FedEx Freight | Moving from Express to Freight

Tedthebug

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Has anyone made the move from Express to Freight?

I'm considering applying for a Road Driver position with Freight, and I'm interested in what the day-to-day is like? Is the promise to be home every night legit? Do they assign you routes, or can you request one? What is entailed in dock work?

I tried checking FedEx's youtube channel for more info, but the official FedEx channel (and the non-propaganda ones) don't give a lot of specifics for beginners.

Thanks!
 
I moved from a Ground contractor to Freight. Best thing that ever happened to me, professionally.

They're serious about being home every day. There are a few laydown runs where you go out and stay in a motel room for a day before making the return trip, but they're getting to be few and far between. Cheaper for the company to set up a meet that gets you back home every day than to pay for a room.

Notice I said home every *day,* because you're gonna be working nights. It's not that we don't have daytime road positions, it's just they're rare at most terminals and are usually taken by high-seniority guys. If you're at a large or even midsize terminal, expect to do time on the extra board. This can be a blessing, as you may get to do long runs that'll pay a lot better than an entry-level shuttle bid. Extra board is also a curse sometimes, though, because you never know whether you're working until you get the call.

Dock work is simple enough. You get the hang of it quickly if you're not afraid of doing a little physical labor. My experience with management at the hub where I do some dock work is that they'd rather you take the time to do things the right way, securing freight properly and building pallet decks to utilize as much trailer space as possible. It's not uncommon for me to only break one or two trailers in a typical 4-hour shift, spending a lot of that time rebuilding trailers as I load them because nobody else has been willing to do it right.

If you don't have your hazmat and doubles endorsements, start getting them right now. You will have to get them as a condition of your employment.

Best thing about Freight is we're paid the best of any of the opcos and we get paid for everything we do, be it fueling, dropping/hooking, going to the shop with a flat before we hit the gate, waiting for trailers to be released from the dock on long hub turns, breakdown or traffic jam delays en route, etc.

Worst thing is they're gonna see when you do anything dumb thanks to driver-facing cameras, so you better not be playing with a phone, speeding, changing lanes without signaling, etc. They treat you like a professional, and they expect you to act like a professional. If you have a blowout, better expect someone in safety to ask you why that tire wasn't written up on your pre-trip. (Tell them you must have ran over a piece of debris, by the way.)

You're gonna like it here better than Express, though. I can almost guarantee that much.
 
Y'all keep on telling yourselves we don't have driver-facing cameras. If you look carefully there's at least two, and possibly three looking at you. One on the windshield, one on the ELD, and one on your handheld if you've got it mounted like many do. I know I've taken several of our trucks in for "DVR upgrades" and they've come back with any stickers that used to be over those inward-facing lenses on the windshield and the ELD removed!
 
Handheld stays in the floor board of tractor, guess they are getting a good butt shot. Eld some one has put a piece of tape over so called camera that shop never touches, as far as one on the windshield I guess it gets a lot of me picking boogers............
 
Has anyone made the move from Express to Freight?

I'm considering applying for a Road Driver position with Freight, and I'm interested in what the day-to-day is like? Is the promise to be home every night legit? Do they assign you routes, or can you request one? What is entailed in dock work?

I tried checking FedEx's youtube channel for more info, but the official FedEx channel (and the non-propaganda ones) don't give a lot of specifics for beginners.

Thanks!
I made the move but did so back in 05.

RTD is very different to Freight Road board. Your best bet is to call local center and ask how many runs, drivers, routes, etc. You'll be bottom of the board with no guarantees.

Also contact HR to be sure hire date, company time, vacation time transfer over if you make the move.
 
Y'all keep on telling yourselves we don't have driver-facing cameras. If you look carefully there's at least two, and possibly three looking at you. One on the windshield, one on the ELD, and one on your handheld if you've got it mounted like many do. I know I've taken several of our trucks in for "DVR upgrades" and they've come back with any stickers that used to be over those inward-facing lenses on the windshield and the ELD removed!
If you're talking about the light sensor, it's not a camera. The window camera does catch reflections such as cell phones, but they don't have time to look for those unless you're involved in an accident. The ELD does have a camera on the back, for photographing accident scenes. The camera on the window is on 24/7. It's a major power drain according to the shop. Half our road tractors in my barn have to be jump started after a long weekend.
 
Y'all keep on telling yourselves we don't have driver-facing cameras. If you look carefully there's at least two, and possibly three looking at you. One on the windshield, one on the ELD, and one on your handheld if you've got it mounted like many do. I know I've taken several of our trucks in for "DVR upgrades" and they've come back with any stickers that used to be over those inward-facing lenses on the windshield and the ELD removed!
Have you seen footage from these cameras? Has footage from driver facing cameras been used in any type of safety review or other enforcement against a driver at this company? Have you looked closely at the “camera” on the ELD? (Hint: compare its appearance to that of the camera on your phone)
 
Have you seen footage from these cameras? Has footage from driver facing cameras been used in any type of safety review or other enforcement against a driver at this company? Have you looked closely at the “camera” on the ELD? (Hint: compare its appearance to that of the camera on your phone)
I've seen footage from the window camera's. Told by regional safety, no camera in front of ELD or on the HH.
 
I've seen footage from the window camera's. Told by regional safety, no camera in front of ELD or on the HH.
Well yeah, I think we’ve all seen footage looking out the windshield. Are you telling me you’ve seen footage from a driver facing camera?
 
Our units don't have any. They've shown us footage of reflections. They've said the lens above ELD screen is just light sensor but we talked to the guys when they installed them and they said they are cameras. Either way most have been covered with black tape or pro stickers.
 
Be the eld sensor is a camera or not I myself cover them all when I’m riding a spare and no one will ever say anything to me. My assigned tractor is covered always.. my point being is that if the company wanted to say something they could’ve a long time but haven’t so clearly it isn’t used in that sense.. but hey just cover it and keep it moving, I cover it for my piece of mind that I’m not being “watched” Reflections will be caught if the camera goes off.. if not the reflection will not matter but obviously I’m not saying just go on your phone all the time. Just do your job their isn’t any camera facing at us
 
Although I don't like any of them. They do help in some cases. I had a landscaping crew change lanes and took corner of the truck bumper off. Got a call & questioned by safety. Reviewed footage and said I wasn't at fault and nothing I could do to avoid it without changing lanes and risking accident with another vehicle and then causing it to be my fault.
 
Do you smooth brains really think that if whatever it is you’re covering up with tape were actual cameras, in use by the company, that they would have no problem with you covering them up?

Driver: mE DoN’t LikE cAMerA lOOkiNg aT mE! mE cOVer iT WitH tAPe!

FedEx: No problem. We understand and are sorry we put them in to begin with. As a matter of fact, go ahead and cover up the forward facing camera too. We should have asked first before we put them in.

Oh, and to not be guilty of completely derailing a thread as is often the habit here, Freight probably has some advantages over Express (pay probably being the main difference), but you’re not getting a steady day run anytime soon.
 
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You know what the dumbest thing in the tractor is? That damn camera in the mirror on the fender, can't see ::shit:: out of it when it lights up your ELD and at night.

If they want the camera on that mirror thats fine but I think it's dangerous especially for night time drivers and even in the daytime it's real hard to see anything. I trust my mirrors
 
Yessss I agree. I swear sometimes they don’t think about us when they add these specs.. typical..

What I do.. is I cover the eld with a small hand towel as I am a night time driver and it definitely is very dangerous
 
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