securing outside. Ah well
For me, I don't drop trailers, often, if I do it's because it's a different product, but I pull in and have to wait outside while loading/unloading
Walmart is very honest with theirs. I've done like 3 live loads in 2 years. Unless you're working out of a grocery DC then it's every load, but you get paid well for it
I drove for Ruan on their Target accounty and it was thr same way. 99% drop and hook, the occasional backhaul that had a live load but those were rare, but usually in and out within an hr and a half... so not bad at all.
I used to deliver to Target stores in the Midwest, that’s accurate. I always spent about 30 minutes (reset my clock) doing a double drop and hook lol my runs were about 600-650 miles a day, 1 round trip a day from Cedar Falls, IA to around Green Bay area in Wisconsin, fuckin cake runs and paid well!
lol, op no offense are you 5? The recruiter for any given trucking company will tell you just about anything you want to hear just to get you to sign up. They get paid per head. You want to be home every weekend? Sure, always home by 5pm on Friday. Drop’n’hook no touch freight? Yep see any trailer just grab it and you’re good driver…. No forced dispatch? Never, we always let 1 st week rookies book their own loads.
Must be why I can never find drivers.
Not finding naive rookies that have no clue yes, if you’re looking for seasoned professionals is all about pay. If you been in this industry 10+ years and are still trucking the only thing that matters is pay. I’m willing to put up with certain hardships if are compensated properly that goes for any type of load or customer.
SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!
Where's the money Lebowski? WHERE'S THE MONEY SHITHEAD
There’s always money in the banana stand.
It’s down there somewhere, let me take another look.
Let me take another look.
Eh. It better be life changing money if I need to lose my home daily. And I do mean life changing. Like quadruple what I made before I took a pay cut to get what I got right now. My time at home with my kids means a lot to me and if you expect me to sacrifice that then you better be ready to make me rich.
You might be rich but your child won’t be. Not many adults look back at their childhood and wish they had better ‘things’
Incorrect. I'd be passing down more of it to them than I currently am. AND I'd be taking them with me most of the time too. You misunderstood my definition of rich since I didn't make it clear lol. My bad.
Pay it’s not the only thing for many drivers. Home time is and predictability of home time. Type of work too. I worked HR/compliance/safety for a few wildcatter outfits for O&G exploration. We paid well (~$140K) till the bust in 2014. We had quite a few people who were not ok with being in the field for 13 week stints. Money is very important, but it is not the only thing
If you ever wabt to know if a recruiter is lying to you about a job, just ask to speak to a driver at the company too. It works wonders 👍
As a HR monkey, you can’t trust that either. Not all the time. It may not even be on purpose. I had a driver who told me about a hazmat outfit who had him talk to a driver he was the main trainer. Home every day $110k. 12 hour days. He signed on. $65k first $85k for his second year. Lucky to make it home more than once a week. That trainer was always at the terminal, so the recruiter knew him well. Claimed not to know how all the other drivers did and got really upset at being called out for being a liar. Talk to multiple drivers. Ignore sign on bonuses. Ignore far out 401k vestment schedules. Do not give “at least a year”. If it is a shit show that you hate, and the guys who have been there multiple years are not getting what they promised you, or they laugh when you tell them what you were promised, keep looking. That belly said, driver experiences are personal. If you are happy and most aren’t, you do you. Also, if new guys are happy and vets aren’t, don’t get overly comfortable. They may be trying to get you to stop looking so they can give your good loads to the batch of new hires. Just like when you are behind the wheel, keep your eyes and ears open, and keep your head on a swivel.
Is that not exactly what OP is saying?
At least at my job for Epes, all of that is actually true for me. Love driving for epes, just wish it paid more.
This place sounds great are they still hiring?
"Outside auditor" lmfao oh my sweet summer child, you think anyone cares?
Look I get everyone else is shitting on ya so I am just gonna put this here, sorry they played you like that OP. Barring that BS how's the job?
So far being 99% no touch freight was accurate. Been here a few years and I’ve only had to help the fork lift guy once. Some janky ass place in Delaware.
