FedEx Freight | Question for extraboard drivers

Birdman07

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hey guys, my brother just got an offer from fedex freight to be on the extraboard. He would be the 6th guy. They said he would on call from 5pm-9am. He worried he isn't going to work everyday and if he does work they will call him in at all hours of the night and then Saturday mornings at 9am so he works all day saturay. Just looking for some feedback on how it really goes vs how the managers say it will go. They always give worse case scenario in interviews. Thanks
 
The first thing he must understand is that the extra-board is NOT a bid.
There are two call blocks for extra-board, 5am-9am and 5pm-9pm...this is when a majority of our extra runs are called out. Everyone is required to sign a call block waiver stating whether or not they want to be called outside of the call block. If he signs the waiver saying "do NOT call" outside of the call block, then a junior driver who signed "do call" can be offered a run outside of the call block ahead of him (which shouldn't be an issue if he's the new guy). The drawback to signing "do call" is that they can/will call whenever a run is available...at all times. When a run is called, you're allowed 1.5 hrs to show and 30 mins to gate for a total of two hours to gate from the time called. This usually isn't a problem unless you actually live an hour and a half away.
As for when he'll run depends on his location...if at an EOL center it will almost certainly be PM, if at a hub it varies. Satur"day's" are optional (volunteer) although if on the PM, he'll work Fri night-Sat morn, then he won't be available for Satur"days". As for "if he'll get to work", again, that depends on his location. Right now shouldn't be an issue but things do slow down in the winter.

Hope this info helps and good luck.
 
Great information! I really appreciate it. I'll be sharing this with him ASAP. So it looks like he misunderstood. He though he would be on call from 5pm to 9am so they could call him anywhere in that 16 hours and have him come on. Your saying it's only a 4 hours window they can call unless he signs the "do call" list. Is that mandatory to sign the "do call" list? He will be the bottom guy so if no one else signs it does he have to?
 
Great information! I really appreciate it. I'll be sharing this with him ASAP. So it looks like he misunderstood. He though he would be on call from 5pm to 9am so they could call him anywhere in that 16 hours and have him come on. Your saying it's only a 4 hours window they can call unless he signs the "do call" list. Is that mandatory to sign the "do call" list? He will be the bottom guy so if no one else signs it does he have to?

The "official" call blocks are 5am to 9am for AM runs and 5pm to 9pm for PM runs. If he doesn't get called during a call block, then he is available to be called at the next call block. Typically drivers are instructed not to call the dispatcher during the call block, but it's ok to call them after the call block has expired. This depends not the dispatcher of course, but most big centers have their hands full coordinating runs with Central Dispatch at those times.

When I was the last extra board driver, I chose to sign the call block option so that they would call me anytime for a run so that I wouldn't miss out on any work. However, if he is the bottom extra board driver it is more likely that they will call him and say, this is where you're going. He is not required to sign either way, totally his preference.

Also sometimes during holidays the bottom extra board drivers may be required to be available for runs.

Is your brother at a hub center or a smaller end of line (EOL) center? Typically a larger center will have AM and PM runs, while a smaller EOL will have mainly PM runs.

roog
 
Ok I got ya. So if he is on the PM call block and doesn't get called they could call him durring the AM call block and he would work dayshit that day. Am I understanding that right? He's going to be at a HUB. Yeah I'll let him know that too. He doesn't want to work one day a week so he may end up signing that as well.
 
Ok I got ya. So if he is on the PM call block and doesn't get called they could call him durring the AM call block and he would work dayshit that day. Am I understanding that right? He's going to be at a HUB. Yeah I'll let him know that too. He doesn't want to work one day a week so he may end up signing that as well.

Yep, a hub will have more options to work. If he doesn't get a run Monday AM he is available for Monday PM, etc.

During slow times there may be opportunities to to alternate work, like dockworker or Rail, depending on the hub as Mike says. There have been times when I didn't make it out on a call block and something came up at 11am and since I signed the call block option I got the run over a higher seniority driver because they signed as "Do Not Call."

roog
 
If he's already #6 it can't be too big of a joint can it? Shoot we had 45 extra board drivers when I left.
 
If it's an EOL there probably isn't an AM call block. He might have to spend time working the dock. You'll get better information if you can say which location.
 
As Red noted, runs on Saturday are daytime only runs. In my experience, they usually aren't very long and FedEx tries to have all Saturday work done by mid afternoon. The few times I did Saturday work while I was there it was running a few missed switch loads.
 
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