service technician

customer service representative

delivery driver

driver

truck driver

Suburban Propane

Typical day as a service technician: Truck is in my driveway (which is pretty cool) get in, sync my tablet and see what I have to do. There are few techs right now, so we get to do a lot of different things which I enjoy. Daily tasks can vary greatly but may include immediate calls for no heat/hot water, propane odors calls, finding and repairing leaks, setting tanks, piping, delivering cylinders, picking up tanks, shutting off/locking delinquent accounts, reading meters, yard inventory of propane in tanks, installing appliances, designing piping systems indoor, outdoor and underground, tuneups, estimates, new account testing, filling cylinders, and sometimes as mundane as delivering letters to customers. I usually stop in at the office to get parts, clean out my truck and discuss jobs with the service coordinator. Then I go do the jobs on the tablet. You have to be capable of working independently as no one will be looking over your shoulder. I’m allowed a lot of autonomy as far as deciding how the work will get done. We are allowed to do things correctly, nobody is pushing me to cut corners and ignore codes. If you can manage to do a good job on your own, you’ll get left to your own devices and enjoy a fair bit of independence. Days usually last a little too long, as we are understaffed. Summertime days are shorter, if you set boundaries, but there is always plenty of overtime available and work to do. When I got hired I was paid to go through the company required training which is about a million hours of videos and quizzes. I was paid to study for and obtain a class B CDL with air brake and hazmat endorsements, all fees paid for. I am being paid to undertake additional training and reimbursed for license fees etc. 

I was hired as an apprentice. I had to complete a lot of training and what not to finally get paid better, but they did eventually come through and I feel like I’m being paid fairly well for how long I’ve been there. Hopefully will make more as I get more licenses.  Took about 6-7 months to get there. Could have been shorter, but a manager was dragging his feet in doing his end of training certifications as I  completed the trainings.  The benefits package is expensive and nothing extraordinary. Would be nice if that were more robust. Paid time off is fairly generous, I was pleasantly surprised by that. 

There was a manager who ruined everyone’s good time for about 20 years or so from what I could tell. A real “türd in the honey.” Employees were flying out the door mostly citing him as the reason. Corporate finally sent him on his way and everything is instantly better, some people even came back. They don’t seem to have any plan for what happens now, but still, I applaud them for finally realizing that he was universally disliked and ineffective. What few employees remain seem to be good people and I enjoy working with them. There isn’t enough people to get all the work done though, and that is a bummer because it adds stress and some customers can’t get what they need from us. Feels like we are always behind the eight ball as a result. If you’re a hard worker who takes pride in their work, Come work here, please!!! We need you. I heard this was not a great place to work, but I like it. Perhaps some people did poor work and didn’t like to be told otherwise? You really have to be a self starter to do well here. Do your job well and shouldn’t be any issues. Now that I think of it, maybe they just disliked working under that manager that was asked to leave.

As a company, my feeling is that there are a lot of business degrees in upper management and not a lot of knowledge of what would make things go smoother for the customers in terms of how we service them. Feels like there is a lot of money going into making shareholders happy and buying bigger boats or whatever rich people buy instead of putting it back into the infrastructure and focusing on services impacting customers. I wish big corporations like this one would put money in the pockets of the boots on the ground, and the dress shoes on the service center carpet as it were. Need a better office worker metaphor there but you get the idea. If we had a robust force of people motivated to do killer work, less burnt from overtime and able to provide well for their families, I feel like the end result would be happier customers and new accounts. Smaller boats for the big guys, but better for the company long term and better for a whole bunch of American families. 

Anyway, I work with good people, not micromanaged, company vehicle, decent ishly compensated, company paid uniforms, enjoy the work, get training and have some independence. All told, it’s not bad. 

 



