Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[OPTION3]

S.....See
W.....What
I........I
friend.......friend* Up
T......Today

S........low
W........hite
I..........finitely
friend..........aulty
T..........rucks/urds

 

[EasyTrucker]

S........Stevie
W.......Wonder
I..........Institute
friend.........For
T.........Trucking

 

[moldsporh]

The instructor that trained me said if he ever caught me not using the clutch when I shifted, he would fire me. Not only that, but he told me to double-clutch every shift I made. Right before I retired, I had an on road ride with me for my annual ride. He said to me "did you just use your clutch when you shifted just then?" I said yes. He said "What for?" I laughed out loud. My, how times had changed.

Sounds like UPS management.

If you know what you're doing you don't need the clutch, but it takes practice. You can bet 95+% of the truckers don't use the clutch once moving. Truck transmissions are not synchronized, but the clutch relieves stress on the gears if you don't know how to shift without clutching and bang a gear.

 

[newfie]

I hear you guys are getting tractors with automatics now?

 

[FeeDerp]

I hear you guys are getting tractors with automatics now?

Yeah they are making their rounds...see more and more each night.

I find it somewhat difficult to float the gears in these LNGs. The motors and engine speed just seem to act weird and inconsistent. I will usually pick any diesel over an LNG anyday

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

One of my friends who currently drives sleeper teams asked me a question, and I told him I would ask it here. Management posted a new sleeper team job for bid. A driver who is currently on another sleeper job tried to sign the bid sheet. Dispatch says someone who is already on a sleeper job could not sign the sheet. They said it had to be a driver in feeders that drives a brown tractor and punches in and out every day at our building. I thought it shouldn't matter who fills the bid as long as seniority won. To exclude current sleeper drivers who want to improve their hours, money, etc, doesn't seem right to me. How is this handled in other buildings? Has it ever even came up? Thanks for anyone's input. Rob.

 

[burrheadd]

Grieve it

 

[Dracula]

One of my friends who currently drives sleeper teams asked me a question, and I told him I would ask it here. Management posted a new sleeper team job for bid. A driver who is currently on another sleeper job tried to sign the bid sheet. Dispatch says someone who is already on a sleeper job could not sign the sheet. They said it had to be a driver in feeders that drives a brown tractor and punches in and out every day at our building. I thought it shouldn't matter who fills the bid as long as seniority won. To exclude current sleeper drivers who want to improve their hours, money, etc, doesn't seem right to me. How is this handled in other buildings? Has it ever even came up? Thanks for anyone's input. Rob.

Sounds like management is high on their own power again. I know of no circumstance where browns are separated from whites and have an advantage over one another when it comes to a posted bid. Someone is hiding something here.

 

[moldsporh]

An employee that wears browns and drives feeders had to sign the sleeper list to begin with correct?

Shouldn't matter I would think.

 

[UPS4Life]

The only thing I know is where I'm from if you're on a sleeper run you can't be bumped regardless of seniority.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Ok, here is the latest on my original question. There were a bunch of 3-day sleeper runs out of my building. What the drivers were doing was working their 3 days, then signing up for extra work on their days off, which is plentiful in my old building. Not sure of the exact wording for sleepers, but they were killing the company with OT, time and a half and double time. Some guys were making $3500+/week. The company then told those drivers they had to drive a minimum number of miles to qualify for OT on their 4th and 5th punches. It was not in the contract, and was grieved and won by the drivers. So then the company added so much work onto the 3 day jobs, that they had to rebid them. And now anyone in the feeder department can bid those jobs, the way it should have been in the first place.

 

[Johney]

Sounds to me like too many people were abusing the extra work to pad their pockets way beyond what is fair and the company may have found a way to cut them off. Greed can be a terrible demon.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Sounds to me like too many people were abusing the extra work to pad their pockets way beyond what is fair and the company may have found a way to cut them off. Greed can be a terrible demon.

Well, that's the way the company set it up and it was in the contract, so I can't begrudge those drivers that took advantage of that. Personally, I never bid on extra work When I was a driver, but to each his own.

 

[Insaneasylum]

When you bid on a sleeper team you are bidding it for the year no matter what happens. You cannt bid off of it.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

When you bid on a sleeper team you are bidding it for the year no matter what happens. You cannt bid off of it.

Not true here. You cannot be bumped off a sleeper run, but you can bid on another sleeper run if you choose. In this particular case, 2 guys are on a job that has them being home 2 days of the week, but not 2 days in a row. The new job is starting Monday morning and ending Friday afternoon, and pays more miles. I can't blame someone for wanting to change, and if you have enough seniority, evidently you can get it. I guess it depends on if your co-driver wants to change with you.

 

[Insaneasylum]

But if the a driver bids to another sleeper team and the b driver doesn't want to run that route do they rebid that route to? Because what if 1 month on the bid the a driver bids off and the b driver is really low on seniority he gets a bid job without having won the bid

 

[OPTION3]

One of my friends who currently drives sleeper teams asked me a question, and I told him I would ask it here. Management posted a new sleeper team job for bid. A driver who is currently on another sleeper job tried to sign the bid sheet. Dispatch says someone who is already on a sleeper job could not sign the sheet. They said it had to be a driver in feeders that drives a brown tractor and punches in and out every day at our building. I thought it shouldn't matter who fills the bid as long as seniority won. To exclude current sleeper drivers who want to improve their hours, money, etc, doesn't seem right to me. How is this handled in other buildings? Has it ever even came up? Thanks for anyone's input. Rob.

Seniority prevails

 

[OPTION3]

But if the a driver bids to another sleeper team and the b driver doesn't want to run that route do they rebid that route to? Because what if 1 month on the bid the a driver bids off and the b driver is really low on seniority he gets a bid job without having won the bid

The B driver becomes the a driver until the next annual bid

 

[Jones]

But if the a driver bids to another sleeper team and the b driver doesn't want to run that route do trticle 43hey rebid that route to? Because what if 1 month on the bid the a driver bids off and the b driver is really low on seniority he gets a bid job without having won the bid

Article 43 section 2:
Once driver teams are established it is understood that they are not
to be separated unless mutually agreed to by the Employer, the
Local Union, and the driver team involved, except in case of emergency
or reduction in force.

I imagine that this was the language that the company was relying on to prohibit existing sleeper team drivers from bidding on the new sleeper runs.

 

[Insaneasylum]

Article 43 section 2:
Once driver teams are established it is understood that they are not
to be separated unless mutually agreed to by the Employer, the
Local Union, and the driver team involved, except in case of emergency
or reduction in force.

I imagine that this was the language that the company was relying on to prohibit existing sleeper team drivers from bidding on the new sleeper runs.

Yeah, otherwise you could have higher seniority guys biding on team runs picking a partner then bidding off