FFE

The fuel routes are exact and that is 1 thing the company has been hammering home recently with the threat to some drivers if they continue to need rerouting they will be facing termination. There is wiggle room allowed for you to choose a slightly different route as long as you don't have to change your fuel stops any.

As far as the reefers go some of the newer 1's you never even know when they turn on or off. However, the opti-idle and the reefer kicking on and off may take some adjusting to. They are actually very simple to work, and if you have any questions you can usually find the answers relatively quickly.

As to the dog they don't allow vicious breeds such as pitts (I hold that Cookie is a Chihuahua on steroids) their pet policy has no pet deposit, BUT they charge .01 per mile.

 

I have a lab. I don't believe he's vicious. He's just a big baby. Hopefully they'd allow me to bring him.

Once your trainers let you go were you pretty well trained as to what to do. And, about the qualcom, is it blessing or pain?

 

it;s a mix. lmao the blessing is everything is recorded. the pain is you're tied to your truck like i still have another hour i am on duty before my 14 hour clock for the day winds down. I have been dispatched to go 30 miles before in my last hour so I wait for the time to wind down BEFORE i go in to shower. and brother believe me right now i NEED a shower lmao.

As far as learning the QC it's so simple to operate it doesn't really require training. There are macros to take you right to certain messages, but you don't even have to learn those as you can just cycle through to find what you need.

 

How about your loads. Do you have more than one load to choose from? And are you always hauling butt trying to get there or do they give you enough time to get there? How are the directions that they give you to your customers? Would you recommend a GPS system?

I'm excited about starting. I'm going to buy a converter so that I can have a fridge and tv to help pass the day away. You sound pretty satisfied with your career choice as of right now. That eases my worries some. At least I can speak with one person who already works there.

 

As far as converters go company policy (which changes from what each person is told it seems) was told to me you can have 1 but not larger than 600W and has to be installed for you if it's not the kind which plugs into cig lighter. However, I did my own and made a clean job of it, nothing has been said so far.

Loads vary, there are loads that are so hot I don't have time to stop and piss going down the road (seriously had this a couple of times going from Laredo to Del Monte in Dallas), while other times you have an abundance of time for the load.

I actually recommend a GPS not because they are infallible as some drivers believe, but because between the GPS, company directions, you can have the best look at what is going on. The GPS also gives great street level maps for major cities for those times when you just want a little better look than what your atlas has, but you don't have a map yet for the city you are delivering in (mine saved my ### in NYC the one time I delivered there).

Sometimes company directions are perfect, and sometimes they are ####. For example in a few hours I pickup west of Atlanta, but when I sent in the QC message for directions I get this error message stating that the directions are not on file.

 

I live just west of Atlanta on I-20. Well, it sounds like this is a pretty good company to work for. I have the ability to pay for a truck from someone I know. Its a 1998 freightliner Century with a 475 cat and a 10 spd for 9000. I has 785000 miles but it runs and drives pretty good. I'm not sure if I should drive for the company in their truck or go owner-operator in my own. What kind of money can I expect to make in an avg week as a company driver.

 

i started out at ffe went thru pine bluff and everything overall not a bad company from what i remember the ltl loads were where the money was as long as you do your job with them you have no problems right before i left they statred the rule at lancaster that once you came in the gate you were stuck until you had a gate pass however lithonia and chicago didnt really care also remember to get you po's for washout ,tolls etc if you forget those then thats
when you have the problems

 

mgt1085, I'm not sure what a ltl load is. Could you please let me know. Also, I'm assuming po's means purchase orders. Is that correct? And how many times do you think I'll roll by my house (I live on I-20 on the Georgia/Alabama line). I don't have to go home every weekend but I'd like to roll through and see the kids as much as possible.

 

ltl is less than truckload in other words one load with muliti stops as far as hometime if i remember correctly 1 day for every seven not to exceed 6 im not sure but i know it would be easy to get you home based on where you live since they have that yard in atl

 

So how often did you have to unload your truck? If you didn't want to what did you do? You have to pay someone else? If I don't have to unload it I'd rather not