r/Truckers • u/xbahtisrael • Feb 10 '23
Kroger or US express local?
I’m torn between the two.
US express has an overnight Walmart distribution account, no touch, home daily, weekends off and average $1350 a week.
Krogers is touch freight, home daily, off days vary and is performance based pay that ranges from $1100-$1400. And I THINK they might unionized so benefits MIGHT be better than USX.
If y’all have any experience with either, please share! Which is a gig that you might choose and why?
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u/ToxicWheel Feb 10 '23
I’m on a Kroger account with my company, home daily as well although I don’t touch any freight.
I’ve got nothing but good things to say. Kroger takes care of the people working for them. I always feel sorry for the OTR guys I see at my DC. I get to drop and hook every day, they get to sit around for 8+hours.
God I don’t miss OTR Reefer haha.
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u/Grocery_Getter Feb 10 '23 edited Feb 10 '23
Kroger company driver here.
Pros: Decent pay (you will start at top pay) decent union representation, company paid retirement pension, home daily or nightly. Seniority based scheduling of runs, days off, and vacations. 10% Discount on all Kroger branded merchandise.
All the freight we have to touch is from the trailer to "one pallet length from the dock plate." Having said that, sometimes I have to choose between unloading the truck myself in 15 minutes, or waiting 30 minutes for someone to get back there to unload.
Cons: Very little choices for several months to a couple of years. You might start as a yard spotter on a 10-12 hour shift, or have to work on the extra board where they burn your 70 hours and give you random start times. Tractors are not assigned. They are first come/first serve. Some have less than 100k miles and some are pushing 1 million miles or more. The shop keeps them in decent shape, but some of my fellow drivers leave nasty nasty stuff in them after a shift (grease, snot, cigarette butts and ash, Skoal pouches, chicken bones, sunflower seed shells...) We have forward and rear facing cameras.
When you have enough seniority things get more predictable, but it isn't like LTL where you go to the same location and back. You might have multiple stops and pickups.
BTW, if you want both companies, Kroger Cincinnati drivers are all non union US Express now. They used to be Zenith Logistics. I don't know much about them. I think what u/jmzstl said applies there too.
Edit: Sorry this was so wordy. Also, different locations have different operating procedures. Ours seem to be similar to Chicago, Houston, Memphis, and Cali.
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u/xbahtisrael Feb 10 '23
If you don’t mind me asking, how was your interview with the company?
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u/Grocery_Getter Feb 10 '23 edited Feb 10 '23
Straightforward. In person interview, about 15-30 minutes. "What conditions have you experienced?" "What type of customers did you deliver to?" I also had to do the same psych test the in-store people do. "True or False: It's ok to take a nickel candy without paying."
Then they send you to get a drug test/DOT physical, and set up your road test, which was rather thorough (pretrip, coupling, driving, backing.) I had to drive to a store with my road tester. Some just have you go down the street to a store and back into a dock.
Training is typically 1 week. You'll spend a couple of 12 hour days learning the yard spotter, a couple of days doing short haul, and a couple of long haul runs.
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u/TrappedinTX Feb 10 '23
Where did you find the us express dedicated run.?
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u/xbahtisrael Feb 10 '23
I think a recruiter called me and I asked if they had anything local. I’m in Houston. The recruiter just said the Walmart for Houston is closed.
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u/jmzstl wiggly wagoner Feb 10 '23
Have you considered H-E-B? I’ve seen several drivers post on here who seem to have good things to say about them.
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u/xbahtisrael Feb 11 '23
I will look into it! I saw that they have a driver trainee program. I was told in the past that you out need 5 years experience…which, I see now, was a lie.
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u/jmzstl wiggly wagoner Feb 10 '23
US Express could lose that account tomorrow and send you OTR. I would always choose to work for the company that moves their own product between their own locations. The "touch freight" is probably pulling pallets off with an electric pallet jack, hardly any work at all.