Hi Pat. It sounds as if Foodliner is a decent company. They look after you.
I came off the mail three years last November when my daughter was diagnosed with LCH, a tumor which eats the bones. Its not a cancer but treated as one as it spreads through the body and if it gets in to the organs is a lot more serious.
I was running a team operation between Dallas and Orlando turning in Mississippi about one hour north of Mobile Alabama each driver running 580 miles per day. There were three drivers working four days per week over six days on a three week schedule, leaving Orlando 6.30am and getting back about 5.00 the next morning. I was never more than 24 hours away which meant I could always get to the house or hospital if needed. Then the contract changed and we were expected to run Orlando-Dallas, either New Jersey back to Dallas then Orlando or Dallas to Los Angeles, then back to Orlando. I couldn’t risk being away that long as we were spending a lot of time at Nemours children’s hospital, and my daughter always comes first.
I was brought up in a farming, engineering and transport family business spending a lot of time on the tools. I landed a job with a company called Pile Boss who rented 360 degree excavators with computerized hydraulic hammers. Mostly Dae Woo’s/Doosans , Caterpillar and a few JCBs as well. The owner had lost interest in the business and decided to sell 22 of the 26 machines off. It was my job to get them all in tip top condition to sell privately and at Ritchie Brothers Auction here in Davenport.
I did such a good job, I did myself out of a job lol, two and a half years down the road. Pile Boss was a subsidiary of Trench Shoring Services which rents Trench boxes to utility contractors to protect the workers from soil collapsing into a trench whilst working in a trench.
I helped out with big jobs at TSS as needed and when a friend of mine who worked for their competitor found out I would be looking for a job, he got me an interview and I was hired immediately, less than one hour after learning I needed to start looking.
Ironically, the company I work for now are in the process of buying out my old employer and seven or eight of their locations.
I will admit its hard work, but its days, Monday to Friday and has a decent health insurance plan, which I seem to be using more often than I would like.
The heat is getting to me, April and we are in the high 80s ffs. Its taking its toll on my tired body, so if the right contract at the Postal Service comes up I’ll be jumping ship.
Lots of changes since you were involved Pat, but a steady easy number, one to retire to.
Paul.