ATTENTION Fed ex ground contractors fleet owners

Funny how people like to bash fedex ground and are clueless on what goes on. Every thread I read someone always assumes we get ran hard or have to drive thru bad weather lol
I think it's the contractors that lie to their drivers or drivers that lie to their new teammates just cause they want to get somewhere faster .
I've met a lot of sorry ### contractors here.

Driver pay runs between .38 cpm to .62 cpm team split. Depending on the contractor.

Or 40 to 52 cpm solo. I've never met a solo over .52cpm but I may be wrong.

I make .24 cpm team or 48 solo. Get bonus for going 4500 miles, 5000 and 6000. Miles. Get 200 monthly bonus for safety and fuel bonus, Christmas bonus, one weeks paid vacation, and weekly medical allowance. So not bad.

 

Current ground contract pays 1.77/mile plus FSC. FSC based on 1.25/gal at 6.5mpg. There are good contractors to work for. We make 54cpm team. Vacation, health, dental, vision, retirement. I work for a good guy.

False: forced to run in bad weather. False: all unsafe drivers. 6%. Many long time drivers without a scratch on their records.
False: contractors can hire whoever they want. FXG must vett them.
False: forced to run fast. Planned at 55mph. That is adjusted for delays due to weather etc en route.
False: contractors are fined for not running/ service failure. They lose "route points" not cash. Route points are used to "buy" another route. Nothing else.

Sheesh. So many misconceptions fueling so many driver opinions.

Peace.

 

To become a contractor, you must have a minimum of 2 trucks. They must pass FedEx standards and a FedEx inspection (this inspection is also done quarterly). You also must have your contract approved before you can start. Getting in the door requires 2 tractors, 4 drivers. You'll start out OTR running teams, terminal to terminal hauling doubles. Once you establish yourself you can bid on solo dedicated day routes, dedicated team runs, and solo dedicated night routes. You must also run electronic logs. Days are Tuesday through Saturdays to start. Various dedicated routes might have different days and time frames.

then I don't think you have any place coming in this thread and running your mouth about things you KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT. All you have is opinions based off hearsay. No factual firsthand experience.

agreed. I have Sundays and Mondays off, make $0.42 cpm, solo dedicated route and I run 2830 miles per week. I am home every night, sleep in my bed every night and my paychecks are pretty nice.

My job is stress free, the dispatchers in Linehaul are easy to get along with, and I have a system in place for hooking up my dolly and doubles, and I never deviate from it. I always triple check everything too.

I saw our CSA score a few weeks ago when I was at the Laramie weigh station, it was 38 and in the green, they flagged the guy behind me for a Level 1 inspection and said he was flagged randomly because of his company's CSA score, and they let me go because they said our CSA was pretty good.

FedEx doesn't "push us to run". They give us a load, they give us a reasonable window to get the load delivered in, same as with any company. Usually they give us 3-5 hours EXTRA on top of what it takes for regional runs, and an extra 8-12 hours on top of what it usually takes for an OTR run. We still have to follow the HOS and we all have to run electronic logs. Paper logs are only allowed if your Electronic Log is inoperable due to malfunction.

For instance, I leave out of Henderson usually about 8 am for Wamsutter. I have until 5-7 pm (twilight) to get there. It usually only takes me till about 1 pm to get there. But they include that extra time to allow for accidents, mechanical issues, driver getting sick, etc. I have never once had Denver Linehaul call me and pester me about what time am I going to get there or ask why I stopped (if I stopped for a bathroom break or to take a picture, or just to get out and walk around and stretch my legs).

When I was running team, say we went from Denver to St. Peters, MO (just west of St. Louis). We usually had 24 hours to get there. But it usually only took us 13-14 hours to get there. They give very reasonable window times to get to your destination. The runs all leave out at the same time every day or every other day (depending on whether it's regional or OTR).

No one gets "fined". There's a system in place, if you are late or fail to make a delivery because you were screwing around, you overslept on your break, etc...it's called a service violation and costs the contractor some points with FedEx, and you get a warning from your contractor.

If the tractor breaks down, it's a service violation to the contractor.

If the trailers have issues, it's not a service violation to the contractor or the driver.

If road conditions, construction or inclement weather cause a delay, all you have to do is notify Linehaul and then your contractor, and you just covered your butt and it's not a service violation that is chargeable to the driver or contractor.

