The New FFE Driver Academey

never had fuel issues but once at 3 am was at fuel stop and it didnt go through dispatch didnt answer phone so card allways works anywhere for reefer fuel get 70 gallons and call in morning=== and if you get caught with 82000 its your butt that pays the fine should of went back and unloaded some potatoes and your dm should have told you that -- i never had turned navigo on i like gps but still check it against maps except if your going to new york memorize first exit once you cross gw and get under those freeways it looses signal oooch not the best place to wing it --- well i am happy with my miles and really happy with dm steve thomas i am at my 70 limit allmost everday i am out well then too i do what the need me to do and i just dont complain --- i really didnt want to spend a week and a half on the east coast had some short hauls but they added up and Ltl is ok new york is ok texas is ok i do what needs done and allways early and i try to pick up early when possible ive been lucky in the meat patch so far so that helps too -- but if they give me a 68 mile trip i say ok thanks then its useually followed up by a nice long one -- would rather have a 68 mile an hour truck lol - when you get a trip with too much time on it call ahead and see if they can take it early --- even wallmart will sometimes ( well a day early once ) but if they dont get there early anyways and put in for a layover and get a reset ---- i dont call dispatch unless its something important like twice a month use people net and keep them informed of whats going on ---- i call every trip on both ends twice so far i have called recievers and they didnt know anything about me ---- what happens if i get there and they dont know whats going on --- well i dont know because i allways call ahead -- i try my best to make everytrip within the circle of service (regular forms ) with out the drama its better for everybody and it means $$$ for everyone

 

This is how you make money!

 

Dispatch said the load would be ready at 10pm, but when I called the shipper at 1230pm, it was already ready. So I hauled butt over there, did my drop and hook and left for Chicago. I am here at the receiver taking my 10 hour and deliver at 0830. Glad that JBS had that load ready so soon or dispatch made a typo, but I like to think that JBS had it ready early.

 

I'm just curious if you've already driven for 2 years why on earth would you want to go back to school?

 

sorry to hear so many noobs are having a hard time adjusting. you guys know this is a training company, right? Chances are you will not be retiring from FFE.

you honor the contract you signed for the training. after a year, if it isn't for you, leave. the business model is not set up to keep all the drivers they hire.

they must have huge turnover to make room for the next batch of students. that's the reality of it. FFE has a driver core count of about 1300 drivers. (core count is a term to describe the amount of drivers needed to cover existing customer coverage). let's say on average 15 noobs graduate a week. that's 780 drivers. give or take. so just over half of the current drivers need to be released to the industry in order to make room for the new seat meat.

although it is possible to become one of the "chosen ones", (you know what i am talking about) you got to hustle. dont burn the d/m's, bump those docks on time, and dont tear up the equipment. prove that you can hustle and they will take care of you.

does this mean you got to climb under a desk and kiss butt? no. just do yer freakin job and the rest takes care of itself. i walk thru lancaster no one knows my name or what i look like. that;s fine by me. not there to network. they see my truck number and "available for dispatch" on the computer screen and i get hooked up with sick miles. why? because i make my appts. and they know this. i dont cry, or whine. i solve the problems i encounter and just keep moving.

do this and they will make you part of the "core". if not, you will be posting here after 6 weeks talking about how FFE shafted you and you are looking to jump. good luck with that. FFE is no different then any other trucking carrier out there. they all operate the same, with little variance.

lol, i swore when i first posted to this thread that i would not ever cheerlead. i still dont think i am. but a dose of reality is needed for those who are contemplating signing the 1 year contract, and those who have already signed and now want to leave or have already done so.

 

perfect answer. no one knows me either, but I just do not have problems and I bump on time.

 

no i drove in the eighties went for extended home time 26 yrs lol , well my uncle was an owner op and i drove for him maybe 6 months spred over 6 years when he took time off just to keep his truck rolling last time was 2004 so i didnt have recent experience so had to go to school and the training and that is how i make money just do my job i am hardly at lancaster and have seen my dm in person twice and talked on phone maybe 3 times --- just do my job and i handle my own problems without bothering dispatch if i can ---- they use to call it hustle but thats seems to be out of style these days and i stay busy that way --- i know people that are not getting the miles i do and i dont know why and i dont know how they run either or who is at fault --- this works for me and they run me till i am out of hours so just really couldnt be getting any more the way things are now --- use to run 3000 to 5000 miles a week in the 80s --- that was different no such thing as cdl just had 3 drivers liscences and 2 or three log books and thats how you had to run back then to make money --- no future in trying that now so i adapted and doing the most i can the way it is now --- there are no perfect companies out there and there are still going to be problems no matter which company you go too and a lot of the same problems --- you have 2 kinds of companys the ones competing for existing drivers as in the flyers at the truck stops --- ever think if they are such a good company why are they allways hiring --- and the other kind is training companys like ffe --- they were not getting enough good drivers through the existing chanels so open a school and get the seat filled that way -- they all are going to pay cheap wages starting out and you cant blame them they are in biz to make money --- for what i have found out that ffe is the best company to get your experience with -- and i am not sure if the guys that arent getting the miles are being weeded out or maybe its the way the want to run or just a combination of things -- all but 2 of the 10 that are still left from my class are doing ok and i havent seen the 2 guys that arent in a couple of months so maybe they are ok now -- keep in contact with other 8 and we help each other out too and maybe thats part of the reason we are all doing ok ---- after my years up i probley will stay lol the grass is allways greener on the other side of the fence and it just might be but at my age its just as easy to stay on your side of the fence -- i have jumped that fence a couple of times in my younger days and sometime it was for the better and sometimes not---- just been staying on here posting just to tell the people that its working for me so far -- wether it will work for somebody else who knows but at the very least the school was top notch even the people who didnt last with ffe say that

 

Heya buck, how's it hanging?

Just wanted to stop in and ask if anyone has noticed a large amount of freight being railed in the past few weeks?
I went from averaging very decent miles to practically nothing in the past week, and it's looking like the next week is going to be about the same.
I knew freight would slow down when the snow started to hit, but it's not even winter yet!

 

i believe our busiest time of year is about to begin as the stores gear up for the holidays. i was a part of a convoy of candy loads leaving ogden for the PNW. i do remember jan/feb being real lean...

 

Eh....

It seems like a lot of freight is being railed to me, maybe it's just the area I'm in but this is insane from my perspective. I don't really want to go into to much detail but suffice to say I've been running rail loads far too much for the past week.

On the whole I'm wondering if FFE was the right choice for me;
I just wish the contract wasn't an entire year, I have a lot of other things in my life I need to take care of...