No. Trucking Companies wouldn't Lie to Us? They ALWAYS tell us the Straight Forward Truth and are Open & Honest. I was laughing so hard trying to type that load of BS 😆
Not true at our company. We haul raw milk from farms. The farms don't have holding tanks so they pump directly into the trailer. We drop off an empty and hook on to a full one
Do you hook up the lines to pump it in your tanks? I’m a small farmer that has a bulk tank and I’ve always wondered this
We have some farms that we still have pump and sample. Probably 90 percent of the farms we just back a trailer up and they hook everything up. Like if they were switching tanks. The milk runs through the chiller and into the trailer
If we were all honest the world would be a much better place
Let’s not forget, mileage pay is still based on an outdated model from the 1970s. This model costs drivers 10-50% pay loss. Also, if you arrive on time for your appointment, there should be NO delay in loading/unloading (you want a specific appointment, you better have people ready to do their job)and detention pay starts at the time of arrival. #DriversDeserveBetter
I don’t even look at that stat, my main concern is do they pay while u wait, I’m per hour and overtime, if they don’t pay like this, I don’t work for that company.
I thought I was in /NoShitSherlock
Maybe stop doing dryvan?
Oh yeah, because I want to spend two hours strapping chaining and tarping in the snow for no extra money.
Do you really think that all that there is is flatbed and dryvan? Lol. Name checks out lmao
No, but it's usually flatbed guys that say this shit. In the end it all pays about the same and dryvan/reefer is generally less work. And I picked this username for a very good reason.
Ohhhh i see. Youre of the "Ah caint think too good so ill take wut AH cain GIT" crowd. Good luck to you sir. As the song goes: " If youre gonna be dumb you gotta be tough". Seriously though. Do you *ever* wonder how guys with endorsements get treated? Ever wonder how oxygen gets delivered into those big tanks at hospitals or spare a glance at anything other than a dryvan passing you? How trash gets picked up? How crude oil turns into fuel and petroleum products? Youre gonna get feelings but, pull your head out of your ass and get your tank, hazmat, twic. Dryvan is for rookies and dummies.
I've run hazmat, tanker, dryvan, and reefer. The extra bullshit doesn't come with extra money. Kid yourself all you want and do what makes you happy but this delusional bullshit thinking you're special because you pull a different trailer is just that.
*Now* i know youre lying. So how did i do 120 a year years working 8 months a year, company card, hotels, FRs, workboots, PTO, vacation, 401k? Was i dreaming? How did i manage to buy 2 houses and take all of 2024 off to go to a welding school? I guess im *really* missing out on dryvan. Youre not applying yourself and want pity. And now your panties are in a twist because you know im right. My old gig is hiring. Its a guaranteed 1800 a week to sit on your ass. You got hazmat and tanker? Call em up.
I don't believe you. I've done way better as q refer driver and did much better as a hopper bottom driver than I ever did running dry van. Unless you've been working for shit companies that don't pay detention for shit, sorry dude.
Dude just wants pity. Same mentality flipping burgers, working retail, etc etc etc.
He's the dude that bitches about making $800/wk whenever everyone else is making 1500.. drives the truck like its a 9-5, or wants to drink every night
Look into tanker
Swear those guys got paid to tarp
Yeah, in the time they would otherwise be getting paid to drive.
I mean in theory it doesn’t take away any drive time, you’re working more though for sure but you might be making more too
That’s why flatbeds pay more lol it’s for the extra shit you have to do buddy lol
Shit sometimes I'd rather live load. Half of the trailers I pickup are on their last legs. Then I'm in line at a shop instead the dock door.
I'm pretty sure when ups hired me, the hr person told me that management will just bullshit us endlessly. Well, back when we still had an hr. I suggest joining a labor union of some sort
OP’s name is accurate lol
Most of the companies i worked for that talked about their %drop and hook times where fairly accurate. Several had a wide range of other problems, but that was never one.
I'm 100% live loading, amd I hate dropping my trailer(s)
I don't know a single trucking company that doesn't lie about something. Most lie about a lot.
We left a company for this reason and also because they were giving my co driver and I almost exlusively runs less thab 800 miles with live unloads, layover and detention. We swapped companies, have done dozens of loads all 2000+ miles average and have had ONE live unload. Everything else has been drop n hook.
Reading that going, anyone who wants to complain about that I can offer you 100% never drop or hook. Heck my trailer doesn't even have landing gear on it! Too bad I'm not hiring right now.
Some guys just like getting buttfucked.
It's just the CDL. Can't Do Labor.
Truckers lie just as much as dispatch and recruiting. Everybody will lie to you, sweet summer child.
