FFE

I think you will find that the commute to your terminal wont be that bad. Most people have about an hour commute to their jobs they go to everyday. Monday-Friday that's 20 days a month, two hours of driving total round trip for 40 hours a month. You would be making the commute once a month depending. So 6 hours of driving one way = 12 hours of driving your car a month. It's a lot less than your average person even though they live a lot closer to where they work.

 

I am not that hard to keep happy. But I have not heard too much complaining from anyone on the FEE or KLLM side of the fence at all. Mostly any bickering I have overheard is just due to summer heat, road conditions, etc... nothing the company can really help... except their insistence of using Loves all the time! If I had it my way, Petro or TA... to hell with Loves. Give me a truck stop with a restaurant. I wanna sit down and have an omlette or a steak and potato dinner with the salad bar before I roll out... not while my clock is ticking.

That's about it for me. Otherwise it's been great so far. I can over look that Loves quirk. I get to load to my own trailer, get a decent workout. Keep my blood pumping.

 

My training was really short and pertaining to becoming a trainer. Literally a 10 minute talking to and handed a company formal training book which dictates daily what the trainee must master. when the time came. Otherwise as a full experienced driver coming from I guess at that time over 20 years work OTR and local, they dropped me into a solo truck and gave me a load. Adios. When the spouse graduated school I was routed to get her transported down to Lancaster from Arkansas at the house. (Which is really nice of them considering the bus etc) I was encourage to try and have her master everything in that book because Lancaster wanted her to become a female trainer in her own right. (That's a bit much considering how... **Hunts for words.. nooblet she was towards trucking besides my stories and her own travels as a Marine Sgt.) Her first year was essentially spent in the rockies, Donner, Eisenhower pass, lookout, Sheridan Wy that sort of thing on winter ice. I tried to make it easier on her by having Denver dispatch us to and fro on 287 to texas etc. But wyoming was her main ground. Eventually when we proved our value as a full team, we were dedicated to LA FFE to FFE Avenel for months, two round trips per week. I have never seen so much money in my life time from that little episode.

Yes FFE did offer training and will train those who are in need of it. During our road trip we had a tester who was very good, very professional hard core good trucker. But he was also theatrical and scary to the newbies. I did my part in the road test taking on the 35 E traffic in their face as directed but well. One road tester with me tried to show boat by backing in full speed in front of us with trailer. He was put on the bus and sent home within the hour.

Training the spouse is a very different kind of problem if you have ever been married you understand that sometimes if one spouse is angry at the other and has had enough nothing will be done for a while that day.

If the training handbook is any guide you probably will go out 9 to 12 weeks. Provided you master what the trainer is teaching you and making what you learned improved on you will do well and maybe be allowed to take the company's final test before being given a solo truck. Again, they handed me a truck on my 4th day and said adios. And gave me a new auto truck for team and training with 16 miles on the odo when the time came. (So I had to do some learning too.)

Anything that came up in which the spouse showed weakness or a situation that could go badly in a hurry, I tended to go to the rescue at that moment for our own good. I suppose it was in both of our interest not to complete a jackknife and fall into the median strip with the others while she is driving. Not if I can help it. So in some ways she was protected where possible from making common first year newbie preventable mistakes that normally became a dismissial, firing etc.

FFE was not the best company, but despite their flaws we made it work. It's unfortunate that the payroll did not take care of itself when we ran as hard as we did.

You will find the Highland Chicago location to be intense. You need to once out with your own truck, if dispatched under Chicago ST, you will need to be timely. Especially if you are in the area.

 

I don't think they have anything to hide. They have good equipment, I very rarely get yanked into weigh stations. I always get paid on time every Thursday. They said my avg check would be about 1500 in the dedicated plasma division and that has been what I've been paid. On a few occasions even pleasantly surprised, but never disappointed.

 

Most of the money seems to be with teaming. So if you are looking for 1000+ checks it might come with pairing up with another driver. That comes with an entire encyclopedia of challenges on its own. There's a reason they usually get paid more. If you are a loner like I am and you'd rather just venture out on your own in your own truck, understand your first year might not be quite so lucrative. Its easier, for sure. So decide your priorities and what's important for you. Me, I decided to team anyway because I have lived my whole life with financial difficulty and I decided I needed a year or two of good income to catch up and save/invest... so for the time being, I putting up with having another person in my truck.

Not to say he's not a good guy, he is... it's just I would rather be alone... always.

 

Yeah, its definitely worth thinking about for sure. You need patience and an ability to give and take when it comes to teaming. If you don't think you have the patience, its fine, just go solo.

As far as I know, you can switch back to solo driving whenever you say you are done teaming. If they don't honor your request, you have your CDL in hand and you can easily switch companies. It probably wouldn't come to that, though.

Also you can request to team with someone you meet in drivers school you decide you like. You can also ask for a different codriver if you decide you aren't working out with the one you are with. You aren't condemned to any one person.