FedEx Freight Diary (ala Russian Rabbit)

In all fairness, they were economy trailers with less than 2 or 3k on them.

As far as swinging freight in a dark center on a 496 mile double turn, nope... I’d call central and adjust the run to have empties.

 

Well, this chapter of my life closed 30 minutes ago. This week was pretty good, minus the snow storm in the beginning of the week.. Two double turns with an additional via on the backsides for over 500 miles each with 5 drop and hooks, and got to bump up to my absolute favorite run in the barn... North Newark with a via on the backend as well. 2038 miles with 14 drops and 15 hooks (I didn't add a drop because one of them I came back with 2 minutes left on my 14, parked the set and management had a city driver put away the trailers)

Some nerd stats about my time running linehaul for FedEx Freight this year.

• 51 weeks, total miles: 92,913
• 530 drops, 534 hooks
• 46 hours of delay pay
• $0.98 CPM for all miles driven averaged amongst all tasks, bonuses, etc.
• Average gross check: $1756.26

It was a good run, I'm glad I got to do it, now on to different things. I'm curious to see how my vacation payout goes down.

 

• "Pull the trigger", leave on good terms and if it doesn't work out you have the option of returning if you want.
• I've come to look at the "paying your dues" and "doing time on the bottom" as a chicken$hit excuse to overhire and provide the company a buffer for sudden increases in workload while at the same time starving people on the bottom of the list. If I'm hired full time, I expect a full time work schedule.
• FedEx pays very well, no dispute there. But I would argue against it being a stable company. Since the recent TNT acquisition in Europe, the company has seemingly been exposed to increase global market volatilities, while at the same time using that as an excuse for the company's balance sheet shortfalls. Look at the stock price on Jan 26, 2018... $268.85/shr. Stock price on December 13, 2019... $165.67, having been on perpetual decline since September 2018. THAT is not stability, especially when you scrutinize the vast peaks and valleys in the recent years on the stock price. I'd argue that UPS is FAR more stable by comparison.
• I think the company is going to begin approaching the topic of layoffs around the country in the near future as the trucking industry contracts (fueled by the economy's meteoric rise causing HUGE increases in LTL and TL capacity) during the election cycle. If it does, are you going to be safe at 5th from the bottom, when you are currently struggling to get 30 hours?

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm excited to start this new chapter. Bottom line, I loved the work I did at FedEx and I genuinely enjoyed working with the people that I did. I think those near the bottom of any job class board they are currently on need to consider the viability of sticking it out through pending lean times if they want to stay in the company. My biggest hurdle to that on linehaul (no interest in City work at FedEx), is that the company's set up with call blocks, waiting until 9 before you can be considered relieved of on-call status if your run is cut, as well as not knowing your run is cut until the evening causes a huge roadblock in having alternative work availability to keep you afloat.

 

Thank you! Love the paycheck, hate not having time to spend it. It is funny depending on who you talk to. One group of folks think I'm nuts to leave such a lucrative income for the type of work that I did, one group thinks it was smart, and one group thinks it was admirable to prioritize family.

I don't know if this next job will be a piece of cake by comparison to FedEx, just a different type of stress.

 

Not only will I be home daily, I’ll have a 6am start.