What is FedEx Express ?

Package delivery/pickup in their box vans. Local city driving.

 

They do mostly Air cargo

 

Well the fed-ex over here in Australia; "courier-swing driver cdl"

You will either be driving one of their semi's or vans, depending on how much work is there, and what is needed.
However with both, you are set locally and are home every night (well, you end up at the same depot you left in the morning)
The plus side I saw while being a temp driver for them(they use outside companies as well); they are paid hourly, and because of that, the drivers (if you get along with them), suggest you take your time, so you don't screw up, as you have till X(6pm in my case) to get back to the depot. (so for me, it was 7am-6pm for my run); needless to say, I was done by lunch, and sure eenough the dispatch call's and asks how long till I get back to the depot.
Before I could respond he then quickly add's in "Remember what the other drivers suggested about not screwing up your run"
so my reply was just a simple "oh yer, ill be done on time", he then hangs up. 5min later, I get a call from his mobile asking if the other drivers have spoken to me, and I said yes, he then goes on and asks me if I want to know any movie times"
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Needless to say, just get along with both the people at the counter, your operator, and other what may look like suck-up drivers to the boss. As without their corporation and good nature, things can turn for the worse big time.
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Oh and split-shift means, you may driver a semi for the am period, but drive a van for the pm, as not enough work for a semi in the pm.

 

FedEx express is what was originally American freight ways until FedEx bought them out years ago.

 

A swing FedEx Express is a courier in a package car. The wing means that you cover other couriers that are on vacation/day off/call in sick. I worked for them for awhile and as a swing you may come in thinking that your doing a certain route and end up running somewhere completely different. They do on average make around a dollar more an hour that regular couriers due to having to be so flexable. Yes you will work some splits but as a part timer you are only going to average about 25 hours a week.

 

Back and forth to the airport in a daycab with a 48" trailer. FedEX express has their terminal right on the strip like UPS.

 

sounds like easy money

 

I used to be a swing courier for Fedex Express. If you dont know who Fedex Express is then.......Dont know what to tell you? Theyre the direct competitor to UPS...... They deliver door to door to Businesses and Residents. They reason its "cdl" is only for HAZ endorsement. Anything Required placarding, You would be the one driving the truck. Other that that, you cover any routes that has a driver on vacation/day-off/sick call/ etc......If all routes are covered and you're an extra swing, they often have a "baseline" route, which is an overflow route. When all routes in that area are over their numbers they can 'bump' to that baseline. Usually a baseline route is just a couple hours to half a day of work.

As a swing you have to be available to work different shifts, but almost always you start when most of the other routes start for example my area usually between 6-7 give or take depending on volume.

This is NOT a tractor trailer job. You have to do routes with 50-120+ stops, you have a limited window to deliver and pick up your stops. You have to average a stop every 5 mins or less. Oncall pickups and talkative or troubleson customers and traffic eat up time easily. If you have less delivery stop than youre supposed to take, you are expected to take a long unpaid lunch. There are times you may have 2-4hours of break time in your day, again, unpaid.

In my area we do not have part time swings. So i cannot go into detail about that. Partimers last i heard are guaranteed 17 hours a week. If you are available to work and there isnt enough work you still get paid those 17 hours. (Fulltimers 35) Its rare to not have enough work that you have to get minimum. These days Fedex is BIG on cutting down on overtime. So dont "expect" it.

Being a swing is the most stressful job here. Your nose will be in that mapbook all day. you will have to look up 50-120+ (give or take as full time, possibly less as partime) and keep pace to a stop every 5 minutes. Plus keeping time commitments of the service selected for the stops. Typical route in my area Priority Overnight due by 10:30 (or its late) 12:00 for p1 cod's 3pm for standard over night and 4:30 for business express saver. All while keeping up on you're oncall pick ups which pickup time can be anytime of the day we operate and they can have a "close" time of as little as an hour regardless where you are. Most Routes have a pickup cycle after their delivery cycle. Usually they can average 30stops an hour. Some stops just have a letter, some are big bulks.

Its really complex to be able to give a full run down on how it work and your hours and stops per hour vary depending on your location, so examples ive given on base on my area.

Im sure I gave you an overload of information, but if you want to know more, ill help ya out.