Get too many service violations/points, and FedEx can take a route from you, or they can cancel your entire contract altogether.

But they do have time frames because freight needs to get where it needs to go at a certain time because they have paying customers who pay for overnight delivery, 2 day delivery, 3 day, etc. But all are pretty reasonable.

They also take safety pretty seriously here despite what you or anyone else thinks.

In the yard, you MUST have your safety chains on your dolly connected to your tractor. The rule at the Henderson terminal is at least 1 safety chain, but they encourage both. (Chicago you must have both) I always do both. If you fail to hook up at least 1 safety chain on your dolly while pulling it around the yard, it's automatic termination, dq'd for 3 years.

There's also 4 different types of dollies. If you don't have it properly connected (kingpin isn't locked in and the release handle isn't in the proper position), pindle isn't down and safety chains aren't on when you go to the inspection line, that's considered an incident. get 2 incidents it's automatic termination and you're disqualified for 3 years.

They check all of that every time you leave with trailers. You have to get in line and get inspected. Lights, brakes, check for airleaks, check for nails in tires, proper inflation, dolly release handle in proper position, kingpin locked in, safety chains on, pindle down and secured. If you missed one of the 4 major safety things (pindle, release handle position, kingpin, safety chains)...it's an incident.

Forget to make sure your pindle is down/closed, that's an incident. Forget to put both chains on when you're all hooked up to your doubles, and it's automatic termination, dq'd for 3 years.

You drop a trailer...automatic termination, dq'd for 3 years.

You have any type of accident...small, medium, or big...automatic termination, dq'd for 3 years.

Sure some of these knuckleheads that you see in a ditch didn't have much experience (maybe 6 mos or a year), never hauled doubles before and weren't as cautious as they should have been. Mostly likely most are going too fast and/or playing on their friggin' cellphones and not paying attention. But this happens with most EVERY mega. Schneider, Werner, Swift, Knight, Old Dominion, Conway, they're all in the ditches too, but that doesnt make FedEx Ground a bad company anymore than it makes any of the others bad. Every company has bad drivers.

In 2014, Werner had 42 rollovers in the calendar year.

The contractor I work for...everyone except me has been there for several years. Not a single incident or at fault accident among us. I'm the rookie FedEx driver among them (not a rookie truck driver though as I have 20 months of experience, but this is my first year with FedEx Ground) but I'm pretty cautious. We had 65 mph winds the other day on I-80, and instead I went US-30, added 35 minutes to my day, but way less windy and I made it just fine.

I also have the benefit of having run I-80 in the winter with my trainer and running some Budweiser loads with Werner when I had to help fill in at the Ft. Collins plant because they were short staffed (usually I ran out of St. Louis), so I know what Wyoming winters are like and I'm fully prepared and ready to safely run I-80 this winter with doubles. Slowing down and taking your time is the biggest key to keeping doubles out of the ditch.

 

get a white vinyl wrap done on your truck.

 

How much for a white vinyl wrap. We talk to a contact w fed ex n they didn't say u had to have 2 trucks. They said we would have 90 days to paint truck white. 2.00 a mile for solo 4.00 a mile for team. But it's hard to believe that considering today's market.

 

Ground doesn't push you to drive in bad conditions as many have said. Many terminals will even lock you in the yard and not let you leave until conditions improve.
However I'm currently stuck at this ####-hole Lenexa terminal. For an LTL team to be waiting 14 hours is ridiculous. So far this is really my only bad experience with Fedex Ground. Talking to other drivers and it seems to be the norm at this terminal. Wouldn't bid on any routes that have to deal with this place.

 

soo many driver opinions?

okay... here's the question of the day.
In you guys driving careers which has occurred more often.

Prime truck passing you
or
You passing a Fedrex truck

?

 

My truck runs wide open so I don't often get passed by anyone but I will say coming across Colorado in high winds with snow drifts blowing across the road. I slowed the truck down to about 55 and distinctively remember being passed by a prime truck.
Must've been the highlight of his life getting around a FedEx truck lol

 

Can someone give me an idea on the base rate per mile. For a contractor. Also how do u get loads n reloads. I got some info from a local office today but would like to hear from an actual current contractor r even a driver that knows the contractor side. Please let me know as I'm wanting to make a move in a week r so.

 

Prime guys have passed us at every job I've driven. Along with just about everyone else. I run for money, not a checkered flag. Work less, stress my equipment less, and giggle all the way to the bank.