Time for an update for FECC

redytrk · Aug 14, 2006

Remember when they rolled out this new service in the spring?
http://www.expeditersonline.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=3815&forum=DCForumID1

Ok...Now it`s time for an update. How do you feel about it now? Have you seen any thing happening except another 200 trucks added to the fleet?

I wonder how quick they would add those trucks if they were paying for them and the drivers,just to sit around waiting for the business corporate promised.

guest · Aug 14, 2006

Well our trucks have been doing very well, We have a team that had to take 34 hrs off to reset there hrs because they was running non stop.
It's a win, win really for Everyone.

Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts Express O/O Since 3/1/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,D5047

guest · Aug 18, 2006

Dave your a fleet owner ????? do you get special rates ..for your trucks???

guest · Aug 18, 2006

attention all driver !!!!! davemay is a fleet owner for fed ex..he has a vested interest in keeping his trucks filled. his comments are andshould be veiwed as biased when remarking about fed ex or other companies..as for personal hes probasbly a great guy:7 ...
The companis know that fleet owners are easier to deal with...It is tougher to move your fleet around..Tell me dave what advantages do you have as a fleet owner at fed over a solo owner..not personal, just business "THE GODFATHER"

greg334 · Aug 18, 2006

>attention all driver !!!!! davemay is a fleet owner for fed
>ex..he has a vested interest in keeping his trucks filled.
>his comments are andshould be veiwed as biased when
>remarking about fed ex or other companies..as for personal
>hes probasbly a great guy
>The companis know that fleet owners are easier to deal
>with...It is tougher to move your fleet around..Tell me dave
>what advantages do you have as a fleet owner at fed over a
>solo owner..not personal, just business "THE GODFATHER"

Not to be an a** about things but so what, who cares?

It seems that his comments seem to be the same of a few O/O in c/d trucks have had recently. One team I talked to yesterday who ran a month straight without a break.

teacel · Aug 18, 2006

biffee

First off let me welcome you to the EO Forums.

Secondly let me give you a warning and/or advise.

You just became a member here on this site yesterday.

Don't come to us selling wolf cookies cause we're not buying them.

If you don't have nice things to say don't say anything.

Gain your respect!

My first thought was to remove your insult, but I decided to leave so others are aware of you and how you entered our forum. attacking others.

If you don't like our rules leave us alone. If you want to be a part of this site, then follow our rules.

If you come back attacking me I will not tolerate it.

Lets get this thread back on track and show Redytrk some respect.

targuard86 · Aug 18, 2006

I'm not Dave but as a fleet owner with FCC I get no special treatment!!

I read all the post about bargaining with other carriers on being 1st out (and other things) only to find out that not only has that dispatcher gone home but 3 other trucks have been promised the same thing. The thing that I like about FCC the most is their strict SOP's and policies and that they actually follow them. Sure, Iâ€™d like to be able to bargain with them sometimes but with their large fleet I'm sure I would get shafted more by other people getting special treatment than I would receive special treatment.

Yes, every now and then I find where they have made a mistake but...........I have never felt like it was on purpose and have always gotten it resolved by my CC ASAP. The last issue I had with FCC I emailed my CC about the problem and within 10 minutes she emailed me back saying she would look into it and within 2 hours she was calling me to tell me that

1. FCC made a mistake.
2. This is how our policies say to do it.
3. She had spoken to the dispatch supervisor about the issue.

What else can you ask for?

Not every company is perfect for every contractor but in my dealing with FCC they have never been anything but helpful and professional.

Andy Lazar
Trooper Transport, Inc

rode2rouen · Aug 18, 2006

biffee wroted:

>
>Tell me dave
>what advantages do you have as a fleet owner at fed over a
>solo owner..not personal, just business "THE GODFATHER"

As a solo O/O who has considered fleet ownership, I think I can speak to the advantages a fleet owner has over a one truck operation. In the following, "X" equals the number of trucks in the fleet.

1)Interviewing 5 to 10 X potential drivers to find 1 (or 2 if a team operation) who can be qualified with the Co.

2)Listening to X drivers whining about having to be somewhere else besides in the truck at some point during the week.

3)Having X drivers screw up, lose, or otherwise mishandle paperwork for a load at some point during the month.

4)Replacing 6X tires over the course of a year because the driver can't be bothered with checking pressure and condition.

5)Having a truck towed to the shop/dealer because the driver said it was missing badly, only to find out that the engine oil level was 6qts. low and Cat (and International)engines won't fire the injectors properly without a full crankcase.

6)Trying to decipher X emails from drivers who have a limited grasp of spelling and punctuation of the English language.

Wow, this is really starting to snowball, but I think I made my point.

biffee, as a newbie here on the EO forums, you really ought to think a bit before you jump on someone about what you think you heard from a friend of a friend who knew someone who had a friend who once drove for a Co. that might have been in the expedite biz.

Try asking questions in a respectful manner, you might find everyone on the site is easier to deal with, and you will spare yourself having a smartazz, like myself, giving you a ration of chit!

Rex

RichM · Aug 18, 2006

Very good Rex here are a couple more.
Having X drivers back into a low clearance and deny that they did it.

