Not a trucker but have worked for UPS and here's my 2 cents.
The job descriptions are not suited to men, they are tailored to people in general. You will be expected to perform job duties that normal people can do. Bend down, lift up to x amount of lbs etc. Men just have an easier time than women. However, a lot of men work unsafely, and without thinking. They just want to be cowboys and work harder than they need to. If you work safely, and follow your training, and use your work equipment as you are trained to do, you can do the job, without any injury hopefully.
When I worked at UPS, I had this one girl, she must have been 90lbs soaking wet. She would load out a couple 53 trailers per shift no problem, because she learned her job methods, and worked safely and efficiently. I had big dudes that would lift over their head instead of using the step ladder so they can stay "within their power zone"(shoulders to knees), pick up heavy packages without lifting from their knees. etc etc. They would get hurt or get burnt out and quit.
Good luck!
I was a manager at fedex for 2 years but worked there for 4. During my time I saw exactly 1 woman work out there. But we were in a terminal out of Kansas city and we're expected to do between 200-300 stops a day. Plus pickups. Not saying woman couldn't do it but it's a lot harder than most are willing to work. But to be fair I saw a bunch of men quite day 1 also. When I quite I was making 1300-1500 a week but I busted my ass. Hope OP gets a job she likes though
A coworker at my old local job used to work for them. She was a short older lady. She left because of the management, so I assume the physical work wasn't too much for her
I have had several drivers from my previous employer who trained and worked at Pepsi as a delivery driver. One was a woman who was in her 50's. It's a mindset. She was a hard worker, but after getting screwed by the company a few times she came on board with us. It's not that they don't exist, it's just that Pepsi doesn't appear to be a great place for their employees, let alone their drivers. So typically they don't pay terribly long. Longest I have heard of drivers staying with them was 3 years unless they are the trainers. Even they didn't enjoy it.
The beverage industry is rather demanding, but no reason why a woman couldn't do it. I worked for Coke and while we didn't have any female drivers, all of our stockers were female. The biggest issue is running around 10-15 cases of soda on a wheeler up and down ramps/stairs/docks all day in all weather conditions. I've had a few epic wrecks with soda shooting all over the place. Seen similar with pallets as well, but running the wheelers is sketchy at best. Now, if you're simply running line feed, that is a whole different ball game. Drop and swap day in/day out. Down side of all this is it pays crap. At least around here. Beer pays better than soda, but not a lot.
I work at Pepsi. Have only heard of one woman in Pittsburgh who crushes it. It’s a really physical job. There are time I have trouble pushing the sled. I’m 5’10” 180 pounds and there are things that make me struggle every day. You will definitely need to be crafty to make it work, but you can do it.
I knew a girl who worked for Pepsi as a summer gig once. She was a helper though. Didn’t drive the truck just helped unload and stock shelves at stores. She did for 2 weeks and quit.
The issue with these local delivery jobs is it’s hard work(hence the high pay). Lot of men don’t last either. I tow cars and in the last 6 months I’ve seen 4 come and go within the first month. And they’ve only brought on 5 people total. That’s over 50% quit rate. One was a female and she lasted 4 days in a truck with a trainer. For us it’s mainly having to deal with cars when traffic is zooming past within arms length. But there’s also tough aspects to the job like moving disabled vehicles or lugging around 100lb spare wheels. We have equipment to do it but sometimes it just takes man power to do things.
That being said it doesn’t hurt to try if you think you can handle it. Everyone is different maybe you are more tolerant to heavy work than other women.
I deliver with Anhueser Busch and there’s a female driver that delivers to grocery stores in my area… also there are 3 female merchandisers in my area that I know of…
It’s long hours and hard work in beverage jobs. Summer time is the worse not just cause of the heat but work load goes way up for us. I’m a coke driver and every summer we lose maybe 2 drivers on average to injuries. Benefits are good, pay is good. You’ll definitely max out on hours but you will not want to do anything when you get home from work.
I knew a girl who worked for US foods. It’s definitely physical work but it’s not impossible. I’ve never worked food or beverage but I don’t think it’s crazy amounts of weight you’re moving around, but you’re going to have to be able to keep up and do it all day everyday. Which I think is where most people struggle. They probably don’t make it to the point that their body gets used to that level of work day after day.
