Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[retiredTxfeeder]

I'm not going to badmouth another driver about how long it takes him to do his(or her) job, since there are sometimes extenuating circumstances out of the drivers' control that affect him. Having said that, If you can consistently take an hour to build or break a set, and not get raked over the coals by your on road sup or dispatcher, more power to you. I definately worked in the wrong feeder department. lol.

 

[Jones]

No offense but 50 minutes? What is it 10 miles round trip to the dolly dump spot or are you incorporating in the traditional 20 minute talk session with your feeder buddies?

I dunno, you get to the hub at prime time and it might take to 10 minutes just to get to 200 row and drop your rear trailer. Then you get in line and do the hokey pokey down to the dolly patch, before ya know it 50 minutes have gone by! That's my story anyway...

 

[MoarTape]

I checked my dolly after putting my set together today. I managed to get grease on the cuff of my glove. Needless to say it was slathered on my forearm before I realized..

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

The only worse thing than getting grease on you when you build a set is......getting grease on you when you build a set and not realize it till an hour later. Why is there grease on my door handle? Why is there grease on my steering wheel? WTF...arrrrggggghhhhh! @$%&+?!

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

I picked up some grease on the bottom of my shoes walking out to my car on the way home once. We have white carpet in the living area. nuff said. My wife threw a fit. Guess who was down on his knees with a a bowl of pine-o-pine and a brush? ->This guy<-

 

[Dracula]

I checked my dolly after putting my set together today. I managed to get grease on the cuff of my glove. Needless to say it was slathered on my forearm before I realized..

Back in my package car days, we had a car washer that you pissed off at your own risk. Once, a driver was bitching because the car washer didn't get his truck on the line because he wrote it up, and it wasn't ready in time. So the car washer had no choice but to park his truck on the end of the line in someone else's spot when the mechanic was done with it. Well, this driver threw a fit the following night, cussing the car washer for giving his truck to someone else. Didn't matter that it wasn't the washer's fault.

Anyway, the car washer was unusually calm during all of this. Unusual, because he was a notorious hot head. He smiled, and told the driver, don't worry, you'll have it back tomorrow. And he did. The car washer told some of us to make sure we check out the driver the next night when we got in.

We all laughed our asses off at this driver the next night, because he was covered in the grease we are all talking about. And I mean covered. Arms, legs, face and even a grease mustache. Covered, because as any feeder driver here will tell you, that grease doesn't wash off; it wears off.

Turns out, the car washer smeared the grease all along his gear shifter, his steering wheel, his door handles and the bulk head door chain. I wasn't familiar with that grease back then, but the car washer later told us that the grease spreads like the plague. A lesson all feeder drivers eventually learn.

 

[MaceFremonti]

On a more serious note, heard through the FNN that a veteran BURMD driver had a container come loose off a chassis last night. It stayed on the chassis but was just a wheeeeee little bit sideways....however all the pins were in place and locked.

Kind of scary if the chassis can flex to a point where the front pins no lomger go into the container.

Now if it was just sitting on the front pins and he missed it....well...that's a whole 'nother issue.

 

[Jones]

Got that message in the ivis. They kinda made it sound like he didn't have the latches zip tied, but I don't know if that was the case.

 

[UPS4Life]

On a more serious note, heard through the FNN that a veteran BURMD driver had a container come loose off a chassis last night. It stayed on the chassis but was just a wheeeeee little bit sideways....however all the pins were in place and locked.

Kind of scary if the chassis can flex to a point where the front pins no lomger go into the container.

Now if it was just sitting on the front pins and he missed it....well...that's a whole 'nother issue.

Didn't hear that in hbg but what I'm wondering is if the latches aren't straight you have to pull the pin out some to latch and zip tie, it could have been that somebody pushed their luck a little too far and with the chassis twisting it was enough

 

[UPS4Life]

Got that message in the ivis. They kinda made it sound like he didn't have the latches zip tied, but I don't know if that was the case.

You didn't think they would blame equipment did you? Kind of like when one of hbg drivers hit the top of a customer door backing inside with a swift trailer that read 13' 9", never heard anything about that one.

 

[Mugarolla]

On a more serious note, heard through the FNN that a veteran BURMD driver had a container come loose off a chassis last night. It stayed on the chassis but was just a wheeeeee little bit sideways....however all the pins were in place and locked.

Kind of scary if the chassis can flex to a point where the front pins no lomger go into the container.

Now if it was just sitting on the front pins and he missed it....well...that's a whole 'nother issue.

Did it say that all the pins were in and locked while it was sitting a wheeee bit sideways, or did it say that the veteran driver SAID that all the pins were locked when he left?

If they said that he did not use zipties, my guess would be that the pins were found to be retracted when they checked the container sitting a wheee bit sideways.

