driver

warehouse worker

truck driver

distribution center lead

distribution center manager

American Tire Distributors

I can accept that I was late too many times and that lead to my ultimate demise at this location, but I still feel as if the upper management, above the general manager of the DC, could look at performance and work ethic and OT put in by certain individuals, and not just look at the individual as an ID number on a piece of paper, I would have been reconsidered for termination. I was given 1 write up and apparently my 1st one was a final written notice, which I didn't think was policy, but again it was a new manager and he is jumping through the hoops to keep his family fed as well. I know that I had pretty good relationships with most of the drivers and most of the other employees and was even poising myself to potentially take over as Warehouse foreman when the current foreman retired this spring. But because of some hardships including my vehicle being totaled and relying on others to get to work, I had some attendance issues. Now I almost never called in sick, even with plenty of PTO built up and put in OT almost every week, Sometimes 12 hours a shift, and loved my job. But because I lost my reliable transportation, through no fault of my own, upper management required the GM to terminate me, against his will. The DC itself is a great place to work. The management that tells the GM what needs to be done is terribly lacking in human Compassion or understanding in any way shape or form. We even had what they call S.W.A.T. team members come to the DC to see if they could improve anything production wise and they just found that we were terribly understaffed and doing the best we could. Now why, if a person is in the midst of a hardship, would you then make that an even more difficult period in their life by terminating the employee, especially when they worked as hard and diligently as I did at every shift. To Make an example out of me? All you show your team is no matter how hard you work or how much time you invest in The company, you mean nothing if you aren't clocked in exactly when your shift starts, and that as long as you clock in on time your efforts can remain lackluster and cost the company a lot of production value. To me that is asinine, and backwards thinking. I was waiting on an insurance check to get a new car and they terminated me 3 days before I got the check. I just don't see how it makes sense to eliminate that much hard working labor force based on late clock ins. 

The company is run by individuals that have a mindset of how organizations were run in the 1980's, where HR was in charge of every aspect. They have done nothing to progress outside of that mindset and continue to allow HR to hold ultimate power over all aspects of the company even though HR is very disconnected from the business and the Associates they are supposed to support. I was with the company for over a year before I ever spoke to or met my HR business partner and that was only to talk to the entire team about a topic that was making headlines in the news. The organization does not place trust in their leaders up to the C-suite to manage their budget, instead, there is a bureaucratic rats nest in a place that is meant to control and manage the budget but it fails at all angles. Additional resources to meet the growing demands of the business require HR's blessing before recruiting can begin as they control the budget for all Associates. Performance reviews are only performed when it is convenient for HR and not on an annual basis as they should be in any organization. The reviews and raises are also controlled by HR, with little input from the Associate's manager. The organization is very heavy at the top, but sparse where it is needed so Associates are required to overwork themselves and quickly become burned-out which leads to the company's high turn-over. The organization's leadership refuses to understand and take action on the organization's internal problems, instead they ignore the problems until the Associate's leave the organization. They are a very cheap organization when it comes to taking care of their Associates, but don't hesitate to spend millions of dollars on the next shiny tool. At this rate, the company will be bankrupt again if not non-existent as they appear to not have learned anything from their past mistakes.

Daily Responsibilities

•Responsible for all credit issues within assigned Distribution Centers.
•Responsible for reviewing orders on credit hold from assigned Distribution Centers and releasing orders within the parameters of the Credit Policies and Procedures.
•Maintain contact with Distribution Centers and customers in the establishment of new accounts, assist Regional Credit Manager in monitoring accounts for potential problems and in collections activity for assigned Distribution Centers.
•Follow up on all information requested or required that would impact the credit decision-making process.
•Pull Credit Files on accounts that exceed credit limit for review by the Regional Credit Manager, assist Regional Credit Manager to maintain up to date account information (financial statements security / trade information)
•Maintain past due percentage goals within company standards
•Make timely and efficient decisions when reviewing customers on credit hold
 
The thing I learned most at ATD was how to read a Dunn and Bradshaw Credit Report for companies. The workplace culture has a wide variety. Management was typically on one accord up until the last few months of my employment there. The hardest part was working with the sales team to maintain business but get paid for services rendered to the customers as well. The most enjoyable part of working at ATD, was when everyone was on one accord and obtained the goals the company was striving for.