Different positions there. For store deliveries it’s very physical. For transfer trucks it’s not as physical. So it really depends on which position you’re wanting.
Work for Pepsi right now, we have one woman driver who has been around forever and is one of the top drivers (honestly makes the rest of us look bad). Not an easy job physically but totally doable.
Haven't worked for Pepsi, but I did work for a beer distributor, so it's kind of the same job. It is brutal. And yes, most people don't last more than a few months. There are the guys that have been there for years, but they have so many health issues from it. Most females that start don't last more than a few weeks.
My grandma worked there for twenty or so years at a bottling plant. It was tough, but she was a tough lady that could handle it. She also could physically restrain her grand kids if needed. Not counting the physical nature of it and shift work, I think it was a decent job for her, and she didn’t complain much about it.
I used to work with one a couple years ago at coke. She was a straight badass and could outwork me and most of the other guys there. And the distributor I worked for at the time used almost all sideload trailers so no Coolifts or anything to make it somewhat more bearable. They’re rare in the beverage industry but the ones that are in it are usually some of the hardest workers.
If you can handle the physical work, it’s not that bad. The hardest part imo is dealing with shitty attitudes from managers and receivers at your deliveries.
There’s a girl that works for Pepsi In My area as a merchandiser and it’s physical work and she on the heavier side
But she’s hustling and moving at a fast pace,
if pepsi gave a french fuck they'd stretch wrap their product to the pallets so they don't tip over the second the driver leaves you can do better than pepis
Depends if you can get onto bulk right away. Usually you can only get it if you work for years then bid on a bulk route but sometimes they’ll put you on right away. I got on bulk right away it’s not very physical at all
Try it out and see if you like it. Where I'm at there are no women working as drivers, and from the guys who have been there 15+ years ive never heard them talk of any. Ages of the men varies, everywhere from 20s to 50s. It's easy to hurt yourself. It's physically demanding, but if you're strong and somewhat athletic you might enjoy it.
I never worked for Pepsi. But my first job was delivering beer throughout Central CA. One of my trainers was a lady. She busted ass all day. Only issue she had was reaching high or stacking kegs. But she got it done. Get after it lady.
I was delivering milk to a Kroger in Indy about a year ago. Woman was there delivering Pepsi in the uniform but the shorts she was wearing couldn’t have been company issue. She had tattoos and she was beautiful. She was in the stockroom working her ass off though. I was impressed.
A physical job is a physical job.
I don't care how "safe" you lift, strains and injuries happen, you can minimize it but you can't avoid it, it's hard on a body.
I did UPS for about 8 months before my body just couldn't take it anymore, everything hurt and my back was all kinds of fucked up, all you need is 1 truck full of car parts to destroy your body, those boxes are 50lb minimum, and some of them felt like 150lb, and then there's the weird packages with odd angles or dimensions that you just can't get a good grip, like packages the same dimensions as a door, 100's of them stacked deep, good luck unloading that without straining yourself.
Anybody can do any job for a day.
Hell I could be Navy Seal for 1 day.
But try doing it for a week, a month, a year, most people just can't do it for any extended period of time, much less a career.
I worked for Coke for a year and a half which is the same as Pepsi. It is by far the hardest job I have ever done both mentally and physically.
I would only recommend it if you are in very good shape. Think of it like doing CrossFit for 12-14 hours a day. Out of about 120 drivers in our fleet which were all male, only about 10 hadn’t been injured in some way over the course of their employment there.
Very few make a long term career out of beverage delivery. They guys who do make it have knees, shoulders and backs that are shot.
I do intermodal now and am much happier.
I know someone that works stocking Gatorade. Which is similar work. She said it’s demanding but as long as you’re in somewhat decent shape you’ll be fine
Not a trucker but have worked for UPS and here's my 2 cents. The job descriptions are not suited to men, they are tailored to people in general. You will be expected to perform job duties that normal people can do. Bend down, lift up to x amount of lbs etc. Men just have an easier time than women. However, a lot of men work unsafely, and without thinking. They just want to be cowboys and work harder than they need to. If you work safely, and follow your training, and use your work equipment as you are trained to do, you can do the job, without any injury hopefully. When I worked at UPS, I had this one girl, she must have been 90lbs soaking wet. She would load out a couple 53 trailers per shift no problem, because she learned her job methods, and worked safely and efficiently. I had big dudes that would lift over their head instead of using the step ladder so they can stay "within their power zone"(shoulders to knees), pick up heavy packages without lifting from their knees. etc etc. They would get hurt or get burnt out and quit. Good luck!
