First express????

talked with a few of their drivers running dedicated out of cleveland tn and they said they will run you hard and illegal if you let them

 

Do they run red tractors and grey trailers?

 

If you like a company that tells you at orientation that if you don't give a two weeks notice that they will pay you minimum wage for your driving hours, they're a great company. If you like pulling local loads in the morning until noon then are told to wait until midnight to get a load going nearly 600 miles and it has to be there by 9AM, they're a great company. If you like a company who gives you basically door-to-door routing and fuel stops, they're a great company. If you like 1600-1900 miles a week, they're a great company.

 

they hired me back in nov. then b 4 orientation said i needed a letter from my cardiologist, went to dr in 1st week of dec. and was just told today 01/21/10 that everything looked good BUT, they cant hire in my area at this time due to freight.

 

There in with averitt and first fleet

 

do they have a rider program

 

These replies are all pretty dated I think. So I thought I'd give an inside driver's report and make a couple corrections.

They do in fact run hard. They do NOT run illegal. They're on Qualcomm electronic logs so toss that out the window. There's a term every driver should know -- utilization. If you get to the end of your week and still have more than a few hours left, you were under utilized -- meaning you finished the week leaving money on the table. Don't forget we get paid by the mile! My paycheck this week had about 3,000 miles on it. Average for me has been closer to 2500. But I always shoot for 3,000. Sure there's time on every load to stop and fill the thermos, pig out at the TA Buffet and show off your butt crack while you buff all your chrome. But that doesn't put money in my pocket. I work hard during the week so I can play hard during the weekend. I stop at truck stops for fuel and showers. I bring my own food from home and maybe catch one or two meals at a Pilot Subway during the week. I'd prefer to shut down in rest areas or scales because you can get in and out quickly, and I always hit the road at 10 hrs to the minute night or day. The sooner I deliver the current load, the sooner I get the next one. More loads is more miles is more money! So I choose to run hard and get paid well for it. Plus operations take notice of work ethic and are quicker to assign more miles to me than the guy that wants to stop every two hours to play the pinball machines.

There are no more Petes in the fleet. It's a pretty even mix of KW, Volvo and International ProStar. I have a ProStar with a Cummins ISX. It's a beast. It chugs right up mountains on cruise control and has no problem holding back all 80,000lbs going down with the jake. All trucks are set at 65 (so you pass a lot of the "big boys"). All trucks have APUs with 1800 watt power inverters and four power sockets. I even have an electronic sliding fifth wheel and power jaw release. Drop trailers like the yard dogs! All new trailers (6 series) have push button release on the tandems. Regular pull levers on the 5 series. Trailers aren't kept more than a few years so they're all in pretty good shape. They have logistic strap posts every 2' inside and provide a grab barrel for all the straps you'll ever need. No load lock bars!

As for a 600-mile run from midnight to 9am, it would never happen on electronic logs unless you pick up in central and deliver in eastern with no stops. But if you shut down at noon and don't move again until midnight, you're just wasting time.

As for routing, every company on Qualcomm provides a route suggestion and fuel optimizer. If you know a faster, shorter way, just call dispatch. They'll pull it up and verify. If you're right they'll change the route. Just be sure you're not heading for a low clearance or truck restrictions when you want to go off route. Most of the guys that think they know a better way find themselves making u-turns. Fuel optimization is critical for profitable companies. Why does it matter to you where you fuel? It's their truck and their fuel and the profitability of the company is your job security. Their primary fuel solution is the Pilot network as its the biggest network with the most locations. Benefit to the driver is you get lots of frequent fielder points, free showers and bonuses. Pilot put $15 cash on my card this week hitting 500 gallons this month. That's cash in my pocket for fuel my company pays for! So fuel stops aren't a issue for me. Not sure why they would be for anyone.

There's no way a driver is going to average 1600-1900 miles a week and last long. First Express pays a guaranteed weekly salary that breaks even at about 2200 miles depending on your endorsements. So if that's all the miles you're running they're losing money on you, and you're either lazy or running inefficiently. That won't last long. When my father died, they moved mountains to get me home, told me to take as long as I needed there. I missed several days that week and new my paycheck would suffer but family is always first in my book. When I came back to work the next week, the first run they gave me was about 2400 miles to Houston and back with multi-stop pay. Not only did they get me home quickly, but made sure I had good long miles to get back on track. Both the VP and Director of Operations shook my hand and expressed their condolences for my family. Meant a lot to me that they took the time to talk to me.

There is a partnership between the owners of Averitt and First Express. It a partnership only on the books and not in any operational capacity. So there's no involvement from Averitt and you won't be pulling any loads for Averitt. We do have access to their terminals, and some are used as drop locations. Some terminals are assigned as your home terminal for parking the truck over the weekend. The Atlanta terminal is really nice and is easy to get in and out. I've seen one or two First Fleet trailers and don't know what the connection is there, but whatever it is, it must be pretty minimal.

There is no rider or pet program. There is only one bed in truck, which I like because it provides more headroom and means you get the back wall wardrobe in the ProStar. It also means no team driving, so when it's time to sleep, you're not bouncing down the road in your bunk wondering if your partner is as alert as he says he is. Unfortunately they do allow smoking, but I asked for a non-smoking truck since I have asthma and they had no problem giving me one.

Can't think of anything else at the moment and that covers all the questions above. Be happy to answer any others. I love my job, love my company, love my weekly paycheck, and definitely love being home every weekend.

 

Wow, what more can you say