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Any milk truck drivers?

C

Chris English

Member

I'm wondering if hauling milk would be a good post retirement job? I hold a class A license but have never had a oportunity to actually drive a semi besides the training time during driver school.
I do know about driving baffleless tankers being a unique situation. I currently live in the northeast but the job is in the southwest. I'm thinking about asking the local milk hauler if I could tag along to get some experience.
Any opinions ? Chris
 
chris if it's hauling out in the country and just into a small town, no problem. but if you have to drive a semi in a major city every day it gets ugly quick. I have held a class 1 (your cdl) for 50 years now. I have been involved in 3 accidents chris over the years, all 3 in the city, 1 drunk lost control on black ice beside me and wound up jammed face first between the lowboy and the rear tractor tires(police thanked me for apprehending him) :lol: 2 where on their cell phones,, drove through red lites and into the side of my truck. I love driving out on the open road chris, but I get tense as hell going through the city. people just don't understand you can't stop that much weight on a dime. but saying all that if you want to give a try go for it! if it's on your bucket list do it !!
 
Milk truck driving around here does not pay real well. If your doing farm pickups many are on a commission basis. Since they are an AG related job they rarely pay over time. I know 2-3 of them and the ones driving non semis are getting $100 a day flat pay. They work about 7 hours each day and have to work 7 days each week. Not a great job.
 

I substituted for 2 different milk truck owners as a supplemental income when I was farming. Picked up milk at the farm and delivered to the processing plant. It was a 12 hour per day job that could easily turn into 14 hours plus. Never mind the weather, that milk had to be picked up. Never mind Saturday or Sunday, or Christmas because the cows never take a day off.
 

I think that tagging along to see what it is like is a good idea. Most dairy farmers are good guys but there are some that won't lift a finger to help you out with getting the back of your truck to the milk house.
 
I hauled for a few years,but it's nothing like it used to be. Haulers around here just hire drivers to take the loads to the plant and wait for hours to unload now days.
 
Another thing to consider is your driving skills in tight narrow lanes and farm building sites and tight gravel road intersections pulling a top heavy trailer. A tanker tips over real easy if you drop the trailer duals in the ditch going into a lane. Just saying. I would think dairies that utilize semis will have wide lanes and plenty of space for maneuvering so you are probably OK. My son has been involved with the feed delivery business using semis for a while now and so far two of his drivers have laid a truck over in tight spots they weren't accustomed to. One of the drivers was an experienced OTR driver but he wasn't accustomed to tight narrow sometimes muddy gravel road driving.
 
Have been hauling milk for 6 years now. 60 years old. Had to climb back in a truck when I lost a bunch of work building pallets. Go ride with someone. As many someone's as you can. Find out fist hand what's out there. Lots of shady owners with junk equipment that run there drivers ragged. Good owners also. Where I'm at, we can work what we want. One guy doe's 7 days, another just one day a week. I do 2 on and 2 off. Partner doe's the other 2. 12 14 hour days average about 18 an hour at the end of the week. If you don't pick up, just run to town? Depends on where town is. 2 hours away or 2 days away. It can be a good retirement job if you find the right run.
 
(quoted from post at 13:57:00 02/25/18) Here in Ontario , it is a good gig .Drivers get clothes , benefits , and pension . Pays around 50 Grand year.
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You guys have a completely different economy. Yours is better.
 
I was thinking of doing it on the weekends this summer possibly if I have time. I haul chloride tanker at work, usually around 3,000,000 gallons over the summer, haul logs for a buddy, and haul equipment for a buddy throughout MI in the summer, then down south in the fall. I have a couple other buddies that own trucking companies that asked if I wanted to drive. One was milk loads out of MI through the UP to somewhere in WI, maybe Madison? Or the other trip he had was from central MI to Indianapolis. My other buddy hauls night runs of milk from central MI to Canton OH, or day runs of apple juice to breweries and processors. I think I'd rather haul apple juice.
 
Just a guess. Your buddy run for c&j? or maybe grombier? I spent 2 years running to superior dairy in canton. Don't miss that a bit. Haven't left mi since I hooked on the 8 axle.
 
No, he has 3 or 4 of his own trucks, he's a Grubaugh. My other buddy has around 40 trucks, Bissel. He hauls tack for me each summer. I see Grombier's trucks around frequently, he has some real nice trucks! The C&J trucks, are they the bark haulers?
 
(quoted from post at 12:39:56 02/25/18) Another thing to consider is your driving skills in tight narrow lanes and farm building sites and tight gravel road intersections pulling a top heavy trailer. A tanker tips over real easy if you drop the trailer duals in the ditch going into a lane. Just saying. I would think dairies that utilize semis will have wide lanes and plenty of space for maneuvering so you are probably OK. My son has been involved with the feed delivery business using semis for a while now and so far two of his drivers have laid a truck over in tight spots they weren't accustomed to. One of the drivers was an experienced OTR driver but he wasn't accustomed to tight narrow sometimes muddy gravel road driving.
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Exactly! Those tankers do not have baffles in them. A 3,600 gallon tank, 1/2 to 3/4 full, WILL take you for a ride when the milk begins sloshing, and it WILL slosh.
 
Ya, c&j bark haulers. They have a few trucks hooked to tankers running out of state for DFA. Run into one couple weeks ago at the fuel stop in perry. He was coming back from canton.
 
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