I’m going to pick up right where I left off. As I drove out of the Overnite parking lot, I headed straight to the Conway Central Express terminal and spoke with their Driver Supervisor, Harley Huffman. I was hired that day and started the very next day on the 1 p.m. dock shift.
At Conway, new hires are required to work what they call the Flex Board. It’s called that because you can be used on any shift the company needs, as long as you get your 10-hour rest between shifts. For the first two years, until I got a regular bid, I was on that Flex Board. Here’s how it worked:
- Monday and Tuesday were usually 1 p.m. dock shifts.
- Wednesday and Thursday were 9 a.m. city shifts.
- And without fail, Fridays were night linehaul or road runs.
Regardless of which city shift I worked, I had to spend two or three hours working the dock before heading home. For the nighttime linehaul or road runs, when I arrived at the destination terminal, I usually had to work the dock for 3 to 4 hours before I could hook up my set and head back. I’ll never forget my first night time linehaul run to a FAC
(Freight Assembly Center). That dispatch took me to Columbus, Ohio. I was totally amazed because I was one of the first linehaul drivers to arrive, and the dock was totally empty. I was there a total of 4 hours, and there were probably a million pounds of freight that crossed that dock. All that freight was unloaded and loaded by the nighttime linehaul drivers. And when I got ready to head back to the Indy terminal, the dock was totally empty and clean as if we were never there. When it came to moving freight with efficiency, Conway Central Express was by far the best I’ve ever seen.
Looking back at the demands and work requirements at Conway Central Express, it was definitely hard work—and the pay was the best I had ever made doing what I did. But was it worth it? No way. Still, I had made my bed, so I had to sleep in it.
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