thank you Ateam

lovingit · Apr 30, 2006

We are newbe's to the expedited and we run for owner operator that is
leased to fedexcc. We frist started to look into this after a friend talked to us about this, We did not have cdl's but thanks to reading information that a team called "Ateam" on this forum We know that if this is what we were going to do we were going to run for fedexcc.

We new that it was possible to work cause of the honesty that Ateam mention in thier forum feed back, we now run for fedexcc "WHITE GLOVE"
for the last four mo. and are very please with our decision and Ateam
thank you for our help not to brag but Ateam was right it is possable
to make 5,000 on a load, we have made that and in one case alot more.

We thank you again (get-r-done)

ATeam · Apr 30, 2006

Thank you for your kind words. A fleet owner just told me the other day that his best drivers are people who have not been truck drivers before. It sounds like you are a case in point.

Drive on, lovingit! You do yourself and others like you proud!

MikeC · May 3, 2006

Lovingit While you are at it make sure you thank the A Team for bragging about holding up FEDEXCC for additiopnal revenue when they were the only truck in the area. About 2 days after that post appearred FEDEXCC changed their policy to no longer allow negogiation oon the revenue paid to the truck. At first I didn't belive this but last year a couple in a D unit had copies of the post in question and were distributing them to any Fedex trucks that they met.

LDB · May 4, 2006

In an organization as large as FX "about 2 days" after any event they are just beginning to think about changing the empty roll of toilet paper but they are not making a policy change. That sort of change would take place after meetings and discussions and studies and at least a few weeks passing by. Any policy change by any company a couple days after a post on this forum is coincidence.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 4958, 5447
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

ATeam · May 4, 2006

I've heard of a couple that makes it a point to present a copy of a post. But no one has ever told me who they are or why they are doing it (if they exist at all). If the couple really does exist, it's a safe bet they failed to tell you that there never was a golden goose and the smart drivers never missed a beat.

If they do exist, it's also interesting that they have never once seen fit to identify themselves or discuss the issue with me, but instead sneak around in the dark.

Leo's point about my words having the ability to make policy at FedEx is a point well made. The suggestion that I, a driver for a fleet owner, have the power to shift FedEx policy in a matter of days is laughable.

The suggestion that the policy shifted at all is also questionable, though the policy change was once announced. As I said, smart drivers never missed a beat, and several have said so here in EO.

Smart drivers know how much it costs to operate their truck. They make business decisions with every load offer. From the day we started with FedEx, we have always declined unprofitable loads. When we do, dispatch will sometimes raise the price and make the offer again. In that case, we are not negotiating. They are. We have our minimum price. If FedEx meets or beats it, we run. If they don't, we sit and wait for a better load, or relocate to a better express center.

That's what all smart expediters do, for all carriers, is it not? Run freight that pays and deline freight that does not.

Finally, readers should understand that no one at FedEx has ever told us we are being unreasonable when we say we will run freight if FedEx can get the price up to $X/per mile, for all miles including deadhead. Price bumps happen for us when FedEx really needs to cover the load and we're the only truck that can handle it, and we're located too far away to make the run profitable as it was first offered. The shipper is paying a fair loaded-miles rate and the run itself would be just fine if we happened to be closer when it popped up.

If we decline a load and dispatch comes back asking "What will it take to cover this load?" My stock response is "One Gazallion dollars, but I'll come down to a half-Gazallion because I like you so much." I then tell the agent what our standard price is to run. Sometimes they meet our price. Sometimes they don't. If they do meet the price, we run. If they don't, we don't.

It's not magic. it's not personal. It's business.

MikeC, if you are basing your run strategy on what some ax-grinding couple at a truck stop is telling you, you are setting youreslf up for a host of setbacks that wiser drivers know how to avoid.

davekc · May 4, 2006

>Lovingit While you are at it make sure you thank the A Team
>for bragging about holding up FEDEXCC for additiopnal
>revenue when they were the only truck in the area. About 2
>days after that post appearred FEDEXCC changed their policy
>to no longer allow negogiation oon the revenue paid to the
>truck. At first I didn't belive this but last year a couple
>in a D unit had copies of the post in question and were
>distributing them to any Fedex trucks that they met.
=============================================
I wouldn't worry to much, as one is the same.

Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

RichM · May 6, 2006

What I was told by contractor relations is that FEDEX was considering no renegoations over the normal pay to the truck. They had looked at the additional amount of revenue paid over and above the quoted revenue and it was substanial.

The catylast that finally brought this to the front was the post by the A Team. Apparently they received a barrage of complaints from other drivers thinking that the A Team received preferential treatment. So that is why the policy was insituted,now to this day they sometimes make small exceptions but it not a normal procedure.

I have to disagree about decision making, Fedex ,Panther ,Tri State, etc are all crisis oriented companies. Decisons such as this one do not require weeks of planning,they are made on the spot to react to a problem. If it doesn't work out they can always change the policy.