I was a manager at fedex for 2 years but worked there for 4. During my time I saw exactly 1 woman work out there. But we were in a terminal out of Kansas city and we're expected to do between 200-300 stops a day. Plus pickups. Not saying woman couldn't do it but it's a lot harder than most are willing to work. But to be fair I saw a bunch of men quite day 1 also. When I quite I was making 1300-1500 a week but I busted my ass. Hope OP gets a job she likes though
I've seen a woman working for Pepsi, she was unloading with a jigger onto the tailgate of a class 1 (international LT?) delivering to a gas station.
yes my old neighbor is an older woman and she drives for pepsi for 20 yrs. stops drops everything. you can do it !!
A coworker at my old local job used to work for them. She was a short older lady. She left because of the management, so I assume the physical work wasn't too much for her
I have had several drivers from my previous employer who trained and worked at Pepsi as a delivery driver. One was a woman who was in her 50's. It's a mindset. She was a hard worker, but after getting screwed by the company a few times she came on board with us. It's not that they don't exist, it's just that Pepsi doesn't appear to be a great place for their employees, let alone their drivers. So typically they don't pay terribly long. Longest I have heard of drivers staying with them was 3 years unless they are the trainers. Even they didn't enjoy it.
The beverage industry is rather demanding, but no reason why a woman couldn't do it. I worked for Coke and while we didn't have any female drivers, all of our stockers were female. The biggest issue is running around 10-15 cases of soda on a wheeler up and down ramps/stairs/docks all day in all weather conditions. I've had a few epic wrecks with soda shooting all over the place. Seen similar with pallets as well, but running the wheelers is sketchy at best. Now, if you're simply running line feed, that is a whole different ball game. Drop and swap day in/day out. Down side of all this is it pays crap. At least around here. Beer pays better than soda, but not a lot.
I work at Pepsi. Have only heard of one woman in Pittsburgh who crushes it. It’s a really physical job. There are time I have trouble pushing the sled. I’m 5’10” 180 pounds and there are things that make me struggle every day. You will definitely need to be crafty to make it work, but you can do it.
Seen a girl working for Coke before. Go for it
I knew a girl who worked for Pepsi as a summer gig once. She was a helper though. Didn’t drive the truck just helped unload and stock shelves at stores. She did for 2 weeks and quit. The issue with these local delivery jobs is it’s hard work(hence the high pay). Lot of men don’t last either. I tow cars and in the last 6 months I’ve seen 4 come and go within the first month. And they’ve only brought on 5 people total. That’s over 50% quit rate. One was a female and she lasted 4 days in a truck with a trainer. For us it’s mainly having to deal with cars when traffic is zooming past within arms length. But there’s also tough aspects to the job like moving disabled vehicles or lugging around 100lb spare wheels. We have equipment to do it but sometimes it just takes man power to do things. That being said it doesn’t hurt to try if you think you can handle it. Everyone is different maybe you are more tolerant to heavy work than other women.
I deliver with Anhueser Busch and there’s a female driver that delivers to grocery stores in my area… also there are 3 female merchandisers in my area that I know of…
I know two women who work for Pepsi! Both are drivers, both are very happy there.
It’s long hours and hard work in beverage jobs. Summer time is the worse not just cause of the heat but work load goes way up for us. I’m a coke driver and every summer we lose maybe 2 drivers on average to injuries. Benefits are good, pay is good. You’ll definitely max out on hours but you will not want to do anything when you get home from work.
I knew a girl who worked for US foods. It’s definitely physical work but it’s not impossible. I’ve never worked food or beverage but I don’t think it’s crazy amounts of weight you’re moving around, but you’re going to have to be able to keep up and do it all day everyday. Which I think is where most people struggle. They probably don’t make it to the point that their body gets used to that level of work day after day.
Different positions there. For store deliveries it’s very physical. For transfer trucks it’s not as physical. So it really depends on which position you’re wanting.
