Do Fedex Freight road drivers work the dock?

Yes. Linehaul bids under 400 miles round trip are required to work the dock. Even if your bid is 398 miles, you will be expected on the dock.

With regard to being on the city board, you will work the dock also. Occasionally you'll be forced on the dock when you return if everyone above you said they were all set, and then occasionally/often working the dock or not will determine whether you had a full 8 hour day or not. Also, times where you show up for your 0900 start time, you'll get in to discover your trailer isn't ready, and they'll tell you to hit the dock.

 

If you want a city spot, this might be a good means to get your foot in the door. Once the position opens up, you can put in for an internal transfer and switch classes. I would however ask them the probability of this happening, and an estimated time frame. When I was offered a position at FXF doin linehaul it was gonna be heavy dock work. Like drive 15 miles, work the dock all night and drive back. I asked how long they estimated I would be on this run before I could bid off, I was told a minimum of 4 years. Well I wasn’t all that excited to get back into the LTL world anyway, so I politely declined. Point is ask the questions you need answered, in my experience they were nothing but upfront with me. They’d rather it be the right fit for both parties, then you realize it blows and quit in a few months and they have to start all over. Good luck in whatever you decide!

 

You aren’t going anywhere near 14 hours as a city driver on any regular basis. With O/T paid after 8 hours, the company is very good at keeping you as close to 8 hours as possible.

 

I recall you mentioning in another thread that you’re in the Atlanta area, and if that’s the case you will definitely be doing a lot of dock work. Especially when you consider the fact that we’re slammed with freight right now. However, 14 hours a day seems unlikely for a number of reasons.
1. They can’t force you to come in before the show up time for your run to work the outbound dock.
2. The hub won’t hold you on the dock until you have barely enough time to make it back because your terminal is waiting on you to arrive with freight that needs to go out into the city.
3. It’s unlikely that they will have you work the inbound dock when you get back since there will be city drivers who can do it if necessary when their route isn’t loaded yet.
4. Our policies have language that allows for you to be worked on the dock to “complete a 12 hour day” but I would look at that as your worst case scenario.

A word of caution about going into this thinking you can eventually transfer to the city to get a day schedule...make sure your terminal actually has new city drivers start off in the morning. It’s not uncommon to have drivers start mid-late afternoon and do a mix of swaps/dock work/short road runs.