Associated Grocers of Baton Rouge

Since I'm leaving here in a few weeks, I'm going to leave my review of them now.

I love this company. If anyone is thinking of going to work for them, DO IT. I've worked here for the last 4 years and am only leaving because the cost of living in BR is too high and my parents have medical bill expenses that are getting too high. I'm going back to driving over the road for a few years, but I promise you that I will be looking at going back to them if I go back to driving local. I know it's not a great place to deliver to and I've tried to explain to management that they shouldn't kick the common carriers out after they deliver because of the reset rules - but they have that policy set in stone because of the litter, piss bottles, and fecal bags left on the yard when they did allow drivers to reset.

Anyway, driving for AG - here's what you can expect:
1) Work starts between 2 and 4am 99% of mornings. They want you out of town before the Baton Rouge traffic sets in, and we know how much that traffic sucks. The stores will have their employees to unload you via forklift (preferred), dock (rarely), or scissor lift (HATE THESE THINGS).
2) Uniforms paid by the company, and you have to wear them everyday. They will give you the occasional polo and jacket for bonuses, but don't expect it.
3) Automatic transmissions, mix of Freightliners and Macks with a sprinkle of KWhoppers. You'll learn to appreciate the auto's when you get stuck in traffic which will be a very common theme.
4) Union contract, but you aren't forced in. The union (UFCW) negotiates the contract with AG, you are bound to their terms whether you enroll or not. Enrollment fees are $9/week. That buys you representation in grievances and pension if you stay 20 years and retire. Everything is determined by seniority - you will learn to love and hate it.
5) You will NEVER know how long your shift is. There are days where I show up at 3am and leave at 6am, then there are days where I show up at 2:30am and don't leave until 6pm. Louisiana has a 16 hour clock if you can make it back to the yard - and since we go from BR to Houston, South Arkansas, and South Mississippi, you will be expected to stay in a hotel if you can't make it back (company paid). There's a local chain in Baton Rouge that gets afternoon deliveries, and you won't know if you're one of the lucky few that gets to go on those local deliveries in the afternoons until you show up in the wee hours of the morning.
6) I'd say it's about 85% touch freight, but by touch I mean the minimum of using a pallet jack to bring palleted freight to the rear of the trailer for forklift unload. There's not much no-touch, that's generally all taken up by the guys that have been there 20+ years.
7) Everything is an accident. Rip a mudflap off? Accident. Customer backed their car into your truck? Accident. Gravel truck in front of you slung a rock into your windshield? Accident. You have to report it to management, take a drug test, and be summoned for a safety review.
They'll send you to a store surrounded by no truck routes and you'll have to drive into oncoming traffic to avoid low hanging tree branches......but if you dent that trailer? Accident.
8) Cameras. They love the cameras. We did a study through Virginia Tech a few years ago about the cameras and 4 wheelers driving patterns and guess what? The dashcam and the cabcams stayed. Any instance of hard braking or hard turning triggers the camera and if you were touching your phone (cell phone use prohibited in any instance), get ready to say hello to management.
9) Trucks governed at 63 - any time you go overspeed (downhill or downslope of bridges) will trigger the cameras - doesn't matter if you're in Texas on i-10 and the speed limit is 75.
10) Truck are pretty well maintained. Anytime I've had an issue and presented it to the guys at the Ryder shop (on site repairs), it was fixed within a day or two and I was never forced to drive it between the repairs.
11) Some of the stores that we go to SUCK. Trippendahl's Super Foods in Woodville, MS (the dock is behind the store and it is a double blind side back to a scissor lift), Breaux Mart on Magazine St in New Orleans (the dock is behind the store and it is ultra ultra UBER tight), Bet-R in Baton Rouge (Double blind side to a scissor lift) can be quite a pain in the rear to drop a trailer in the early morning hours. Those three are the absolute worst for us, and the rest are pretty awesome. I've even become friends with some of the managers of the stores, so much so that one dude pulled up from laying waste to me in a moshpit during a Trivium concert because he recognized me.
12) The benefits are amazing. I'm a single dude, I paid less than $3/week for medical (post Obama-care/pre-Cadillac Tax), with good vision and dental rates. They also offer life and short term disability. I'm not going to lie to you - the benefits kept me here for the 3rd year. They're that good.
13) The front office worships the drivers. I've never experienced anything like this, but the HR folks especially love the drivers. If you want to be known as a number, then don't work here. Even the CEO knows who I am because of my beard, and I was on first name basis with the previous CEO. And yeah - I have a beard down to my collarbones and management is TOTALLY cool with it. Btw, that's totally going to tip off everyone that works there who I am. You will never work another job and feel more respected. Those people know how much BR traffic sucks.
14) You will have to work the yard. That means working the yard mule, they call it a "swag" which was weird even when I started - but you will be trained to operate a yard mule for an 8 hour shift. All you need to know is that you don't want to drop a trailer (accident), and take your time when backing.
15) Bonuses - If you don't call in sick during a calendar year? Bonus check.
If you don't have ANY at fault accidents in a calendar year? Bonus check
Entire crew goes 90 days without a lost time accident? Company hands out over $1,000 in gift certificates.
Every spring the company has a picnic at Blue Bayou - employees and family get to ride roller coasters and water slides free of charge. They pay for you and your family's food and drinks.
16) GUARANTEED PAYCHECK - This was the big one for me. When you show up for work on time for the 5 days you are scheduled, you are guaranteed a 40 hour paycheck. I'm not going to list what the pay rate is, but its whether they have a run for you or not. Just show up on time and BOOM. Paycheck. Even if you show up for all 5 shifts and you only work 33 hours, they're going to pay you for 40. I loved it.

I think I wrapped it all up. I know it's a local job, but I wanted to get this info out for anyone that would search. I went from the gutter (KLLM) to the VIP (AG). I'm leaving but I will hold them in my interests if I go back to BR. Everyone from CEO to Transportation Clerk have been awesome to me. I certainly will cherish and miss them!

 

No. That's Associated Wholesale in Pearl River.
This in in Baton Rouge, and you are a company employee - not a driver leased to an employer.

 

Nope. None at all. Everything I've stated is true.

I love AG - what sucks is that rent in Baton Rouge is high out of it anal glands. $850/month for a 1 bedroom is entirely too much. I'm leaving on good terms with them, I just want people who are thinking about going to them to know what they will expect.