The couple who had the post printed up do exist. I met them last year at the Petro in Bordentown NJ.

theoldprof · May 6, 2006

You guys obviously don't know how Big Business operates. If someone from the main office heard drivers trying to renegotiate their rates, by the time the problem got to the top, had several meetings, then filtered down to the owner/operator level, the new edict would read something like, "All settlements must be direct bank deposit". The problem that was solved would be nothing like the original problem.
:+ :+

greg334 · May 7, 2006

I disagree with the idea that this problem even made it past the dispatching department or what ever the department is that has dispatching in it. I mean that a lot of these decisions are made on the fly and the mid and upper management donâ€™t care about it unless it affects more than contractors.

Even with the direct deposit thing, that could have been made by the managers in the payroll department to lessen their workload and the CFO could care less, it is an operational matter, not a strategy matter.

When I started working for some of these big companies, I found that not too many of them follow the â€˜must be in committee to decideâ€™ or the big boys need to decided philosophy, quite the opposite. Many of the operational decisions are low or mid management made. GM is not the example to follow.

A lot of managers want to make a name for themselves and if they see the company losing money in an area that is visible, like contractor load offers, someone with enough smarts will make a decision, back it up with facts and stand by it. This gives exposure to the person and shows he is for the company - which is loved in big business.

I heard three versions of this story and got to tell you that it looks like they were sending a message to others.

Does it affect me? I think so. Even though I am good at bartering, I have a hard time doing so with FedEx CC with their load offers. On the other hand I came to the conclusion that the couple of people I come across seem to be FedEx CCâ€™s worst nightmares and get their loads because they yell, b*tch and cry that they are not getting enough work. The dispatchers just give them runs to shut them up. These people are the ones I want to see gone.

davekc · May 7, 2006

I agree. Alot of operational issues are addressed pretty quickly by mid management. The items that take considerable time are changes that may affect the language in the company leases.
Bartering on loads wouldn't fall into any long term proceedure.
The carrier probably realized that their payout ratios were increasing and this was a quick identifiable fix.

Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

jackdixon_2000 · May 7, 2006

Yes, the payout ratios were increasing and this was an "attempted" fix.
How long did that last that all loads were going to be dispatched at he contracted rate or were not going to go, a week?
Most of us that had been around awhile knew that was a joke.
Yes, they did tighten the reins a lil but the bottom line is, most of the drivers that asked for more money were just looking for a reasonable rate.
Fedex had a choice of occasionally kickin in a few more bucks or watching their coverage percentage plummet.

Now, personally, I find that about 80% of my run offers out here in the west are acceptable. But if the rate is too low, and they need my help I just calculate a minimum acceptance rate and send it with my refusal.
I have been told by others that I should not put a specific amount on the refusal (just say not enough money) and let them come back with a counter offer but this is the way I prefer to work it, jus cut to the chase. Fedex then can see if they have any other trucks willing to take the load, which is fine with me, or reoffer the the load at my minimum.

The thing is, if the offer is barely acceptable and you try and get more money and you loose the load, don't whine and complain.
An example, over Easter weekend some friends of mine in a C unit, sitting in Houston, were offered a B load, Saturday pickuo Sunday delivery in Tampa for $1.20 a mile. Yeah, thats a low rate considering probable DH to Atlanta. So they asked for 1.30 a mile min.
but someone else took the load. They were then all upset and whining that, being a weekend and stuck in Hou. that even at 1.20 a mile they would have accepted the load and made some revenue and been sittin in Atlanta Sun night. That Fedex should have come back to them before dispatching someone else.

My point, know you're operating costs, if the offer fits yer parameters, take it. Or if you wanna gamble, go for it but don't whine if you loose.

Now, Greg, yeah I agree I would also like to see the consistent crybabys and whiners who always want more money gone. But I am not so sure that dispatch will cater to them and give them loads to shut em up? I may be wrong, I jus don't know. If I was a facilitator I think I would go in the other direction and deprive em as much as possible and hope they leave.
Where would Fedex be if all the drivers were Cherrypickers no NYC no Canada no autoplants no loads under 500 mi.

Since I am in a rambling mood maybe you folks will indulge me as I tell a lil story and admit to a lie I told

A couple of years ago I was in Des Moines, Ia and at about noon was offered a load picking up in Kansas City going to Denver,Co. I thought, that kinda sucks DH all the way to KC to take a load to a dead area, but, this was a transfer load and they "really" needed my help. So, I just grumbled and accepted the load (being the good guy I am lol)
That evening, as the truck rolled into the transfer point I noticed another person in the passenger seat. I naturally assumed I was meeting a solo driver. I asked the driver, "are you a team operation?"
He said, "yes but we don't take runs west of KC its too hard to get loads out there" That kinda steamed me, he picked up a good load in N Carolina but refused to go beyond KC and expected someone else to complete the garbage end of the trip.
So I said, Yeah, really? I have to hurry up and get this transfered cause I am allready predispatched out of Golden, Co. to Baltimore, Md
ASAP pickup tomorrow morning.
His jaw dropped and he said "Why didn't they offer that to me, I would have taken it" I said "well the offer just came an hour ago and I am the one on this leg of the trip"
He was the owner of the truck and his codriver was workin percentage and was not very happy neither.
Now, I wonder if that team reads EO? I better watch out for them to wanna apply an A Whuppin to me if I run into em. There, its Sunday and being a Catholic I have finally confessed my sin.