Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Couple other questions:

What do most trainees get disqualified for?

Someone (not a feeder driver) said it can be difficult getting OT. Now i know some of you do pretty well in Feeders, but would a typical driver only get, say, 5 hours, especially a newbie cover?

 

[cachsux]

If a driver goes into feeders, is he allowed to bid on a route when they send him back during the non - busy season? Does the driver decide what they want to do when sent back, as far as work assignment (eg. working preload vs. driving)?

Seasonal feeder here go back to their PC spots upon return, whatever it was. They retain their seniority and what it gets them.

Permanent feeder drivers here stay in feeder forever.

 

[MaceFremonti]

Friends of mine who didn't make it were disqualified for among other things dropping trailers while moving, stalling tractor repeatedly when down shifting to slow down in traffic, ripping glad hands off, and rollaways!

 

[cachsux]

Friends of mine who didn't make it were disqualified for among other things dropping trailers while moving, stalling tractor repeatedly when down shifting to slow down in traffic, ripping glad hands off, and rollaways!

As they should be.

 

[Jones]

Here if you're on the Q- list you keep a bid route in your old center for those times when you go back to package. Once you get off the Q-list you don't go back.
At feeder school they would dq anyone who they didn't feel comfortable with as far as handling the equipment, but we also took written tests every day and if you couldn't pass those it was a dq as well.

 

[Jones]

Couple other questions:

What do most trainees get disqualified for?

Someone (not a feeder driver) said it can be difficult getting OT. Now i know some of you do pretty well in Feeders, but would a typical driver only get, say, 5 hours, especially a newbie cover?

Can't speak for other areas, but getting OT is not a problem here. If you've completed all your legs and you want a few more hours just call dispatch, there's always a load that needs to be moved.

 

[ChickenLegs]

What do most trainees get disqualified for?

Failing to perform a proper pretrip resulting in other issues

 

[104Feeder]

If a driver goes into feeders, is he allowed to bid on a route when they send him back during the non - busy season? Does the driver decide what they want to do when sent back, as far as work assignment (eg. working preload vs. driving)?

It depends on your local work rules & supplements. Here, a driver in Package to Feeder transitioning maintains his bid Package route as long as he works one day in Package in any 180 days. Many mastered the art of working just that one day so they could maintain their bid. If you have 'lost' your bid route, when you return to Package you become most senior swing driver. While they are in Package to Feeder transition, drivers are allowed to bid on open package routes.

Also, the driver would be laid off back to Package, not to Preload. Once in Package they could sign up for extra work in Preload, or I guess you could have s situation where a lower seniority Driver took Feeders because no one wanted it then was laid off to Package where there wasn't any work so he/she was again bumped back to Preload/Twilight. That would be a sad situation indeed!

 

[104Feeder]

Couple other questions:

What do most trainees get disqualified for?

Someone (not a feeder driver) said it can be difficult getting OT. Now i know some of you do pretty well in Feeders, but would a typical driver only get, say, 5 hours, especially a newbie cover?

Here, most drivers disqualify themselves, then it's not passing the road test. Going over a curb on a turn is an instant fail, for example, as is shifting over railroad tracks. Some fail the yard skills test, mostly on the parallel park test because it's on your blind side. It's something you rarely do out in the real world, and I can only recall one stop where it was necessary. Usually people psych themselves out and lose too many points.

The other tests are straight line back, serpentine back, and alley dock back. Serpentine back is probably the next most failed one, and then alley dock. They fail that one because they don't plan or have already lost too many points. The trick is to back to the cone, then pull way up (losing one point) so it just becomes a straight back. Each pull up loses a point and you get 8.

I haven't heard of any driver failing the pretrip here, as that is drilled into you every day, multiple times a day, from day one. Most could probably still recite it here.

Our drivers all get a minimum of 8 hours per day, never 5 unless they opt to go home. Getting OT is not a problem at all, as there are plenty of extra work opportunities and even runs planned at 8.8hrs are usually more like 10 once everything is said and done.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Thanks gentlemen for the pointers.

 

[barnyard]

I am in an outstate center and am a cover driver for package and feeder. All our feeder jobs are heavy OT. We have a couple of jobs that regularly have short Fridays because they are getting close to 60.

When I cover in feeders, it is always a pretty big pay bump over what I usually get in package (I am on the 9.5 list.)

