(FEDEX DRIVERS ARE YOU KEEPING BUSY & Happy)

[garman351]

Hello everyone:
I'm taking a serious look at going over to Fedex. I have heard they are very professional in it's operations etc. I have heard it all about Panther good & bad. What concerns me is their fleet getting bigger & bigger since the recent buy out of Con Way.

All I see is a roller coaster with Panther, "I know all companys have their good & slow times etc. I'm just conserned about not enough work to support such a large fleet of drivers & trucks.

Does any body have a crystal ball to help me figure out what to do for the future.

garman351

 

[LDB]

Unfortunately the crystal ball doesn't work any better than the magic 8 ball from when you were a kid. One thing to keep in mind is that Panther didn't just add a few hundred trucks out of the blue and try to feed them from the existing pool. Along with the few hundred trucks they added the customer base that was feeding those trucks. Not every truck switched over and I'm sure not every customer will stick either. I expect the net effect will be a fairly equivalent ratio of trucks and customers sticking so the number of jobs per truck will be pretty similar to what it was before the buyout. The added customers being geographically diverse should help all trucks to get jobs from places they previously would have had to deadhead out of. I know that doesn't tell you much about FX but hopefully it helps a little with evaluating Panther as an alternative.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

You mean the magic 8-ball is a toy? I've been using that to accept or decline loads for years!

 

[tec1959]

Garman I was with Roberts Express before FexEx bought them and I loved them.I worked for FedEx C.C. for about a year and a half,I didn't like the changes so I left.But as far as your question I think FedEx and or Panther II would be great company's to work for,I think the larger company's will do better for the drivers,O/O's and fleet owners.Also I've heard TriState Is a good company also.I think Panther II Is a roller coaster right now for some because they are use to the way Conway Now's way of doing day to day business,Alot of us hate change sometimes I know I did back with Roberts Changing to FedEx...

 

[TeamCaffee]

garman351

I do not know if you are a team or not? If you are a solo I believe you can do ok in the NE. We are a team and really love the way we are treated by FedEx. You do have your busy times and your down times and need to be prepared. We stay pretty busy and are sure happy with where we are at.

 

[garman351]

Team Caffee:
Thank you for the reply back to me.
Do you have any trouble with dispatchers sending you out into bad areas when they tell you, "no problem getting out of there.'We are experiencing lots of deadhead miles in the last several months. Does Fedex try to schedule loads to get you out of an bad area.I have an experienced team who has been all over and pretty much knows where not to go anymore. Except when they are lied to, to accept an load offer in an unknown are.

Thanks
Garman351

 

[TeamCaffee]

When we are considering accepting a load to an area that is not very populated we will ask about which service center we will be sent to. With fuel prices the way they are right now you really need to know that so after you deliver you can also cover the dead head miles to the service center. We do have dead head but as long as you keep that in your calculations you can still keep your rate per mile up. I dont believe FedEx has ever lied to us when we ask about an area and how things are moving. We usually hope for the best and sometimes we have had to sit and then deadhead to a better area. We have also found that an area that has been very good can all the sudden dry up! We have had that happen to us also. As far as I know FedEx does not try and schedule you a load out of anyplace. You just have to ask the questions about the service centers and so far we have had good luck with that approach.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Hey Garman,

I understand your feelings about the customer base of a larger carrier and getting out of "dead" zones. What is dead for one company may not be for another. Personally, I would look into any company that would allow you the ability to obtain your own loads without too much redtape.

Also, in my opinion, it seems as if some of the smaller companies concern themselves, not just with attempting to cover the loads, but attempting to load their drivers no matter where they are. I think that that is the reason that Colonel Foster on here can boast only 6 to 8% deadhead for his people. Most have twice that amount or more. How much you are grossing may not mean very much after you figure in 20% or more deadhead.

Not trying to detour you from your present choice, as much as asking you to consider a few things before deciding.


Drive Safe!

Jeff

 

[davekc]

Jefferson3000
Very good advice to research all of the available options.







Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[ATeam]

Both Panther and FedEx CC have happy and unhappy drivers in their ranks. While you can peer endlessly into the cloudy crystal ball, you know yourself well. If you are a good driver and business person, you will adapt to either company's system and do well. And if it turns out you did not make the best choice the first time around, the other company will happily take you on.

 

[tmbm]

Only been with Fedex for about 4 months, but I have found that they will give you an honest answer if you ask. When I ask the dispatcher about the area we are going to they have always told us. A recent example is a couple weeks ago we had a offer that we asked about (I knew it would be a slow area), we were told we would be 400 miles from the nearest Express Center when we delivered, but the load paid well enough to compensate that deadhead, so we back tracked and then we ended up getting another long run. We started the week on the east coast (NY) and ended it on the west coast (CA) so that 400 miles wasn't that bad considering the loaded miles (+3000) we had for the week. BTW, I've had my CDL for over 10 years and worked for a few different companies, there are some areas that the freight is just slow coming out of it no matter what size the company is or the size of the equiptment.

 

[garman351]

Many thanks to everybody who has replied back to me.
The answers are as vast as the question it self?

You all really had helped me try to figure out what to do.

Yes we are a team.

Thanks
Garman