The only thing I can see is a DOT can sit in the office and watch your ecm reading in real time..
done with FedEx Custom Critical
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The only thing I can see is a DOT can sit in the office and watch your ecm reading in real time..
2. FLAT RATE: Diane and I drive a straight truck (CR-unit, White Glove). We have not operated under the flat rate program and know little about it. Can you share, please, how exactly the flat rate program undermines contractors, and who exactly is hurt by it? Note that it seems not to be hurting Diane and me at all.
Phil...Make up your mind?
If you are flat rate..you are being hurt...
To clarify, note that the flat rate that exists elsewhere in the fleet seems not to be hurting Diane and me at all.
To elaborate, we spoke just two weeks ago with fleet owner friends of ours who run straight trucks now and are seriously considering switching over to tractors to pull company trailers and run under the flat rate program. They made a good case for how they can make more money with tractors under the flat rate program than with their straight trucks now.
As I said, I know little about the flat rate program. Clearly this fleet owner couple did not see flat rate as something that is hurting or would hurt them. Based on what they told us, it is hard to see how the flat rate program is hurting anyone. But I do not know, which is why I asked.
If nothing else, can you or anyoone else humor my question and explain, with financial specifics, how exactly the current FDCC flat rate program hurts contractors?
Sorry Phil...I just know that the E-1 flat rate is modeled after the FDCC program and we were losing money down at the CV level.....as far as I can go..the rest would be pure speculation and hearsay...
Greg, with an EOBR you can't just plug in your second and in some cases third EOBR and run that next load. The guys you hear most loudly crying foul are likely the guys running 3 logbooks, perhaps running as an outside carrier team when in fact it is one guy.
Many of the complaints in this thread remind me of the complaining I used to hear when the Quallcomm was introduced. While there were no internet discussions, the late night trucking radio shows were heated up with "I will never drive a truck with one of those". When any one decides to leave a company for any reason and shares their dislike for the company, you can bet defenders will rise up. You challenge their intelligence for staying with such a company and imply you know better. I have encountered several owners who have worked for nearly every big expeditor and have never found the right mix. It is not a way of life that will suit everyone. Freedom of speech means not every one will agree with your speech.
1. I was an O/O E unit.
2. I've been told white glove has a flat rate program now as well. As far as how it affects you, just think about that, if the company can give a load to a truck that's running for $1.35/mi or to you and you're asking, say, $1.70/mi, who do you think they are going to give it to? The program is running because it puts more money in FedEx's coffers and it comes right out of the Contractor's pocket. Since the program was started I've seen more cancelled loads. I've seen what I would describe as "ghosts in the system". Sometimes I've been the only truck checked into an express center for quite some time and when I do a status check I'll see several trucks that weren't checked in had been dispatched since the last status check. I called in to verify that the trucks weren't checked in. Dispatcher admitted that they were flat rate trucks. I was never offered any of those loads. Another dispatcher said that flat rate trucks are given PRIORITY! If you haven't seen any negative effect good for you, I wish you well but as the program grows I think you will be impacted. My guess is they will convert to almost all flat rate like other companies.
3. I had been threatened by dispatchers on plenty of occasions about how they can use an outside carrier if I didn't accept their rate. This was common place for some LG locations. Do you think it's just coincidence that CC hired some former FedEx Freight executives and now the company can use Freight's facilities, CC is changing it's colors to Freight's and I know they use Freight as an "outside carrier". One time I was on my way to pick up a load and got a call from a dispatcher asking me where I was in relation to the pick up. She thought that the load "may cancel". I happened to be very close. When I got there I saw a FedEx Freight truck leave the parking lot and go down the street. It turned around, parked and turned off it's lights. After I backed into the dock and got out of my truck, Freight turned on the lights and took off. I asked the shipper about it and he said he thought there had been some mix up. Outside carriers means more competition for the contractor. They can use outside trucks but we can't use other shippers when activity is slow?
4. We are in agreement on this one.
5. When I got my new lease in the mail there was a form for signing on with SmartWay. The letter with it was from Michelle Terwillinger, safety specialist, stating "FedEx Custom Critical is in the process of becoming a Partner with The SmartWay Transport Partnership".
6. Read up on SmartWay and what they have in store for us. It is also consistent with the ATA's publicly stated goal of mandatory speed limiters.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
So explain oh great canadian van man how the E-1 flat rate is modeled after FedEx's program?
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Well this has been going on since 2006 - especially with LG.
Actually they didn't hire anyone, CC is part of the freight division, which means if any one from Freight came on board, it was through a lateral move within the org.
They always used freight facilities for cross docks and inter-company pickups.
Freight isn't an outside carrier, a lot of the work you would get as a CC contractor is from Freight.
Um... ok I guess. Freight has regular customers, a lot of times these guys will sit to take their breaks, sometimes they will take their breaks in the dock just to p*ss on other's legs. I have to deal with one every other day who races me to the docks and then after he is unloaded which takes 20 minutes, he parks near by for 30 minutes to sleep. Sometimes he will tie up the dock to take his break and the customer will come out and tell him to move his truck so I can get unloaded.
AND?
This has been going on for a long long time and won't be changing.
Leo, thanks for that explanation, now it makes perfect sense when they say "oh my freedom is gone".
"They always used freight facilities for cross docks and inter-company pickups."
I was told there was a new agreement with freight about their facilities. I believe they can work on trailers now as well.