A lot of those latches are not in good condition and could possibly let the pins come loose while driving if not ziptied.

 

[h400ex412]

Hi guys I have a good story for you. I'm 8 years in with the company now, I'm pt preloader who is also a pkg car cover driver. I used to drive for pepsi for 5 yrs before I came aboard the brown enterprise. I've been trying to get into feeders now for almost 4 years sending in intent letters a few times a year making calls up to the hub office yada yada. Last year 2014 I finally get a road test in late march after being told I can not be a feeder cover driver because I am already a pkg car cover driver meaning I cannot cross train...lol sooo I some how got through the red tape and ended up failing the road test on account of my down shifiting was not up to par, that was only thing wrong granted it's kinda important. So sup says just take a few classes and practice your shifting and come back next year. Ok sorry this is taking so long but the details are important. circa 2015 I call up to the feeder office at the hub tell them Im ready to take the test again, they say the same thing as last year that I cannot cross train being im a pt pkg cover driver, who's title is actually preloader. I get through the red tape again and get the road test and sure enough I pass it time with flying colors. So I figure with in reasonable time I would be going for training... not gonna happen. I made the first mistake by giving one of my pkg car sups the heads up I would be going for training in the near future and he said I thought u couldn't go. the next day I get a phone call from my union Ba who Is worthless now in my eyes, and tells me do you wanna retire with the company yada yada then goes on to tell me the labor guy up at the hub wants to fire me for insubordination for calling up to the feeder office and trying to get a job with feeders. Just so everyone knows my BA and steward have both told me a couple times this years prior to my road test to stay away from feeders, there's nothing there for me and stay in pkg car.. Sounds fishy right? well it def is.. My steward is the junior feeder driver in our building with only 3 ft guys here. there is no cover driver in our building so any coverage comes from our close by neighbor center which is in our same local and is only 20 mins from our building. Now the best part is that building has a pt cover feeder driver who's only been with the company for a couple years, started off as a preloader then went on to pkg car covering now is a feeder guy.. funny how that works he did get feeder qualified fall of 2014. there are 2 casual feeder guys in that building too, and one of them is good friends with my steward and he does the majority of the coverage work for my building. So is there any other way to say im being royally screwed by my own steward and BA. so now im heading to the president of our local to tell him my story and hopefully set up a meeting with all these knuckles heads and put them on the spot for screwing me over...nice huh.. any advice would be much apprecitated...

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Didn't know you could get into feeders by sending them an intent letter. News to me. Supervision, maybe, but not to change classifications for an hourly. I was always under the impression you had to sign a bid sheet to move up, not waltz down to dispatch and tell them you're ready to make a change, and give me the test. Sounds like you're trying to circumnavigate other employees who are waiting patiently in line for that job. Wowsers, things sure have changed since I retired. If you can do it and get away with and your local is ok with it, knock 'em out. lol

 

[h400ex412]

this is for pt so no bid sheets just getting qualified so I can cover routes same as pkg car. I did send intent letters in through my ctr mgr and that's where they start telling me I cannot be a pt pkg car and feeder cover driver. And yet it's being done all over the place. ask a pt cover driver he will tell you. Plus no one is waiting in line for the job in my center. there has never been a cover driver for my building, so they use casuals from the other ctr near by to cover the work. I wouldn't consider it moving up just adding another qualification to my resume for some extra available work that should be for anyone qualified in our building to do not another ctr's drivers.

 

[h400ex412]

I know the story doesn't make sense that's why im spewing it out on here... my steward and BA are behind it because there protecting there friends who work out of another ctr..

 

[barnyard]

When you read you contract and more importantly, your local supplement, what rules are there for pt people working in feeders??

 

[Jones]

this is for pt so no bid sheets just getting qualified so I can cover routes same as pkg car. I did send intent letters in through my ctr mgr and that's where they start telling me I cannot be a pt pkg car and feeder cover driver. And yet it's being done all over the place. ask a pt cover driver he will tell you. Plus no one is waiting in line for the job in my center. there has never been a cover driver for my building, so they use casuals from the other ctr near by to cover the work. I wouldn't consider it moving up just adding another qualification to my resume for some extra available work that should be for anyone qualified in our building to do not another ctr's drivers.

If there is a job opening that needs to be filled there has to be a bid process, you don't just "send a letter of intent" and get the job. What supplement are you under?

 

[h400ex412]

upstate ny

 

[h400ex412]

in my supplement pg234 it says Feeder vacation coverage may be assigned to the junior qualified cdl a person in the center who is not working the feeder classification .. similar rules to when I cover for a pkg car driver it's not a position just being qualified allows me to cover someone..

 

[h400ex412]

does not specify ft or pt in that section