FFE Transportation

ffe is not a bad company just do your job and youll be ok idk if the still use pinebluff anymore but when i went it wasnt bad all u had to do was what the instructors said and you were good as far as the otr trainers i was never run as a team

 

newguy if u wanna run teams thats what they do idk personally but i have heard bad things u can read for yourself in the company dac section goodluck

 

How does FFE handle idling time? They have been calling me wanting me to go to work for them.

 

now i know they have to be better the crst cause they are a big joke ceder rapid,IA you say crack head out there, i say bums an homeless peoples over there.crst need to reyamp there programs i was there last week to find out they can't help me when i told them my weak points.. i was told to go home an get a local job.lol but i seen other people wrost then me get a job with them

 

I went to work for FFE in '06. I met several owner/ops, one who had worked from the time of the original Mr. Stubbs, Jo John McC. An incredible gentleman, to say the least. At the end, there had been a dedicated fleet for the West Coast Downey CA terminal with quite a few owner ops and FFE management ran just about all of them off, to take over and try to save on the charges and put the work on the company drivers. One driver, Jason, out of Shawnee OK, had his share of downs with FFE. His maintenance account would be charged without his authorization, he was going to be charged for repairs when he turned his truck in at the end of the lease for a new one, and the repairs that FFE said were needed were not indicated or required, and one night, right there in the Lancaster TX yard, Jason and I were asked to escort an owner op out of the yard who had just gotten fed up. Actually, the guy was ready to assault the staff. Ask about Mark Stromberg down at Waco TX some time. A driver came in and shot him and was apprehended with a number of weapons on the way up to Lancaster, but because of some silly traffic situation , going to Lancaster, got stopped. Had the police not pulled him for a minor traffic thing, the guy would have shot a lot more.

My experience with FFE was terrible. The pickups were almost always late, the LTL schedules were ridiculous, and the number of times that I had to repower loads in one week was 10. I left Seattle/Tacoma on the way back to Chicago, and over the course of the next 7 days, never got any further east than Montana and never any further west than Idaho due to "Hot, Hot loads" that they kept dropping on me. Yes, it was winter, it was ice and snow, and the trailers all were overdue. I had one driver come wake me up in the 10 hour break at Missoula and tell me that I had to take his trailer ASAP and the reefer was in Start Fail and was not running. I called Lancaster and informed them that the driver could go get the reefer fixed and bring it back when my 10 hour break was done. Imagine a ping pong game on I-90 at the end of January, into February. The last load went into Billings, MT and it had come out of the FFE Salt Lake City only 2 1/2 weeks late. The receiver in Billings was very angry and I explained it had been repowered over at Butte MT just a few hours earlier. The driver had been sent from SLC without sufficient hours to even get to Billings, hit his 70 at Butte, and told the SLC dispatch and they sent him anyway.


After trying to stick with FFE for almost 2 years, and watch the insanity only become worse as they kept rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, I left. I had 2 exceptional fleet managers, but on the other hand, I had 5 others who were nightmares. The QC message would come in that I had a new fleet manager, no explanation why the prior one was no longer assigned, and if anyone remembers the night fleet manager Donna, then you heard of the times that Donna would send wake up messages, get going, when you were either running or in 10 hour break. They finally let her go, cause I think they caught on that she was one of the persons alienating all the drivers. She would even jump on owner ops over whom she had no authority.

FFE keeps doing what they do 'cause they are making enough profit to keep Stubbs and the board of FFE and stakeholders happy. So expect same old, same old, 'cause they don't care, they don't care, they really don't care, except of course for their bonuses and stock dividends.

 

Thats from a lease operator or O/O. I started a yr ago. Talked with alot of UNHAPPY drivers. Both LTL & T/L. Any company that does not pay for orientation....well....??? I'm not saying there are bad people there...just bad policy. In this business communication is the key and organization. Both lacking. One thing a driver has to do is "don't put up with the ########".. Especially if you are still on paper logs for some reason. They will push you till you just say "NO...IT's MY CDL". There have been times I ran WAY more than 14 -16 hrs. yeah yeah yeha i know the 2 hrs sleeper rule crap. I know O/O who are leaving L/O who are leaving c/d s who are leaving. Seems like you get a good dispatcher whoi gives a #### about his driveres and he either leaves or they get rid of them. LTL...Don't have a clue how to run it right. I did LTL with another company using the Cheetah System. These guys are doing LTL and doing peoplenet. LTL & T/L is NOT the same thing. LTL is a completely different world than being a "steering wheel holder" or OTR. I'm just about sick of it! These guys brag about being the only LTL refrigerated Multitemp trlr Nationwide company. it's an ok starter company. just don't put up with any crap from your "LOAD PLANNER". any "load planner" will try and pull crap. just remember its YOUR CDL. by the way go to the FMCSA website and you can find any safety rating on any company. COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION is the key! Even if you are on electronic logs....use the #### phone...cause your just another truck # if they dont know you and you don't make yourself known. Be forceful but be polite. this industry has a 120% turnover rate.

 

YOU ARE SO RIGHT ON THAT COMMENT!!!! another thing is these college kids who dont have a clue what it's like out here, putting up with their constant transfers and shifting freight around. sitting behind a desk and trying to be intimidating. I don't put up with it!!!! Period! Again I worked LTL freight before and this is just a big cluster ##. Had one good planner who knew what he was doing and planned right according to my input we worked great together.....Then he got fed up with them and left and told me why. Their system of doing LTL just does'nt work. just threaten them with "calling corporate safety and compliance" and watch them back off really fast. It's not to say there are some good people there...you just have to find them and use them. But about the time you do...they get switched to something else...or leave! Now there is a "School"...... oh great!

 

How many schools does FFE have, the one I saw on their website says its in TX?

 

Well i am currently working for FFE transport so fare seems ok but i am new to the trucking industry i got my cdl back in Oct 2010 tried a few other company's but i did not like what i saw I did not want to go the trucking way but being unemployed for 7 months because of our wonderful government. Any way i went out with a trainer that i swear was on meth because his eyes where about as big as apples. When we got back to the terminal in Lancaster Tx. I requested a new trainer and thought i was gonna get a new trainer instead they made me take a road evaluation to see where i was at. The next day still waiting for anther trainer they made me go get my eyes checked so I went to go get my eyes checked and then the eye doctor told me it was gonna take 10 to 14 days to come in. So i thought they would just let me do local stuff and keep me around tell they come in. Instead they where like you need to go home because we can't do anything about that. So after getting new contacts in i went back because i sighed a year contract with them so they have me for a year I got here on Monday i did not get a trainer Intel Wednesday. I got a decent trainer and then i lost 1 of my contacts so they put me back in the hotel room and i know have to go see the eye doctor once again hopefully this time i will be able to get glasses instead. FFE Transport seems to have some good things and bad things paper work seems to be an issue and you can't seem to get a hole of someone when you need too or have them call you back. Like i a sad I am new to the trucking industry so i don't know if this is common or not just know it's frustrating as can be.

 

They only have 1 from what i have seen. in Fort Worth Tx