FFE Class of August 15, 2011

It's great to hear from someone on the "inside," FFETrainerHastings. Part of my "pick an employer" work is to look at the public records available on the CSA site and FFE's are not good. Here they are:

FFE (1,763 Power Units)

On-Road Investigation:

Unsafe Driving 50.2%
Fatigued Driving (Hours of Service) 63.6%
Driver Fitness 85.4%
Controlled Substances and Alcohol 68.7%
Vehicle Maintenance 70.8%

High numbers are NOT good--low ones are. Honestly, while what you say about class and training sound good, it appears the company doesn't hold their drivers to high standards while on the road. Those are scary high numbers. Yes, it is up to the driver to be compliant with the duty limitations, drive with a valid CDL and physical exam, and not to use drugs or alcohol on the road (why is this even an issue anymore?), and there are rogue employees in every industry, but that many? And it appears that vehicle maintenance is not a high priority. That is just plain dangerous.

I would love to hear your side (and I would REALLY love an FFE manager to chime in) because their school pay and mileage is very attractive. But I don't want to have to pull into every weigh station in America and get stopped by every police officer merely because DOT has two interventions on FFE and I am driving one of their trucks.

 

in regard to Denalidad's observation on FFE safety issues, I agree the numbers are sobering. I worked for a long time in a similar environment (west coast logging) and in the woods, the issue of safety has historically been of huge concern (lots of widows and orphans). No matter what government or industry does to address the issue of safety, it still boils down to the individual and as far as I'm concerned, that's good news because it means I'm responsible for my own safety. Of course, there's an inherent risk in getting up every morning, but I as an individual, no matter what I'm doing have the choice of working safe. Yeah, maybe I'll get fired for being safe, but at the end of the day I'll still be alive. I haven't started driving yet, but having gotten my CDL, I'm already driving my four wheeler way differently (read: safer) than I did before I decided to drive for a living. I wonder if all drivers commercial or not, wouldn't benefit from a greater awareness of the implications of operating a motor vehicle. Read "gravedigr's" post of 06/30/11 re the multiple fatality near Phoenix http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...inally-otr-with-my-trainer-5.html#post2023422

I don't need to hear/see too many stories like the one above to remind me to "be present and with both hands on the wheel". Maybe as I get older I have a keener appreciation for living.........I sure don't want to be the cause of calamity and disaster because of preventable, (read stupid) s*#%! Y'all be safe out there.

 

WOW, look at those numbers! That's not good. No wonder they opened their own CDL Sponsored School...It would seem that they need those drivers!

 

What companies have good scores?

 

well i wont be attending class tomorrow because i was in the greyhound bus accident that happened on saturday.. something told me to fly..

 

is ffe running e-logs yet?????????????

 

Hello sir, I think you had a favor done for you. First, FFE has terminals in Downey, CA, Lancaster TX, SLC UT, Bridgeport, IL (Chicago), Avenal NJ and Lithonia GA, Dundee FL and have a total of 14 places listed.

Second, have you ever done LTL (less than truckload)? FFE does a lot of this, and when I was with the company, they almost never had any LTL trip set up right, and almost always it had to be rescheduled again and again. I don't know if they still have you do the lumping (unloading, downstacking) but when I was there, they were trying to force drivers to do this to save them lumper fees. Of course, for every order on that trailer, they get a fuel surcharge for each mile driven for each order, so LTL is big payday for the company, not the drivers.

For owner ops, FFE is an excruciating nightmare. The dispatch will say the loads on your trip will pay X amount, and then for up to one year after you deliver the loads, the FFE accounts persons will come back with back charges, in other words, they will tell you that they were wrong on the amount the shipper was going to pay, and now have to take back some of the money that you were paid. You, on the other hand, have to get in the paperwork in 30 days, or you get paid nothing. You have to stay on top of them as they will take many times money from your maintenance accounts and you only find out when the account is less than what is or was the day before.

Owner ops have been run off from the company, they have service failures left and right, and generally, not a good experience. The academy in Pine Bluff is a good one, and the trainers for the most part decent. That said, it is good to start with, but not to stay. The board and original owner's family Stubbs get a 10K training break for each student, and they are not about to change their ways with the money rolling into their pockets. Their CSA scores are bad, and they are on Elogs now as they are in the radar sights of the DOT for log and other issues. The DOT number is 109745, and you can go to the CSA web site for the Safety Measurement Systems results at this location http://www.askthetrucker.com/csa-2010-basic-scores-for-motor-carriers-and-truck-drivers/

All in all, FFE is just another Satan truck company, but with the LTL and the other considerations, their shops not open often when you get in, no empty trailers to be had anywhere nearby, even in Dallas at times, and a lot of other issues, be advised if you can put up with it for the 9 months of indentured servitude, it is an "OK" place to start, but so is Stevens. Stay as far away from Werner as you can, as it is the most messed up of all.

 

"Greyhound accident"? how did that go down? were you injured?

 

Instead of copy/pasting a bunch of numbers here, you can find the public CSA information about any company by going to http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/ All you need to know is the DOT number which you can find with just a bit of googling. It's easy and you SHOULD know before you go!

 

Of course the individual is responsible for the operation of his equipment--always has been, always will be. But there are other responsibilities, too.

As one with 27 years experience in a federal safety-related, regulatory compliance agency, I can tell you that having a safety culture is the company's job. Without it, there is no way to identify or prevent the kind of individual failures that allow a driver to drink on duty while driving a non-compliant rig with a medical card that is expired. FFE apparently does not have a strong safety culture.

And all of that will result in every FFE truck being passed through the scales and/or pulled over for a roadside inspection by a police officer.