The New FFE Driver Academey

Just a word of advice to you guys coming in , if you want LTL make sure that is on your contract when you sign it , If kllm gets you on truckload your going to stay there . As far as I know every Terminal is needing drivers right now especially Chicago (bridgeview ) and Burlington . Ontario might be a little harder to get on with , Stockton is short of drivers ---- I worked truckload for a year and a half before the merger and it was really good but what I hear from my friends that stayed on truckload after the merger it isn't as good --- most have ended up going elsewhere ---- I have been on the LTL side since the merger and for the most part it goes good .. I am an owner/op so the pay is a little different but I am going to net about 75000 this year and a have a side biz during the summer so I am not running as hard as I could because I need to be home 5 nights a week . if I ran hard I could easily do over 100,000 and still get more hometime than truckload . LtL is a little harder than truckload because you have to get the stops off and it takes a bit before the planners get to trust you enough before they put on you what I get , but even the idiots are making over 40,000 as company drivers and the guys that hustle easily get over 60,000. I have not met a single driver that has moved over from truckload since the merger and far as I know they wont move you once you are on truckload , so if your thinking about Ltl get it before you sign up even if you have to go on the roving board till something opens up out of the terminal you want . Make sure you get on with an LTl trainer also ,then you can allways go to truckload if you want . And if you want to do truckload get a truckload trainer or you will not have any idea what is going on when you upgrade . LTL hometime varies a lot on where you live , I am home almost every night but I live in Ohio and kind of made my own little niche which you can do after you prove yourself --- I have never had to bring anything back that I was supposed to deliver so the planners trust me and if I would have something that I don't think I can do I tell them before I take it out. sounds easy but you would not believe how many people cant seem to get it done

 

There really is a point to this post, but I need to go to the beginning to make it. I'm posting in this thread because I went through the academy, and some readers might be interested to see what has happened to one of the academy's graduates.

When I signed up with FFE, my major goal was to complete my year and not owe anything for the training. I also wanted to make a little money, get a car, and then look for another job in the IT industry. After driving for a few months, I realized that I enjoyed driving and I wanted to become a lease operator. Back then, you had to wait 6 months before FFE would allow you to lease. At exactly the 6 month mark I was in the L/O orientation. Once I realized that I was going to start leasing, my new goal was to find a truck with the most payments left on it so I could make sure I would have enough time to save enough money to buy it once the lease was up. Back then, the FFE lease was for three years and you would owe about $40,000 for the truck at the end of the lease. You could turn it in and get a new truck, or you could pay the $40K and own it. I had always planned on owning the truck and doing whatever it took to make that happen.

As a L/O my pay, for the most part, doubled - and I really did not work too hard. I didn't go home very often; I took time off while I was on the road when I needed to. I never stressed about getting miles because I knew there would be good weeks and bad weeks.

After leasing for a few months, I realized that I wanted to be a trainer and I wanted to move from TL to LTL linehaul. I started asking around and made preliminary plans to apply to be a trainer. Then they announced the merger, and those plans were put on hold. Because nobody told me I had any other options, I terminated my lease with FFE and signed on with KLLM. I kept my truck and received the sign-on bonus, so it was a pretty good deal.

My first few months with KLLM were less than pleasant. If you look at some of my old posts in the various threads, you can see that there were several times when I was not happy with them at all. Eventually, things started to "normalize", and I started to ask what it would take to go back to FFE LTL.

In March, I became a trainer and started asking about switching back to FFE. I was told that they were not ready to let L/O's switch. Company drivers could do it, but there were issues moving the equipment back and forth between companies, so I was told to wait. I became a trainer on the KLLM TL side, and things were going surprisingly well. I proved that the issues I had during my own training were NOT due to me; my trainers were just ********.

On Friday, May 16th, I was in Lancaster and talked to T.S. (the VP of FFE LTL). I explained that I had always wanted to train and be on the FFE LTL linehaul side, but the merger delayed those plans. He said that he would have to get approval for me to move back, but he thought he could make it happen. Two days later I was rear-ended by another truck, and I have not worked since. Later that day, without knowing about the accident, they approved my request to switch companies.

My truck was finally repaired last week, but I'm not ready. I'm basically in limbo, and decisions are going to have to be made soon as to what I'm going to do.