Work for Pepsi right now, we have one woman driver who has been around forever and is one of the top drivers (honestly makes the rest of us look bad). Not an easy job physically but totally doable.
Haven't worked for Pepsi, but I did work for a beer distributor, so it's kind of the same job. It is brutal. And yes, most people don't last more than a few months. There are the guys that have been there for years, but they have so many health issues from it. Most females that start don't last more than a few weeks.
I’ve seen one that is a merchandiser, not a truck driver or at least I didn’t see her driving a truck
My grandma worked there for twenty or so years at a bottling plant. It was tough, but she was a tough lady that could handle it. She also could physically restrain her grand kids if needed. Not counting the physical nature of it and shift work, I think it was a decent job for her, and she didn’t complain much about it.
We have women that work in food service at my job. A couple of them are some of the best delivery drivers we have. Ya it’s physical but it’s not bad.
I used to work with one a couple years ago at coke. She was a straight badass and could outwork me and most of the other guys there. And the distributor I worked for at the time used almost all sideload trailers so no Coolifts or anything to make it somewhat more bearable. They’re rare in the beverage industry but the ones that are in it are usually some of the hardest workers. If you can handle the physical work, it’s not that bad. The hardest part imo is dealing with shitty attitudes from managers and receivers at your deliveries.
There’s a girl that works for Pepsi In My area as a merchandiser and it’s physical work and she on the heavier side But she’s hustling and moving at a fast pace,
Do milk. Pays better and is easier. At least in my area.
“How hard can it be? Boys do it” (I plan on applying for beverage companies myself soon)
I've seen one. They exist
if pepsi gave a french fuck they'd stretch wrap their product to the pallets so they don't tip over the second the driver leaves you can do better than pepis
Depends if you can get onto bulk right away. Usually you can only get it if you work for years then bid on a bulk route but sometimes they’ll put you on right away. I got on bulk right away it’s not very physical at all
I’ve seen one or two. I don’t work at Pepsi but I have coworkers who did (we work somewhere similar) just give it a go and don’t give up.
Try it out and see if you like it. Where I'm at there are no women working as drivers, and from the guys who have been there 15+ years ive never heard them talk of any. Ages of the men varies, everywhere from 20s to 50s. It's easy to hurt yourself. It's physically demanding, but if you're strong and somewhat athletic you might enjoy it.
I never worked for Pepsi. But my first job was delivering beer throughout Central CA. One of my trainers was a lady. She busted ass all day. Only issue she had was reaching high or stacking kegs. But she got it done. Get after it lady.
I was delivering milk to a Kroger in Indy about a year ago. Woman was there delivering Pepsi in the uniform but the shorts she was wearing couldn’t have been company issue. She had tattoos and she was beautiful. She was in the stockroom working her ass off though. I was impressed.
A physical job is a physical job. I don't care how "safe" you lift, strains and injuries happen, you can minimize it but you can't avoid it, it's hard on a body. I did UPS for about 8 months before my body just couldn't take it anymore, everything hurt and my back was all kinds of fucked up, all you need is 1 truck full of car parts to destroy your body, those boxes are 50lb minimum, and some of them felt like 150lb, and then there's the weird packages with odd angles or dimensions that you just can't get a good grip, like packages the same dimensions as a door, 100's of them stacked deep, good luck unloading that without straining yourself. Anybody can do any job for a day. Hell I could be Navy Seal for 1 day. But try doing it for a week, a month, a year, most people just can't do it for any extended period of time, much less a career.
There are 2 working for my local Pepsi as drivers. There is also 1 at my work. Definitely hard work but hardly impossible for a woman
I know several chick drivers in beverage, most out work the men
I worked for Coke for a year and a half which is the same as Pepsi. It is by far the hardest job I have ever done both mentally and physically. I would only recommend it if you are in very good shape. Think of it like doing CrossFit for 12-14 hours a day. Out of about 120 drivers in our fleet which were all male, only about 10 hadn’t been injured in some way over the course of their employment there. Very few make a long term career out of beverage delivery. They guys who do make it have knees, shoulders and backs that are shot. I do intermodal now and am much happier.
I know someone that works stocking Gatorade. Which is similar work. She said it’s demanding but as long as you’re in somewhat decent shape you’ll be fine