FedEx Freight Diary (ala Russian Rabbit)

I’ve missed gate before when I have received my dispatch on time, always because of mechanical or computer issues. I get asked about it when I get to the hub or return in the morning, but it’s never really more than a “Hey what happened last night” and I never hear about it again.

 

Most managers here are personable folk, never paid attention to the introduction or lack thereof because I'm usually the first to initiate it. There are the occasional guys I run into that are not personable and very rigid, but they are far from aggressive or rude.

Now, my experience on gates is not to say that management isn't strict on the gate times, but when your dispatch is given to you with less than 30 minutes to your gate time, it's generally accepted that the missed gate is by default the dispatch's fault.

HOWEVER, with regard to gates at the hubs, it seems dependent upon the center manager's reign. For example, our North Newark terminal has gotten into a groove where if my gate time is 0330, they are cutting the trailers at 0257 to get me on the road, and whatever freight they have missed on my trailers will get run by a city driver or via it out with a driver on a later gate time if possible. Even when I was running last in the N. Newark lane, I can only count a handful of times in which I was dispatched after my 0300 show time, and every time seemed to be the result of me being sent with a via on a lane that they had miscalculated the outbound trailers and would have rather run me with a via late as opposed to running a trailer with empty miles. Newburgh and Hartford, however will dispatch you when your trailers are done, no deviation from the outload plan.

My center has a supervisor that runs the inbound who will approach me when I come back late... He's one of those personable people exceptions.

Him: "What took so long?"
Me: "Took 495 around an accident that happened on I-90"
Him: "Looks like those 1030am guaranteed bills aren't making it on time"
Me: "Should probably talk to the hub about dropping guaranteed freight on the last guy in the lane which has a documented history of never being dispatched before my GATE time."

I do however, hate being late coming back, because I definitely see the ripple effect. I get back late, the city drivers who are waiting on me get out late. Those same city drivers running late are also picking up and delivering late. Those same city drivers get back to the center late. The dock works my freight late. I get dispatched late to the hub. This bid that I ended up on at the beginning of July never runs on time. Of the 8 total in my lane, only the top 6 are consistently on time for service, both at the hub and my center.

 

$160 shy from being at $60k YTD so far. I'm not complaining having not even completed my first full year on linehaul.

This last week was 100% running my bid, and running my 14 out nearly every day. I have the option to work the dock if I choose to, but I don't. Instead, I take a 2.5-3 hour nap at the hub, for a handful of reasons.

1. I am not here to work the dock
2. Time spent off duty does not go against my 70
3. Dock work does go against my 70
4. If I don't finish the week with at least 10 hours of available time on my 70, I have no ability to run on Saturday, which I love to do.
5. I enjoy the nap, and it makes the 4 1/2 hour return trip easy and stress free being bright eyed and bushy tailed

NOW, if I was someone that does not look forward to running on Saturday, in this scenario, if I were to work 2.5 hours of dock work every day, that would be an additional $329 in my pocket at my current pay rate. At the same token, I'd rather run Saturday, which with everything being closed is a turn and screw type of run, netting about $350 for 9.25 hours of work, as opposed to 329 for 12.5 hours of weekly dock work. Like I said, I enjoy the nap, it certainly makes the return trip better since my run generally always comes within an hour of running out of time.

 

I generally only get 1 or two Saturday runs a month, and they are the 6th day in my work week when I do.

I bought a new Silverado this year, so I’m working my backside off to pay it off in 18-24 months instead of 60.

Also, the $21 difference used in my figure isn’t preferring to make $21 overall, it’s because the linehaul work is paid higher when broken down by the hour, roughly a 3 hour difference in workload compared to running a fork on a congested and busy dock.