Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

['Lord Brown's bidding']

What type of "homework" am I looking at in training? Feeder Dispatch supe talked about how weird it would be having to do homework next to the kid doing homework. Reading on regulations? Workbooks?

We were told we can expect to put six hours of driving in on our 2nd day. Is it a mix of city and OTR driving?

 

[barnyard]

My 1st day of driving was pretty much all city. The only way to learn to shift and turn is to shift and turn.

 

[Jones]

Homework will be more memorization of feeder safety stuff and feeder nomenclature, each night you will be given stuff to memorize that you will be tested on the next day, you will have to write it down verbatim in the same way that you had to learn the DOK verbatim. You will also learn how to fill out a DOT timecard and and some of your homework will consist of filling out those correctly.

 

[QKRSTKR]

We drove around town mostly. I studied every night the BMV cdl guide. Pretrip inspection part over and over. Test part to know what to expect.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

We drove around town mostly. I studied every night the BMV cdl guide. Pretrip inspection part over and over. Test part to know what to expect.

I plan on doing this even before training starts; I hate to say "plan" because my intention was to start this as soon as the interest meeting was announced in January. Last year, for a little while I was doing my pre-trips on my car as if I was pre-tripping a tractor, looking for things on the tractor. The rear reflector on the left side my car was my "ABS light".

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

We drove around town mostly. I studied every night the BMV cdl guide. Pretrip inspection part over and over. Test part to know what to expect.

OK, I give up...since no states start with "B", what does that "B" stand for?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

OK, I give up...since no states start with "B", what does that "B" stand for?

The "B" should be a "D".

 

[joeboodog]

Depends on the state. Some call it the Bureau of Motor Vehicles while others call it the Department of Motor Vehicles. Usually I just call it the license bureau.

 

[QKRSTKR]

Depends on the state. Some call it the Bureau of Motor Vehicles while others call it the Department of Motor Vehicles. Usually I just call it the license bureau.

Ding ding ding. Bureau.

 

[QKRSTKR]

The "B" should be a "D".

Not!

 

[barnyard]

I kept getting dinged on the DOT log. They wanted the lines all PERFECT, no intersecting lines at the corners, perfectly squared off. I bet it took 15 times before I got it perfect. Ugh.

 

[bluebiker]

Depends on the state. Some call it the Bureau of Motor Vehicles while others call it the Department of Motor Vehicles. Usually I just call it the license bureau.

Some people call it "D)**friend*(*^&*^*&^%%!!!!!"

 

[barnyard]

What happens when a train is held, for whatever reason and the trailers are released 60+ hours late? There has been a BNSF train parked on the way to the route that I am covering this week, has close to 50% UPS trailers on it. The train was parked Monday morning on my way to work and saw it moving through town at 1730.

Eventually, that volume is going to land somewhere, but there are only so many feeders this time of year, that can do only so many trips.

 

[cosmo1]

What happens when a train is held, for whatever reason and the trailers are released 60+ hours late? There has been a BNSF train parked on the way to the route that I am covering this week, has close to 50% UPS trailers on it. The train was parked Monday morning on my way to work and saw it moving through town at 1730.

Eventually, that volume is going to land somewhere, but there are only so many feeders this time of year, that can do only so many trips.

EC.

 

[Jones]

What happens when a train is held, for whatever reason and the trailers are released 60+ hours late? There has been a BNSF train parked on the way to the route that I am covering this week, has close to 50% UPS trailers on it. The train was parked Monday morning on my way to work and saw it moving through town at 1730.

Eventually, that volume is going to land somewhere, but there are only so many feeders this time of year, that can do only so many trips.

There's a lot of money to be made at the rail yard.

 

[bluebiker]

What happens when a train is held, for whatever reason and the trailers are released 60+ hours late? There has been a BNSF train parked on the way to the route that I am covering this week, has close to 50% UPS trailers on it. The train was parked Monday morning on my way to work and saw it moving through town at 1730.

Eventually, that volume is going to land somewhere, but there are only so many feeders this time of year, that can do only so many trips.

They might be empties on the train and since there's no rush that could be why they are just sitting there. If you can see if the top chains are fastened and look for bolt seals.

 

[104Feeder]

What happens when a train is held, for whatever reason and the trailers are released 60+ hours late? There has been a BNSF train parked on the way to the route that I am covering this week, has close to 50% UPS trailers on it. The train was parked Monday morning on my way to work and saw it moving through town at 1730.

Eventually, that volume is going to land somewhere, but there are only so many feeders this time of year, that can do only so many trips.

Every few weeks here we get the emergency call to help with a late train or two. Maybe someday UPS will tire of that and we will move to more sleepers so we can beat FDXG on time-in-transit. That was the plan in 2006 before the economy tanked.

 

[barnyard]

It has probably been mentioned before, but it is worth repeating, if you think you need help, do not be afraid to ask.

Last night was the 1st time that I had to cover a run in the winter. I built 3 sets and in all 3 instances, shifters gave me an extra set of eyes to make sure that nothing slid where it should not go. The ice mounds in front of the trailers made coupling tough and in 1 instance, a shifter offered to get under it so I could crank the legs down a little bit.

Being able to ask others for help or advice and then given it freely made a long night way more bearable.

 

[Jones]

It has probably been mentioned before, but it is worth repeating, if you think you need help, do not be afraid to ask.

Last night was the 1st time that I had to cover a run in the winter. I built 3 sets and in all 3 instances, shifters gave me an extra set of eyes to make sure that nothing slid where it should not go. The ice mounds in front of the trailers made coupling tough and in 1 instance, a shifter offered to get under it so I could crank the legs down a little bit.

Being able to ask others for help or advice and then given it freely made a long night way more bearable.

Truth. I got help from quite a few senior drivers when when I was fresh out of training, you run into the occasional grump but most are more than happy than to help out and also give you some tips that you didn't learn in class.

 

[pretender]

Truth. I got help from quite a few senior drivers when when I was fresh out of training, you run into the occasional grump but most are more than happy than to help out and also give you some tips that you didn't learn in class.

I received many tips from the senior drivers when I first went into feeders, and I always tried to "pay it forward". Not so many drivers go into management these days, but several times over the years, guys I helped ended up being my supervisor.