Be reading through a lot of the FXF threads to get a feel for things as I contemplate going to work for them. I see a recurring theme of many guys indicating that they won't work the dock. While I'd certainly rather be driving if given a choice, I don't see working the dock as being a huge issue (granted, I haven't done it yet). It sure beats not being able to earn anything ..... What am I missing?
FedEx Freight | Why the aversion to working the dock?
- Thread starter Elendil
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I think majority of the guys have always driven a truck for a living, and in the last 5 years or so Fedex wants truck driver/dockworkers. I tried being a dockworker over 30 years ago and decided driving a forklift for a living wasn't for me, so I quit a union company to drive a truck. When I hired on with this company, you hired on as a dockworker, a city driver, or a road driver, all different classifications. Now they hire people to do whatever they want you to do.
Clandestine_ice
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Because it sucks moose schlong
It has long been the natural progression of things for people to begin on the dock and advance to city driver and then road driver. It feels like a demotion to some guys. Not to mention the disparity in pay. A road driver makes more per hour on average driving than his max hourly dock rate. Also, working the dock lengthens their day and there is, in most cases, no way to hit overtime.
For me, I have always wanted to be a truck driver since I was 5 years old. I started driving a truck when I was 20. 23 years later, I'm still driving a truck, just not at Fedex anymore. I hired on at Fedex as a linehaul truck driver.
Sometime around the merger, someone thought it would be a good idea to see if I wanted to drive something a little smaller. It wasn't. I don't mind driving a forklift, it just takes forever to cover 500 miles on one. Besides, have you seen the suspensions on one of those things?
My idea of truck driving and Fedex's parted ways in January 2011. I parted ways in September 2011 for a job driving a truck.
Guardrail
Sometime around the merger, someone thought it would be a good idea to see if I wanted to drive something a little smaller. It wasn't. I don't mind driving a forklift, it just takes forever to cover 500 miles on one. Besides, have you seen the suspensions on one of those things?
My idea of truck driving and Fedex's parted ways in January 2011. I parted ways in September 2011 for a job driving a truck.
Guardrail
Well, I guess I can understand a bit if you went from driving all the time to being on the dock part of the time. Probably a bit different when you go in knowing what you are up against. I would think with all that time in you would get the better runs on bid so you would be on longer runs that would not need much dock time. There are many guys at the terminal I am considering that never work the dock because of long runs...........
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chitownpeddler
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One thing you'll see here are alot of drivers griping but rarely do they quit for greener pastures. It's part of being a driver. You have plenty of alone time to think of things to complain about.
Slackdragon
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I worked the dock for about 12 years and didn't have to, There are 2 reasons I quit working the dock, The biggest is I don't need the money now! and second, I used to work hard for our company, but it got to be to much nit picking, because if you work, yes sometimes you screw up, I don't have to take the BS from them so I don't.
Working the dock is not hard, and the write ups for non prouduction means nothing, a stack from here to memphis means nothing, they can't fire you for it as long as your working.
Working the dock is not hard, and the write ups for non prouduction means nothing, a stack from here to memphis means nothing, they can't fire you for it as long as your working.
Richard Cranium
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For me it's the frustration factor of squaring away a space for my freight and before I can get back on my lift some punka55 5hithead has put his freight there and screwed me over. Or, you take the time to do it right and somebody else destroys it but you were the last one to scan it on and then they want to know what you did to it.
But mostly it has to do with the redshirts. Especially the ones that think they know it all and don't really know much at all. And then there is the age factor. More than just a few of us were loading trailers before the aforementioned redshirts parents started high school.
But mostly it has to do with the redshirts. Especially the ones that think they know it all and don't really know much at all. And then there is the age factor. More than just a few of us were loading trailers before the aforementioned redshirts parents started high school.
I don't mind working the dock, but it puts you at a higher risk of screwing up and putting your job in jeopardy. These young red shirts have little respect for the drivers with many years of experience in the freight industry and lack communication skills. They just care about the numbers.
I only work the dock on the hub shift and I've never driven a truck, but from what I've heard and seen it's pretty simple: the dock is much, much more physically demanding and mentally taxing than driving the same long distance route every day in a climate controlled cab by yourself.