I worked several different positions at the Phoenix location over the course of about 10 years, ending as a DC Supervisor in 2021. ATD is the largest tire distributor in the country and Phoenix(308) is one of the largest centers out of over 140 across North America. 

The benefits are great as with most other companies as large as ATD. Annual raises and PTO are generous. Periodic employee surveys give everyone a voice and chance to let leadership know how to improve. Constant recurring training helps employees better understand their roles. The productive communication and collaboration between Supply Chain, Sales, and Field Support to best serve their customers was amazing to have been a part of. 

At the warehouse/driver level, it is fast paced and the work is tough, but it can be very rewarding for those who enjoy that type of environment. Low performers are not going to do well there and will inevitably leave or be pushed out. High performers, who enjoy working as a team, will thrive and have opportunities not afforded to everyone. 

During my time there I was promoted to Warehouse Lead after 2 years, DC Supervisor after 2 more years, and remained in that role for 6 years until I left to pursue other things. I was privileged to have traveled to other DCs for projects such as relocations and acquisitions, general warehouse assistance, special training for new leaders, and even to compete in their annual Driver/Picker Rodeo. I am extremely grateful for the leaders who recognized my potential and pushed me to achieve my goals, even when I didn’t really think I was “good enough.” A lot of great lessons were learned.

SEAL Team308

The Pros to this Job was stability. Knowing that as long as I came to work I had a job. ATD also has a pretty fair disciplinary system Just in case you do make a mistake.
      The Pay is pretty fair as well as the Company Benefits 401k, Life, Medical, PTO time and they consistently show their appreciation with gifts and food for your hard work which is something you don't get from many employers  Management was cool about working around my schedule in case of personal appointments.  
       The work load can be much for the guys that work in the warehouse. You really have to be physically conditioned to do a lot of heavy lifting and fast paced work (Which was no problem with me at all, I loved it actually) but also I have seen many people leave as quick as they came.
   The CONS              
          As easy as the job was, it seemed they would find a way to complicate it somehow.  Implementing ridiculous and tedious steps to the most simplest task. 
     Nothing was consistent. Rules and job procedures would change every week.  Coming into work you never knew what you would walk into and how long you will be there dealing with it.
    Despite the cons ATD isn't a bad place to work no job is really perfect

            If you are physically fit lift 20-100 pounds consistently, can keep up a fast pace and count, then ATD might be for you. It does help if you are flexible and open to learn  how everything operates there as well.  


Chaotic workplace and chaotic people

Management, especially the gm, love to micromanage everything we do. Will get yelled at if you're a little bit behind on your route. They won't have your back if a customer complains or harasses you. Management also puts zero effort into employee engagement. A lot of the other drivers are negative Nancys and miserable to be around, they'll pretty much hire anyone with a pulse. Only have to see these fools for a few hours in a day as a driver so I guess it's tolerable.

Routes are crazy, pretty normal to see 20+ stops and the order all over the place back and forth. Ever since they switched to dynamic routing it's terrible. They also recently added junk tire pickups which is really dirty and exhausting especially during the summer. Corporate is always making frequent changes and visit often. They also make us eat up corporate propaganda everyday I guess so they can keep their company loyalty at an all time high haha

There's zero work life balance here. Barely get any pto and they limit to 5 callouts a year which isn't enough. They don't care if you're dying in the hospital or have to isolate with covid they'll find a reason to write you up for unexcused absence even with a doctor's note. Heck, they'll probably show up to my funeral and write me up for it. 

