FECC's Kennedy Space Center Rip-off

**BigRed32771** · 12-02-2006, 04:00 PM

I just wanted to pass this along to other FECC drivers who are offered loads going to or from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Because KSC gets their mail through a post office zip code in Orlando, all load information related to their location is wrong. Following the city to city routing to get there, for example, will drop you off in the middle of downtown Orlando, about 50 miles away from the space center gate. I have repeatedly spoken to dispatchers and my contractor coordinator, but nothing changes. Now I know why.

My CC let me know that no matter how often drivers complain about this, the company has no desire to change things. To do so they would have to charge KSC more for the additional distance calculated for most loads, and they don't want to rock the boat. I have made it clear that I regard this as forcing the drivers to subsidize this particular customer; we don't get the proper amount of pay for the proper amount of loaded miles, we don't get the FSC for that distance, and if we are deadheading in there to make pick-up we are not paid for the proper amount of miles for that either. In addition, because the routing is based on going to downtown Orlando, the odds are that the recommended route will be down I-75 and the Florida Turnpike/CR408 combination which is farther than across I-10 and down I-95 and has tolls to be paid. An additional nasty complication is that because the practical miles is about 50 miles less than actual, the calculated time allowed for the run is always tight (I was told about one team that accepted a KSC pickup while sitting in Orlando and got running late messages and a service failure for failing to arrive on-time because the system said they were only 1 mile from pick-up instead of the 50 or so actual miles; yes, the CC did take it off their record, but I'd have been P/O'd royally over that kind of treatment). If a driver is not familiar with the area, like I am since I've lived there for over 10 years, the driver stands a good chance of being totally lost because there is no connection between the city-to-city and local directions (50 miles away).

I'm quite sure that there has to be something in the system which allows for a different billing address from the ship-to address. My CC recognized that the company would not allow a situation to exist where I could ship something from Green OH to my place in FL but only pay for a load from Green to Canton simply because I had a mailing address in Canton. The reality is that the company knows this is a problem and chooses not to fix it because it might cause them to have to raise the rate they charge for loads to and from KSC, and they are essentially forcing drivers who take these loads to subsidize the customer by taking less pay for the load than should be charged/paid.

Don't get me wrong; I like going to KSC. But I don't like being screwed by the company for the privilege. In order for me to take loads in and out of there from now on, the dispatcher will have to adjust the load pay to reflect the actual mileage both ways, including FSC, or I will refuse the load on principle.

You decide how you want to handle this for your businesses, but at least you should know the facts.

**RichM** · 12-02-2006, 04:00 PM

Doug, That situation has happened to me many times. However after making a huge nuisance of myself they would always come back and raise the pay and change the times.You have to stay on their back and you will prevail. Bad part is as you said they know all about it and will not change the miles or routing. This makes no sense as a truck can be late or even run out of hours going to the wrong location.

Take care and I hope things are going well.

**layoutshooter** · 12-03-2006, 07:20 AM

Similar situation with a FECC run I had in New Mexico, I think is was New Mexico at least. The mailing address was 55 miles east of where I had to deliver. I found it on the GPS program before I went out of my way. I contacted dispatch and they said something like, Oh ya, that's right, it is out there. They did pay me the mileage and because I was several hours ahead of schedule time was not a factor. There must be a way to fix these things. They are not the norm but it can be very much a pain in the patute. Layoutshooter

**ihamner** · 12-03-2006, 08:26 AM

Thanks so much for posting this. We are still learning about some of the little games they play. My husband keeps saying, "Okay, show us the rules and we'll play the game." Isn't there a time of year when the Custom Critical folks meet with a board of O/O's for ideas or suggestions? If not, then it is time they set up something like this so we could all work together to make our system work better. We hate having to go to our CC with every dispatch problem but that seems to be our only real link to the company. Thanks again for the info!

India Hamner
FedEx CC
D Unit
Life is short.
Stay awake for it!

**D Team Brothers** · 12-03-2006, 05:48 PM

In our short time with FXCC we have found that going to the address given to us will always be the right thing for us to do - even when we know there is a mistake. Once to the given address we notify FXCC and ask for a correct address (and we help them if needed). Then we have gotten additional money for the second stop, additional time to make the second stop - and most of all we ask the dispatcher to update the info so that this doesn't cost FXCC additional money in the future. It seems to get them to change the delivery address for the future.

**Pilgrim** · 12-03-2006, 06:34 PM

The software program that calculates all those charges depends on the correct street addresses and/or zip codes for the pickup and delivery points. Make sure these are correct by confirming them with the shipper at the time of pickup, because the information given the dispatcher at the time the order was placed might be wrong or might have been changed at the last minute. By giving these corrections to dispatch at the time of pickup, they can re-enter the info at that time and re-calculate the charges. Nothing is invoiced to the customer until after delivery anyway.

**nightcreacher** · 12-03-2006, 07:19 PM

I'm not sure how your having trouble with kennedy,but ive done many loads in and out of there,unless I had time on my hands and went out of way for one thing or another,in all my years at fed ex cc ive never had any load,especially out of KSC that was 50 miles off,and if it were,it is no problem to get pay ,mileage, and times corrected

**layoutshooter** · 12-04-2006, 12:08 AM

I guess you have been lucky on not being that far off with FECC. It has happened to us twice this year alone. Both over 50 miles. Layoutshooter

guest · 12-04-2006, 03:40 PM

We noticed the miles were way off when deadheading to KSS from home in the Tampa area. That was when we still had to give them the first 100 dh miles, so it didn't matter, but we wondered why it was so far off when most of FDCC's miles are pretty close to hub. It does seem stupid to have to deal with every individual load with a coordinator, but I guess for every one of us who demands the correct pasy, they save money on the ones who don't notice they're being cheated.