So, what's my point in all this? LOL. 1. Make all the plans you want. Fate, Karma, destiny, you name it, will do whatever they #### well please when they please - but you still need to set goals and make plans. 2. If KLLM gets their hands on you, it's not easy to go to FFE. Yes, it can be done, but there is an approval process and you might not be able to keep your truck. You might have to give up your current truck and sign another lease for a FFE truck. This is because they are trying to keep assets separate. 3. This is the most important point. Ask your recruiter what options are available to you based on where you live. If you live near an LTL terminal, try to go LTL. If that doesn't work, try to go on to Tyson dedicated. The Tyson dedicated drivers get paid loaded miles even when they are empty, and, during orientation, they get to pick their truck before everyone else does. They also have separate planners and DM's.

It kills me to see that the LTL terminals need drivers. I really want to go back to driving. A few days ago I drove to the Freightliner body shop to check on my truck, and when I got into the driver seat I wanted to just hook up to a trailer and go anywhere. It didn't matter where I went, I just wanted to drive, but my neck and back told me, "Hell no you don't!" When I think about it, it's just crazy. I set goals and I finally made them happen. I was going to train and run LTL linehaul for about 2 1/2 more years until my truck was paid for. Then I would run it for about 6 more months and then sell the truck. At that point I would decide if I wanted to lease another truck, buy my own, or leave trucking completely.

My final point is that there are lots of opportunities, and lots of money to be made with KLLM and FFE. I started out just like everyone else did at the academy. I saw that there were opportunities, set goals, and just took everything one day at a time. Things were finally falling into place, and they can for you too if you want it to happen.

For those who don't know, trainers get paid for all of the miles that their student drives. You should also know that it's really hard work. I constantly hear stories about trainers who get new students, hand them the keys, and then tell them to drive. That amazes me. It took me two weeks to start trusting a student to the point where I could go back to the sleeper for any length of time. The money is there, though. If you figure that the first two weeks you will get normal miles for a single driver, then 1.5 times the miles for weeks 3 and 4, and then 2 times the miles for week 5 and 6, you can easily make low to mid 6 figures each year. That's not BS. I have the settlements to prove it, and that was just KLLM TL. I believe that FFE LTL linehaul would have offered me more miles, not to mention it's terminal to terminal and drop and hook.

Remember this when you start driving as a company driver and your paychecks are $300 or less. It won't always be that way. Everyone has to start small. If you pick up and deliver your loads on time, watch the temps, and drive safely, in less than two years you can be earning over 100K if you want it.

 

Roadrunner, man, sorry to hear what happened to you. I hope everything works out for you.

 

..buckeye: great advice, I live about 60mi from Stockton terminal. Recruiter said they need drivers there, so hopefully I will be able to get on. Do we get an option to choose if we want a TL or LTL trainers?

roadrunner: hope to see u back on the road soon.

can anyone tell me if we need hazmat to work for FFE?

 

Not for ffe, but for kllm you need hazmat. I am with ffe and I have hazmat. Never know when you might use it. So it doesn't hurt to have it

 

actually pt they will try to get you a local trainer that works out of Stockton if there is one available, which would work out ideal for you as you would learn all the ins and outs of a lot of the stops . there are a lot more trainers that work ltl so if you are ltl you will get a ltl trainer more than likely. the big problem that I see is for the students that are going to be truckload getting on with a ltl trainer . especially a line haul driver ( no offense roadrunner lol) they may teach you to drive but they cant help you with the other things you need to know . a linehaul driver drives from terminal and all drop and hook they may drive 6000 miles a week but only 25 miles of that would be off the interstate . no real city driving , no backroads no deliveries no pickups no lumper checks and not the scheduling and trip planning needed by a truckload driver or an ltl freight peddler plus peoplenet instead of qualcom . no dealings at all with customers and not much backing and no hard backing like some of the places you will be expected to get into . you either pick this up on your own after you upgrade or you fail . maybe that's why you only made $300 a week after you upgraded roadrunner at least you were smart enough to pick up on the things you need to know and made it , but a lot of people need to be shown how and linehaul driving isn't going to help you as a student , but as a trainer it is by far the way to make the most money . I was making around 800 a week as a company driver from day 1 but then I did drive for 2 years before ffe so that helped a lot . you cannot pick your trainer but you should ask for one that is doing what you will be doing that just is common sense. well hope you get back soon roadrunner

 

"Not much backing and no hard backing like some of the places you will be expected to get into".

For me, the worst places I ever went to was Garden State Sausage in New Jersey. That place is the true definition of a clusterfk.

