Question:
ok, here is the deal. I am a recent grad, and have pretty much decided on US Xpress. When I talked to the recruiter today, and told her I made up my mind with them, and asked if Midwest regional was available, she said no, because of where I live. I am in a suburb of Cleveland, and found that strange, but whatever. She said they had a dedicated for Dollar Tree that paid .30 a mile, and $100 unload pay each stop. Not exactly the no-touch I was hoping for, but when she said $800-900 a week, that got the wheels turning. Has anyone done DT dedicated before? Where is there distrabution center in the midwest? Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
scotty

Answer:
Call their recruiting hotline and tell them that you're an experienced driver interested in midwest regional and that you live in Cleveland. That will let you know whether or not the run is available.
They've been advertising the Dollar Tree account in the Detroit papers for months. I figure that 600-700 of that 800-900 will be unloading pay. If you've seen the locations of the Dollar Tree stores, you can imagine how much fun you'll have wheeling a big truck in there in the middle of the afternoon.
With companies like U.S. Express (large & impersonal), having an accident (scraping the truck against the building or a parked car, having an old blue haired lady run into you) will probably get you fired and have a "preventable accident" placed on your DAC report, effectively blackballing you from other major companies in the industry.
I think that you could do better.

Answer:
If Werner can take their Peterbilts in there
i'm sure you can take a Volvo in there no problem.

Answer:
Every company has a different view on what is and what is not midwest, especially where Ohio comes into play. I have seen, more than a few times, Ohio to be considered part of the North East region.
As far as Dollar Tree goes. In general retail store loads are a pain in the azz which is the big reason why companies that run these type of loads have trouble getting and keeping drivers on the dedicated accounts.
Answer:
So, you'll be lumping a lot of freight-big deal. How many companies pay the driver $100 to unload a trailer, anyways??
From what I've seen of DT, most of the stuff they sell is plastic, and is probably rather light. You'll be home every weekend, you'll get exercise every day, and you'll learn which truckstops you can count on. Sounds pretty good to me.
Answer:

CDL means Commercial Drivers License! NOT Combination Driver, Lumper!
C'mon people! You are doing this because you wanna drive a truck, NOT be some underpaid stockboy!

Answer:
$900/week to be a stockboy sounds pretty good to me. As a starting driver, and getting home each week-I'd jump on it if I were him. 90% of new jobs are worse.
BTW, go over to the union forum and see how far your "no-touch" goes. This guy's getting paid well for unloading. He's a delivery guy first and a driver second. Dollar General usually only has a couple people staffing a store at a time, so the unloading needs to come from someplace.
Why can't you accept that there are jobs like this out there??? Every guy with a job like this means one less lard-butt OTR driver lumping freight at the reciever. I'd think you would welcome that idea.
Freight doesn't just jump off the back of a trailer, you know...
Answer:

Oh I can accept the fact that there are jobs like this out there. But you and I know that a newbie in this industry isn't gonna make that kind of money from square 1.

That's why dock plates and forklifts were invented.
The company I'm leased to hauls cabinets for 3 large manufacturers. We're required to tailgate them. After having a few close calls with awkward cabinets, I won't haul them any more.
BTW, ever hear the saying, "Work smarter not harder?"

Answer:
I would be willing to bet that the $100 unload pay for this account is per load and not per stop.
As Dollar Tree or Dollar General stores are not that big, nor do they move the freight through the store that fast, there will probably be anywhere from 2 to 8 stops per load.
Now if some company really wanted to give me an 8 stop load and pay me $100 per stop to off load the truck I would say bring it on, but I know too well that no one is going to pay a driver that good to off load frieght.....especially retail freight.
Answer:
Do yourself a favor and seek out a driver unloading at a Dollar General. I've spoken to a few guys who do it, and it is butt busting work.
I'll bump that dock any day. 8 stops for me is 320 bucks, and I touck nothing but the rear doors!

Answer:
After a sleepless night and much thought from the above replies (Thanks Hoss!!) I have decided to go with Werner instead. I start Monday in Springfield, Ohio. They did promise a Midwest regional (that USX didnt have) with home on weekends. I know, I wont hold my breath, but we will see what happens. Weather will be getting bad soon, so I am sure it will be fun! woohoo!!
Hay Hoss, I have been a long time lurker here, but didnt really post till I started this thread. I must say, I really enjoy reading your posts. I just have one quesion... How the he// do you find time to post over 7,000 posts and still drive a truck? I can see you now driving down the road with the laptop right behind the gear shift with your sattelite internet connection, and your three log books sitting under your seat Thanks again for your advice on the C-ombination D-river/L-umper. That pretty much was the deciding factor.
Scotty
aka 1EyedJack

Answer:

In the early days Hoss's posts (the first 6922) were all one word each. It would take him 134 posts to make a reply to anything.
The real truth. Is that he is only a driver as a hobby. His full time job is slacker with a part time occupation as a honey-do.
Answer:

You're welcome.

Well, I think I finally found my 'niche' in this industry. I was compiling some figures today due to a incompetent insurance claims adjuster. While doing this, I found out that I worked only 15 days (from 6/26/04 to 7/25/04) and still made plenty of $$$. Normally I work about 18-25 days a month.
As for having a satellite link for my laptop, I could only wish! I use the hell outta my laptop when I'm on the road, if I have enough 'spare time'.
Logbooks? NOT! I run only 1. I push it to the limit most times.
Like that acronym for CDL huh?

Answer:
I was preparing a response to the Dollar Tree question when I noticed you'd changed your mind. Nevermind, then, that's fine. But I did notice something someone said that was just flat out wrong: First of all, last time I checked, Werner is also one of those "large and impersonal" companies. Secondly, I've been with US Xpress for over a year. They're very much in touch with, and actively involved in meeting their driver's professional and personal needs. USX drivers enjoy a solid support base with several specialized programs, incentives, and networking which help them feel valued and appreciated. I know of no other company that has the driver support infrastructure that USX does.
Also, your comments about accidents are completely unfounded. I've been hit while parked. I've also had ice fly off a trailer and smash a USPS windshield, with nary a word nor a black mark against my record. Another driver on my dedicated kept hitting toll booths. He got several chances.
But then, maybe I'm better than everyone else.
Answer:

You should have checked more closely; I didn’t recommend Werner.

Let’s be accurate, shall we? You like US Express. They’ve met your needs and you enjoy working there. I’d bet that you probably haven’t spent much time exploring the ‘driver support infrastructure’ of most other companies – why would you, if you like it where you are – and therefore, your opinion of U.S. Express is highly biased.

Hardly any company will ding you for being hit while parked (some exceptions apply) and the ice incident could probably go either way. BFD.

“Kept hitting” implies that he did it more than once. Using the past tense in referring to his chances implies that he was terminated.
However, I'll agree that it would have been more accurate had I said:
"With companies like U.S. Express (large & impersonal), having an accident (scraping the truck against the building or a parked car, having an old blue haired lady run into you) DURING YOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD will probably get you fired and have a "preventable accident" placed on your DAC report, effectively blackballing you from other major companies in the industry."
I'll also add that had he asked about the Dollar General account at either Schenider or Werner, I would have offered exactly the same advice.
I’ll stand by my original opinion. Thanks for yours.