local driver

security guard

account coordinator

mechanic

field technician

The Morning Star Company

Very friendly company.  Dispatchers often greet you with a smile even when you know they are tired and stressed. 

Your are left alone and trusted to do your job with little to no supervision.  As a truck driver I get to work alone and at my desired pace. Your paycheck reflects for the most part the effort you put out. Though some circumstances can hinder your earnings on a day now and then no matter how good you do your part. Time and miles is money for a driver, if you have a break down, if the harvesters are slow in the field or miscommunications, you can lose time thus move less miles thus a smaller payout for the day. 

The Mechanics in the shop are Awesome. I have always been impressed on how fast they will get any issue with your truck or trailer fixed right now and get you on your way. 

The cons..
You can make some decent money if you have a very good day with no hicups. But overall I think they should be paying more. 

My number 1 con with this company, not their fault really, but it is location.  I have to commute to the truck yard each day, a nearly 50 mile trip, 100miles round trip every single day. That is nearly 2 hours of driving that I could be sleeping between shifts. When you work a 16 hr day, are expected to clock in in 8 hrs. Have nearly 2 hrs commuting in that 8 hrs. that gives you 6 hrs from when you walk in your door to when you must be walking out. Add in a shower, eat something real quick, sleep, get up and get your stuff together to head out, you are very lucky to get 4.5 hrs sleep before heading out for another minimum 12hr day.      If I lived local, that time saved from commuting put towards sleep would make all the difference in the world.   Not to mention the Gas I have to put in my car to get to the truck yard each day and now gas at nearly $7 a gallon, That means I am working 1.5 days a week just to pay for the gas in my car to get to work that week. 

 They do have bunk houses you can stay at on the property if you want to go that route, free of charge.

Because of the management or rather non-management self management model the company follows, you do not get a hiarchy with hostile managers or supervisors. For the most part everyone treats each other with respect because no one is really above anyone else.  

Typical day at work as a driver is pretty easy. goes something like this. 
You show up, go clock in on the electronic touch screen. Walk over to the truck attendent and give your name, he gives you a truck number and points you in the direction where that truck is parked.  You find your truck and do your pretrip inspection.  Then go find an available empty in the yard, hook up and inspect the trailer. Then put the trailer number into the onboard touch screen in the truck, it will then give you a field location number. You pull out your company map book and find the filed number and directions to that field. Now you drive to that field and drop your empty at the designated parking area, simple drop and hook to an available full trailer, hopefully you do not have to wait and it will be waiting, you hook up to it, inspect it then put it into the computer. The computer tells you which processing plant to take it to. You fill out a simple trailer tag that you later give to the scale house. You drive to the processing plant, park on the scales, give the girl at the scales your trailer ticket so you get paid for it, she gives you the nod and you then pull your truck forward to the sample station, takes a few seconds. Then park the full trailer in any available parking spot, drop the trailer, drive over to the area of the yard where the empty trailers are, hook to an empty, inspect and input in the computer, now you basically just go field to plant like this for your entire shift, at the end of your shift you park your truck where you got it in the morning, post trip it, log out of the truck, go let the truck attendent know you have returned the truck so they can mark you down as out of the truck, go clock out and go home.   Same thing every day, very little interaction with anyone else. Unless you have an issue with something and need to call a dispatcher or they call you to give you updated info like a change of location. No paperwork for any of the loads other than the little trailer tag, no bols or freight bills, manifests, none of that to worry about. 

All you need to focus on is being a safe driver, paying attention to where you are going so you do not get lost or stuck down a road you can not back out of and properly inspect your truck and trailers so you do not kill someone.   That is not much to ask of a driver.  

I would not mind working for them full time if they were local but the commute is more than I can handle and I am not ready to move to los banos. 

Pros

No experienced required.
Offers free training for class A.
Get lot of experience in truck driving.
Most trucks are new. 
Get familiar with variety of trucks
Temporary employment during Summer.
Get explore a lot of the central valley.
It is local if you live near Los Banos.
Electronic log books.
Tomato drivers only haul tomatoes.


