Job Responsibilities
As the receiving supervisor, I am in charge of 9 staff. I have
to schedule the incoming freight on a daily basis. Trucking
companies call with the amount of freight they have and I decide
what day and time would best fit that load. In order to maintain
an efficient receiving area I need to determine what must be done
that day. Of course it also depends on what space is available
in the warehouse, and what the purchasing managers have on order.
Some merchandise may be needed for an upcoming flyer or may be
running as special in stores. At my particular warehouse their
are 10 purchasing managers who buy merchandise for 27 stores.
Last year we received over 61 million dollars of merchandise. In
other words you have to be on your toes.
I am also in charge of making sure the inventory get entered into
the computer system correctly. If there are any discrepencies
the stock needs to be checked and the computer changed
accordingly.
I work on a daily basis with our accounts payable department to
ensure we are paying for the correct amount of merchandise and to
make sure we pay for all the merchandise that we receive.
I work in direct contact with the warehouse manager to convey to
him what needs to be done on an ongoing basis to ensure the
entire warehouse runs smoothly.
As the TRAFFIC MANAGER my responsibility is basically to find the
most reliable route of transport for any particular load at the
best cost.
This means if you have full loads to come from the states I need
to find a trucking company that can get it to my location in the
best possible time for the best price. You would make sure to
use truck load carriers and not less than truck load (ltl)
carriers for this type of shipment. Ltl carriers are for when
you have small amounts of freight.
In other words you spend a large portion of your day on the phone
or e-mail trying to find the best carrier for the job you require.
For these postions I strongly suggest that a person have basic
computer and personal skills.
Definitly need to be able to speak clearly and have experience in
the trucking and or receiving industry.
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Job Requirements
I was a fortunate person. I started at this company right out of
high school as a receiver and worked my way up the ladder. I
have taken some courses on supervising and management. These
courses just helped me to understand where the staff were coming
from and how to handle different situations. I basically took
these classes to better myself.
A person would need to have computer experience and experience in
a warehouse or receiving department. Have knowledge of the
trucking industry. Also have a willingness to learn new and
exciting things.
Being organized is also a big part or ensuring you have the best
time management for your day.
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Uppers
I enjoy dealing with people as in my staff, truckers and different couriers.
There is always new merchandise to receive. New and different items coming in
all the time. It is hard to get bored of it.
There is always freight to move. Never a shortage of work to be done.
Different times of the year mean different merchandise shipping and arriving.
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Downers
Some undesireable loads to unload. Mostly forklift work but some
hand bombing. Containers from overseas etc. Grumpy truck
drivers and grumpy staff.
Having too much to handle in one day and not enough hours in a
day to complete everything you want to do.
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Lifestyle
My work hours and 8 to 4:30 Monday to Friday. I do not get to travel much. I
enjoy lunches out with sales reps a few up 10 times a month. I get invited to
management meetings and golf tournaments etc. I work as a receiver and a traffic
manager so I still have to wear steel toed boots and warehouse type clothes. I
always try to wear my best warehouse clothes to lunch or to meetings with sales
reps, but they understand my position.
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Compensation
As of right now I am on an hourly basis my wage is 16.28 an hour.
We are going through some restructuring and that is expected to
change. Since I have 2 titles in the warehouse I have been
informed they need to look into it some more. I get 15 days
holidays a year, the more overtime and hours you put in the more
holidays you receive. This year I earned 5 extra hoidays. We
have a great benefits package, 80% on most medical, dental etc.
No optical though. Every year if our company makes budget we
receive a 500 dollar bonus. Also if you are with this particular
company for 5 years. If you put in 3% of your wage they will put
in 4%. After 10 years that increases from 4% to 5%.
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Advice to Jobseekers
It is great. Physically and mentally demanding. You get to work
with other people but not the general public. You will not be
bored. I believe that the outlook for this occupation will be
great. There is alwas freight that needs to be moved. With the
rail lines being so behind now a days trucks are way more
efficient. Definently the way to move freigt now.
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