FFE along with most large companies are a great start but not a lifetime career. I got some reasons and here I can explain. I personally feel FFE does not care enough about their drivers, many large companies don't, why? because they can put another newbie in the seat to replace you, now that makes you feel important, they will fill the driver seat in my old truck with another driver (newbie) which they will abuse, I like the feel of a small company (will tell more later of new job) so I suggest get on with a large company and put in your time and move on to a better career later if you want to drive a lifetime.
More reasons are pay scale, large companies will start newbies out at a low wage, what I am starting out with new company would take several years with FFE. More on paychecks is you got to watch them close, I been promised layover pay several times and never got it. FFE will deduct comchecks for lumpers and stuff ASAP and will repay you back when they say all the paperwork is turned in. Yeah right, they are so far behind it takes weeks to get paid for trips you done, maybe not all large companies are as bad, FFE used tripak and started to use scanning to get drivers paid faster, yeah right it still took just as long to get paid.
Have scanned documents at FFE terminal, got message on qualcomm to fax documents, so I scanned them at truck stop, day later please fax documents, sent them in tripak, please fax documents, I checked online with confirmation number from both scans and confirmed FFE got them, I called safety and they have my logs, so I qualcomm asking why if Safety has logs why payroll don't have signed bills, got paid with no more messages about faxing, FFE does not pay you back for faxing or calling with your cell, they say to qualcomm them but then ask you to call...So I determined they like to hold on to your money as long as they can and will make up excuses to keep you behind on getting paid so watch your checks close, I kept track of trips and when I got paid, some were paid 4 weeks from time I turned in paperwork.
Another thing that holds up your paycheck is Interchanges. You get dispatched and rollin' with your load to find a message saying to meet another driver at this truckstop and swap trailers, I gave up my load and now have an empty trailer, I do not get paid on the miles I did on that load until other driver turns in the paperwork, yeah right, one time it was with a owner operator and he told me he turns in all his paperwork once a month so he gets one big check. yeah that driver kept me from getting paid for a long time...
Another time I Interchanged 3 times in one day and ended up with an empty trailer and had less than a hundred miles for that day, guess how long it took to get paid for those miles? yeah you see the big picture now. Once I get a load I like to deliver it but most times you get dispatced on a late load and then it has 3 or 4 drivers on it to get it their on time, keep that load moving, yeah 3 drivers on one load going 1000 miles....happens alot with FFE, not sure about other large companies and how they work Interchanges or how they pay the miles for them. So keep an eye on that too.
A example of poor handling of freight is I had my 34 hour reset 5 times in 14 days and ohhh yeah you get layover pay, yeah right... Just sit around waiting for them to find a load, it was great at the start, I would have a preplan on a new trip before I even got to my delivery and I knew what was going on before it happened then slowy they just lost control, too many changes I think in management, I had several fleet managers in a short spell, still on the same fleet just new people all the time, never did know who was in charge of me. Not sure about other large companies but FFE had alot of changes and it made things go slower.
Just remember, all the office staff get to go home everyday and if they leave you out hangin' and not moving is not their fault, they pass it off to the next shift to figure out, once I needed fuel and got message "oh the night shift can't turn on fuel cards", what? got fuel at night several times.... got dispatched on a load coming in from mexico, yeah was an interchange... but had to wait and was told by dayshift "oh nightshift can't dispatch those mexico loads", "sorry about that", so another day wasted, so i asked, what does nightshift do? well it pissed them off I think.
The worst thing that happens with about 98 percent of the loads you get are all messed up, You get wrong directions alot but also the time is all wrong, they say 12 pallets at 20,000 lbs but you get 18 pallets at 44,000 lbs, which isn't too bad I guess but when they send you with bananas to a dance studio and it should of been a Walmart DC, hmmmm that's bad, I followed the directions I got from dispatch and got to the address I was told to go... but it was not Walmart.
Once I went to a place to pickup a load and it was a big empty parking lot with a large building and cobwebs everywhere, so I called the company and they said 'who gave you this address", "We have not been at this address for over 20 years"... I show up at 0100 hours and then told by shipper my appointment time is 0530, well FFE does this alot. I had to call every shipper and receiver and get the actual times and dates and addresses and this cost me hundreds of dollars on my cell phone bill every month.
Most addresses you get are the corporate office, not the shipping warehouse... most phone numbers you get are a automated service about the products they sell not the warehouse, luckily I had internet access in my truck and found the phone numbers and addresses needed to get this load on my trailer and get it delivered ontime. It was alot of work but I stuck to it. FFE has its quirks and I am sure most large companies do. FFE is still a great place to get a foot in the door. I just got tired of doing all the work when this company has all these people in the office doing nothing, I did their job as and it cost me too much so I found a better career.
I now work for a local company, where I get out and come back every week, they run all Kenworth T600 trucks, all 16 of them. I get paid alot more. Their office has 5 employees and The Owner, who was a driver himself and takes care of the drivers the best he can. I like the feel of a small company, a local company 3 miles from my house, I had to work hard to get this job, the company does not hire anyone without a clean MVR and proof of OTR. FFE gave me the tools and the skills to get this job. So once again FFE is a great place to start. To want to work for a large company, why? unless you can't get anything else its always going to be there for the taking.
Best of luck to all of you who work hard to get ahead. I admire all who can get through the stresses of working for a large company, how do you all do it? Not all companies are the same nor do they treat drivers the same, this is just my story on what I dealt with working for FFE. So you now know how I felt, I have no hard feelings and if I did not get this new job I would still give FFE my 110 percent of my efforts to keep going forward. I managed to get alot of miles even with all this confusion it was still a great feeling I got when I did my best. I will always do my best no matter what is sent my way....
