CDL - A Driver

CDL-A Driver

Location: Millbury, MA (Worcester area), with regional runs across New England

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7am-3pm, plus occasional overnight coverage.

Compensation: $28-$34/hour

Why Join Downeast?

Most driving jobs make you choose between a good paycheck and a normal life. This one doesnt.

Home Every Night: Your runs are built around the lane between our Millbury warehouse and our East Boston cider house, with deliveries to our wholesalers around New England.

A Real Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7am-3pm. The only nights are occasional coverage when our overnight driver takes time off.

Mostly No-Touch Freight: About 90% of loads are dock-to-dock and palletized. Most days youre docking, undocking, and dropping and hooking, not unloading by hand.

Steady Hours: No shift cuts, ever. If loads are slow, youll run forklift in our warehouse for the rest of your shift, so your hours (and your paycheck) stay whole.

Well-Kept Equipment: Trucks are fully maintained and fueled through Penske. If something breaks, you make one call and Penske handles it.

Health & Financial Security: 401(k) with 4% company match, health & dental insurance, company-paid short-term disability, paid time off, paid holidays - confirm for hourly roles

The Fun Stuff: Company holiday parties and a generous cider allowance

The Mission

Our East Boston cider house runs on just-in-time manufacturing, so it only works if the right product and materials show up at the right time. As a CDL-A Driver, youll keep that moving: finished cider out to our offsite warehouse and our wholesalers, and raw materials from suppliers back in to keep the line running. Youll join a team of three drivers working in rotation and report to our Manager of Warehousing & Logistics.

What a Day Looks Like

You clock in, run your pre-trip, and grab your first load. Some days youre running the Millbury East Boston lane; other days youre delivering to a wholesaler in CT, RI or NH. Either way: dock, drop and hook, scan your shipments in our system, and head back out. You log your post-trip, fuel up, clear out the cab for the next driver, and go home. Same time tomorrow.

What Youll Do

Move Product Safely: Haul finished product and raw materials between our East Boston cider house, our Millbury warehouse, and local suppliers, and deliver finished product to our wholesalers in MA, CT, RI and NH.

Run the Yard: Drop and hook our three trailers at the offsite warehouse, and unload trailers at either warehouse when needed.

Own Your Truck: Complete pre- and post-trip inspections to DOT standards, keep the truck fueled, and call Penske for any repairs, in the lot or on the road. Youll share the truck with another driver, so youll leave the cab clean and ready.

Keep It Accurate: Know the DOT rules for hauling alcohol and for Hours of Service, keep your logs (ELD or paper) and timesheets accurate every day, and scan shipments in and out of our ERP system (PLEX). Well train you on PLEX.

Grow on the Floor: Get forklift certified with our in-house trainers, if you arent already, and help in the warehouse when the lane is quiet.

Who You Are

Safety-first. You dont skip pre-trips, and youve got the clean record to prove it.

Reliable. You show up on time, ready to go, and your teammates can count on you.

A team player. Youre happy to share a truck, a lane, and a rotation with two other drivers, and youll cover the occasional overnight when a teammate is out.

What You Need

Must be at least 21 years old (federal & state alcohol regulations).

Valid Class A CDL and a non-expired DOT medical card, and able to keep both current as DOT requirements change.

15+ months of CDL-A driving experience with 53 trailers, using paper logs or an ELD.

A clean MVR and no drug or alcohol violations in the past 10 years.

Able to pass a background check, a DOT pre-employment drug test, and a DOT physical.

Three professional references (required by our insurance).

Experience working with the DOT, including inspections and compliance.

Able to lift up to 50 lbs.

Bonus Points

Forklift experience or certification.

Experience at a beverage or food distributor (beer, wine, spirits, soda, or food delivery).

Comfortable with scanning or ERP systems.

Available for both day and night shifts.

Our Hiring Process

Its quick. 1) A short online Wonderlic assessment. 2) One onsite visit in Millbury for an interview with the hiring manager and a road test. After that, our team makes a decision, and offers depend on the background check, MVR, and DOT drug test and physical.

One More Thing

After you apply, well send you a short Wonderlic assessment. Everyone who applies takes it - its part of the process, not a trap. If youre going to complete it, apply. If youre not, this saves us both an email.

Dont check every single box? We value grit, hustle, and passion above all else. If this role speaks to you, apply with a one-page cover letter telling us why - no "to whom it may concern" required.

About Downeast Cider

We first started fermenting batches of cider up at Bates College in 2011. We have a few more teammates now. You can now buy our cider in tens of thousands of retailers, not just a couple of bars in central Maine. It takes us 15 minutes to make a pallet of cider, not the 12 hours it took in the early days. Were diversifying beyond cider, but our aim remains the same:

We aspire to be an enduring company. If we create value for our customers, we create value for ourselves through fulfilling work and robust compensation. To do this requires a world-class brand, and a world-class team.

We define our culture by seven principles. You can read more about those principles on our website.

Unfiltered Hiring

We like to hire the way we like our cider: unfiltered. With the understanding that we can learn and grow from each others differences, we are proud to hire regardless of gender, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, or anything else that makes us who we are.