I Mostly Like It, But Your Terminal Makes All the Difference
Pros
If you enjoy driving, if you are one of those people who can get by on irregular work shifts, if you like trains and railroaders, if you like a certain amount of freedom within the confinies of your work, this is a decent gig. If you get on at a terminal with a good supervisor and fellow drivers, it can be incredibly fun and fulfilling. Training is three days, with one day on video and book teaching, a second day riding along with an experienced driver, and a third day of driving yourself with an experienced driver to guide you. There are monthly safety meetings, and bi-annual or annual driving and safety assessments/trainings. At least there are in my division. Since we got Garmin GPS in the vans, it is pretty easy to get to the places we need to take our crews, so even if you have never been there, you can get there. Also at least at our location we share our numbers with new drivers and let them call us if they need help finding a location and the crew can't help ("we know how to get there...on a train!" :). You do a lot of sitting and waiting, just like the railroad crews. If you work a complete 12 hour shift (you don't always) you may sit around waiting for up to half that time. Bring a book or your tablet so you have something to do while you wait! Vacation is fairly standard--5 days after a year, 10 days after 3 years, based on average weekly pay. I have never had a problem getting unpaid time off, just as long as you let your supervisor know AND let dispatch know BEFORE they call you for a trip. Holidays is just six days a year which is skimpy, but you get a reasonable holiday bonus if you get called out. When I started we got quarterly bonuses based on the location's on-time and safety records. They seem to have backed off on that now though there continue to be rumors that a new bonus system will be coming online soon. I am pleased overall with the job, but I fulfill every one of those items in the first paragraph. Your mileage may vary significantly. It is a relatively simple job, but not necessarily easy, and there are cons. Oh, there are cons...
Cons
In spite of some decent pros, there are things about RCX that are frustrating, irritating, maddening. Some could be addressed, some are things which will never change. First: pay. It sucks, mostly, though it depends on what terminal you work out of: a handful fo terminals are unionized and get relatively decent pay (over $12 an hour). But most only start at federal minimum ($7.25). I am lucky to work in a place where RCX uses the state minimum of the state across the Mississippi River so I started at $8.25. Raises are few and far between (one in three years) and small (it was $0.25 for those less than two years and $0.50 for those more than two years) AND not dependent on any kind of assessment of your work so everyone gets the same raise. You do get time and a half over 40 hours, which is handy, but NOT for holidays if you work--then you get a "holiday bonus". Second, the weird hours can be hard on your sleep cycle and put a major crimp in your lifestyle if you like to get out and do stuff or have a family. To be full time you need to be available AT LEAST five days a week and they prefer six. You are "on call" 24 hours a day. A work shift is defined as 12 hours, of which only 10 may be driving (a federal requirement), and during busy times they may ask you to extend your shift to 15 hours (but still no more than 10 hours driving in that time period). It can also be a lot like split shifts: you may get called for a 4-hour trip at 5am, return home at 9am and not get another call til 1pm for another 6 hours. And they will not call you for another trip if it is after 12 hours from when you started. Confused yet? So if your call was for 5am, dispatch will NOT call you after 5pm that same day for another trip. You also have to be firm in telling dispatch to put you on 8 hours (or 10 hours) rest and not let them wheedle you into exceeding hours of service (driving or duty--remember 10 hours driving, 12 hours duty). Speaking of hours, depending on the busyness of your terminal, you could be getting out a lot, or if its not busy you could be scraping for hours. My location is right in the middle tending toward the latter which can be a problem. But you have to decide if you will make yourself available for as many trips as you can get in the federally mandated 15 hours on duty. Some complain about working over 15 hours--if you don't speak up for yourself you have no one to blame but you. LEGALLY you are not supposed to work over 15 hours and YOU have to tell dispatch that when you are approaching 15 hours. Note that this is a problem endemic to all the rail crew transport companies--and it is worse at a really busy terminal, such as Alliance Nebraska, but not much a problem at someplace smaller such as West Quincy Illinois. But the bottom line it is all on YOU as a driver. Third: there is not a lot of room for promotion, most terminals have just a "lead driver" and the supervisor is usually over two or three terminals in your area. I understand it is fairly easy to get transferred from one terminal to another, but why would you go to that expense unless you had some assurance of a greatly increased workload? Fourth: almost everything depends on the terminal where you work. I am fortunate that my terminal has a good super and lead driver and good drivers. We don't get threatened, and everyone seems to be on the same page mostly with regard to the work. But I have met drivers who tell me horror stories about their terminals, being threatened by bosses and dispatch, and so on. So it's kind of a "buyer beware" point to consider.