Starting out I want to say how lucky I’m to have been hired on to A Duie Pyle LTL. Night Shuttle driver. I don’t know how long this job will last. Especially considering how lucky I was to have been hired a week after being laid off. Could I be laid off again? Who knows. All I can say is I plan to take full advantage of A. Duie Pyle benefits while I’m here.
Beating out two other drivers for a potential(and now confirmed) 100K-115K trucking job. Home daily and weekends off. Yes, the hours have been confirmed. From trainers and myself. I’ve been averaging 55-57 hours every week. Pay rate $32.10 an hour with OT after 45 hours. Health Insurance is free for HDHP with $30 a week free cash contributed to HSA if you don’t smoke and contribute to wellness program. That’s $1560 a year free cash going into HSA on top of $100K-115K.
There’s another health plan and it’s $37 a week. Super good for people who get sick. As it’s deductible is super low. Great protection for family’s.
In a couple more months I will get a 0.70 cents raise boosting me to $32.85 an hour With OT after 45. We get a cost of living raise every June which is also coming up in 2023.
My gig is a night shuttle driver and I drive up to my destination and back every night to my state. Same route every day. Drive is four hours up and four hours back. With a 1-2 hour wait when you get up to destination. All hourly on the clock pay.
I have not worked the dock yet. Most times getting to my destination I simply sleep in the truck or load is ready.
Add in we get two weeks of paid vacation time after one year. Paid at $32.10 an hour up to 9 hours. One week vacation in the first year. Mind you I have never had two weeks paid vacation before with a trucking company. We also get up to 24 hours of personal paid time off. Paid at $32.10 an hour up to 8 hours.
After two years of employment we get $1000-$1300 bonus every year after if we have no preventable accidents on our record. We also get as of now $13 a week free extra cash on our checks for gas allowance if we commute to work five days a week.
401K matches 12% for every $1 you put in. So max is 12%
Uniforms provided and locks with binders. In the lobby every Week we’re provided free Chick Fill A. This seems to be a consistent weekly expense for the drivers and I won’t lie It’s nice. Some days coming back from a 12 hour day and entering lobby only to see free chick fill A tells me how much this company cares. So I always grab breakfast sandwiches and some sides and fresh tea and I go home.
Drivers here are nice but I’ll tell you also spoiled. I’ve had run-ins with older drivers who are entitled and think because I’m young they can bully me around. Or treat me like the new kid on the block. Even having one driver tell me not to use his truck #325. Very disrespectful on my first day.
Dispatch are good people from what I have seen but will snitch on you to your terminal manager if you don’t report back in after your lunch break. I didn’t check back in after my lunch break and upon returning to my home terminal noticed I had a complaint against me for not checking in.
I was informed by my terminal manager I must check in after my lunch break as terminals don’t want driver sitting around getting paid after their lunch breaks. So we must check in to see if terminal wants us to work the dock or clean the dock. As lunch breaks are not paid. That’s our time.
I’ve since been doing what my terminal manager tells me and I’ve not had one issue since. And I have not been asked to work the dock once yet. Which involves a forklift. And I don’t mind doing that.
That’s it. It’s the most money I’ve ever made and I doubt I’ll do better than 100K+ a year anywhere else. And I can push to 60 hours a week if I want remember I have the ability to work the dock which I don’t when I get back from my run. Or do a city run.
All I can say guys is to have a house at 96K about to be paid off in 2024. All three of my cars paid off cash. Investing 18% between 401K and Roth IRA. Plus $30 into HSA. And being childless. If I’m even with this company for three years all my goals and financial freedom will be realized. It took three years to get here. Trucking has the golden pay but you’ll have to keep holding out for a chance to get it. Stay happy drivers.
