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FedEx Freight | Combined Trailer Weight

Redracer3136 said:
What state makes you wait on a twin screw?? Here in the southeast they’ll let you roll because we can’t slide the axles but you’d better get it fixed before you cross the state line, or hope the scales in the next state are closed or you’ll get a second ticket. We get paid for time at the scales, especially for things that are out of our control.
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Illinois
 
mattbob said:
I can't get my IQ that low to go into mgmt
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Y’all just love to talk s**t on leadership. Hell some of you have it down to an art. My question for all you haters...what are you doing to make things better? Maybe instead of bashing those folks busting their a** in a thankless job with long hours and low pay(yes I know you road drivers love to brag how much you make) how about giving CONSTRUCTIVE feedback and working as a team to make FDX Freight the kind of company we all want to work at. Just a thought. Oh yeah...”my opinions are my own and do not represent the company I may or may not work for. “
 
Crazy Trucker said:
Geez and you say I have a lot to learn. How many lower level managers do you know that are making noticable changes at any given terminal and the tm is actually implementing those changes? You want him to switch to management, don't know any drivers that have switched and went straight to being a tm. :scratchhead:
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There are several leaders out there who are making noticeable changes. A lot of great ones actually. Several great TMs too.

If someone has managerial experience and with right qualifications then why not apply for TM spot? If you don’t then that just doesn’t make sense. I think we can all agree on that.

We are so quick to find the negative in everything. Why not assume positive intent? It starts with you.
 
George Knighton said:
There are several leaders out there who are making noticeable changes. A lot of great ones actually. Several great TMs too.

If someone has managerial experience and with right qualifications then why not apply for TM spot? If you don’t then that just doesn’t make sense. I think we can all agree on that.

We are so quick to find the negative in everything. Why not assume positive intent? It starts with you.
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Attitude reflects leadership....
 
RickRedshirt said:
Y’all just love to talk s**t on leadership. Hell some of you have it down to an art. My question for all you haters...what are you doing to make things better? Maybe instead of bashing those folks busting their a** in a thankless job with long hours and low pay(yes I know you road drivers love to brag how much you make) how about giving CONSTRUCTIVE feedback and working as a team to make FDX Freight the kind of company we all want to work at. Just a thought. Oh yeah...”my opinions are my own and do not represent the company I may or may not work for. “
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Rick, you have a valid point, but we seldom post things on here that make sense!
 
The reason road drivers don't waste time with management is because on a barn by barn basis management opinions on dealing with a given situation can differ. I saw many good redshirts in my time at FXF who listened and help make positive changes...I also saw my share of redshirts that would come onto a flawlessly working dock doing things right and implement changes because they thought they could do better, and not listen to anyone who said otherwise, dock or driver.

And I'll tell you what, I'm not getting out of the cab to be a supervisor just because some supervisors don't know how to listen. Especially when drivers are frequently treated by supervisors and managers as lazy and trying to get out of work when all most of us want to do is do our job and go home just like them.

The attitude of terminal management affects a lot of important things. Morale, safety and efficiency chief among them and all very related. And until this attitude of "I'm gonna put my stamp on this place" stops being popular among management with an eye on the big offices, the blue collar folks are going to be leery of any person in charge. Fun fact for you rising stars: the dock and drivers were there before you, and they'll still be there after you leave for wherever. Your "stamp" is meaningless, especially if a change for the sake of change ruins a perfectly running operation.

I saw 4 different redshirts running the Canada dock at TOL over my time there. 2 of them completely trashed a perfectly running operation because they didn't seem to understand that international freight must be handled with no mistakes. When drivers complained about trailers being loaded that needed service, they were ignored. When the dock said freight had to be sorted, they were ignored. This is because of the attitude that "it can be fixed later". Except...not when you're dealing with Customs, it can't. A broken seal to reload an overweight trailer? New paperwork has to be submitted. Need to replace the trailer? New paperwork. Accidentally load wrong freight? The company gets fined thousands of dollars for undeclared importation of goods. I watched a redshirt we'd been told was a good longtimer suffer through this for a few months before she resigned from the company, all because of stress she'd put on herself by ignoring the people she was in charge of.

