Well you have decided that Over The Road (OTR) is not that its cracked up to be and you start looking at the positions for home daily CDL driver and the ad talks about bidding? What the heck is bidding? After seven years of OTR I moved on to a home daily CDL driver position and had to figure out bidding so I will explain the whole process during this particular article. For obvious reasons I can not disclose driver names or actual routes or shipper or receivers for security reasons however I will be as transparent as possible
Routes Available For Bidding
Where I work the routes available for bidding show up during the second last week of the month. Basically it is every route that company covers on a day to day basis. Some of the routes have as many as seventy hours per week while others are as low as 37.5 hours per week. The majority of drivers at my company work five days per week with ninety nine percent off every weekend unless they choose to pick up an extra shift.
Since our operation center is located in Canada a number of the routes available do cross the border however there are a good number that remain in the province
There are also multiple runs to certain factories that start and finish at different times
Seniority And First Selection Bidding
So everyone receives all of the routes on the first day and the paperwork also includes a list of drivers who work for the company separated into two sides. The first side has to get their selection in by Monday morning by 9am. The list is by seniority so the guy or gal who has been there the longest is in the first position while the new hire is at the very bottom of the list on the second side.
Every driver will pick a number of runs that they would like to do in the order of importance. Well not the guy/ gal in the number one position as there would be no point to that.
First Side Bidding Final Selection
On that Monday a member of management will go through the list on the first side and match the driver to the route that they prefer. If someone has already picked that route than they would move on to their section choice. Once the first side has been matched to their desired routes an email is then sent out to the CDL drivers on the second side who have to submit their selection by Wednesday
Second Side Bidding Final Selection
On that Wednesday a member of management will again go through the list and match the driver to the route that they prefer. Once that list is done than the bidding process is done for yet another month. Normally the new routes go into affect on the first Monday of the month
Floaters
For those CDL drivers who do not receive a route or prefer to not have a designated route there is the floater position. There is a couple of floaters for the AM and a couple of more for the PM. Basically a floater will cover any route they are assigned to that day. So one day they could have a fourteen hour shift and the next day it could be eight hours and the day after they could be off. Some companies guarantee there floaters are paid a minimum hours per week
I was a floater for a week when I started than a new bid process came out and I actually ended up picking a route that no one wanted. Since then I have always ended up with a set route for the month
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Bidding
The obvious disadvantage when it comes to bidding is that its based on seniority so if you are a new driver with the company you are going to end up as a floater or a route that everyone else has steered clear of. At my operation center the majority of the first side or first half of the seniority list has been with the company for over ten years and other than health related issues drivers are there for the long term. The list above me has only had two drivers leave in the last two and a half years, both for health reasons
The main advantage, especially if you are higher up on the list, is that if you get bored of your current run you can change it month to month. On the other hand there are drivers who will stick with the same route month after month and year after year
The route I am currently on I have been running for nearly two years however the only thing that changes is the start time. I went a long time starting at a specific time than suddenly it went from an overnight run to a day run and then back again to a night run. Thankfully it only switches once per month so I can get use to driving in that specific time frame. pretty quickly
Bidding is a pretty common practice when it comes to home daily CDL driver positions and one needs to be aware of this before switching from OTR to home daily. As there is a possibility you could be stuck as a floater for awhile or stuck on a run that is just full of headaches.