 

I was a trainer at FFE. Started as a TL trainer, then after the merger I was forced LTL. Buckeye you are pretty close to spot on. The only time my students would back is at terminals and when I set aside time during runs. They got some good backing in at some if the terminals because the next load was late 98% of the time. Would sit anywhere from 4 hours to 23.5 hours (just short of getting detention). The hardest terminal to back in has to be Denver on the front side of the building. Had to back a trailer in between 2 others and my student did his best to hit both many times. In the end I did it because it was hopeless, we were blocking traffic and he was getting frustrated past the point of return. Took me about 15 pull-ups to get it in the hole.
I do miss Kandi a bit. Brian P on the other hand...

 

No offense taken. Everything you said was 100 percent true.

Before I left, I was still a TL trainer for KLLM, so I never got to the LTL side. I knew of all of the problems you mentioned and had taken steps to make sure I would train my students to be able to handle the TL side as best as possible. I had pictures and videos of me using the Qualcomm that I would train with during down time. I would do everything I could to drive in the city and in traffic. I would try to get some local terminal work if it was available, at least at first, so my student could deal with different customers. I knew that I might not make money the first week or two, but I would make it up towards the end of training. That being said, I was never able to test out my theory.

Bottom line is that if you know you are going to KLLM TL, try to get a TL trainer out of Jackson. If you are going LTL, try to get a trainer from your home terminal.

Today I got the call that they want the truck back. I knew it was going to happen so I was ready. Whoever (whomever?) gets my truck is going to inherit two new Michelin drive tires with Centramatics. Since KLLM gives "virgin tires" to new L/O's, they might take the tires off of my truck and put them on a company truck since they are not technically brand new.

The funny thing, and I really do mean funny, is that if I am out for more than 6 months and go back to driving, I'm gonna have to go back to the academy for the refresher course. If that happens, I will be sure to post about my experience in this thread. LOL. Hopefully the sequel is as good or better than the original.

 

that's kinda funny in a way roadrunner you may have to go back to academy roadrunner ----- would have to be a lot easier right lol ----- maybe they would let you train yourself lol ----- get an extra logbook and $450 a week lol ---- explaining all that at a dot inspection priceless lol ---- Ltl has its faults allright and most of the terminals will be your worst stops as far as waiting times go , I also was switched over from truckload after the merger --- except they never told me . they gave me linehauls and a couple of peddle runs out of Burlington for around a month and 1 sunday I called bill lee to see what he had and he told me that I was on LtL and he wasn't allowed to give me any loads or even talk to me --- it worked out for the best but they might have mentioned it too me or perhaps ask lol . I have been on it for over a year now and still don't have it all figured out but what I do know is that the planners/dispatchers are only concerned about there own area and don't really have the time to deal with much else anyways --- I still don't know who is in charge of the whole thing if anybody is lol . well for example if I pick up in ohio going to bridgeview and have some room on my trailer , I call the Indiana planner and say I have room for 8 pallets and see if she has anything for me and more often than not she will --- same thing on a Minnesota and Wisconsin . this spring I picked up in eastern Wyoming and it was 2 pallets going to Atlanta . So Wyoming is handled by Salt Lake so they told me to bring it to Salt Lake --500 miles in the wrong direction but Salt lake is only concearned about Salt Lake so That's normal for FFE lol . So I called Nebraska planner and he had two pickups for me and routed me to KC where I got a load to bridgeview and made a lot more $$$ . and if I pick something up that is local and I can find away to deliver it myself I do . We have a quite a few sams club to sams club and coldstorage to local customers stuff like that and the official plan is to pick it up take it to a terminal and then they plan it out of there . but a lot of them you drive right by on the way back to the terminal anyways so if I have the time to do it I give them a call to see if they will take it . That's all hustling money lol theres more to this game than driving lol . last week was real good for me I worked 5 days only had 1487 miles was home every night .... and my net pay was 2376.54 ---- that's mostly stop pay and less than 100 miles deadhead and all loaded miles were at $1.40 instead of the .93 ---- all trips under 250 miles and never was more than 125 miles from my house --- and that starts with having good relations with the planners ----- get anybody mad at you in the company you want except always stay on good terms with the planners ----- I wish I could make that much $ every week lol but I still have three times as many settlements over 2000 than under 1000 --- so you guys just starting out learn how to work smarter not harder