Bottom line: I'll take your criticism of how I do my job, the least you can do is the same in kind. You aren't smarter than everyone just because you have a position of power; you're operating a team and being trusted to lead. Don't tell us to step into your shoes; some drivers have been in your shoes or even higher, the industry has seen people from all walks of life join it in the last decade. Your job is no less thankless than ours and the only reason we're paid more than you is because driving a truck is a lot harder than you think it is. Likewise, being a driver doesn't mean we understand how to be a good supervisor; one of the redshirts who couldn't hack it came from the cab, and ended up back in the cab afterwards. But that doesn't mean our suggestions should be ignored. Because, honestly, we're just trying to make life easier for everyone. As one of my managers used to say: "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?"
 
Redracer3136 said:
Agree 100%, and luckily we have a working scale on our yard...I was speaking more on what’s been brought to me/us in the past. We’re at the mercy of the other end when your meet driver brings you trailers they didn’t scale. We had a driver recently who, according to the bills, had a 16K pound trailer but according to the scale master he had 21K+ on the drives and 19,6??k on the trailer axle!! By my math, that’s about 10K pounds of unmanifested/reweigh freight that no driver would’ve scaled before leaving!!
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Courts in every state & Federal, have always ruled that once the driver signs the BOL, that driver knows if he or she is under weight. The courts expect the driver to know how much weight they can load on to their trailer. And it goes without saying, WHERE to place the freight in the trailer to balance the load. If you are over weight the legal fault is on the driver. EVEN if you told dispatch it was over weight, recorded the conversation, & then drove it based on their telling you to pull it, you are negligent in your duties. I know of 1 court case in Indiana that the conviction of the driver was upheld on appeal. von.
 
George Knighton said:
1) not everything in life is about $$
2) why complain then?
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I was a red shirt for several years. I was very good at what I did. My drivers really liked me as well. Had a boss above me that everyone hated. I know what it's like. Long story short I moved away from all that. Most likely wont go back to that. When you have a bad boss it becomes a thankless job in which you can be an absolute rockstar but your boss throws you under the bus anytime something goes wrong. Not to mention you make peanuts compared to half your drivers. Even your city drivers make more than you because of their overtime
 
Redracer3136 said:
Agree 100%, and luckily we have a working scale on our yard...I was speaking more on what’s been brought to me/us in the past. We’re at the mercy of the other end when your meet driver brings you trailers they didn’t scale. We had a driver recently who, according to the bills, had a 16K pound trailer but according to the scale master he had 21K+ on the drives and 19,6??k on the trailer axle!! By my math, that’s about 10K pounds of unmanifested/reweigh freight that no driver would’ve scaled before leaving!!
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Scale every set every time. Unmanifested freight AND shipments with wrong weights will bite you when you least expect it.

Had a delivery once that said 10 skids 9980 lbs on the bill. It was 10 little pieces of aluminum rod in a cardboard tube. A screwup like that is more than enough to fool an unsuspecting driver into sticking a pup in the lead when it should be in the back.
 
Boats n hoes said:
Yeah your right. But just as I assumed it would be risky it was. I scaled that trailer that was over 22k. It ended up being 21020 on my drives. So either way it didnt matter since I pulled an empty and keep in mind that's with my fuel being at half tank. Point being I was questioning it from the get go. Even if both of us took one trailer each I think that front box wasnt loaded right.
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Thank god for sliding fifth wheels.

What the hell did they do? Double stack chemical totes in the nose?
 
vongrimmenstein said:
& then drove it based on their telling you to pull it, you are negligent in your duties.
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I've never been TOLD to pull it. Encouraged? Yeah, but never told.

Anyone told to, "or else", has plenty of avenues of recourse. This is where the message screen is superior to a verbal conversation. Typically a far better conversation...
 
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