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Narrock wrote:I work 5 12-14 hour shifts, plus 10 hours of commuting each week. Yeah, it's fucked... I'm tired all the time and my joints ache (have to take Glucosamine), but the money is great. Tonight I have a south bay run (Hi Arlos) which has a layover in Santa Cruz.
runamonk wrote:Narrock wrote:I work 5 12-14 hour shifts, plus 10 hours of commuting each week. Yeah, it's fucked... I'm tired all the time and my joints ache (have to take Glucosamine), but the money is great. Tonight I have a south bay run (Hi Arlos) which has a layover in Santa Cruz.
Exercise.
Narrock wrote:runamonk wrote:Narrock wrote:I work 5 12-14 hour shifts, plus 10 hours of commuting each week. Yeah, it's fucked... I'm tired all the time and my joints ache (have to take Glucosamine), but the money is great. Tonight I have a south bay run (Hi Arlos) which has a layover in Santa Cruz.
Exercise.
L O L. Driving the truck is the smallest part of my job. 80% of it is very physical, utilizing both cardio and strength. I already lost over 20 pounds since starting this job in August.
Here's my typical route routine:
I get to the distibution center, check in with dispatch and pick up my route bag. I go to the driver's prep room and make sure I have the keys to all the stores on my route. I check the route maps, read all the notes on the manifest, fill out some preliminary paperwork, and organize my stops.
Then I go out to the yard and find my assigned tractor and trailer. I hook up up to my assigned trailer (lock the fifth wheel to the trailer king pin, hook up the glad hands and electric line, log onto the Cadec computer in the cab, perform the pre-trip inspection, throw my hand-truck and curb plate onto the trailer) and then take off to my first stop.
When I get to my first stop (let's say it's a Burger King) then I line up my side trailer door to the rear delivery door of the BK. I unlock the store, disarm the alarm, set up the freezer and refrigerator for delivery, then go out to the trailer and pull out the 150-pound load ramp and hook it up to the side door of the trailer. Then I turn the lights on for the inside of the trailer (all routes start at night).
Then I pin up the invoice to the clipboard inside the trailer by the door. I'll start with the frozen foods first (whopper and chicken patties, fries, etc.) and start loading my hand truck. Then I check off what I have on my hand truck on the invoice, and run it into the store. When I'm all done with frozen, I close up the bulkhead, and start with the refrigerated section (tomatoes, eggs, orange juice, milk, etc.) Same thing, load up the hand truck, and check the product off on the invoice. Run the refrigerated product in. Next is "dry goods" (napkins, ketchup, pickles, cups, soft drink syrups, etc.)
When I'm all done, I drop the paperwork on the manager's desk, set the alarm, lock up the store, and load the ramp back onto the truck. Then it's off to the next stop. Wash, rinse, repeat. The stores on the routes are typically set up within 5-10 minutes of each other. Each stop takes about an hour (some longer, some shorter), and there are about 9-12 stops per route. You have to hustle, or you'll run out of driving hours. The company takes this very seriously. Drivers sometimes run out of hours (Federal law allows 14 hours per day), so dispatch has to send somebody out (with a Class A license) with a company car to swap vehicles out with the truck driver.
So, anyway, that's what I do all night long. The cardio portion comes in when you're running the product in to the store, and then running back to the trailer (watch some of the UPS drivers to see what I mean). The strength-building comes from loading of the heavy product like fries, pickle buckets and shortening for Burger King, boxes of whole fryer chickens for Boston Market, steaks for Applebee's, etc.
Trust me when I tell you that you feel like a rented mule towards the end of the route. What makes it all worth it is getting that $2000-2200 check (net) every 2 weeks. Some drivers makes $2200-2400 per week. It's all about how hard and how fast you want to work.
Tikker wrote:so, when you move up in the company Mindia, instead of running shit in by hand, they'll let you use a forklift?
ps, i work 37.78 hours a week officially, with every 2nd friday as a paid day off
runamonk wrote:Just remember to stop and have some fun Mind, don't just work all the time. Before you know it you're life will have blasted by and you won't be a part of it.
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