Surface division?

butterfly610 · Jun 9, 2014

Anyone work in the surface division for fedex? I was wondering if there's anyone I could PMwoth a few questions. Thanks

TeamCaffee · Jun 10, 2014

Do you have your DoD clearances?

Daffyduck528 · Jun 10, 2014

Or are you willing to get your DoD clearance?

Daffyduck528 · Jun 10, 2014

Team Caffee is a great source of knowledge on this topic. We run both w/g and surface trucks in our fleet as well.

butterfly610 · Jun 10, 2014

We don't have DOD. I've heard a lot of people say the pay is not worth the hassle on he military loads. Personally, we've done only constant surveillance for military stuff and it was kind of a pain, but not too bad. Thoughts on this?

Turtle · Jun 10, 2014

Q: Anyone drive for Panther?

A: We can't answer that until you tell us whether you like salt or sugar on your grapefruit.

layoutshooter · Jun 10, 2014

butterfly610 said:
We don't have DOD. I've heard a lot of people say the pay is not worth the hassle on he military loads. Personally, we've done only constant surveillance for military stuff and it was kind of a pain, but not too bad. Thoughts on this?

Whether or not DOD loads pay enough is a very personal thing. The decision is based on what type of truck you are in, where you are located at the time of the load offer, whether or not you can handle the 8-2 HOS drill etc.

We run a few now and then, mainly when we cannot get a load more suited to a TVAL truck.

layoutshooter · Jun 10, 2014

Turtle said:
Q: Anyone drive for Panther?

A: We can't answer that until you tell us whether you like salt or sugar on your grapefruit.

Most people on BP meds should not be eating grapefruit.

Daffyduck528 · Jun 10, 2014

When we drive a surface truck we do like to run dod. It is a pain but for the right money I can handle pain. Plus you get used to the 8822 shifts after a while.

However, in a tval truck I don't see how it would be beneficial to run much dod as it does pay less than t-val.

butterfly610 · Jun 11, 2014

All good info, thank you everyone for their input.

Daffyduck528 · Jun 11, 2014

Well, I had a very interesting meeting at fedex headquarters and forget about dod. The surface trucks are flat rate only, including dod loads. Until this changes I will have to recommend looking at another carrier. This bit of knowledge makes me want to pull my surface trucks out of the fleet so I can't recommend you to go this route.

TeamCaffee · Jun 11, 2014

By any chance did you ask about the accessorial charges that are being paid on White Glove loads?

Daffyduck528 · Jun 11, 2014

I did. The little bonus they add doesn't even come close to what we were making or what other carriers pay.

Daffyduck528 · Jun 11, 2014

And I confirmed that I wasn't charging the crazy high prices that made us go to flat rate in the 1st place. My avg. $/mile is $1.40. That's hardly gouging fedex and unless your at or real near a dod site you won't come close to that.

TeamCaffee · Jun 11, 2014

Thanks Daffy I had not heard how that was working out so thanks for the update.

usafk9 · Jun 11, 2014

I would guess that accessorials for gov loads have a significant impact if the dhpu and the run miles aren't huge. If they're both huge, I'd imagine the accessorials added in would seem like a drop in the bucket.

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Daffyduck528 · Jun 11, 2014

It's really a bummer. I've had a wide range of emotions today. I've been trying to stand up for the fed and saying let's wait and see but this is a huge bummer. Huge. This means the average person will make more money running east coast to Midwest over doing dod loads in the middle of nowhere. Idk how fedex will keep this up. A t-val truck can't haul a lot of the dod freight so if they are gonna pay $1.05/unloaded and $1.55 loaded plus account charge that's almost always gonna average $1.30 or less. Who can afford to run at that price or would want to do 8822 or other things for a special load like that.

Daffyduck528 · Jun 11, 2014

usafk9 said:
I would guess that accessorials for gov loads have a significant impact if the dhpu and the run miles aren't huge. If they're both huge, I'd imagine the accessorials added in would seem like a drop in the bucket.

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I've never had a short gov load. I'm sure they are out there but most are easily 50% deadhead and over 1,000 miles.

usafk9 · Jun 11, 2014

Daffyduck528 said:
It's really a bummer. I've had a wide range of emotions today. I've been trying to stand up for the fed and saying let's wait and see but this is a huge bummer. Huge. This means the average person will make more money running east coast to Midwest over doing dod loads in the middle of nowhere. Idk how fedex will keep this up. A t-val truck can't haul a lot of the dod freight so if they are gonna pay $1.05/unloaded and $1.55 loaded plus account charge that's almost always gonna average $1.30 or less. Who can afford to run at that price or would want to do 8822 or other things for a special load like that.

You're where we were 2 months ago.

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