X drivers refusing a $4k load because the weekend is coming up

X drivers literally selling off new tires and putting used ones on.

x drivers telling off customers that rubbed them the wrong way

and it goes on.

tec1959 · Aug 18, 2006

Biffee Welcome to the site.Ok now you said Dave May Is a fleet owner and he has alot of advantages and extras since he owns more than 1 truck,Well with FedExCC you are wrong all O/O's with 1 truck or 10 trucks are treated the same.I know this because I worked with a fleet owner who had 10 trucks from "DR" units to "E" units and I can tell you we were treated the same as everyone else...Good Luck...

rode2rouen · Aug 19, 2006

>Very good Rex here are a couple more.
>Having X drivers back into a low clearance and deny that
>they did it.
>
>X drivers refusing a $4k load because the weekend is coming
>up
>
>X drivers literally selling off new tires and putting used
>ones on.
>
>x drivers telling off customers that rubbed them the wrong
>way
>
>and it goes on.

Rich,

With all of those "advantages" to fleet ownership, you've gotta tip yer hat to the folks that make it work and can maintain some sense of sanity!!!

Rex

terryandrene · Aug 19, 2006

Let's get back to Redytrk's original question in this thread.

FedEx Custom Critical, in concert with FedEx Freight, have initiated new procedures when responding to the freight handling requirements of their customers. They describe it thusly:

Surface Expedite Network is an option for customers when our exclusive-use service isnâ€™t quite what they need. This gives them another option and keeps them from calling one of our competitors. Please be aware that we are still pursuing customers with our exclusive-use services. This is just another option to keep them as FedEx Custom Critical customers.

FedEx Custom Critical O/O's and drivers were, I beleive, advised of this initiative as a means to show the O/O's that they weren't just sitting back and watching ALL the customers choose different carrriers. They wanted us to know that they were continually looking at methods and alternatives to keep its customers coming back to FedEx for all their freight handling needs.

This Surface Expedite Network is merely a company internal procedure that should be invisible to all of the owner/operators. This could not possibly have meant an explosion of freight opportunities for the company nor for the drivers. The SEN procedure used in concert with a vigorous sales effort by the Custom Critical and Freight sales forces was designed to keep customers using the FedEx brand, not necessarily to provide an individual owner with more freight.

As we enter the busiest time of the year for expediters, August thru Christmas, we all should see an increase in run opportunities. Whether or not the Surface Expedite Network procedures had anything to do with that increase will be known only to the company management. The addition of more trucks to the fleet is an annual event that always takes place this time of year. Hopefully SEN will be one of the contributors to keeping all the drivers busy.

ATeam · Aug 19, 2006

An EO news story on Surface Expedite Network is in the works.

Personally, as one-truck owner/operators, Diane have seen no change in freight or rates, one way or the other, that we would attribute to this new program. It has been business as usual and business is good.

redytrk · Aug 19, 2006

The following is from the FAQ on the program.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q: Are the other FedEx companies selling EFS to customers?
A: As with Surface Expedite Network (SEN), we are selling EFS as part of a large sales effort. We have the sales people from FedEx Freight, FedEx Express Freight and FedEx Custom Critical (about 720 in total) selling EFS.

They have performance goals tied to selling our exclusive-use services. These sales people are also bringing us new customers who, in the past, may not have even known FedEx Custom Critical existed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does anyone have first hand knowledge that results are being acheived?

ATeam · Aug 20, 2006

Redytrk asked, "Does anyone have first hand knowledge that results are being acheived?"

I do, and yes they are.

As I said, an EO news story is in the works about this program. In my role as EO Senior Field Editor I have talked with one FedEx executive who was directly involved in putting the program together. He has referred me to others for more info. It will be some time before the story is complete but facts and figures are coming.

I'm open to suggestions from Open Forum members about what questions to ask and what specifically to focus on when I write the story. If there is anything specific you would like to know about Surface Expedite Network, this is the time and place to say it.

greg334 · Aug 20, 2006

Phil,

It is good that you make this offer but no disrespect to you or EO, I would rather be able to direcly ask questions and hear so I am satified as an IC with FedEx CC.

Something you can ask the executives is when are they are going to have a follow up to this and other changes and more importantly where can WE ask questions directly to them, so not to have information filtered though an article or someone who has little or nothing to do with our business. I realize that our CC's don't have the answers and I feel that their positions have been diluted to a point.

Several I know have suffered under some of these changes that you may not know about because of your status with FedEx.

terryandrene · Aug 20, 2006

We owner operators were advised of some of the particulars of Surface Expedite Network (SEN) and Expedited Freight Services (EFS) as part of a public relations announcement that FedEx has myriad products that will serve any shipper's needs. Either by air, sea, or land, FedEx can move the shipper's freight quickly or inexpensively.

ATeam has stated "...have seen no change in freight...".

He has also said: "Redytrk asked, "Does anyone have first hand knowledge that results are being acheived?"
I do, and yes they are."

I don't question the validity of either of these comments because they attest to my belief that many, if not most, of the company's internal policies, methods and procedures are invisible to the typical Owner/Operator. The busy drivers shoud see no change in freight levels; but, the available but idle drivers will, hopefully see that results of new sales techniques are being achieved.

We should all be comforted by the fact that our company management is constantly working to obtain and keep owner/operators in a robust manner comparable to their efforts to obtain and keep customers. They equally need us both; SEN and EFS policies play a part in doing just that. It makes no difference to me, nor should it to any other owner, how many trucks are in the FedEx Custom Critical fleet, the size of their office staff or the number of sales folks hustling business, or how many runs were handled in a given day. What matters to me is that I recieve the maximum amount of load offers that my time allows.

Given the nature of this segment of surface transportation, the typical expediters leased to expedite carriers will never be maxxed out with loads during their available HOS. Some leased owner/operators do the same thing their carriers do by going after their own freight during the idle periods. It just shows that expediting is evolving in a dynamic fashion and carriers as well as operators must continually look for ways to stay on the black side of the ledger.

Sorry for rambling on