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First off I would like to say I love the boards here and I am glad I found them. Seems one can gain alot more information here than they would from their own terminal.

Ok well first off please do not take the things I have to say the wrong way I just want to vent. I have been employed by Watkins for several years. Watkins was a great company but they also had what I feel are alot of downfalls. My TM has no sense of urgency when it comes to customers needs and it seems like these things will never change but I hope they will. As a city driver we get one 30 minute lunch break which more times then not we miss because we operate on a shoestring and dont have the manpower to cover pickups. After coming in from a long day (with no break) you can almost guarantee that you will find a few of the smokers from the office (including the TM) outside having a smoke break. This is a big issue at our terminal I think that needs changed. The smokers will be outside at least 2 to 3 times an hour smoking and I canot even get a friggin lunch break. We have complained about no lunch breaks but it all falls on deaf ears around our terminal. What really bugs me is that as a non smoker any given day in able to get in the building you have to sift your way through the smokers who hang outside the door ways. Does FedEx Freight or any of the other FedEx companies have a smoking rule? I mean we actually have a big ashtray for the smokers right next to the dock doors. I have seen a trailer with 1.4 (ammunition) sitting in door 1 and smokers standing right next to it smoking. I hope things change with FedEx. I know at Conway you are not even allowed to smoke inside the gate. If you want to smoke then you walk out to the parking area outside of the gate and smoke.

Now my second issue is we work with a theif at our terminal and the TM knows it and he is still employed. The person even has a theft charge from a few years ago on his record he also had a felony charge of forgery which was dismissed and the theft charges were dropped to misdemeanors. The dollar amount was upwards of around $5500 so im not sure how they reduced. Anyway these charges were never disclosed to Watkins and until we did applications nobody ever knew about this from the company. So far to this day this person still works here and is moving right on to FedEx National. How can people like this fall through the cracks? This guy steals from the company and I dont just mean time I mean freight. You would think our TM might do some investigating to see what he does but he doesn't. Our TM is a nice guy but a horrible manager I hope FedEx will see these issues and fix them.

Next is the overtime, we work close to 60 hours a week and I am sick of the hours. If I wanted to work this many hours I know a handful companies to goto that will gladly work me like that. Does FedEx limit overtime for their workers?

I have some other subjects but I will post more messages regarding those. I hope I didn't **** anyone off and thanks for letting me vent.
 
I don't know how FedEx will handle those problems, At the terminal I was at on the bulletion board or in the handbook there were names and addresses of the people in the know. Those same people arer more than likely still there. If you don't want them to know who you are Write letters to everyone you can find make sure you name the people you sent copies to. If you use the computer they can find out who sent it by tracing your IP address and other ways. If you have a bunch of people saying the same thing and who will stand up with you, make that stand and see what happens. If you will remember you took alot of questions about this on some test before you were hired. Hope this helps. The only way to make it better is to tell someone who can help. Management looks here too, not just drivers.
 
Fedex allows smoking outside of the building. Also if you are hourly with ot after 8 you will see the ot come to a screeching halt. Fedex believes instead of paying ot they will hire more employees than needed just to keep ot down.
The problem you will have is other than a new name on your uniform and tractor/trailer you wouldn't even know you were bought out. So more than likely what ever is going on at your center now won't change unless someone rattles the cage
 
I also work for Watkins (National) and was a city dispatcher for many years. I never one time in all the years of dispatcher told any driver not to take a lunch. I have told drivers "when you are ready to take lunch just let me know" That is your time and the labor board frowns on that sort of thing big time and so would Chip and Clay. You have access to the speak up forms and that is what they are for. Do the right thing for you and fellow drivers at your terminal.
 
eolithic, just curious, but which terminal do you work at ? if you dont want to name it, which district, or area of the country ?


also, if you do not take your lunch or breaks, its your own fault....
 
safety first sounds like he was fedex trained well first thing you leave in the late morning with 17 to 20 stops you trying to get off what you can before lunch then during lunch you feel you did not get off enough so you go to the customers that you know that allow you to come to there docks during this time so now you worked thru your lunch and got off 4 or 5 stops which helped alot so your at it and come 3;00 you got this truck empty so you call and say i am going to lunch and they say no i have to give you these 6 pick ups so now after making pick ups say now it is 5;30 you call to tell them you are going to take lunch and they say no you have to get that freight back to the terminal so we can unload and load it so we can make the gate time and so now the driver is stuck taking his lunch 8 to 9 hours later at the terminal. aint that the way it goes SAFETY FIRST?
 
Well lets see if I remember this right. WML would take 30 min out of your time each day for lunch wether you would take it or not.If you didn't take it then to get it back you would have to tell the dispatcher so he could add it back to your time. Then being that sinse they didn't want to pay OT they would call and tell ya to take a break. ( my terminal at least). But you are right go to work at 9 or 10 drive 40 miles and start Drop offs, by 2 start PUs be back with hub cause they left at 8. I guess that will change.
 
TAKE YOUR LUNCH! here is the bottom line at fxf they dock you 30 take it or not and as far as dispatch saying don't take it now is bs he cannot tell you not to take your lunch after you worked more than 6 hours its the law.i normally start between 9 and 930 and i normally take lunch at 6 pm or later.the smoking thing you may have to deal with and as far as the crook turn him in and collect your $5000 reward :busted_blue:last point even though you don't like all of the hours your getting now. take them while it lasts because it won't be long before you will only get 3 to 7 hours ot.
 
10 speed said:
safety first sounds like he was fedex trained well first thing you leave in the late morning with 17 to 20 stops you trying to get off what you can before lunch then during lunch you feel you did not get off enough so you go to the customers that you know that allow you to come to there docks during this time so now you worked thru your lunch and got off 4 or 5 stops which helped alot so your at it and come 3;00 you got this truck empty so you call and say i am going to lunch and they say no i have to give you these 6 pick ups so now after making pick ups say now it is 5;30 you call to tell them you are going to take lunch and they say no you have to get that freight back to the terminal so we can unload and load it so we can make the gate time and so now the driver is stuck taking his lunch 8 to 9 hours later at the terminal. aint that the way it goes SAFETY FIRST?
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You hit the nail right on the head. As a diver getting all my stops off is important as well as not missing my pickups and believe me it has nothing to do with trying to please management, they wouldn't give a rats *** anyway. It has everything to do with making sure my customers on my route get their freigt on time the day they are supposed to. I think as a driver we tend to care more about OUR customers more then they do because we see these folks daily.

Maybe they could take some money and spend it on a study to see how much good positive re-enforcement does for attitudes and moral. Wait let me save you some money, they have already done that study at other large corporations and found out it's a great thing. I dont need a pat on the back everytime I do my job but telling guys good job this week or something positive once in awhile would sure be nice. We dont even get a good morning...lol
 
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