My first week's experience with FedEx and as a OTR trucker

We go terminal to terminal. So far our week starts on Tuesday or Wednesday, Do either the cali run, or do a few random runs to last the week. As a team, we been hovering around 4900-5400 miles a week. So far every time I get home Saturday evening. After checking in and unhooking I usually get home around midnight, just in time to shower, walk a few blocks to the bar, make last call, and catch up with friends and the girlfriend. So yeah I get all day Sundays and Mondays off. The boss said before fedex flooded themselves with contractors and the economy taking a hit, it used to be so your receiving terminal would be calling you, asking how much longer till you are there cuz they have a load ready for you to grab immediately. He said he was so busy he was hitting his 70 hours, and that is supposed to not happen with team drivers. He said he used to have to make up an excuse to take his truck to the shop, just so he could get some time off. Cuz otherwise they will screw you the next week if your excuse was something like family or something. But he says they just don't that busy anymore.

He did say we will be out two weeks at a time or more in the winter. Most of the veteran contractors will pass up on west coast runs just to avoid the ice in the mountains.

So this week they sent us to Denver, Colorado. They still mad, they kept the cali run from us despite us being #1 on the list. From there they sent us to Oregon.. From there they sent us to a place 30 miles from LA, I was asleep during all that thank god. BTW Oregon to southern Cali SUCKS. 55mph limit for trucks the whole way, soo boring and unnecessary in my opinion. I remember almost getting thrown off my bed twice tho cuz of idiot 4-wheelers. I think it was called Industrial Complex or something. So we still ended up getting good miles, despite what the bitter original dispatcher wanted us to get. Then the entire fedex computer system went down for the day. Dispatch was a cluster-F. No one had any idea what was going on so the dispatch offices were flooded with angry drivers including my boss with no clue what the heck is gonna happen, where they going, or when. We did 2 short trips around LA, then they sent us straight back to Illinois. I got home 12:15am Sunday morning. We got stalled, cuz the terminals are closed Saturdays and Sundays, so when the drivers get back, they just unhook the trailers anywhere they will fit, and its a maze to get in, unhook and go home. It was absolutely a mess this week, it's obvious some of the drivers didn't give a crap where they unhooked this week. Some even left the doubles attached together. I'm sure we are gonna get a lecture Tuesday, cuz security even warned us not to do what the previous drivers did. Fedex doesn't want to have to give the linehaul kids extra hours to clean up the mess Sunday or Monday.

And yeah, we noticed a few fedex trucks were governed, alot in New Mexico and Texas for some reason. Ours is governed at 79, but I hardly ever hit that speed anyway. It does anger me when I want to get some momentum before going up the mountains tho.

 

Some here take their truck home, not many tho. They do have the choice tho. Not everyone run teams, but the teams do get the longer runs. You can choose to do either, but in my opinion, team is the way to go if you want good miles. Solo drivers get the short runs. The more runs, the more chances you are stuck waiting till morning for a load to be ready. But I guess dealing with the other driver 24 hours a day could be annoying. I'm fortunate that my teammate is clean, laid back, and cool as hell.

 

No. But get caught doin over 79mph or 10 over in a construction zone and you are automatically fired, nothing can be done. Speed limit could be 85, hit 80 and job over... They have been putting GPS trackers on the front of the newer trailers lately and dispatch definitely checks on them. We have very short time to destination so they check on a normal basis worrying. So the governor I'm on doesn't really matter.