FFE

i meant to say they give you advances as a trainee

 

Hey MGT. I don't think I can make it on 25 a mile. I've been doing some adding and I'd have to run all the time just to make a dime. I have a family to support and I don't believe that I'd send anything home at that little bit of pay. I mean. Add it up. 25 cents a mile. I thought about it but I've changed my mind now. I'm just going to have to tell the recruiter never mind. I can't afford to pay a pick-up truck payment and send money back home with that pay. Thanks for all you help though. I'm just going to have to either A. find a new company or B. O/O out of the truck that I just bought. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Good luck. I have a friend who has a 2002 F/L in great condition. He also has been a driver for 20 years and an O/O for 14 of those years. He has not found ANYONE who will take his truck on. Not even the local container outfits. They either want a 5 year old or newer truck or they're just not hiring. And with you not having any experience your not going to find many takers, if any at all, if you try to go the O/O route.

As far as being offered .25cpm... Your starting out new and inexperienced. Today in trucking is not what it was 2 years ago. Gone are the days of higher starting wages. I was a 12 year experienced driver in May when I started at FFE. I started at .35cpm. And that was in the high range of what was offered by companies for experience. That was .08cpm LESS than what I made last time I was a company driver 5 years ago. Companies are down, freight is down, rates are down. Your not going to get offered much more. You can go somewhere else and maybe get .30cpm, but how many miles will you get? Will you make more doing 2500 miles at .25 or 1800 miles at .30?

Your a newbie. You gave up a job to start something brand new. You have no experience. You have not paid your dues. You have a truck payment and family obligations and you quit a factory job because you "hate factories"? Let me tell ya, your love of trucking aint gonna pay ####. Your on the ground floor of this industry and you need to work your way up to get to the level of pay equal to that of experienced drivers.

My advise would be to sell that truck (the Freightliner) and hope to get your money back. Then get some experience before you get picky about jobs.

 

Will FFE give me plenty of miles? I understand where your coming from. You gotta work your way up. But, I also need to keep moving so the money will keep the family from starving. Would you say its a fair price to start working at that amount?

 

Would I say that's a fair starting wage? If you get company paid training, yes. If you paid for school on your own I feel you should be compensated a few cents more per mile. Companies just don't make as much as they did a few years ago. They can't offer as much. And it cost's a lot to train a new driver. It's a big investment on the company's part that drivers don't take into consideration.

 

They are sending me to school so I do see what you mean by that. I just want to make sure that I can make enough money to make it the first year. Being that i have to sign a contract to work a year I'd like to make sure that my family can survive that first year while I'm gone.

Are there any fuel bonuses, safety bonuses or anything like that?

 

Not sure what they are offering, if anything. I went to them in May and left in October to go back to hauling gas locally. I didn't get any bonuses, but I didn't care either. After 12 years of driving I do what gets the job done. And safety is second nature at this point. But still at the forefront of how I do my job on a daily basis. If I get extra money for that, cool. Bonuses are just that, a bonus, and should not be relied upon as income. If you are more worried about losing a safety bonus than you are about learning your job and doing it well you will be doomed to fail. LOL It's just Murphy's law.

 

That makes sense about safety. While you worked at FFE did you have any major complaints? I know that no company is perfect but is there anything major that I need to know about. With what I'm hearing using a 98 to o/o isn't a good idea so maybe this is just a good way to get my feet wet driving for FFE. Would you say this is a good company to get started with? How do they treat you. And, when its time for you to take home time do they allow you to take it or do they try to leave you out longer?

 

I never had any problems. Of course, I was also experienced and knew how to work things for my favor. (Getting more miles, better loads, etc.) As far as getting home, I was always home when I wanted. But I stayed out running for 3-4 weeks at a time in order to make more money. I was treated good. Issues I had were all dealt with fairly promptly. A lot of that had to do with my fleet manager. I had a good one. I would say from my experience they were a good company. But I knew how to deal with things. A lot of drivers make their own problems with their attitude.

 

Biscuit the attitude is exactly right. Gilbert here are my november runs. I will only be listing the loaded miles, but FFE does pay DH and BT miles as well.


10/31-11/4: 837 miles Beardstown, IL to Hazleton, Pa
11/4 - 11/8: 764 miles Burlington, Nj to Kennesaw, Ga
11/9 - 11/11 855 miles Syvester, Ga to Ft. Worth, TX

11/17 ran about 600 miles with a load that got me away from the house, to Odessa, then to San Angelo, then took it Lancaster yard (long story lol)

11/18 - 11/19: 502 miles Grand Prairie, Tx to Kansas City, Mo
11/20 - 11/25: Baxter Springs, Ks to City of Industry, CA (for some reason I forgot to write the mileage down on this one)
11/25 - 12/1: 1648 miles City of Industry, Ca to N. Little Rock, Ar
11/30 - 12/1: 334 miles N. Little Rock, Ar to Ft. Worth, Tx