Question for FDXCC Contractors

[Bill K]

As you may know, FDXCC recently announced that they are reducing the amount of advance available for C,D, & E loads from 50 to 40%. In their letter and confirmed in a recent phone call to my Contractor Coordinator, they claim that this is being done in large part because contractors have asked for it.

"Number one, we have been receiving more and more requests from owners to make a change to lower percentage. They feel 40% is enough to cover expenses incurred out on the road and still leave the driver some cash in pocket."

Is this true? Have any of you contractors been concerned that 50% advance is too much? Has anyone actually called FDXCC and requested to have the advance lowered? Have you been concerned that drivers are getting too much cash up front?

I run a "D" and a diesel "B" and I know what it costs to run in the current environment with high fuel prices, increasing tolls etc. It would never occur to me to "reduce" the amount of cash available to a driver at a time like this. Perhaps I am naive, but I would really like some feedback from others on this issue.

Happy Holidays to all and . . . be safe!

Bill K

 

[geo]

I drive for FDXCC and have been around for 8 years, I have
always taken %50 , as I look at, why should they have more of my money to use than me, Also in letters tells of law suit,
don't know what state took them to court over the o/o part.
but what it comes down to is a play on words,
o/o take money
employee get paid, so drivers when asked answered the guestion
wrong.

 

[Dreamer]

This is the first I'd heard of it...
My pay for quite a while has been that 50% up front money. The owners of the trucks, and I , have liked the fact that once I get my advance, the pay question is over, unless there is detention time or something. No figuring up percentages, making sure our numbers match, waiting for check to get here in the mail, I pick up the run, I've got my money. I'm currently working my last week with FedEx due to my truck owner retiring and selling his trucks. If I owned my own truck, it probably wouldnt make much difference, but as a driver, I cant see how this is going to simplify things for anyone, it can only make extra paperwork, and room for mistakes and disagreements.

 

[neo]

Seems to me that if your owner is letting you get paid off the comcard in full, then it would appear you are working for FedexCC.

 

[RichM]

I believe the wording of that letter was 100% off base. The comcard is assigned to the truck,not a individual driver. The truck is owned by someone so funds paid into the com account are actually the truck owners,and how they wish to disperse it is their business.One thing that I heard which may be the reason for this is that some owners had difficulties getting their drivers to send in their paperwork as they had their pay up front. It seems to me that in this age of computers a owner could easily have the com account for a individual truck set up for whatever percentage they wanted the driver to have up front. I believe the real reason for the reduction came out of Memphis which is buying everything in sight these days and needs cash flow.. Think about it,if the C,D and E fleet generates 2 million dollars a week in gross revenue and the fleet tkes 50 % that is 1 million out the door. By reducing the percentage to 40% the Corporation has 200,000 dollars extra to play with for 3 weeks.If this holds true for 52 weeks they can generate some signifcant interest in short term notes etc....Does anyone know who these owners are that requested the reduction.I seriously doubt we will ever know who they are..

 

[Hammer_Down]

Isn't that like saying "Mr. IRS man I don't pay enough taxes, can you please steal some more money from me, please"?

Hammer Down
==========================
"Dude, where's my truck"?

 

[akjedj]

It's my understanding that the percentage is being changed for exactly the reason that Neo mentioned. Drivers are getting paid by the $ put on the comcard and then when tax time comes, they try to say that Fdxcc is their employer and should be responsible for their withholding. From what I have learned from talking to some folks in Akron is that Fdxcc prefers that the owners are the drivers of their own trucks and is trying to limit the amount of nonowner drivers as there are issues of whether or not these people are employees of the contractor or are subcontractors, also it complicates the dispatch process by putting in a third party (ie: "I gotta check with the owner"). There was mention of subcontractors and FDXCC contracts in the newsletter too.

I run my own truck and usually keep my comcard acct. with just enough $ to cover maintenance costs plus some emergency funds (if I had an older truck I'd keep more $ for repairs), then I only get enough advance money to cover fuel, tolls etc. I get my settlement checks direct deposited into the bank and want as much as possible in my bank acct. to pay bills. I use an ATM and online banking to cover my personal expenses including food. I usually get an advance of $200 per load depending on how I've been running.

Seems to me that the owners that have drivers in their trucks should maybe hang on to the comcards that fdxcc issues and then provide their drivers with cards on their own comcard acct. to facilitate the transfer of funds from one acct. to another. I don't think the advance money was ever meant to act as a paycheck for non-owner drivers, although that's what many owners have been doing.

With a settlement time of one week between sending in paperwork and getting my settlement check direct-deposited, I don't feel as if FDXCC is mishandling my $ during that time. If I worked at a regular wage paying job, I wouldn't ask my boss for half the $ up front. Granted we have expenses incured with performing our services for FDXCC and the advance makes things much easier to keep running.

I just got all the new contract information today so I'm off to go read all the fine print. Bye.

