New to Fedex Custom Critical

bojomoko

Seasoned Expediter
I am interested in becoming an O/O with Fedex Custom critical and I would like to run a tractor with a 53 foot trailer. What's the best advice for me to be sucessful with custom critical? What's the average weekly settlement revenue for tractor trailers? Are you happy with Fedex CC?
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Talk to a recruiter and ask for names of other O/O that you can talk to. Ask to talk with a few drivers that are T/T and either Solo or Team like you will be running. Try to find someone as close to how you will do things as possible and more then one person.

Ask the recruiter for the what the average T/T runs and plan on doing better then that. The more people you can talk to the better decisions you will be able to make on how to optimize your opportunities.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I would think the answers to most of those questions would then determine which carrier one would want to run for, rather than the reverse.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
I agree 100% Turtle, but I was going off of what he said and he was asking specific information about FedEx Custom Critical.
 

bojomoko

Seasoned Expediter
Talk to a recruiter and ask for names of other O/O that you can talk to. Ask to talk with a few drivers that are T/T and either Solo or Team like you will be running. Try to find someone as close to how you will do things as possible and more then one person.

Ask the recruiter for the what the average T/T runs and plan on doing better then that. The more people you can talk to the better decisions you will be able to make on how to optimize your opportunities.




Thanks for the response, I spoke with a recruiter and she was very helpful. She said Fedex CC pays 58% of the load which translates in to $2.32 a mile + FSC. I did some research in this forum and some expeditors were upset about the low paying load offers. Their offers were between .85 cents to $1.78 a load. I was also concerned about dispatch giving better load offers to their favorite o/o. I am a hard worker and will accept alomost anything that will turn a profit but I don't want anyone to take advantage of me. In Fedex Ground managers play the favorite game also. I just want to work hard and suceed.
 
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TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
No favorites at FCC it is the FIFO system. A new person can get a load just as fast as someone who have been here ten years. The reason for many of the low load offers is due to excessive dead head.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
OMG, Linda, there are favorites throughout the entire company.

Ground is just like CC which is like Freight which is like Kinkos ... etc...

bojomoko, are you looking to just make a lateral move into CC (I assume in another thread that you are a ground contractor) or are you looking for a move just into a Tractor for work?
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Greg there are "favorites" but I do not believe they are dispatched as favorites and if they are the dispatcher is going to lose her or his job.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Before I get my hands slapped <<again>>, the truth is somewhere in between.

I understand what you are getting at but don't you think there are things that go on at all companies?

FedEx CC is no different than ground and other parts of the company, they want work to move and they do know who will take work and who are the difficult ones - right?

It isn't all dispatch either, but they have their moments.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
I am sure they have the dispatchers have their moments and I know screwup do happen such as double dispatch. There are checks and balances built into the computer system to keep favoritism out of dispatching.

We have sat with dispatch on numerous occasions and I do not think they care or for the most part have a clue who they are dispatching the loads to. They want someone to take the load and they do not care who takes it or why they take it. Then they move on to the next problem. The dispatchers have been thinned out enough they do not have a lot of time to fool around looking for the perfect truck to send a crappy load to.

I do not know how the other FedEx companies dispatch.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
OK Linda, if you want to believe that, it's ok with me.:D

not to ruffle your feathers, it is just fun poking at this subject.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Greg how long have you been gone from FCC and how many changes do you think the company has made since you left?
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Linda,
Its been a while but that does not mean I haven't given up talking to my contacts in Green or don't know what's happening in that world. Sorry to ruffle your feathers but I'm having a little fun, like with your tag line ...

A negitive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
 

bojomoko

Seasoned Expediter
OMG, Linda, there are favorites throughout the entire company.

Ground is just like CC which is like Freight which is like Kinkos ... etc...

bojomoko, are you looking to just make a lateral move into CC (I assume in another thread that you are a ground contractor) or are you looking for a move just into a Tractor for work?

