Sorry there isn't a lot of detail, I am doing three things at once. Good questions by the way.
1. COMDATA Card. Charge card?
It is a service that provides a means of getting money from the company to you. Think of it as a debit card. There are other companies that do this but I found that Comdata has been the better of all of them, FedEx uses T-Chek which was a clusterf*ck right form the start and was a real hassle, one reason is they didn't properly migrate from Comdata to T-Chek and a lot of people were left flapping in the wind over a crappy website and poor customer service.
2. 100% fuel surcharge? Reimbursement for YOUR fuel charge?
Others will give a better explanation but it is generally an adjustment of the fuel to $1.25 (some use $1.20). Many companies will do this for all 'authorized miles' while others are only loaded miles and still yet some companies don't give anything at all.
3. CAB card E-mail?
It is a service provide by Qualcomm to have email access in the cab. I do that with my laptop, but when it came out, laptops were not in truck cabs as the norm.
4. IRP Plates?
Apportioned plates I think it the right term. I have to pay estimated taxes every year on the states I may think I am running in. Last year it cost me $857 for my plate. This is for trucks over 26k GVW.
5. Is PC miler the standard mileage reimbursement used by companies?
I think others can also provide a better explanation but PC miler is supposed to be a standard to figure out a general miles, the actual miles can be off as much as 20%. PC miler is a computer program by the way.
6. Satellite fees?
These are generally Qualcomm fees
7. Fuel Tax back charge?
This goes with the IRP and the apportioned plate thing in #4. every quarter I get in the mail a list of my taxes and how much I owe or if I get some money back (sort of). Leo actually has a very good explanation I think in this forum about how, where and when to buy fuel to reduce the tax burden.
8. Detention Pay?
This is what you may get for waiting, some companies provide it, others say they do but don’t while others say too bad.
9. What is escrow pay for?
This is to cover the company incase you decide to take off with the Qualcomm or get into an accident – one company will used the excuse to hole back pay just incase you decide you really like that qualcomm during your out of service time which shows micromanagement on the part of the company.
10. FAST program?
Free and Secure Trade Program which is used by a number of companies who regularly ship across the border. The process is simple but time consuming and to date I have had ZERO fast shipments.
11. What is BCO?
That is a Business Capacity Owner – Me! I am one of them and it is a Landstar only thing. Just another term for contracted owner/operator.
12. What is 55% load on COM data card mean?
It means that you get 55% of the amount of money you agreed to that is loaded on the debit type card before you complete the run.
13. What is cross docking?
This is a two part explanation –
1 it is when a load is transferred to another truck
2 when a company can’t trust an owner to finish the run
14. Single wide base tires. What are the advantages? Are they becoming more popular? Are the cost effective?
They are single tires in place of the dual tires. Regardless what others may think, there are a lot of advantages to having a single tire and as I proved, one such thing is not to replace both tires when one goes flat, which would have been the same amount of money if I had only a super single. The advantage is simple, there is a fuel savings. The question of being cost effective is rather up to the people using them, most will say yes. And yes they are becoming more popular.
15. Why do so many companies have an open door policy? I understand that it can be a useful policy for the operations, but it appears that MANY companies have it and I get the feeling that folks out there are disgruntled allot. Alternatively, am I just reading into this?
Well the open door policy can’t exist in our situation but does exist by the very nature of the relationship we have with the company. It is a selling point, just like the term bonus. The thing is it all really comes down to the company and the management of the company if someone like me (a Contractor) can call up the CEO and voice a complaint. In the case of one company, they have no mechanism to actually address issues and only appear to care when it suits them – this is from the company itself. While others, like Panther have a ‘drivers council’ that appears to do something along the lines of an interface to the management and for many it is a good thing. Speaking of driver’s council, I personally feel that if it exists, than it needs to appear, not hide.
The one thing that people forget is;
This is a business; you and I are contractors and are subject to work as the company sees a need for us. They don’t have to provide us any work or they can make offers until we are burned out. I tell people who want to enter into this business to select the company carefully, because regardless what others will say it is the company that makes or breaks you, no one else.
Many people think that there is some God given rights we have because we partner with a company, but there are none when you come down to it. I find one of the biggest problems is the dispatchers don’t realize that they derive the money they take home from our labor and only when I or you complete that load, they get paid.
The other thing along these lines is the idea that there is no favoritism happening in some companies, sorry if you believe that but there is at every company. Don’t be fooled by the statement that some make there can’t be or there is no way it can happen, favoritism happens at all levels and for different reasons.
