Hauling Milk

Whats your 20? Milk is the same but different across the country.

 

We used to run a dairy and I would personally love it. If the pay isn't bad and you're home daily it's worth a try.

 

If the pay was what i do now locally slamming doors, Id definitely be hauling a milk tanker doing farm pick ups. Was with my dad every chance i got during school and all summer long for years. Absolutely loved it. But i grew up on and around farms.

In my current situation, i may live in farm country, but i miss the farming life.

 

Milk is a strange business. A lot of people have to be paid with pennies in the dairy industry.
It is possibly the lowest paid, hardest job youll do. 16 hour days are a norm, 8 hour breaks? 10/4. 6 days a week? Ehh. Maybe five if your lucky but you wont have two consecutive days off. You have to be on time to every pick up, if a farmers tank is full and your 30 minutes past his milking time, he'll be dumping a few gallons down the drain waiting on you.

Up here in PA, milk pays by the dairy. Say your central area is southeastern PA. Its where your route lays. Could be close farms, or you can cross two or three counties. Now the closer the dairy is to your route, the less it'll pay. The farther, the more itll pay, but that means longer days. Route pickup depends on the co op you pick up for. Some pay well, 150 a route, others paid 90 bucks. Some dairies paid 35 bucks others upwards of 100 and anywhere in between to deliver to the dairy, two to five hours at the dairy depending if its appointment or first come first serve. Then they may be full and you have to wait for a silo to be pumped down. Detention is rare in delays.

Trust me, im not trying to scare you. I would do this job in a heartbeat if it paid better. But its nothing like youve experienced before. You will work, you will be tired, you will question why your doing it. But! Many drivers that do this job ive met, wouldnt do anything else if you gave them the world. They were happy with the job.

My dad had a 5 day week one week, 6 days the next. He'd bring home 650-750 a week after taxes.

This is strictly PA i can vouch for. Down in VA, you may operate differently. @OLDSKOOLERnWV i think did farm pick up. Or it was someone with a name close to him. Either way, it wont be easy, it may not be rewarding like you've experienced now with OTR, its truely a different breed of trucking.

Store delivery i know nothing about. @Mike2633 may know someone who has that experience.

 

Ive been reading to many of xheavy's posts. I thinking im replying like him.

 

Store delivery is pretty much like any other local delivery job, go to the stores either bump a dock or bring the stuff in via lift gate at the smaller format stores, you go to schools, hospitals, restaurants, large stores, small stores the whole 9 yards really. All depends, ice cream places, there's lots of places you go when you do store delivery. Some guys have large routes with many small stops. Other guys take a bigger truck and do a few grocery stores far away. Other guys have big one off stops where they deliver the whole truck to a busy grocery store then run back to the dairy and get another trailer.

Some guys start early in the morning and head out far away from the dairy. Dairymen's here in Cleveland has state wide coverage, but they have no drop lot or shuttle operation, you can work for them and have to drive 3 hours to Cinncinati to start your route, do your route and then come back. I've seen there trucks as far out as Toledo, on the turnpike headed back in. @G13Tomcat do you ever see Dairymen's when your out running?