I would like to diversify my investment. What draws me to Fedex CC is the abilty for o/o to accept or deny loads. With Fedex Ground you don't have a choice. Contractors have to go out everyday no excuses. If you broke two of your legs you will have to find an approved driver to cover your route. If a driver wants to leave, I am pretty sure Fedex CC allows the o/o to pull the truck out of service to find a new approved driver. With fedex ground, contractors are required to have someone on call for call outs and no shows. Again, no excuses for failure.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
That makes sense.

I know about ground, and the need to "cover" the route.

I think CC would be a good fit, staying within the FedEx family. Yes you can take the truck out of service if you need to and there is a lot of flexibility compared to ground.

You ever thought of Supply Chain? I got something in the mail the other day about them, maybe a good place too for diversity.
 

bojomoko

Seasoned Expediter
Greg how long have you been gone from FCC and how many changes do you think the company has made since you left?

I spoke with a CC driver named Ron. He runs team drivers on the flat rate all miles paid program. The recuiter told me that if I choose this option that my loads will be fleet managed and I won't have to bargin/guess for loads. The goal of this program is to keep the tractor running so it remains profitable. Ron's average weekly miles are between 4000-6000 per truck. What do you guys think about the flat rate program? Thank you for helping me, I really appriciate it.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
OMG the current dispatch system is automated enough to be almost impossible to work around. If dispatchers override the computer and their reason for doing so isn't legit the dispatcher will regret making that decision. Is Fedex perfect? No. Is their dispatch system perfect? No. Can it play favorites like another company's system that's fraught with the buddy system? No. Anyone who hasn't sat in Fedex dispatch during the last 15 months or so hasn't sat in Fedex dispatch.

Now, I'm in no way saying Fedex is perfect. I'm in no way saying dispatch is perfect. They are darn good though. I can complain about them and their warts because I contract with them currently and have visited dispatch since the changes went into effect.

Yes, dispatchers have favorites and least favorites as well. They may put in extra effort to get a favorite a little extra money or a specific layover location after a run or something else that doesn't mean overriding the computer and getting into you know what.
 
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bojomoko

Seasoned Expediter
OMG the current dispatch system is automated enough to be almost impossible to work around. If dispatchers override the computer and their reason for doing so isn't legit the dispatcher will regret making that decision. Is Fedex perfect? No. Is their dispatch system perfect? No. Can it play favorites like another company's system that's fraught with the buddy system? No. Anyone who hasn't sat in Fedex dispatch during the last 15 months or so hasn't sat in Fedex dispatch.

Now, I'm in no way saying Fedex is perfect. I'm in no way saying dispatch is perfect. They are darn good though. I can complain about them and their warts because I contract with them currently and have visited dispatch since the changes went into effect.

Yes, dispatchers have favorites and least favorites as well. They may put in extra effort to get a favorite a little extra money or a specific layover location after a run or something else that doesn't mean overriding the computer and getting into you know what.

Thank you.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
I have heard mixed feelings on the flat rate program for tractors. Some of the guys that have been around longer are addicted like we to getting a load offer and seeing what the pay will be for the miles.
The newer people are the ones that we hear good things about the flat rate program. They like the steadiness of it. The program is relatively new and probably needs a few bugs worked out of it.

Those of us who are not on the flat rate do not bid on loads. We are offered load opportunities and we either say yes to the load or we turn the load down. We can turn the load down and put a price on the line of what we will run the load for.

When all of the trucks turn the load down that has been offered the dispatcher can go to an outside company and get the load covered or they can offer the load again at a higher price. The load will be offered out to all of the trucks at the higher price not to an individual truck.
 

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I think some of the favoritism angles get fueled by posts whether accurate or not of making 400k in a straight dry van. One could deduct using that speculative number that straight reefers are making over 500k a year. :rolleyes:
Hard to reconcile the difference of what is factual or could be interpreted as favoritism when looking at straight truck averages provided by the carrier and then followed by these types of posts.
 
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