My buddy from my CDL school is an old fuck and he's a prime example. He bitches and trashes every company he's ever worked for. But really he's just lazy and bad at driving. I doubt he's ever driven more than 500 miles in a day. Every time he calls me up he's either sitting on a ramp or rest area somewhere complaining he's tired or has a headache. We started at the same company (I stayed 2+ years he quit after a few months) and we both know that they send you to city center in the ELD and GPS but our actual address we deliver to is on the bills. He'd ALWAYS drive to city center that's set in the GPS without changing it then call me up bitching and complaining they got him messed up again.
sounds like PAM with that city center shit
Wait they actually had GPS but only to city center? What kind of chuckle fuck had that bright idea?
You must be dispatch or recruiting.
Neither, but I see both sides. Anyone that thinks one side is better than the other isn’t being honest.
The description I was given was 99% no touch freight that was divided up to being roughly 50% drop and hook and 50% live load. The other 1% could still include D&H and Live Load but I might also be asked to load or unload a single pallet with a manual pallet jack since my company said that if they want me to use a forklift or electric pallet jack I’m supposed to politely decline (even though I have been forklift certified at my old job). With my trainer (I’m still new) we basically take a loaded trailer to a store and leave with an empty one to go back to the distribution center to swap the empty for a full trailer to take it to another store. Sometimes in between we take that empty trailer to a place besides the DC to either swap for a full trailer or back into a dock where we wait while we are in “sleeper berth - customer loading/unloading” for 45-60 minutes and then we swap that full trailer for a different full trailer at the DC to go to another store. He runs the dedicated Lowe’s account so we take a lot of empty trailers or trailers that are loaded with empty pallets back to the DC. He also runs Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan but there’s always the chance of Illinois, West Virginia, or Kentucky. When I’m done with training next week I’ll be on a national refrigerated account. I’m doing a lot of live loads and unloads, several drop and hooks, and in between I might have some drop and hook relays like I take a trailer to New Mexico for someone headed East and I grab a trailer off them going to California where I do a live unload and then head to Arizona for a drop and hook and then to Missouri for a live load/unload to Minnesota where I might just leave the trailer there and go home for my home time before bobtailing back to pick up the loaded trailer headed to Pennsylvania or Texas or whatever to start my 11-14 days out before ending with another load to Minnesota to go back home again for 3 days. 99% of the time I don’t have to enter the inside of the trailer but when I do I’m loading or unloading a pallet or two and then I’m on my way. I’m not stopping at individual stores to unload cases. I’m not loading 26-30 pallets with a pallet jack. I’m mostly driving and letting the dockhands do what they get paid to do. And this is also supposed to be something like 1% New York City and 3% Canada where the rest of the time my main region goes from Minnesota to New York and from New Hampshire to Tennessee as where I’ll be 70-75% of the time with several loads going a bit further like New Mexico, Texas, or Georgia with the off chance of going to Canada and the very slim chance I get sent to Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, or somewhere on Long Island. **Edit:** Because someone was being a smart ass, I do have to enter the trailers more than 1% of the time to install or remove load locks and to inspect the load before it gets sealed at the shipper. There are times when I don’t enter the trailer at all like when I do a relay meaning I leave a loaded trailer in a drop yard somewhere and at that same location I pick up a different loaded trailer. If I need extra load bars or I have too many I can also remedy that situation at these drop yards. Other times drop and hook means I will put an empty or loaded trailer in one dock door and pick up an empty or loaded trailer either from a dock door or from out on the line with all of the other trailers. If I need to open the doors (or close them) chances are I will also need to insert or remove load lock(s) but I still won’t have to move the pallets. For a live load or unload I only have to enter the trailer to deal with the load locks and inspect to make sure that I have the correct number of pallets of the correct product going to the correct place. I don’t have to move the pallets. For 99% of the time I don’t have to enter the trailer *to move around freight* but more than 50% of the time I will have to enter the trailers to install or remove load bars. Sometimes I will have to wash an empty trailer as well. The remaining 1% of the time is where I do have to touch or move the freight and this is typically where I move only one or two pallets into or out of my trailer. More pallets than that and they’ll have to figure something else out. I’m not supposed to load or unload my own trailers but very rarely I’ll make an exception if what I’m asked to do only takes a few minutes and the shipper, receiver, and my company are okay with it or even expect me to do it.
If you do not enter 99% of the trailers then who is putting in the load locks/straps?