So my experience from this company pretty much was you work 5 8s or 4 10s filling bulk tanks and small cylinders and sometimes delivering cylinders BUT you only get overtime in the winter if you work here in the spring or summer you will get clock watched constantly to make sure you don't get any overtime and if you do it's a really big deal and they will cut your work load down if you try to stretch your route out to make money they claim it's not in the budget in the summer but this is a GAS COMPANY they make plenty of money this is just to keep upper management Pockets fat you would think they would want their employees to live well too but that is just not the case and if you strive to have any Independence in the truck you can forget about that too everything is tracked by camera and your progress is tracked by the tablet in the truck and they need you to be efficient and if you're not efficient to their standards eventually you will get talked to about it over and over again and eventually fired even if they don't have enough work for you to do in the summer and you just want hours for your family thats not okay I would say the most enjoyable part of the job is probably talking to the customers but the hardest part of the job is definitely how they run things you cannot be your own man here you always have to do things the Suburban way they don't trust their employees to do the job and get it done by themselves it has to be done in a specific amount of time even if it's a light day your manager is going to be on you about it if you try to get more hours then what's "allocated" an if you are coming from a tank wagon job it is not going to be anything like that I can assure you running a bobtail is way different and you will find out for yourself if you are trying to switch from liquid flammables to a gas to learn something new it definitely is a different world I felt like I was very deceived everything I was told was completely different once I got in here and started to realize how this place actually runs if you're okay with working just 40 hours a week and you want to work very quickly and hurry up and get off the clock then this place would work out for you but if you're trying to make some money and get paid like a actual hazmat truck driver this is not going to work for you an if you're the type of person who likes to be left alone once you get released from training this is not going to be for you either they also expect you to run multiple different types of trucks for the same pay rate and you even have to do some work on the tanks like leak checks and other things a driver usually doesn't do this place is going through a huge management change and I honestly can't figure out if it has gotten better or worse but I hope in the future it is a better place to work but as of right now I am very disappointed and I feel very misled about what I got into and don't forget about being on call you also have to deal with that as well and that is all dependent on if they can keep employees so if they lose people you're going to be on call way more and they usually can't keep many people and it all comes down to the micromanagement and the company just being cheap not wanting to put into their drivers but wants to put money in the manager's pocket while the company drivers barely make 1000 bucks a week to drive HAZMAT around..any company like that will always run ANY driver off eventually the culture here feels very do this and that for me but you're going to only get this little bit and what's sad is trying to find PPE in this place to work is nearly impossible and trying to find supplies that you need to do your job effectively you always have to jump through hoops to get what you need

After working here for more than 5 years I can say that Suburban is an enjoyable place to work but there are cons. Corporate management is not concerned with the people who are interacting daily with the customers. The needs of the staff are not considered and our resources are limited. The work-load continues to grow as the staff allowance continues to diminish. The whole "do more but with less" mentality, cutting resources every year but demanding higher budgeted growth numbers with less employees. The pay is not in line with the day-to-day expectations, which compounds the stress and decreases the ability to focus.The business is mainly focused on the shareholders first, then the customers, then the employees. Individually we have the authority to take care of the customer and the flexibility to do whatever it takes, which is great! Micro-managing is not an issue locally but has been with previous managers and is at other locations. Bonuses: management bonus compensation is corporation aligned which makes the salaried managers get $4000-$18000 annual bonuses(%based) and hourly employees bonus program is flat fee based from $0-$550. Annual increases are minimal and only occur if the winter weather was cold/bad and we hit our budgeted numbers. This is only discouraging because the stores end up having over a $2 billion profit per year and employees may not get anything or may get less then a .20 increase. In my experience the regional management will compliment you only to get you to do them a favor, promising to compensate you accordingly or "make it up to you" and never follow through, this has been demonstrated on multiple occasions. The local and district team mentality is strong though. The events participated in/group activities are very strong but only due to current local management pushing it, this does not come from regional or corporate level management. Benefits are great, health insurance affordable, additional options for benefits are affordable and in a large variety. Vacation accrual is fair, not to many paid holidays(only the majors) but more than retail or other industries. Only 3 sick days per year-so do not get the flu, but again better than other industries! The great customers (not the bad ones) and the co-workers are what makes it all worth-while. There is a lot to learn in the propane industry and at Suburban regarding policy and procedure, which changes frequently(this happens because they are trying to improve process as a whole). I learn something new about both every single day. The job is never boring, rarely slow, both a pro & con!