Cons

Tomato drivers drivers are pressured to work more than 12 hours. They don't consider if driver has fatigue or not.
Paid by the load.
Majority of the time you don't get paid for transporting empty trailers.
Everyday you get different truck.
Some trucks headlights are very weak hard to see at night time.
Some trucks headlights are too strong and blind people at night time.
Trucks governed at 60.
Don't get paid for waiting in the factories for trucks, trailers, dispatches. 
Long hours of waiting at factories without getting paid anything.
Trucks and trailers end up with damage and if you don't report it comes out of your pocket.
Eletronic log books are slow and sometimes don't work.
Hard most of the time to get hold of dispatchers.
Trailers are common to have flat tires.
Lot of trailers when full it is hard to crank handle.
Sometimes airlines are disorganized.
Later on season lot of lights on trailers don't work properly.
The terrain is prone to be muddy and uneven which makes it hard to hook up trailers.
Lots of heavy traffic on narrow roads around the factories.
Some roads are too narrow specially around the fields.
Working under hot conditions.
Slack adjusters on trailers are prone to be out of adjustment.
When adjusting slack adjusters are hard to adjust because sometimes is too tight or nut is worn out. 
At field they don't pay for the first hour of waiting.
Multiple times through out the day waiting at the fields less than hour, which you don't get paid.
Sometimes there confusion at fields about the waiting list to pick up loads.
Most of the time you have to drive in dirt roads to pick up loads.
At night time there no light in the fields to pick up loads
At night it is easy to hit a hole on the dirt roads.
Some trucks have front bumper too low to enter rough roads.
Some locations mirrors of the truck is prone to get scratched by almond trees and you have pay for it.
Sometimes loads are parked too close to each other.
Sometimes company instructions are designated to drive on roads where heavy traffic is banned.
Dispatchers sometimes send large group of drivers at same location at same time.
Cans loads have cardboard fly off from top of the cargo when you drive down the road.
Freight drivers have keep constant contact with dispatcher too many times.
Their blue curtain van trailers is hard to check the slack adjusters.
Freight drivers stay longer working under hot temperatures because they have to strap and unstrap cargo on flatbeds.
Sometimes it is hard to find a spot to park the load in the factories.
Trucks get easily dirty.
Rubber seals for glad hands get easily worn out.
Sometimes directions from the book is outdated.
Automatic trucks perform very poorly when terrain is muddy.
Trucks can easily get stuck on mud and sometimes get stuck on plain dry dirt.

Decent people to work with. They might get a bad apple here or there, maybe a bad dispatcher that hates their job or a couple idiot fellow drivers but for the most part everyone is pretty friendly, helpful and respectful.

The summer harvest driving season is pretty intense, long hours driving 7 days a week for a full 3 months straight.   You will have no time for anything in your life but work and sleep.  But you can make some decent money.  I average 18 to 19K per season which is usually about 80 to 90 days of driving. 

Sleep is your best friend, get every second of it you can between shifts otherwise you will be miserable and unsafe on the road.  If you do not have the discipline to dedicate yourself for 3 months to drive and then quickly eat/shower and get to bed every day, then you might not be a good fit for this job.