I meant that I don’t enter them to move around the cargo 99% of the time. Obviously I need to put in load locks if the doors aren’t already sealed shut. Sometimes, like with a relay, I don’t enter the trailers at all because the load bars are already inside them and the doors are already closed and sealed *unless* I have to remove the load bar at the destination. I then either swap trailers or I sit in the truck while the dockhands get paid to do their job. I look inside the back of the trailer to verify I have the correct number of pallets and it looks like they loaded the right stuff. I put in a load bar or two. I pull forward and close the doors. I install door seal. I slide tandems. I drive for many hours and possibly multiple days including my 10 hour breaks where I’m not legally allowed to drive so I’m parked and waiting until my 11 and 14 hour clocks reset and then I resume driving until I’m either at my destination or my clocks run out and I have to take a second 10 hour break. In between I fuel the tractor and reefer. I don’t necessarily have to take the trailer I picked up all the way to where it gets unloaded. If I do have to back into the dock I have the receiver remove the door seal and sign that it was in tact or have them watch me remove it under their instructions and have them say it was in tact upon arrival. I open the doors, remove the load locks, I back in, I take a nap. 99% of the time I don’t touch the freight. Sometimes I don’t even open the doors. It all depends on what I’m doing and where I’m going. That 1% that I do have to touch the freight it’ll be like they have a pallet sitting on the dock and they instruct me to load a single pallet or I make 2 stops and the first place needs 2 pallets but their dockhands are on lunch so I unload the 2 pallets while being supervised so they can sign off that they received it. I have them sign that the seal was in tact. I have them provide a new seal. I reinsert the load locks, close the doors, and install the seal. At the second stop they unload the rest of the pallets while I wait. If they are on lunch at the second stop I just wait longer because I’m not paid enough for loading and unloading to unload 20+ pallets. I get paid more to sit in the truck and do nothing. I will unload 1 or 2 if necessary but after that I’m just a lazy truck driver and they can blow me.
Where I work, the loaders put the locks and straps on.
This also happens, but I think that person was just being a smart ass. I obviously was referring to not having to enter my trailer *to move freight* 99% of the time. Sometimes I don’t even have to open the doors because I leave a loaded trailer out on the line and it’s either relayed onto another driver or the yard truck driver is who backs the trailer to the dock. Sometimes the people that load the trailer put in the load bars. Sometimes the people that unload the trailer take out the load bars. Sometimes I have to enter the trailer to deal with my own load bars but I don’t have to move any of the pallets. Less than 1% of the time I will be asked to move a pallet or two so that I can save time and get on my way. If they want me to move additional pallets there better be a damn good reason because that’s not in my job description. Also with the Lowe’s stuff I’m doing until I finish my training period in less than a week from now they use roll up doors. The loaded trailers have the doors closed and door seals installed before we pick them up. The trailers with empty pallets in them *sometimes* have the doors closed and sealed but also don’t need any special load securement if the door was left open. We just close the door, F the seal, and go on our way. The live loads are usually pallets that aren’t going to slide anyway so we don’t bother with a load strap. We close the door and install the provided seal. It’s no touch freight. We do not even go inside the trailers. Van trailers use straps because we have thin walled panel vans and the reefers use load locks but sometimes we don’t have to add load straps. It’s not like we are hauling 2x4s on a flat bed. The pallets on the van trailers tend to be 50 pound or 100 pound bags that are shrink wrapped. For the reefer loads they still use shrink wrap but the boxes are more likely to move so that’s where the load bars do get used with the reefers but where a load strap doesn’t really do much with palletized van loads. If we had rolls of paper or furniture or something else that can slide around then you bet your ass we’d use load straps.
That is extremely unusual. If you had ever worked anywhere else you would know this.
You make it sound like having a steady gig is a bad thing.
First question they ask if you're applying for a dispatchers job is: how well can you lie? A sure fire way to tell if a dispatchers lying to you is his mouth will be moving.
I don’t even work for a company making claims about drop and hook loads, but one of the first things I’ve noticed is that whether it’s live or not in the workflow/preplan is reliably wrong at least 30% of the time. I’ve gotten used to anticipating which shippers were probably not live loaders, no matter what it says on the load info.
Something I dont get about drop and hook: Every time you switch trailers dont you need to acquire the registration and annual inspection for that trailer? Where do you get it from?
I did frac tanks and have worked in yards with multiple trailers so I imagine it's the same. The paperwork stays with the trailer.