For starters, the job description was vastly different than what I performed at work. I have bad knees and a bad back and was constantly moving a thousand pound tanks by dolly. I would have turned down the job if I knew this. I was a technician apprentice, but didn’t get any training. Once you know the basics they have you running errands. Setting up new customers accounts, picking up tanks, doing leak checks, and refilling those that ran out. I was extremely frustrated because the apprentice program is supposed to be two years learning from a technician, which I only maybe spent 2 months total learning. They want you to repetitively do the menial jobs, and leave the actual tech jobs to the experienced person which isn’t how you learn. They had me mowing grass with an ancient lawnmower or cleaning up the shop instead of me learning the actual job. The technician that was training me was amazing and extremely knowledgeable on the job, but they didn’t give me enough time to learn from him. I speak very highly of him and all the drivers that worked there, but management needs a change. This would be an awesome job if it wasn’t for management. It was like pulling teeth to get any time off even in cases of emergency, there was never an end to your day because of how mismanaged the workload was, and you were constantly going places to deal with angry customers who were promised something we didn’t deliver. The range of service was enormous, especially for one technician and an apprentice. Instead of focusing on one area for the day, they would have you drive 2 hours north, to drive 3 hours in the opposite direction. If you needed help the other technician would always be hours away, instead of in the general vicinity. This should honestly be a two person job to help with speed and efficiency, instead of having two people struggling hours apart from each other. It was also a nightmare for tools and equipment. Had to bring your own tools to work, the job specific tools weren’t provided you needed to piece everything together yourself, and most things were outdated.  With that being said the pay was great, they provide you clothing, very quick promotion out of apprentice, the office staff was nice despite lack of training, lots of overtime, the time off is good if your allowed to use it, and company vehicle if you needed it. 

The Best Part about working for suburban Propane is the SAP system. It is a sophisticated and efficient system if used along another efficient software. Unfortunately the company was very delinquent on paying their bills. They are almost 2 years behind. They also neglected to pay small vendors/Contractors after they received their services due to lack of required documents which they should have requested before the work was done. The typical day would be spending 50% of your time on setting up new vendors and the related tracking, coordinating and verifying documents, since they don't pay them. There is always a need to set up new ones.
The rest of the time is spent on the other functions of A/P. The majority of their customers are also frustrated and  very unhappy with their services. They don't get their refund in a timely manner and many call to threaten to report them to the Better Business Bureau, and the News channels. The unethical business practices made me feel very uncomfortable working there.
However, I enjoyed the technical part of the job, and the challenge at times and building working relationships,since I have a solid understanding of Accounts Payable and the workflow. Management is very hands off, unprofessional and practice the behavior of intimidation, harassment, name calling and bullying of the employees privately in their office, especially those that are in accounting. There are no departmental meetings held to discuss issues or improvements of processes at all. There are no set operational policies or procedures. Everything is on a case to case bases as they call it.  The culture is based on intimidation and creating fear and hostility in the environment rather than support, collaboration, motivation and promotion. However, I learned how to be focused and to  perform at a high level of accuracy and efficiency and still accomplish goals despite all the hostility and the negative environment surrounding me.
.

I'm not sure Indeed has enough spaced for me to explain the horrors of this company, but here goes. First off, no one made me work here, I chose it, I accepted the pay, benefits, etc, but they're terrible, my hope is to keep someone else from making my mistake. I'm only going to highlight my issues
1. You have 25 stops today & 180 miles to cover, what you only got 23 done, you worked till 10pm at night, those 2 you skipped were not projected to run out for 2 months, but your going to get screamed at for it. Did I mention the first stop is hour and a half drive one way on ice covered snowy roads, but be safe, slow down
2. We scheduled you for 6 jobs today, sure 1 job is 2hrs away, the others additional hour drives from each other, each job is 4hrs each, but you better get them all done in 8hrs
3. Safety safety safety, slow down, don't rush, be aware....now we are going to yell at you for not going fast enough
4. In my short time there 8 guys in my area were fired or quit
5. Raises.....hahahahahaha, I was told the only raises are the possible bonus from selling enough gas, if we sell enough gas! Never saw a bonus
6. You are a number, plain & simple. If you died today, your job would be posted before your obituary. The management doesn't care one bit about you, it's all for show, be safe, but you better run like a dog.
7. If you like trenching 200ft up hill thru mud with a 100yr old machine you will love it, don't dare ask if they could possibly buy a more up to date or modern piece of machinery, all while your being told about the $400 office chairs that were bought for the operation manager & main manager, I mean $800 for chairs is acceptable, now you go out there, drag that piece of junk & break your back & do it really fast
8. If you have a CDL, keep looking, there are jobs out there that pay better, better treatment, better conditions,  better everything.

A typical day busy phones lots of follow up to calls.  It consisted of sending e-mails, documenting, scheduling on calendars and ordering parts. (Always a different scenario). I learned so many things about propane.  I learned the different procedures for commercial and residential accounts.  My job consisted of servicing four different Suburban Propane offices. My day consisted upon staying on top of risk management requirements for the 4 offices. Working with other cusotmer service representatives located in the different offices. I would dispatch drivers and service technicians to emergencies and out of gas calls.  I did invoicing, answered billing questions. I learned the cautions the  procedures and how to handle  emegencies,   I learned the guidelines to pricing for all different offices, Those that sold parts repairs etc. I memorized what drivers and service technicians work with each office.  Continuously working back and forth on four databases depending on where the call was coming from. At the end of the day forwarding phones to after hours and locking up the office.