But if you're in even decent shape, have a good attitude and allow yourself to get good at driving a forklift it really isn't bad at all. If you're lucky and end up on a shift with mostly good workers who don't cut corners and are on the same page it's actually pretty easy.
Phantom 309
Big Joe
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I ran a shuttle run that paid 450 miles/night with 2 hours/night on the dock and loved it.
Grossed me about $1750/wk plus I got a good shot of exercise in the middle of my shift.
Before that I ran a shorter shuttle. Only 250m/night with 4-5 hrs/night on the dock.
That got a little old, but the money was still darn good.
Grossed me about $1750/wk plus I got a good shot of exercise in the middle of my shift.
Before that I ran a shorter shuttle. Only 250m/night with 4-5 hrs/night on the dock.
That got a little old, but the money was still darn good.
Slackdragon
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You have no clue .....
What happens when you have had a bad days sleep, these things happen, and for many reasons, the lawn mower next door, someone ringing the door bell, or you just can't sleep. Do you go hide on your lift somewhere in a trailer. I'm a 100 miles out, but I still have to make it , even with a power nap sometimes its hard. It only takes a 1/2 second and your in deep trouble out there. things not in your control, or even a bonehead stunt you did to yourself.
You have not walked in my shoes, one little mistake that suddenly turns into a big one and I'm fired or worse, someone is dead.
I have broke freight for many years, so I can talk about it with knowledge and understanding.
Richard Cranium
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Overly Simple & Dumb
You really don't have a clue....
Maybe some day you will.
I'd love to meet you after your first trip down a nasty hill with a grossed out set and have you tell me how simple it is. Or tell us how simple it is to travel through a major city during morning rush when everyone around you is driving like an idiot and your body is screaming to sleep.
You really don't have a clue....
Maybe some day you will.
I'd love to meet you after your first trip down a nasty hill with a grossed out set and have you tell me how simple it is. Or tell us how simple it is to travel through a major city during morning rush when everyone around you is driving like an idiot and your body is screaming to sleep.
Phantom 309
Big Joe
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Yea OS&D....I knew you were gonna get smoked when I read your comment about driving.
And rightly so, these guys are 100% right. Your speaking outta school budro.
Ask yourself this.... If the driving part is the easiest, why does it pay the most?
And rightly so, these guys are 100% right. Your speaking outta school budro.
Ask yourself this.... If the driving part is the easiest, why does it pay the most?
abso-freakinlutely, these idiots who say its easy to run a couple hundred miles and then drop set go break freight for a 3-4 hours hook set and then drive a couple hundred more miles and do it without having a couple gripes= mo-ron... then add in the factors of feelin like dookie because you only slept from 1-4 or 5 not because you want to but because something is going on and you cant get to sleep and then report on duty at8 p.m and not exit off duty till 8 or 9 a.m all the while only getting a few hours of sleep the past couple of days... we all used to think road driving = holding a steering wheel for a few hours each way then going home... nope not quite... there is a reason most old timer road drivers look like they havent slept in years, because they havent dip ***t
Statistics show that people who sit for long periods of time are at a higher risk of stroke. Inactivity leads to obesity and heart disease, diabetes, etc.. As much as we hate it, a bit of exercise in the middle of the run may actually be helpful in bettering our health.
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I've been told numerous times by truck drivers - some of whom work for FedEx but do not work the dock - that it is very easy money for what it pays. I'm sure there's a learning curve, but let's face it: driving a truck in this day and age is unskilled labor that practically anyone can do. Same goes with dock work, which you guys seem to be forgetting isn't exactly the safest profession either.
You're right. Just about anybody can drive a truck. (As evidenced by the the training of wholly uninterested dock associates to drivers) It's a entirely different thing to operate a CMV safely and consistently in all types of weather, traffic conditions, times of day, etc. for years on end.
Phantom 309
Big Joe
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Driving a truck for a little while is easy. Your right, practically anyone can do that.
Driving one safely and successfully, keeping a clean record for many years in a row, not so easy.
I much smaller number can do that.