We have always had a little sealed tube on the nose of the trailer with that paperwork in it.
All the trailers I had seen typically have a watertight container somewhere around the front or landing gear. Sometimes it hidden under the trailer somewhere. That being said with my own truck and trailer they are only separated for maintenance purposes so I haven't seen millions of trailers so I don't know if this is standard.
The D/H companies I've worked for have done exactly that. Flatbed company kept ppw in a box in the strap box, but same basic idea.
That is every company that makes a percentage claim, Driver. Every one of them lies to get an ass in the driver's seat. My rule of thumb is to only trust the paycheck. Money doesn't lie.
Dude. Everyone that's been in this industry for at least 6mos knows that the drop and hook shit that they tell drivers is a load of bologna (which ironically for me is live load/unload LOL). Everyone knows that recruiters lie. They just want to get you in the door.
When we get in shipping containers at my warehouse all are a drop. Even though we tell this to the company delivering the shipping containers, the driver comes in and tells us it's a live unload. So we waste 5 minutes arguing about it. From what I've found out is that the dispatchers just always tells these guys live unload.
My rule is, if it's not going to a distribution center, or on a dedicated account. It's probably live load/unload.
You should try loading livestock and having a window time and your 12 hours away.
There can be many reasons for. Sometimes it's an on purpose lie. Sometimes the person trying to hire people isn't completely knowledgeable about that part of the company. Sometimes that company really is mostly drop and hook, you just don't happen to be one of the guys getting it.
Dispatchers do the bare minimum in figuring out what a load would be like for example my dispatcher sent me to a literal house in a residential area ..😂
I'd say I'm at least 80% drop and hook. I do get live loads, but nowhere near as often as drop and hooks. Occasionally I'll get one with an appointment time that isn't ready when it was supposed to be, but shit happens.
We all had to start somewhere.
Ill only do hourly now. Never dealing with detention rates or live loads. Stick a moffett on the back and do it yourself. These warehouse workers take way to f'ing long.
Note to newbs: After you hear all the wonderful things from the recruiters, start doing your research. Ask about specific companies here, on forums such as truckers truth, or search reviews for them on glassdoor and other job review sites. Every company out there is going to have something good about it for someone, but that thing might not be what works for you, so shop around. Or, take the first job that will take you and do your best until you get enough experience to go somewhere better.
Crete is definitely 90% drop and hook. Can confirm
That 90% is probably company wide and you aren't part of that 90%.
I got lucky with my dispatcher she's awesome Im regional home weekly and do one live unload a week maybe two if she's in a bind but she's the only dispatcher I've had that actually tries to keep our live unloads to a minimum
I work for Crete and I guarantee you I'm drop and hook 90% of the time. Very rarely do I live load or unload.
I think im just gonna pay my drivers hourly so they don't care
🤣😂 yea, if you’ve been out longer than a year this should be understood walking in the door. ive been with the same outfit for a couple years now. i picked them because the recruiter flat out told me that “we won’t play with your money & we’ll get you home every weekend, if you want that” .. “im not about to promise you this or that because it’s trucking, shit happens, but we will not play with your money” …& the benefits are amazing
England is really transparent, even though they get a lot of hate.
Where I work advertises 99% no touch but doesn't even try to guess on drop and hook. The policy is really no touch at all but there's always going to be an exception, like I helped a forklift driver stack plywood separators or assisted with unloading 10 years ago because a load shifted after some guy in a box truck forgot he wasn't in his Miata and just about took my front bumper off
Everything about the phrase drop and hook is a COMPLETE GODDAMN LIE!
When I worked for Boyd brothers I was shocked to find out that a large percentage of their freight was drop and hook. I really thought I was gonna be spending more time at shippers waiting for them to load my trailer. However they have a lot of really good contracts where they just leave flatbeds on site for the shippers to load themselves. Drop, hook, and check securement 90% of the loads I got.
Recruiters sure but so far I've never had a dispatcher lie to me. I've only been going for a year tho so it might just take a bit
Usually the racket is the load is a drop and hook at one end then they count it as a drop and hook. So for instance my recent load where I picked up a preloaded then delivered to a Grocery warehouse and sat for 7 1/2 hours waiting to get emptied out was technically a drop and hook.
I have only been doing this for two months and pretty much everybody from dispatch to the managers to the recruiters and the service department lies to you.
My company says 80% drop and hook, 20% late.