Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[barnyard]

Rained last night during my 2nd run. I have a very, very hard time seeing my mirrors while backing in the rain. I would imagine it is the same driving down the road, but it is painfully obvious when I am backing. I had a heck of a time building my set, putting my loads on the door at my building and backing the empties in the yard. Getting out and looking helps, but it seems like I get out, look, get back in and what I saw does not match up with what is in my mirrors. I have no problems with dry mirrors, add some rain and I am a total noob. Just have to slow down and get out more often.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Sometimes if you put the mirror heater on, the rain seems to not accumulate as much. It always worked for me anyway.

 

[barnyard]

I'll try that tonight. Looks like it is supposed to rain all night.

 

[burrheadd]

Wipe some rain-x on em

 

[barnyard]

I am a cover guy. Tonight is the last night I work feeders till October, plus the tractor is a loaner while the assigned tractor is getting a PMI. I'll toss some RainX in my 'feeder bag' and do the mirrors at the start of the week.

Good tip.

 

[VonDutch]

Carry a squeegee in your bag for rainy nights. Pull up, swipe the mirror, sight everything up, and back.

 

[MaceFremonti]

Feeder Tip #10

If it is raining and dispatch wants you to put your inbound long chassis on a door between two crooked 53s with only about 25' of clearance in front of you just drop it and flag down a shifter and have him do it.

You don't get bonus pay for being a super trucker.

But you will get some time off if you bang up your equipment trying to do the impossible.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

I disliked those 53'ers. I pulled at least 3 every night. When our yard was designed, about 85% of the trailers were 28'.. haha I'm old enough to remember 26' trailers and red-tongued dollies, but I digress. 1 whole side of our yard (30 outbound doors) had about 30' clearance between the nose of the trailers and the fence. Hook up to a 53 and when the hub holds you, you block off the whole side of the building. And when car wash parks their package cars along the fence, *shifters* can't even move those 53's. I used to carry snacks in my lunch box for the shifters when they moved stuff I couldn't. haha they loved me. They used to follow me around.

 

[barnyard]

The job that I covered last week goes to a CPU, builds a set, pulls loads off the doors for other drivers and then fills all the doors. Generally 10-14 moves a night. Pretty much every night I put a 28' trailer next to a 53'. 1 night there was a hole between 2 53s. Did not every try to fill that hole, asked if I could put on another 53 and they said, "sure."

That was kind of what surprised me when it started raining. The customer has a very tight door set up, but plenty of room to set up a back, kind of a confidence builder. M-W, everything went very well, even putting together sets. Then it rained.

 

[VonDutch]

Rain is what separates the men from the boys.

Good thing I'm a girl

 

[govols019]

It has never hurt my pride to get a shifter to put a trailer in a spot for me if I was having issues. Our preload shifter at our extended center is damn near a magician when it comes to spotting trailers. Of course, like he said, he spends more time in reverse every day than he does going forward.

 

[MaceFremonti]

Feeder Tip #26

Not that this has ever happened to yours truly but if your assigned tractor is in the shop and you happen to get one of the new Macks with the quarter fenders that go up and all the way back over your drive wheels make sure you have a pull bar before you leave!

You won't be able to pull the 5rh wheel pin because your arm will not fit in between the fender and the bottom of the trailer.

 

[barnyard]

If you are a flatlander and get a tractor out of the pool while the regular one is in the shop, find the engine brake switch and make sure it is off. It is really, really hard to shift smooth with the engine brake on.

Not that I would know anything about that.

 

[MaceFremonti]

Indeed, if you can shift w/o the clutch when the jake is on and not grind at all then you are a REAL Feedah Drivah!

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

You won't be able to pull the 5rh wheel pin because your arm will not fit in between the fender and the bottom of the trailer

You can always spot a rookie from a mile away. He will have a brown shirt on, but the back of his right shoulder will be BLACK! lol

 

[VonDutch]

You can always spot a rookie from a mile away. He will have a brown shirt on, but the back of his right shoulder will be BLACK! lol

And their back from running into set hoses.

 

[MoarTape]

Not to hijack the thread, but quick question for the feeder drivers here. Are they pushing for four ten hour days at your hub/center?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Not to hijack the thread, but quick question for the feeder drivers here. Are they pushing for four ten hour days at your hub/center?

4 x 10's was in the draft version of our supplement, which was soundly defeated. The revised version, which dropped the 4 x 10's (among other things), easily passed.

 

[superballs63]

4 x 10's was in the draft version of our supplement, which was soundly defeated. The revised version, which dropped the 4 x 10's (among other things), easily passed.

YOU AREN'T IN FEEDERS, so you have no firsthand knowledge on this. Re-read the post, he didn't ask what the supplement said, he asked if it was actually being done at the respective hubs.

@ MoarTape, not in my center yet, they're pushing 5 11-12 hour days. lol

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

YOU AREN'T IN FEEDERS, so you have no firsthand knowledge on this. Re-read the post, he didn't ask what the supplement said, he asked if it was actually being done at the respective hubs.

@ MoarTape, not in my center yet, they're pushing 5 11-12 hour days. lol

He asked if they were pushing for it the hubs/centers and the answer is yes, they were trying to go to a 4 x 10 schedule for some of our feeder runs.

BTW, you are not a real feeder driver until you have gone through a Peak season.