Cargo Van Cafe'

interstategar · Feb 19, 2009

I thought I'd start a thread for B units here since we have a different experiance than the large trucks.

Are you starving out here like I am? I've posted instructions on how to see all the Customs Critical loads online without any log in requirements at fedex.com I've been doing this for 2 years
and beleive most of the time we are getting the bottom of the barrel for runs, most of the time compared to the runs I'm seeing.

I've wrote to and heard back twice from Jason Frederick about changing our 700 mile limit for non haz runs and management
still won't increase it due to "safety" reasons. I suggested an
option for B units to accept 700 mi plus loads for those who'd like to run more miles but the safety committee at management
votes it down. Panther B units can run 900 miles. I could use a 900 mile load now-how about you?

layoutshooter · Feb 19, 2009

I can't imagine how you van guys are making it now. Five years ago when I started looking into this business I decided that the van route was not the was to go. I read posts in here for over 6 months and although I had not ever been in this business I could see the writing on the wall. I don't know what the answer is for you guys, things seems to have really changed since the early days of expediting. layoutshooter

interstategar · Feb 19, 2009

After 2 years running a B unit I decided not to move up to a C unit since the rates for all units didn't keep up with fixed costs.
Plus I would see D units that used to have Roberts/Fedex signs on them that obviously weren't making it, so I stuck with a B unit. If management would quit handkuffing us with non DOT milage limits they impose, and also hiring a ton of B's when the economy scr eaming hot, we would be in better shape during slow times.

Plus the fact of dispatching a White Glove unit for a 100 lb
606 mile load from KY to DC doesn't help us much that I'm looking at right now on runs dispatched yesterday. I see alot of this going on. So unless they are all poisonous or radioactive haz mat loads (which I doubt), then we will be in bad shape
until the economy picks up.

layoutshooter · Feb 19, 2009

A lot of those loads are loads that we take. The load we pick up today is 100lbs. It is reefer, dual driver protection and has a curior. Many of those loads require things that a van cannot do. Like dock high etc. We try not to take van loads. I don't think we ever have to date. Many would look like it on the surface but customer requirements call for a "C" or "D" truck by default. Not many vans have the toys or dual driver capability. Layoutshooter

interstategar · Feb 19, 2009

I've run White Glove loads which come about when a White Glove truck isn't available that doesn't require a reefer or dual drivers.
They come up once in a blue moon. Example- 1 ctn carton 10 lbs going to a nuclear plant, non radioactive. There's White glove loads we can handle but we're excluded unless they're desperate to cover the load. Or we can get called to help load or unload dock high and/or white glove loads which happens every once in awhile.

The biggest hamper to B units is these Custom Critical made up milage limits they impose on us that are non DOT rules, plus the over supply of B units we have.

piper1 · Feb 19, 2009

It's slow, especially for B's. I don't think the current economic slump has caused enough B guys to pack it in maybe. It seems the C,D and E freight has picked up a bit, might be due to those guys having higher expenses and therefore more of them have exited, improving the situation for those left.

I'm looking forward to a bit of a pickup, right now I'm just writing it off as the winter/economy slow down. Not slow enough for me to start thinking about a bigger truck........... yet!!!

interstategar · Feb 19, 2009

your quote: "I'm looking forward to a bit of a pickup, right now I'm just writing it off as the winter/economy slow down."

Some of the busiest months I had in the past have been in January, so, just my opinion, its more than just a winter season slowdown. Also I see more of our runs, especially lighter loads
moving via Surface Expedite Network when I check online
for Fedex loads. So with this service they can get the freight fairly quick and don't have to pay for exclusive use. I see more of these since the economic news has worsened.
The run numbers for Surface Expedite Network look exactly like
Surface Exclusive Use

backroads · Feb 25, 2009

Since the new contract has gone into affect, my business has gone down hill, dramatically. I cannot continue taking the cheap freight that we are offered now. At least with the old contract I averaged $1.49 a loaded mile. Now it is chicken feed in my opinion. (side note- do you realize that when we turn down the cheap freight being offered to us that it is offered to a C unit at their regular rate? WHERE'S THE LOGIC?). I am struggling to pay my bills. Whenever I leave Chicago with a load and try to wait for another one in another express center I always seem to get burned, so I have to go back to Chicago for another one if I want to stay busy. Let me tell you that plan doesn't work for too long. It takes it's toll on the body, the wallet, and the van.
On top of this, my fiancee lost her job New Years eve and hasn't found anything since then, she is a paralegal. Times are real tough for us right now. Overwhelming! We've been taking from our savings just to stay afloat. It will be depleted by April.
I saw a shirt while in Canada recently that described my life right now. It said "Life Is Crap".
I don't mean to bring anyone down with all this negativity and gloom, and I appreciate the sounding board. I just had to vent a little. I am almost always a cheerful person, looking on the bright side of things.
I hope for our (the B units) sake that things change for the better soon. Nobody likes to live from paycheck to paycheck.
We (my fiancee and I) have decided to try for a better life in a different part of the country. I have hopes of a great wage from a local company there (while also working with FDCC at least once a week, although I don't know at this point why I want to hang on to this, but I will), and she will search for a new start as well.

