Everything Attachments

[RickB]

Wow. Any chance they could ship it to Reno, Stockton, Marysville, Oakland etc? Or maybe a different carrier could have the capacity for it. FedEx Ground sounds expensive.

FedEx Freight, not FedEx Ground. The freight division is somewhat cost competitive in the LTL world

 

[Torvy]

FedEx Freight, not FedEx Ground. The freight division is somewhat cost competitive in the LTL world

My sis has worked for FedEx over 30 years. To them, the Overnight, Ground and Freight businesses are as different as McDonald's, Domino's and Chipotle.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I drove semi's for 38 years. Retired 1 year ago. The problem is not enough pay and to many hours. Estes as an example, pays less then standard wages and works there drivers to the max aloud by law. No wonder they can't get drivers. If you look at craigslist or indeed, truck drivers are barely being offered more than minimum wage. Never in my wildest dream would I have though of driving truck as a minimum wage job!! If you want frieght moved, your going to have to pay atleast $30 an hour and a work day thats something less than 10-12 hours a day.

I remember not long ago a trucking company offering 0.30/mile on the back of their trailers to drive for them. I figured 60 miles an hour should be doable so that's 18.00 an hour. I figure that's well above minimum wage and not a bad wage. I think $30.00 an hour for new drivers is asking too much. Maybe a well seasoned driver with a spotless record, then maybe closer to $30.00/hr. is reasonable.

Now that the C19 additional unemployment payments has ended, people will be going back to work and 15.00-18.00/hr will look pretty good to many, sure beats the 4.15/hr I started at decades ago and I was glad I made that (min wage was 3.85/hr IIRC).

 

[Avenger]

When I picked my grapple up at my local Estes, the first thing I noticed was the lack of parking, due to all the parked trucks and trailers. The second thing I noticed was the lack of personnel there. There was one person at the 'front' desk who really was trying to help me, but really had no idea what was happening. She had to get someone else, simply to figure out that I needed to go into a different door. There, I waited for the second person to find my order, jump on a forklift, run it out to me, only to find that he was attempting to load up the wrong thing. Once he got it figured out, and I inspected the grapple, I signed for it.

I heard about the truck driver shortage, its nothing new. And I know why, lack of pay, over regulations, demanding dispatchers, etc. But when I looked at current job offerings by companies like CR England, looks kinda tempting to get back on the road. (Yes, I was an over the road driver for a few years back in my mid-20s). So, I think... I hope, the market will correct these trucking companies. Hopefully companies like EA will select shipping companies who are not hurting for drivers, with overstuffed warehouses, and select companies who are actually driving and getting the job done.

 

[ranger danger]

I remember not long ago a trucking company offering 0.30/mile on the back of their trailers to drive for them. I figured 60 miles an hour should be doable so that's 18.00 an hour. I figure that's well above minimum wage and not a bad wage. I think $30.00 an hour for new drivers is asking too much. Maybe a well seasoned driver with a spotless record, then maybe closer to $30.00/hr. is reasonable.

Now that the C19 additional unemployment payments has ended, people will be going back to work and 15.00-18.00/hr will look pretty good to many, sure beats the 4.15/hr I started at decades ago and I was glad I made that (min wage was 3.85/hr IIRC).

Sorry Bear but this is wrong on a bunch of levels. .30/mile are the kind of wages I expect from companies like CR England and Swift. These companies are government subsidized and have a turn over rate of more than 200%. They are nothing more than a place to get free training and 6 months experience in order to go some ware else and get .45/mile or more to start. If I were to go back out on long haul, (I have logged over 3 million legal long haul miles!) I would accept nothing less than .60/mile and, for that money, I would only run drop and hook freight. Not the Chemical/Biological waist or over dimension loads I'm used to hauling in order to earn enough to support my family.

I'm not going to go into the kind of life a long haul driver has to live like getting home for 34 hours every 3 to 6 weeks or eating crap food for $30 a day or only having time enough to get a shower every 3 days. These are nothing compared to the other crap a long haul driver has to put up with. To even consider doing this job for less than $30/hour is simply just ignorant.

You mention .30 at 60mph. If your real good and even luckier, you'll average 50 mph. Then there's the 2 to 24 hours you spend at the shipper and receiver waiting to get loaded or unloaded for FREE!! With the kind of miles you have to run (500-750 a day!) your truck will need serviced once a month. That's another 6 hours of work you do for free. Then there's the scales and DOT trying there level best to catch you doing something illegal and, you will do something illegal, there's just not always a way not to. Then there's the crap loads the dispatcher gives you as punishment because you refuse to run illegal. And don't even get me started on weather delays.

Now lets talk about home life. Think about how you'll feel when you talk to your wife just before you get your nightly 2-6 hours of sleep and she's crying when she says goodnight because she misses you. Or she's upset because you missed another birthday of one of your kids or you weren't there for your daughters first date etc, etc, etc!

For $18 an hour!?!? I don't bloody think so.

 

[ranger danger]

I was contacted by EA this morning . Its already loaded on a truck. They are going to assign a driver to it (whatever that means?) so Estes (shipper) said they wont unload the truck just to remove the one item. Even if they would, It would probably take just as long to get it here on another shipper. So, 12 to 14 weeks turned into 20 to manufacture and ship then, 10 days shipping is turning into around 3 weeks or more so 23 to ? weeks.

 

[ultrarunner]

I know little about long haul trucking other than family friends of Dad that were a husband and wife team with grown married children and very young grandkids...

They had weather and equipment stories but also liked the time together and being able to drop in to see the spread out kids on both coasts...

Maybe husband/wife teams are rare?

 

[ranger danger]

Not rare but it takes a very special couple to be together in about 70-80 square feet of space day after day. I'm not knocking the life. Hell I lived it for 38 years. I'm just stating the realities of the life and what needs to change in order for the industry to survive.

 

[ultrarunner]

I guess the lure of the open road passes...

Just thought of another friend that did Los Angeles Oakland for many years... said he was home every night...

 

[ranger danger]

Sorry if this comment rubs wrong, that's not my intension. I'm just pointing out the facts of life as a truck driver and the shear ridiculousness of $18 an hour.
If he said he was doing LA to Oakland round trip in one day he's either lying or running illegal. That's 375 miles each way for a total of 750 miles in a state where the truck speed limit is 55. Then there's load and unload time plus fueling and mandatory roadside truck checks every 2 hours not to mention truck scales. If he ran the normal 63mph that most do, that's 12 hours of illegal driving but you can only log 55 plus at the bare azz minimum of 30 min. to load and unload and the speed limit on the grape vine of 35. Then there's the mandatory lunch break of 30 min before the 6th hour on duty. Then there's traffic at both ends. Bla, Bla Bla!