 

[RichM]

You make a good point but as I said the comcard is assigned to the truck and the owner of the truck is the one receiving the funds.If the owner wishes to give the driver 50% ,that is between the owner and the driver.Fedex CC is not paying the driver but the owner of the truck.It!s the drivers who are saying that they are paid by Fedex CC because Fedex loads the card.I get 50% up front because if I have to pay $1.55 to load the card I might as well get all I can. After the card is loaded you are allowed 3 hits to get it cleaned out or the nice Com Data folks will charge you a additional $1.00 per hit.I usuually get fuel plus a advance then write myself a comcheck for the balance.

 

[akjedj]

Rich M says "I believe the real reason for the reduction came out of Memphis which is buying everything in sight these days and needs cash flow.. Think about it,if the C,D and E fleet generates 2 million dollars a week in gross revenue and the fleet tkes 50 % that is 1 million out the door. By reducing the percentage to 40% the Corporation has 200,000 dollars extra to play with for 3 weeks.If this holds true for 52 weeks they can generate some signifcant interest in short term notes etc...."

It could be argued that all employers (or businesses) that take more than a week to process paychecks (or settlements) are guilty of holding other peoples money in order to reap the interest. With turn around time on settlements being one week, I seriously doubt that this is the main reason FDXCC has made this change.

I still think that the change is based on issues of nonowner drivers being paid directly off the comcard, which is not a big deal if the driver is considered the owner's contract labor and is responsible for their own taxes BUT if the driver is considered an employee (whether by owner, self, or IRS) paying directly off the comcard is not the best business practice, it IS convienient though. If you read between the lines of the contract you can see that FDXCC is trying really hard to show that they are not employers of drivers or truck owners, seems to me they must have had trouble with this in the past. Of course with all the control they try to exert on their contractors and their drivers, they might want to consider employing them instead, but that would put more of the risk on FDXCC's shoulders. For owners who are getting messed up with this 40% thing because they use it to pay their drivers with, or have drivers abusing the card (or not turning in paperwork), the comcards can be set up with certain limits or you can deposit $ on the card yourself for the driver, for owners that stay on the road you can even get your settlement direct deposited to your comcard acct. It's the owner's acct. not FDXCC's.

I'm still trying to get over the letter I just got that talks about drivers' apperances and strongly SUGGESTS that drivers wear collared shirts preferably with the liscensed logo on them!!! Guess I'll have to say "Sorry, I gotta take my truck out of service while I get my dry cleaning done" I was going to buy my husband some of the grey logo T-shirts ($6) but I guess they'd only be good to wear on his time off! Of course the cheapest logo shirt in their catalog with a collar costs $28. My husband's clean henly-style (buttons at neck) T-shirts look much more presentable than any collared shirt after being washed and dried in a truck stop laundry! Apparently the folks making up the logo catalog really like golf, but don't have a clue about trucking. What's up with the antibacterial packets with the FDXCC logo on them anyway? If you give them out as a promotional item, what does that say about the company? "Next time you cut yourself, we want you to think about FedEx Custom Critical"? Heee Hee!

 

[RichM]

I guess what I don!t understand is how the reduction in the advance affects the contractor/driver business relationship.Fedex CC is still loading the card so a driver can say I am paid by Fedex Cc and a small amount from Joe Bob!s Express,assuming he or she is getting 50%. Whatever,now we have to watch out for the CONTRACTORS POLICE DEPARTMENT and make sure we have clean trucks in spite of the weather,men must be clean shaven,and have button down collars,women must smell nice and flirt at all times.Seriously this looks like the gray area as to wether you are a contractor or employee just got a little more black and white..I would like to know who are these contractors that are making these suggestions..

 

[Hammer_Down]

I always assumed you Fed Ex boys were company drivers anyway. You pretty much have to jump when the boss says go.

Hammer Down
=======================
Dude, where's my truck?

 

[Trucker]

As I have said before...these people are dishonest, and sneaky...any thing they do "for the benefit of the contractors", more than likely are not for anyone's benefit but their own..BEWARE!!!

 

[trucker mama]

I don't exactly agree with all the changes that are happening for instance the steel toed boots but they are changes that are going to happen no matter what and when it comes down to it if you don't like them then don't sign the lease. As for the bottom down collar shirts that is not aimed at us drivers who shower every day and are clean it's for the ones who haven't showered in weeks and from what I understand it is just a requirement just a suggestion. I personally think we drive for the best expediting company in the business and when we go into a shipper we need to make the best impression.

 

[TripleB]

I had a "B" Unit leased with FedEx C.C. I cancled my contract with them before these changes where anounced. All we where allowed to advance was 30%, when the fuel prices started going up myself and a few other contractors where trying to get it raised to at least 35%. FedEx only cares about FedEx and the hell with the O/O... Bob G.

 

[doe.mouse]

Button down shirts? Steel toed boots? Whats next? Maybe hair length, or all your teeth must be capped. I thought you were OWNER/OPERATORS. I dress nice and I run my co. Guess I bailed out of there just in time. If you are an " O/O ", how can they tell you how to dress?