I'm not sure if it was Dicks or not. I said "most likely" Fedex will and does pay more to an outside broker to deliver loads. Not always but they will. As told to me by my then contract co-ordinator. She put it to me this way. 10-12 years ago Fedex was having trouble keeping up with loads. They leased on more trucks to cover the loads. It would slow down and they would lose contractors. So the decision was made to broker loads. 25% was the number put on it. In other words they can broker 25% of the freight. It became very apparent that brokering loads had more to offer than just covering loads. When Fedex loads an outside carrier they take no risk in the loads. They have no insurance involved on the freight, driver or the truck. They have no chance of lawsuit if an accident occurred. If a death is involved in the accident Fedex is not in the news. Even though sometimes sometimes... it cost more for outside carriers in the long run it's cheaper. Thinking that T-Val never hits an outside carrier might be naive. When a T-Val load comes up and no trucks in the area to take it do you think they tell the shipper maybe next time? If they can cover loads in that instance they can cover them in others. Fedex is not the only carrier that can haul T-val and report to Fedex on temps and so on. There are many carriers that have the very same trucks. Many cross over from Fed to other carriers and other carriers contractors come to Fedex looking for greener grass. Same trucks same equipment. Ask Load1 if they ever broker T-Val ask Landstar or Panther. They have the same equipment your not as far above it as you think you are. The loads that came across out of Newark showed up on my truck report. It shows I accepted everyone. 15 miles DHPU, 3 trucks on the board when I checked in made me number 4. 10hrs +- dwell time. My truck shows 98.5% availability. My acceptance runs about 50% can change to 90% fast and drop to 25% just as fast. My numbers were right for a load. As far as Fedex only loading outside carriers when their trucks are unavailable is wrong. First time I caught them I was in GA. Got a load offer, accepted. I was drinking a soda and talking with 2 AJ Blair drivers. My phone rang with the results within seconds one of the Blair drivers phone rang. I got the we are sorry line. He hung up and was kinda looking at my note pad and said where was the load going? Turns out he picked up in the same town at the same time delivered to the same town at the same time. Same piece count same weight. Could be a coincidence but I doubt it. 2nd time I caught them. Dispatched on a load get there and there's 2 more Fed trucks. Load didn't PU for a few more hours. We were having coffee literally across the street from the PU and our phones start ringing. Dispatch calling not the computer."loads have been cancelled" Customer over booked loads ordered to many trucks. Drug distribution center had multiple stops per truck. less than a minute later phones start ringing again. Same loads coming across again. All 3 Fed drivers except (one was my step father) There were six trucks in total. 3 outside contractors 3 Fed trucks. We all excepted only one Fed driver got a load. Two outside contractors got the other two. Total of 3 loads. We watched one outside driver hit the highway the other two with the one Fed truck headed across the street to PU. They left two fed trucks with dry runs. Took a 45 minute phone call the next morning with my contract co-ordinator for her to explain why Fedex out sources loads. I get that brokering loads is necessary but I don't think it's right to leave a branded truck sitting and giving the freight away. She also said that she has protested this in the past with other contract coordinators. She also believed that all Fedex trucks should have priority on a load and should only outsource when all offers have been turned down. I was mindful of my manners when talking with her I should add. It helps to be nice and have an intelligent conversation. My step father and Mother started when it was Roberts as a team truck over 20 years with Fed. In the last ten years he's seen a lot of changes. Beginning in 2016 we will have an open load board kinda like Landstar. I think it will be good for fleet owners. they will have a better chance of pre dispatching their trucks.
storm of epic proportions.