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

So, for this upcoming group of drivers to be added to the Q-list they are looking to take a dozen or two; my center manager said 12-15 but the Feeder Dept sup said he'd like to get 20. In my case I am #12 on the list, and two of the guys ahead of me in seniority I am pretty sure aren't leaving package (as an aside, can someone clarify why some sign bids they know in all likelihood they will not take). Ergo, I hope to begin training around April.

What I find interesting is the Feeder guy-Mike M-said they have roughly 20 guys in Feeders who could retire any minute. With only 6 guys currently on the Q-List, it's looking like there is good chance the first 7 guys taken this year, along with those 6 could all actually join Feeders in the next couple of years. Any of you guys have a large number of guys expected to take retirement soon, presumably once everything with the contract is settled?

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Another question:

If I remember the Q-list correctly, one's "seniority date" is the day one was added to the list, regardless of their actually company date. However, once a person is placed in the actual Feeder dept, then regular seniority rules kick in; in our local we dove-tail in, not that it'll matter much to me for awhile, since I only have 10 years in full-time. Is this how the Q-list works?

Incidentally, there will be another meeting Tuesday morning for the guys in our building who didn't make it Friday (I missed a train I had to take to get there on time, and then on top of that went to the wrong location for the meeting, nearly on the other side of the building, and our hub is a nice walk from end-to-end; used to have a sup here who'd walk the perimeter several times a day to get her exercise in); I intend to be at that meeting as well, on-time so I can get everything again.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

I am in an outstate center and am a cover driver for package and feeder. All our feeder jobs are heavy OT. We have a couple of jobs that regularly have short Fridays because they are getting close to 60.

When I cover in feeders, it is always a pretty big pay bump over what I usually get in package (I am on the 9.5 list.)

Is there a "9.5 list" in Feeders? (Logic tells me yes, but I can see reasons for why one doesn't exist)

 

[QKRSTKR]

Is there a "9.5 list" in Feeders? (Logic tells me yes, but I can see reasons for why one doesn't exist)

No. No 9.5 language in feeders.

 

[rod]

I've never heard of a feeder driver who didn't get all the hours he wanted

 

[barnyard]

I have heard managers say that they are expecting a bunch of retirements when the contract is ratified. Combine that with an improving economy and the next couple of years could see lots of new hires in package and feeders.

 

[104Feeder]

Is there a "9.5 list" in Feeders? (Logic tells me yes, but I can see reasons for why one doesn't exist)

No, but here we have plenty of runs you could bid on that would give you 8 and out if you wanted it. If you refuse extra work often enough they will quit offering, but of course you will be directed from time to time. We have one extended center guy who pissed off the wrong person and doesn't even work a full 8 hours each day as they won't let him drive all the way to Phoenix anyore.

 

[BigUnionGuy]

Here, most drivers disqualify themselves, then it's not passing the road test. Some fail the yard skills test, mostly on the parallel park test because it's on your blind side.

The other tests are straight line back, serpentine back, and alley dock back. Serpentine back is probably the next most failed one, and then alley dock.

For me, the parallel park was the most difficult.

After practicing for hours in the yard, where I got decent at it....

Didn't even have to do it on the CDL test. That pissed me off.



-Bug-

 

[104Feeder]

So, for this upcoming group of drivers to be added to the Q-list they are looking to take a dozen or two; my center manager said 12-15 but the Feeder Dept sup said he'd like to get 20. In my case I am #12 on the list, and two of the guys ahead of me in seniority I am pretty sure aren't leaving package (as an aside, can someone clarify why some sign bids they know in all likelihood they will not take). Ergo, I hope to begin training around April.

What I find interesting is the Feeder guy-Mike M-said they have roughly 20 guys in Feeders who could retire any minute. With only 6 guys currently on the Q-List, it's looking like there is good chance the first 7 guys taken this year, along with those 6 could all actually join Feeders in the next couple of years. Any of you guys have a large number of guys expected to take retirement soon, presumably once everything with the contract is settled?

We have about 30-40 that could retire at any miniute, 20 of those are well past retirement age, and maybe 5 are triple dipping. Another 20 are hitting retirement age in the next year or two. Some of the runs available to the top guys are so sweet I can see why they don't leave. This has been a particularly good year for retirees even with the contract & health insurance uncertainty, with about 10 leaving. Generally 3-5 retire in any given year.