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FedEx Freight | New shop policy....we don't fix marker lights?

skippy

skippy

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Question for everyone.

At our shop (company shop) they are no longer repairing burned out, broken, or missing marker lights.

I saw the email a few weeks ago regarding not making repairs if the shop does not have the parts, but they are telling us that they flat out will not fix markers on outbound trailers!

My problem with this is that they NEVER get fixed now! I pulled a trailer yesterday that I wrote up a couple weeks ago and the same light was inoperable yesterday!

Also, what about CSA 2010? With thousands of drivers, Fedex can perhaps afford a few hundred violations, but what about us as individual drivers?

I have worked here 13 years and this was never an issue in the past. If a light was out, it got repaired. What in the world is happening to this once great SAFETY FIRST company?
 
Well I guess you stop at the first truckstop with a shop, call central and get it fixed that way. You get paid delay too.
 
It's a different ball game now with CSA. I would go up the ladder with this one cause, something here isn't right. If they won't fix it, it don't roll. period.
If they fire you tomorrow, that inspection violation rides along with you. If you haven't got your PSP report from FMCSA yet, I suggest you get one. It's 10bucks through their website. You start showing a pattern of poor pre-trip inspections (even though you did it correct but, they wouldn't fix it) it goes on YOU as well as them
 
One of the guys at my terminal just had a discussion about this and finally I just walked away. Some people you can't tell anything. He tried to tell me that it would go away if I left Fedex. I had a weld break on a brake chamber in route( it was hanging not dragging ). I was pull in to the New Mexico scale it had to be fixed there of course but I not Fedex was given a ticket for $200. Or I could have gone to court and fought it. Fedex did pay the ticket? And it shows on my drivers lic. I just changed car insurance and it came up when they ran my drivers lic.
 
Inspection activity stays on there for 3yrs. Driver and equipment plus hazmat. doesn't matter who's equipment, if you are in the seat, it's the driver's responsibility
 
I think I would call central from right there and tell them to call in an outside vendor (aka repair man ) to fix it so you can leave with DOT legal equipment. Someone must be watching !
 
Once again Scum V adds so much to the conversation. Way to stay part of the problem.

This is obviously someone local misinterpreting an email. There is a standing order that any repair that will take over 15 minutes should be deferred and the equipment changed out. The order specifically addresses electrical issues as being too time consuming to track down while under dispatch. I guess the guys up high think it's quicker to swing the freight. It makes sense in a lot of cases.

You need to address this issue with safety and make them understand that the equipment will not leave the yard with lights out. The shop there is misinformed and needs correcting.
 
Before I retired, the company policy out west was, you had to have more than two marker lights out before they would fix them on an out bound trailer. This is another case of stepping over dollars to save pennies. With the new CSA rules in place these violations will go on the drivers record too. I think the truck stop idea is a great idea. I'm sure glad I'm on the outside looking in. TP
 
The only thing we have is our CDL. Protect it always. I'm a company guy to a point but there is a line I won't cross. This job is not worth sacraficing the record and reputation 26 years in the making.
 
gr8times said:
I think I would call central from right there and tell them to call in an outside vendor (aka repair man ) to fix it so you can leave with DOT legal equipment. Someone must be watching !
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I think this is the right course of action. I had tail light problems and the SEA shop couldn't fix them. So I had to call central to find out what they wanted me to do and they said they were going to call in a vendor to come and repair my lights. Not the best way to do business when you have 4 mechanics on duty.
 
safety goes right out the window when the bottom line is involved. it's all about the bottom line. they dont care about you or your driver license. with all these people without work these days, the system that they have setup is "every driver is replaceable" They dont care about you or anything else alongs that you are out there making the company money and that's it. They have us by the eyeballs and there is nothing that we can do about it. They know just as well as we do there are no jobs out there. so they are going to win. just tell them that you arent going to pull a trailer with a light out. if they try to intimidate you, just have the DOT in your state come in and do safety checks on equipment. they do it to school busses so they should do it to our equipment.
 
Twice Pipes said:
Before I retired, the company policy out west was, you had to have more than two marker lights out before they would fix them on an out bound trailer. This is another case of stepping over dollars to save pennies. With the new CSA rules in place these violations will go on the drivers record too. I think the truck stop idea is a great idea. I'm sure glad I'm on the outside looking in. TP
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No problem...I have a hammer....wow look at all 3 lights not working
 
What if your headlight goes out enroute? I had mine go out at one of our buildings on my route. No way to fix it and no other trucks at this location
 
Wigglez said:
What if your headlight goes out enroute? I had mine go out at one of our buildings on my route. No way to fix it and no other trucks at this location
Click to expand...

I've had service trucks come to me even when I was in the city. Tell your dispatcher you can't continue until it's fixed.
 
skippy said:
Question for everyone.

At our shop (company shop) they are no longer repairing burned out, broken, or missing marker lights.

I saw the email a few weeks ago regarding not making repairs if the shop does not have the parts, but they are telling us that they flat out will not fix markers on outbound trailers!

My problem with this is that they NEVER get fixed now! I pulled a trailer yesterday that I wrote up a couple weeks ago and the same light was inoperable yesterday!

Also, what about CSA 2010? With thousands of drivers, Fedex can perhaps afford a few hundred violations, but what about us as individual drivers?

I have worked here 13 years and this was never an issue in the past. If a light was out, it got repaired. What in the world is happening to this once great SAFETY FIRST company?
Click to expand...
Ever since we got rid of the outbound "set check" lanes this policy has been in place. What you are forgetting is that you are supposed to deadline it at the destination location for repair. And it only applies to non-safety related defecdts.
Skippy.. If you pulled a trailer yesterday that you wrote up previously for marker lights being out, did you deadline it? I don't mean just write it on the DVIR, I mean put a deadline sticker on it? Put it in the deadline area out of service? If yes then you have issues at your location that need to be addressed. But I'm guessing you put it to the dock and left it for the next guy.
As far as the CSA implications, our TM is saying that if you have a marker light out (or any other non-safety related problem) that you write it on your DVIR before you depart (you DID notice it on the pretrip, right?). You get the shop or OPS to sign it as no correction necessary before you leave and that is supposed to be what determines if you or the company gets dinged if you get a fix-it ticket for the problem. The main thing is to have the defect already noted when you get inspected.
 
Cody speaks the truth. Learn the facts and don't go on rhetoric. If you wrote it up on your VIR and got it signed off on before you left, then you should be able to contest any violation you might receive enroute (through DataQs) and get it off your CSA record. Unless it's something that would get you placed out of service, dispatch is probably going to tell you to roll and have it fixed at the hub.

oaf
 
Looks like gg11 pushed the Post button about six minutes ahead of me. His points are well taken also.
 
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