Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[Dracula]

Where I'm at, most of the high seniority drivers want morning, or early morning jobs. I normally pick night jobs, but this week, the only good choice I had was a 4AM job. Maybe it's just me, but driving in the light everyday is miserable. Driving these things in the day is a completely different beast than driving at night. At night, the road traffic is very sparse. But during the day, every maroon with a driver's license is up in your nose.

Give me nights, everyday.

 

[Dracula]

Thank you for the heads up. I did witness a guy "jump the pin" already in the yard. He was cranking the trailer up super high and I went over to see if he was ok and super enough he explained it to me. Some older guy said he just wasn't paying attention (on headset).

This got a lot worse when we started getting air ride tractors. With the air ride, when you crank the trailer legs down, you should leave the legs off the ground a good two inches. What you have to remember about the air ride is that it raises the trailer higher than the non-air ride tractors. So, if you crank the legs all of the way down, the trailer is going to be sitting up higher when you pull out from under it than it would with a non-air ride trailer.

This is why drivers are high pinning trailers more now than in the past. It's a conundrum, but the lazy, worthless drivers now, are cranking the legs all of the way down. It doesn't make sense, because you would think a lazy driver would crank the legs down as LITTLE as possible, but it doesn't work that way, for whatever reason. They crank them all the way to the ground.

That leaves the trailer sitting up higher than normal. And the next driver backs up under it, and unless he or she is careful, they will back their fifth wheel under and past the pin. And that ain't no fun getting out of.

The way to prevent this, is when you're backing up, under a trailer, watch the trailer when your fifth wheel is about to hit the trailer. It should raise the trailer when the fifth wheel hits the trailer. If the trailer doesn't move when you get under it, you are wise to stop, get out and check the trailer height. If the fifth wheel isn't touching the trailer, you're gonna have to crank the trailer down until it is making contact with the fifth wheel. This is also when you begin cursing the punk-assed driver before you.

I have to go to bed, but when I get a chance, I'll relay a real good safety demonstration we had here on the best way to back up under the trailers, with these new automatic transmissions, without getting whiplash. Trust me, one of the other drivers here will tell you all about the full-contact boom that happens until you get the hang of a smooth snap to the trailer.

 

[Dracula]

Funny how your mindset changes once you experience feeders. You'd rather go to the worst job in feeders (on call) than go back to the best job in package car. (assuming you had one of the better jobs in your center via seniority.) I've seen drivers take layoffs (or vacations in lieu of layoffs) for weeks rather than go back. Speaks volumes.

Thank God we don't have that on-call crap here. You're either a full-time driver, or you're in the hub or in package.

 

[Dracula]

You need to figure our whe


Some states prohibit parking on the ramps. I go into one state occasionally and they enforce this...you'll know because the ramps are always empty.

None of our Midwestern states have that dumb law.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Thank God we don't have that on-call crap here. You're either a full-time driver, or you're in the hub or in package.

The on-call feeder drivers are FT feeder drivers, but they don't have enough seniority to get a bid job. On call is the lowest, then coverage, then bid jobs.

 

[TheMachine]

Anyone a Feeder in Jersey? If so is it correct Feeder jobs are only posted in Sept?

 

[olroadbeech]

None of our Midwestern states have that dumb law.

some parts of Cali is lax on this. they don't want you to pull off the side on the "off" ramp because of too many rear end accidents at a high speed. I was told once once to pull to the side on the "on" ramp because drivers using it are generally going slower.

of course, if a 'No Parking, or stopping" sign is posted you can't stop on the side. it's getting harder and harder to find places to park to sleep or take a break. Most drivers just do it in the yards now.

 

[Indecisi0n]

some parts of Cali is lax on this. they don't want you to pull off the side on the "off" ramp because of too many rear end accidents at a high speed. I was told once once to pull to the side on the "on" ramp because drivers using it are generally going slower.

of course, if a 'No Parking, or stopping" sign is posted you can't stop on the side. it's getting harder and harder to find places to park to sleep or take a break. Most drivers just do it in the yards now.

Maybe they should build more bath houses along major highways to help alleviate this.

 

[Jones]

The on-call feeder drivers are FT feeder drivers, but they don't have enough seniority to get a bid job. On call is the lowest, then coverage, then bid jobs.

We got quite a few folks who like being on call.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

We got quite a few folks who like being on call.

We had a few as well, even a couple who like coverage. Not me. I wanted to know what time i was going to sleep on a regular basis.

 

[KoWag]

Yess, I love nights as well. No one on the road! But I haven't witnessed winter yet as a feeder so who knows if I'll change my mind .
Doubtful

 

[Coldworld]

Yeah, wait until you get a little feeder time under your belt. You'll get nauseous walking by those packed trucks everyday.

It makes me ill knowing what the workload has become and how people just take it...

 

[Jones]

It makes me ill knowing what the workload has become and how people just take it...

When I'm walking out the gate in the morning I see them walking in, half of them look like whipped dogs coming in to get another beating.

 

[Coldworld]

When I'm walking out the gate in the morning I see them walking in, half of them look like whipped dogs coming in to get another beating.

And they all have braces on also....sad

 

[Coldworld]

When I'm walking out the gate in the morning I see them walking in, half of them look like whipped dogs coming in to get another beating.

These young guys will absolutely not make it 30 years ....nwif...

 

[Coldworld]

Yess, I love nights as well. No one on the road! But I haven't witnessed winter yet as a feeder so who knows if I'll change my mind .
Doubtful

Not a fun time when you are headed down a hill in ice and the set starts to jackknife and you have to speed up to straighten things out when in your mind you want to stomp on the brakes... not a good feeling, been there...

 

[Rick Ross]

We got quite a few folks who like being on call.

I prefer being on call...

I get paid OT after 8 hours on 4x10 days I cover.

I can skip days before and after holidays without losing holiday pay.

I can make any weekend a 3 or even 4 day weekend.

I make a lot more money because I average 1-2 mileage runs covered per week.

 

[Dracula]

I prefer being on call...

I get paid OT after 8 hours on 4x10 days I cover.

I can skip days before and after holidays without losing holiday pay.

I can make any weekend a 3 or even 4 day weekend.

I make a lot more money because I average 1-2 mileage runs covered per week.

To each his own, and every hub does things different, but I'm glad we don't have those 4X10 jobs. I know with the chaos that typically goes on, it's not hard to work extra OT.

But if I'm not mistaken, by the letter of the law, the 4X10 jobs have no OT, unless you work extra.

I don't like idea of UPS getting around the OT after 8HR rule. I don't think UPS'S intention is helping out drivers by giving them a 4 day workweek. I think it is eliminating OT, even if they haven't got there yet. They would love it if all of our jobs were 4X10.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

In my old building, if you had a 4x10, you got OT after 10. and if you worked a 5th punch, (there was always a sign up sheet to work extra days, should they come up) that entire day was OT.

 

[Yaba Daba Do]

I don't like idea of UPS getting around the OT after 8HR rule. I don't think UPS'S intention is helping out drivers by giving them a 4 day workweek. I think it is eliminating OT, even if they haven't got there yet. They would love it if all of our jobs were 4X10.

I don't like the 4x10's either as you don't make any money on them. The reason we got them in our building is because of the older guys with the nice longer runs. They would turn a 53 or 54 hour run into 60+ hours and run out of hours by friday every week. Management then made them 4x10's and those old money grubbers would switch jobs and do the same thing until those runs were changed to 4x10's and so on until all the good runs were 4x10's. Then after those guys ran out of jobs to friend up, they retired.