"Actually they didn't hire anyone, CC is part of the freight division, which means if any one from Freight came on board, it was through a lateral move within the org."
Okay, I didn't know that but it's not all that relevant to my point.
"Um... ok I guess. Freight has regular customers, a lot of times these guys will sit to take their breaks, sometimes they will take their breaks in the dock just to p*ss on other's legs. I have to deal with one every other day who races me to the docks and then after he is unloaded which takes 20 minutes, he parks near by for 30 minutes to sleep. Sometimes he will tie up the dock to take his break and the customer will come out and tell him to move his truck so I can get unloaded."
The incident I'm talking about, shipper indicated Freight was there for my load. As far as parking for sleep, he was there 5 to 10 mins.
I was told there was a new agreement with freight about their facilities. I believe they can work on trailers now as well.
"Actually they didn't hire anyone, CC is part of the freight division, which means if any one from Freight came on board, it was through a lateral move within the org."
Okay, I didn't know that but it's not all that relevant to my point.
"Um... ok I guess. Freight has regular customers, a lot of times these guys will sit to take their breaks, sometimes they will take their breaks in the dock just to p*ss on other's legs. I have to deal with one every other day who races me to the docks and then after he is unloaded which takes 20 minutes, he parks near by for 30 minutes to sleep. Sometimes he will tie up the dock to take his break and the customer will come out and tell him to move his truck so I can get unloaded."
The incident I'm talking about, shipper indicated Freight was there for my load. As far as parking for sleep, he was there 5 to 10 mins.
I won't comment on what the Fed does internally, but I can say they will use outside carriers at a higher price than what they pay their own contractors. Took some awhile to finally realize that. The wonderful world of information sharing.
On a side note, they aren't the only carrier that engages in that practice.
On a side note, they aren't the only carrier that engages in that practice.
Quite possibly they did not want to know that.
Doggie Daddy
Veteran Expediter
2. I've been told white glove has a flat rate program now as well. As far as how it affects you, just think about that, if the company can give a load to a truck that's running for $1.35/mi or to you and you're asking, say, $1.70/mi, who do you think they are going to give it to?
I seriously doubt that there are any WG trucks out there running for $1.35 per mile, we are only a surface D unit, and we don't even run that cheap.
3. I had been threatened by dispatchers on plenty of occasions about how they can use an outside carrier if I didn't accept their rate. This was common place for some LG locations.
We have received hundreds of lowball offers on LG loads,and have NEVER been threatened by a dispatcher. And if they ever did use the "outside carrier" ploy on us, we would just tell them to go for it.
Do you think it's just coincidence that CC hired some former FedEx Freight executives and now the company can use Freight's facilities, CC is changing it's colors to Freight's and I know they use Freight as an "outside carrier". One time I was on my way to pick up a load and got a call from a dispatcher asking me where I was in relation to the pick up. She thought that the load "may cancel". I happened to be very close. When I got there I saw a FedEx Freight truck leave the parking lot and go down the street. It turned around, parked and turned off it's lights. After I backed into the dock and got out of my truck, Freight turned on the lights and took off. I asked the shipper about it and he said he thought there had been some mix up.
We can't say for sure that we have never lost a load to FE Freight, but we can say for sure that we have rescued many loads that Freight was not able to deliver quick enough to satisfy the customer.
Don't really know what to tell you about what that Freight driver was doing with the lights on and off, but I wouldn't worry about him so much as the black helicopters that may be following you.
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"I seriously doubt that there are any WG trucks out there running for $1.35 per mile, we are only a surface D unit, and we don't even run that cheap".
That was obviously a made up example to illustrate a point. I see you don't disagree with the point I was making. It seems there is no dispute over the other things either.
That was obviously a made up example to illustrate a point. I see you don't disagree with the point I was making. It seems there is no dispute over the other things either.
We have been with FCC for over four years.
When initially looking at expediting as a possible career choice we where given a spreadsheet showing what C, D,
CR and DR units averaged company wide.
They looked pretty good to us so we took a chance on expediting.
By the way, Fedex was chosen because the orientation at Green is 25 minutes from my home. If it was two hours away I doubt we would have attended. We were shocked at how far (over 100s even over 1000 miles ) the different teams traveled.
Needless to say we werent truck drivers prior to signing up with Fedex.
Back to the average earning of the C, CR, D and DR units.
To this day I cant understand why they are so low.
We have grossed over 20-25% higher than the averages every year.
So as Joe and Phil have stated, "Show me MORE money" to make it worth leaving the demands behind and I will explore the opportunity.
I am not a rah rah company man, just stating the facts.
Additional info: currently we run a DR unit. We did start off in a D unit.
When initially looking at expediting as a possible career choice we where given a spreadsheet showing what C, D,
CR and DR units averaged company wide.
They looked pretty good to us so we took a chance on expediting.
By the way, Fedex was chosen because the orientation at Green is 25 minutes from my home. If it was two hours away I doubt we would have attended. We were shocked at how far (over 100s even over 1000 miles ) the different teams traveled.
Needless to say we werent truck drivers prior to signing up with Fedex.
Back to the average earning of the C, CR, D and DR units.
To this day I cant understand why they are so low.
We have grossed over 20-25% higher than the averages every year.
So as Joe and Phil have stated, "Show me MORE money" to make it worth leaving the demands behind and I will explore the opportunity.
I am not a rah rah company man, just stating the facts.
Additional info: currently we run a DR unit. We did start off in a D unit.
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