My co-worker ninety percent of the time very negative complaining upset angry, lying trying to get others in trouble not a team player. 

The hardest part of the job keeping positive while not being able to offer customers better prices to keep them, due to mangers not wanting to lose profits.  The most enjoyable part of the job helping people solve problems and hearing customer sincerely thank me for making them feel better. Getting compliments about how helpful I was to them making sure everything was done correctly each day. Exceeding customer expectaions on a regular basis.

I was a former driver in Rockville for a few years. When I started, we had 2 men running the business, everything was more professional and in order. When management changed, everything went down. The company hired 2 managers that had never worked with Propane, had no idea what they were doing. All they know how to do, is to treat employees like they're nothing- even when it's us the drivers that make up their paycheck. Lousy bonuses every 2 years of $250. And they call that a bonus. Discrimination-Management would play favorites. They would not send their own people to out of gases at the end of the day, but they would make sure you-a different race went to the out of gas, or you were fired. Don't bother complaining to Human Resources-they're buds. The higher ups that are supposed to be more professional and side with you-the driver?...talk about pointing his finger only an inch from your face calling you a racist because you're complaining about these issues in the workplace. In that place, nothing is racism, nothing is discrimination. The women in the office-they can touch the male drivers all they want, same thing. Don't bother complaining, because the managers will only yell at you because of it. Management will protect the women in the office and yell at you/punish you for speaking out about the HARASSMENT/INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR IN THE WORKPLACE!!! Management will ask you for a work order on a gas leak that you did 6 months ago and expect you to have it, if not, you're fired. But, then someone of their own race does something much worse, and nothing happens.

This place is terrible to work at.

Love working for this company!  A typical day at work starts at 6 a.m and ends when your finished your route or when the weather dictates.  If you like to work like I do you get all the hours you want. Winter you can avg. 65 to 75 hours a week. During cold snaps 80 hours plus.  You rotate in and out of on call schedule  and you also do after hours calls in winter.  Management is good, my relationship with my ops manager was awesome!  The CSC manger is typical pro company and didn't value you or your loyalty or commitment to the organization one bit. The company as a whole deems you as just a number.  Your expendable at the least little bit of property damage. i.e. running into a mail box, fence, trellis, or what have you.  Very high stress, demanding, they only care about the gallons you deliver and that's it! That's where the company makes their $$.  They have you drive 150-200 miles a day and will give you 30-40 stops and have you driving down goat paths in the winter, working 70-80 hours a week and want you to deliver but God forbid if you do something with the truck or do damage to something, they have no leniency whatsoever.  And it doesn't matter that they can't get anyone to do the job or want to work in the industry.  They can't hire anyone to work those types of hours or put up with the on call and call out.  They'd rather fire the loyal guy who puts in 120% and works 80 hrs a week and hire some new guy who's not going to last and spend a year training him and $thousands to replace you!

I worked for Suburban Propane for 5 years. I had adequate training, but had a manager who chose to leave a few people in the dark and not provide updates like they did for other people in the department.

Everyone in my department were two faced backstabing people. It was as if they had nothing else to do but put other people down, and some people were harassed. When the situation was presented to management, management turned a blind eye for years. 

Benefits are good. Salary was a joke.Expect a 2% annual increase when the company does well, and no raise when it doesn't do well. I qualified for welfare benefits as my Suburban income was well below the poverty level. Their style of management is to micro-manage you to death! 
The work day always went fast, as most positions give you the work load of 2 to 3 people.  Unrealistic work load, unrealistic success and you must account to why you can't fully do your job.  You are constantly set up for failure, with no way to succeed. Overall, there is no appreciation of your efforts from management. 

Suburban is a vital fuel supplier nationwide.  They snatch up the weaker companies, and funnel out the weak employees that came with it.  At the end of every fiscal year, there are always some positions that are eliminated, and hiring freezes.  If your looking for a long term job it is the sturggle to survive.  Good luck.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Service technician 49 salaries reported	$27.13 per hour
Customer service representative 37 salaries reported	$18.68 per hour
Delivery driver 89 salaries reported	$23.38 per hour
Driver 95 salaries reported	$25.61 per hour
Truck driver 3 salaries reported	$23.46 per hour

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