The Life Of A Local Beverage Delivery Driver

"That moment when you realize that you work for a soda company and NOT a trucking company..."

Been delivering soda in southwest Colorado for a little over two months now. Apparently when I make it to three months, I'll be the first driver to reach that milestone since 2011. It only took me about four weeks to understand why they didn't put the name of the company in the advertisement that appeared in the local paper.

My route is kind of a satellite operation, as our home office is in Arizona. I get a loaded trailer twice a week from an OTR team. I get to take my truck home with me.

"Pay is $16 an hour, and the route is Tuesday through Saturday..."

I was coming off home-time with Central Ref, when I got the call. The hiring manager didn't even finish his sentence before I had calculated the over-time potential and realized I would be getting Sunday and Monday off. Football had just wrapped up its second week. I wouldn't be watching/listening to week 3 from the road!

I've been through three trucks. Two rentals and one company. When I first started me and my trainer(s) were in a rental truck. One that didn't have a working heater. Thankfully it was September! Then I got the actual company truck. An INTL piece-o-crap. I unloaded so much trash out of the thing (from the previous driver I presumed).

A week after I got the company truck back I went through the permits and credentials. No IFTA, no insurance card... there was a registration card though--for a different truck! Took FOUR days and me threatening to not drive to several deliveries (because of a scale-house) to get that sorted out.

My route is easy enough. 60-65 stops per week, split up over five days, and spread throughout ten towns here in southwest Colorado. Two other drivers in the company have told me this is the hardest route. And while I disagree, I will definitely let them continue to think that!

I'm told its slow in the winter, but I'm still averaging 60 hours a week. Apparently soda fly's off the shelves in the summer-time. We shall see in a few short months. I see the beer truck guys, usually in pairs, working their ##### off. They certainly work a lot harder than us soda delivery guys.

The job itself is cake. Almost too cake. Can be kind of boring actually. Roll from corner store to corner store, delivering liquid crack (energy drinks) and America's favorite addiction. 18-25 cases per store, 150-200 bulk for the big chains. Of course we sell water too! Maybe ten cases per 1000 case truck!

Got my electric pallet jack stuck in the mud one time, with 50+ cases on the pallet. Thought I was on more of the gravel part and thought wrong haha. Corner stores, liquor stores, bars, and small grocery stores get the dolly. Easy enough, but glass juice bottles don't like to ride to well.

Neither do 20oz bottles of soda in cases of 24. The company packs them in cardboard (instead of plastic shells) and if your stack them more than three high on a dolly, you'll be chasing bottles of soda down the road. And 2 Liters? Stack those eight piece shells more than six high... well, just don't do that!

It's been a really wild two months actually. Who knew the soda biz could be so... aggressive? And don't even get me started on how some of the corner store employee's check the product in. You'd think we were bringing in ammunition with the level of seriousness they scan my product into the systems.

I have no regrets. I make good money, get paid to pretty much work out, and say hello to the cute college girls on the daily. Plus I get paid to drive to and from work. Not sure how often I'll be in to update this thread, but figured, surely someone out there is thinking about taking a local beverage delivery job--and maybe they would be interested in the story.

Is it all peaches and tea? Not always. It's been #### cold here in Colorado, and just like I did when it's warm-- I still get to hump my deliveries across these c-store parking lots. Rain, shine, snow, or -7 with a dash of WIND! Something to think about.

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