Doubles and Triples Operational Standpoint

When I worked at Fedex the trailers would be sorted and loaded based on destination.
All freight catalogued in the system before sort time came around was loaded on trailers in order of destination.
Many times I'd pick up a set of doubles with trailer A going to Denver and trailer B going to Salt Lake. I would drop both in Denver, they would throw any other freight in Denver headed towards Salt Lake on trailer B and another driver would drive it the final leg, probably with another trailer headed for Oregon. And so on...it's a LOT to keep track of with as much freight as these LTL giants move.

As far as load capacity at Fedex the magic number was 25% (if I remember correctly)
They *wanted* all trailers to be filled to 25% capacity before they hit the road. However plenty of times they were barely even loaded; if a trailer was especially light or if there was a surge in freight they would consolidate the freight going to two or more destinations onto a single trailer, which honestly happens so much it's more normal than not. Doing this cuts into efficiency at sort times but adds to efficiency in transit times, a catch 22 of sorts.

Ideally every trailer would be fully loaded with all freight on each single trailer going to a single destination. Obviously that's impossible though.

It really is amazing the accuracy these huge companies like FedEx and UPS maintain when looking at the logistics of each shipment individually. The whole thing can make your head spin, and it's no wonder everyone in the offices are balding haha

 

One thing i don't get is for "niteliner" or out and turn runs----where the driver only goes to one terminal and then comes right back home, is why they use doubles rather than a '53?

It would seem much less work.

 

It’s not. Pups equal less rework. You pick up a 1/2 trailer for a customer in Chicago from California. You can load behind that load all the way to the terminal that’s delivering, without touching that freight.

 

A guy I talked to at Estes would take doubles a short distance from Phoenix to Mesa. He'd drop one, and run around with one, when it was empty, he'd do the other.
So many tight places, the 28s just made it practical.

 

Mike, here in the Northwest at least, using what we called "long vans" is a fairly recent move. When I was at Viking/FedEx Freight, the standard for many years was 28' pups for local delivery, and for good reason: many of the places we delivered to were so tight that pups were/are the only trailers you can get into them. We only started utilizing long vans about 10 years ago, and now it's a 50/50 mix. The reason being the newer industrial parks obviously being built to handle the volume of OTR carriers. Some examples of areas where pups are essential in my area are Nalley valley in Tacoma, some of the older parts of Auburn, WA, Puget Sound Naval Shipyards in Bremerton, WA, downtown Olympia, etc. Not to mention we also did a lot of rural residential deliveries where we were driving down customer's driveways that often weren't much more than your typical logging road, or worse.

 

On my route, a pup is pretty much mandatory. Small businesses, residentials on 1.3-lane dirt roads, places that were never built for anything more than a cargo van. Rumor is our yard is getting a 40' liftgate, and even that might not fit in some of the places I go.

 

I ran in the western Chicago burbs with a pup. I agree with Mack. Having the pup was great, but delivering hand freight in alleys and streets barely wide enough for cars (with cars parked on both sides) was no fun.

 

Depends where you are. I love my run; great customers, decent freight(usually), awesome scenery...it's a whole different world out west.

 

Depends on the area, I guess. I had a pretty cushy run, with "clean" freight (nicely cubed pallets for the most part, occasionally some hand-shaked freight, but nothing too painful for the most part). Lots of wholesalers, some manufaturers and construction sites, a few resi's here and there. The stops weren't bad, they were sometimes just in tight quarters.