Wish us good luck and I will be thinking of you all.

aileron · Feb 26, 2009

Yep, it is really tight right now. I came back in service last Wednesday, that is a week and a day now, after replacing my water pump, and all I got offered was a <75 load that I accepted but someone else got it. And I am the second one in line with a <75 status van behind me. So this together with only a load a week most of the time, rarely 2, we are in big trouble.

interstategar · Feb 26, 2009

I hearya loud and clear. This time reminds me of about 1990.
We were Roberts Express, the economy was in the tubes, I'd get 1 run a week, if I was lucky 2, but the rates were alot better than today. The dispatch system was different, where they would dispatch loads picking up in a center to trucks located in that center. You wouldn't get calls on offers the day before to go 250 miles to p/u for a run that went 99 miles.
Doesn't make any sense unless you go far for a p/u and the run is long enough to make descent money. All us B units are starving because of the over supply of B units, and the handcuffs of the 700 mi non DOT rule they impose.

B units are the most expendable to the company. We bring in the least amount of money, almost any tom, dick, and harry can buy a van. We are really cooked until the economy picks way up. I used to make extra money on the stock market trading but its too risky today, although there's some good opportunity with some stocks moving 10 to 15% a day. But I'm in cash preserve mode now.

Dreamer · Feb 26, 2009

I'm all for making more money, but I have to question running a 900 mile load straight thru....

I'd rather have 2 450 mile runs with a break than 900...

I'm good for about 700 or so straight...

Maybe I'm just a wimp

or gettin old..

Dale

aileron · Feb 26, 2009

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. For me, in 900 miles I can make up enough time for a couple of naps and still be early for delivery.
I don't know, this is their rule, but what bugs me a lot is that I got offered a 714 miles run and they would not let me do it. They had to split it and I only got 300 miles out of that. I mean, come on, for 14 extra miles.....

This is when they have a van available, but then it happened that they did not have a van available they let me do over 700 miles. So, sometimes it is a safety issue, sometimes it isn't.

backroads · Feb 27, 2009

I was checked into Denver after the new contract went into affect. They offer me a local run (125 miles) paying the new rate. I was so upset at what they were paying for it that I turned it down. They called me and asked why I turned it down. I said I was going to hold out for something more substantial. They asked what I would do it for. I said $250 and they said ok. And I thought there was not going to be any more negotiating. Then again that has been the only one that I have been able to negotiate since then. I am guessing that they will negotiate a run only if the planets are all aligned in a certain way.

layoutshooter · Feb 28, 2009

Take heart backroads, economic turn downs are nothing new. I, as well as many others, have been through MANY of them. This one is no different. Un-employment may get as high as it was in '82 or it may go back down. Look on the bright side. The more hard times you go through the stronger you get. You never realize your true potential unless stressed. You and yours will get through this just as everyone else has in the past. Just as good times never last for ever, neither do the bad ones. One other thing to remember, the worse things get the more opportunties there are to get ahead. Just keep on pushin. Layoutshooter

aileron · Feb 28, 2009

backroads said:
I was checked into Denver after the new contract went into affect. They offer me a local run (125 miles) paying the new rate. I was so upset at what they were paying for it that I turned it down. They called me and asked why I turned it down. I said I was going to hold out for something more substantial. They asked what I would do it for. I said $250 and they said ok. And I thought there was not going to be any more negotiating. Then again that has been the only one that I have been able to negotiate since then. I am guessing that they will negotiate a run only if the planets are all aligned in a certain way.

Yes, you were able to negotiate because there weren't any other vehicles to do the load. Haven't been able to negotiate on a load since the rate change.

backroads · Mar 2, 2009

aileron said:
Yes, you were able to negotiate because there weren't any other vehicles to do the load. Haven't been able to negotiate on a load since the rate change.

You could go to Denver and see if you can negotiate one there

. Of course you will have to wait there for 4 days or so before the opportunity comes along.

aileron · Mar 2, 2009

backroads said:
You could go to Denver and see if you can negotiate one there . Of course you will have to wait there for 4 days or so before the opportunity comes along.

Heck, last week I waited for 8 days in Atlanta before getting an opportunity. Fun times we live in.

interstategar · Mar 9, 2009

When I talked to Jason Frederick the #2,twice, I always asked him to give drivers a choice of whether they would want to run
more than 700 miles and match Pnther's 900 mi limit. I heard along time ago the 700 mi limit was not really a safety measure
(you get called during blizzards which is just as or more dangerous) but was really to spread out the work. They hire more B's when the economy booms, and just let the fleet reduce on its own during times like this. I've been with them since '85 & is how they operate regarding B units. The larger trucks are more of a value to them so that's why they'll pay a C unit the C rate for a B load if the B turns it down.

interstategar · May 21, 2009

Anybody ever see the cargo van I think it either a Panther van or a TriState van that has a window A/C on the back rear door. If anybody happens to know this driver let me know. I'd like to take a good look on nhow he installed it.