A good place to start for new drivers. The work is simple, you hook an empty trailer, bring it to the farm, unhook and grab a loaded trailer and take it to the plant. Dispatch leaves you alone unless they need to talk to you. (Which is rare) you get paid per load, so you can go at your own pace. How much money you make a day really comes down to how you work. Overall I enjoyed it there. However since its seasonal it is really demanding. You work every day. With maybe a day off once every 2 weeks. But if you need a day off theyre pretty good on giving you the days you need. I had an assigned bed there along with a fridge to store food. If you commute the schedule will be challenging, and if you sleep there as I did, home time took a big hit. Unfortunately I had to leave before the end of the season due to the stress added to my family from not being home. So if you dont have any kids or the family at home can handle the hours, its a perfect (local) starter job to gain some experience if youre trying not to go OTR. Some days you get done in 10-12 hours, some days 14-16 it really depends on how long you have to wait in the beginning of your shift to get dispatched out, and what routes you get sent on. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working in Morning Star Packing Co. is the teammates. You work with a variety of workers that are helpful and very cooperative with you.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part may just be the factory conditions to work. They are safe conditions to work in, however, since it’s a factory that works nonstop you have to deal with the steam surrounding the dispenser line, constructing wooden, metal or plastic boxes in a humid environment, and constantly paying attention to your surroundings as the factory is a loud environment.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very hard work oriented environment and the culture is productive and always trying to figure out how to make things easier for the workers assemble and dispense the purée into these boxes.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Productive, fun, friendly people and cooperators. Everyone is happy to see one another and is serious about the work they are assigned.

It’s an okay place to get your experience. I would say get in and get out. The pay is not the best. You work long hours, pay is 17 per hour. I guess you rarely get paid by the load like they claim, it’s usually always by the hour. It’s a super easy job no hard physical labor really. There’s usually always some kind of wait whether it be field, dispatch, or trailer wait. The girls in the dispatch office are cool, but some dispatchers give you attitude for no reason. The dispatchers know nothing about trucking or the location you get sent to. Dispatched by computer system. They can’t help you with anything really. You’re pretty much on your own, no one really helps each other. You get stuck in a field, you have to dig yourself out. A lot of drama between drivers, fighting over loads or empties, but if you can get past that it’s an ok job. They leave you alone, no micromanaging. Equipment is ok, not the best. Slip seat, everyday a different truck. 

Nearly everyone is treated like an independent contractor that has to provide value to other colleagues by agreeing to perform negotiation tasks.  Sounds good in theory, just like communism.  

The reality of removing a management structure doesn't decrease bureaucracy, it increases it and allows for a good ol' boy network on steroids to form.  

Want to know what it is like working here?  No joke, it is like Big Brother. There is constant scheming and backstabbing at this dog eat dog company.  There are also very few colleagues in their 30s and 40s as the good ol' boys keep doing business the way they have always done it.  Hire a couple people each year, blame all the troubles of the year on them, fire them, and rinse repeat.  This is not hyperbole.

It looks like I gave a bad review, that's because Morning Star is not like other companies. Every single employee is self-managed and the only thing that is our boss are the production quotas.

Being the main supplier for 60%+ of the worlds tomatoes means there is no time for red tape, or egos to get in the way. While an engineers skillset might mean more technical contribution everyone has an equal share in the decision making process.

It's not a pretty job, but it made me grow in ways that I could not have otherwise. I learned so much about standing up for myself to people with more experience, how to speak up when I know a process might not work, and how to express my technical knowledge.

If I could go back in time I would definitely do it again. These 1-5 star metrics don't do the job justice.

Overall has been the best job that I have had so far. I don’t think this place is perfect but it reflects and shows the way every work place should treat its workers, with respect and support. Although there are a few bad apples in management just like every place has, this company exceeded my expectations of what having self management and a family means. My twelve hour shifts felt very short when I was surrounded by funny, supportive, and kind teammates. The Liberty packing workers make you feel right in place even if you are new. I totally recommend this job incase you doubting yourself. Go for it!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The opportunity to work with the different tailers. Flatbed,Dryvan,Refer and Curtin van.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I haven't had a stressful experience since I've been working there. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment and culture are good for the most part everyone is helpful. The only downside is if you don't speak Spanish It can complicate communication between co-workers.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Smooth because I'm always busy.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Local driver 1 salary reported	$2,050 per week
Security guard 9 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Account coordinator 2 salaries reported	$20.25 per hour
Mechanic 2 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Field technician 2 salaries reported	$21.50 per hour

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