Freemont Contract Carriers (FCC)

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I feel that most of the drivers at FCC are in the same situation I am in. I have been with FCC for a little over 4 years. I am an O/O with them, but there really is no distinction between O/O and company drivers. Both sides are treated fairly and with respect. Mike Herre, the owner, is a one great guy to get to know. He really is concerned with the drivers.

Now to answer you concerns:

1). I, and most everyone, gets home each and every weekend and holidays. Unless you state differently, they assume you want to be home for the weekend. Sure, there may come up sometime that it doesn't happen, but that will be a rare occurrence.

2). In the Midwest Regional, which I primarily do, there is a lot of drop and hook. I would say well over 70%. For those that go outside of the midwest, it is a little lower.

3). I can't really speak to what the pay scale is for company driver. O/O version is a sliding scale based on length of haul. They use Transflo for bill scanning and what you do this week is paid on the next Friday. No goofy fiddling with your money. There is detention paid and it is realistic. Though, it doesn't happen much as we have some pretty good customers that don't play games with the drivers. But it does happen occasionally.

4). Except for putting in a driver ID number at the fuel pump, there really isn't a number. Everyone is treated courteously, respectfully, and on a first name basis. Most times, I do not even have to say who I am when I call in to the two people I work with in operations. They don't even tell me their name when they call. We know each others voice. For safety and other departments, you are on a first name basis with EVERYONE. Including Mike, the owner. Now, to be fair, when you talk with someone that you have no regular dealings with, you might have to mention your truck number. But after that point, you are on a first name basis with them for the conversation.

5). Most of the equipment is less than 5 years old. I talked with Mike a while back and he told me that he had 20 new trucks on order. We have picked up quite a few new trucks in the last few months. I am pretty sure that all of them now have some sort of APU or Battery powered AC and heat. Quite a few Columbias still in the system, but now mostly Cascadias, and starting to get in new Prostars.

This is one serious outfit when it comes to truck/trailer maintenance. They are even tough on the O/O to keep their trucks in good repair. The maintenance shop is a great bunch of guys and they actually listen to the drivers. Every company truck has to come in roughly every 8,000 miles max for a look over and any repairs. The O/O have to go thru a quarterly inspection of their trucks. The trailers have to get into the shop at least every two months for a complete going over. Oh, we are getting a batch of new trailers soon as well. Got a bunch of new ones last year also. No junk wagons here.

It's a top notch outfit. I have been at this game for 30 years, and I only left my last carrier because it sold. And I thought it was a great carrier. FCC is definitely top tier in my book. Scott, in recruiting, will not pull your lariat. He is a straight shooter. Don't feel any reservation about asking him something. If he doesn't know, he will find out or hook you up with someone who does.

Not sure how your home location would play with what FCC does. You would have to ask Scott about that.

Hope that helps.

Cliff

 

Oops. You didn't mention it so I didn't say. But FCC is both flats and vans. I think around 100 trucks in flats and about 300 trucks in vans. Kinda hard to keep up with the current numbers.

 

If you can't live on $58,000/yr, you're in the wrong line of work.

 

I am not sure how their company pay stacks up next to everyone else. I do know, that sitting around waiting on a load is almost non-existent. I can only speak to O/O side of things, and my revenue for 2011 was over $190,000 according to my 1099 that I turned over to my CPA a couple of weeks ago. And that was being home every weekend and the holidays. Usually by the house once or twice a week. And I took two weeks off in October.

While most carriers have a turnover nowadays of near the 80% category, I did some checking and FCC turnover is roughly 30%. Still not perfect, but it does tell something. As for bulk of business routing to the NE? I know there is a lot that goes there, but I never really see it. We do have a few good accounts that send stuff out there.... Kawasaki, Con-Agra, and BD medical. But their stuff also goes throughout the US.

You would have to figure out if making .05 more and sitting more, less miles, etc is ok. FCC figures if you are in a truck, and you have hours to work, then they need to make sure you are loaded or heading to a load. If you like playing with Mary Jo Rottencrotch at the truckstop instead of working, then this is not the place. But along with that, FCC feels you should be home and out of the truck on a regular basis. I am home weekly for a reset, but I have pretty much burned up my 70 for the week. You might make a little more per mile somewhere else, but you might actually make less overall in the final tally.


I know that places like Heartland Express and others promise those nice .55 a mile or more, but the driver doesn't make anymore than a driver making .40 at another carrier. it all depends on the productivity. .55 is little consolation when you are staring out the truck window, sitting at a truckstop for 30 hrs, waiting for someone in dispatch to figure out where the freight is. I would rather work for .05 less a mile than waiting for some stupid layover pay of $50 or whatever.

Your call.

 

Well, to be fair, it really depends on where one lives in the country. We would all agree that $58,000 and living in someplace like NYC or SF bay area, is really chump change. It is darn good for a lot of other places in fly over country though.

 

Would very much like to see an update on FCC. I am an OO and talked to a recruiter yesterday. Sounded good except for the sliding payscale and the low low rates. 99c for long runs and only 16c fsc.
Kind of hard to see how their drivers are making $3500 a week on that and that is before deductions for fuel etc.

 

Well, can't say what others are doing, but let's take last year. Home every weekend and holiday, took 4 weeks off (not all at once), and gross was $180K. One thing that gets overlooked in all of this is incidental income stuff. I made $1500 in November alone for detention. That was from only 3 situations. While the FSC is not high, one has to factor the substantial fuel discounts on top of that. Fueled yesterday and got .38 off the cash pump price. So if one is watching the mpg, fuel really doesn't have to be a significant issue. And the discounts on tires and other stuff. Replaced 2 steers and 4 wide based drives in September. All Michelins. Final cost after fleet discount and getting $1025 for the old tires, just over $4K, including FET, mounted and ready to roll. And the insurances are reasonably priced thru them.

If one only focuses on PPM and FSC, it doesn't look like a big deal. When one factors that sit time between loads is virtually non existent, and there are many other forms of compensation and substantial discounts, and the only real fee that is "required" is $10 a week for the Qualcomm, it plays out pretty good. Probably why I have been here for 8 years now, and am doing just fine. Sure, Donald Trump has nothing to worry about me catching up to him, but things are good. And wife doesn't work except just some occasional part time stuff helping handicapped folks, and we have our own BCBS medical plan not thru FCC and was grandfathered in under Obummercare.