It's a good company. They are willing to train employees for other positions and promote from within first.
A typical day in the beginning. I arrive to work, strap on the safety harnesses and pull the orders for delivery. Load the trucks, verifying each and every item on the list.
     After the trucks left. I would then go to aid others in unloading tires and auto parts and putting them into the correct bins.
Once I started driving one route I had to learn others due to other factors.Eventually, I learned all the City routes within 80 miles of the Nashville area. Because of this I was able to train new drivers on the safest and quickest routes. Training new employees on the use of Cherry Pickers, Forklifts(Standard and pincher), Inventory and Customer Service.
Eventually, The Upper Management decided to bring in a few people to make it run more efficiently. A new software was used to make the routes run more efficiently.
     Eventually, drivers just made deliveries and Warehouse workers worked the warehouse. Fortunately, I knew both and could understand when things didn't happen as expected or when the part was not available.

They expect you to be there on time which I get but when it’s your time to leave they expect you to stay they have said themselves that we spend more time there than we do at home with our family one supervisor instead of going to someone they suspected something of he made jokes about that person and if you want a permanent position ha forget that they treat you like a rag doll one day your taking one route the next another or your in the warehouse when out on the route they allow you a short amount of time to unload large amounts of tires then if you fall behind they complain and make you feel like you didn’t do good enough when really you did it all in a safe manner in the busy period I rarely got a lunch break I’d come back from a morning route late cause they got me out way after my departure time that when I got back my other route was ready to go out so I would have to turn right around and go back out oh and I almost forgot training I drove for around a year and never once was properly trained they asked several guys who had went thru the training and who hadn’t month went by and still wasn’t trained but then they made it out like it was our fault and would write us up if we did something wrong to sum it up this place is a joke

experience as a driver ,management,schedule of work ,workplace ,work with lift ,team work,,work overtime ,people work with ,warehouse experience in tire business ,delivery on the time,be on the time ,working in the warehouse 10 years driver 7 years ,receving ,shipping ,accurate,safety ,clean driving record ,culture ,hard worker,good benefits ,fast ,location ,friends ,collect money from customers ,peacfull,most enjoyable thing work in warehouse ,communication,report problem take to your supervisor ,focus,leamet ,customer service ,answers ,notice ,advice ,be safe ware harness ,check inspection ,load unload tires ,check double you have right products ,production ,check labels ,unload my self tires ,take your time ,follow rools ,rescept ,get don job ,hard work ,no complaints ,put tires in the order ,important ,work with parts and tires for 7 years warehouse 10 years with lift scanners ,make phone calls ,get signature from customers ,count tires make sure thay much ,pick up returns from customers and bring them to warehouse ,notice your supervisor about any issues ,ware uniforms ,stretch before work ,take lunch time ,no still anything from company ,pretty easy job work at ATD ,

ATD decided to terminate not only my role in the company, but all roles of the HRS in the company, "supposedly." We were told on a conference call. We got an email Thursday night to be on the call Friday at noon. The regional vice president read from a script. How do I know, because he told us? It took him about 30 seconds to tell us that we no longer had jobs as of March 16th. Which is basically two weeks. I guess this is legal to do. A multi-billion dollar company would make sure they have dotted their i's and lower cased j's. Oh but don't worry, we were given a severance package based on our tenure with the company. A week's pay for every year. For me, it was 6 weeks worth. I give 6 weeks of my life, promoted twice, once every two years, and they just drop me like a bag of dirt. They can't even put forth any effort to find a place for me, even a warehouse position. I would be more than happy to go straight from sales making good money to working in the warehouse making a decent wage, still earning a living, keeping my benefits which are important to me because I have health issues. Instead, this company gives me no options. They just get to keep the corporate jet. Thanks for the free parking.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Driver 1 salary reported	$1,562 per month
Warehouse worker 216 salaries reported	$18.08 per hour
Truck driver 19 salaries reported	$23.72 per hour
Distribution center lead 49 salaries reported	$22.11 per hour
Distribution center manager 27 salaries reported	$20.65 per hour

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