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help

Guest
I'm a backup feeder driver, haven't won a bid yet in that dept. and haven't been in package for about 3 months. This week I'm going back due to no vacations, no weather problems, etc.

What are your suggestons to help me cope with this horrible situation.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
tsk tsk, You have to go back to Package? Go ahead and order some pants with a smaller waist size, those "Feeder Pants" will feel a little loose soon......:wink2:
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
hehehe, you boys have no heart.

I figure you ought to be able to handle it just fine. its only for a week or so, and then you will be riding high again. You can handle it for that long cant you?

d
 
In our area, backup feeder drivers return to package when no runs are available. Our guys can bid any route for package or they can bid swing/cover/unassigned and then do the backup Feeder thing. being a swing driver for package makes more sense though.
 

wannabeups

Well-Known Member
tsk tsk, You have to go back to Package? Go ahead and order some pants with a smaller waist size, those "Feeder Pants" will feel a little loose soon......:wink2:


Agreed on the smaller pants size. I have been in the hub for about 3 weeks. Was worn out the first week. But am getting into cardio shape. Not trying to be a smart :censored2: but being a feeder driver is kind of an unhealthy lifestyle. All you do is eat, and sit on your rear. Is it any wonder many of them are shaped like the pillsbury doughboy.
 

Covemastah

Hoopah drives the boat Chief !!
we also stop for coffee as much as we can, hey !!! who wants to put on our fat pants some night during a blizzard or ice storm when we are gonnah pullah set????
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
who wants to put on our fat pants some night during a blizzard or ice storm

To me, puttin em on would be no big deal. Its taken them smelly things off once you get there that would bother me. Clean em up, and put em back on for the return trip? No thanks. Either that or have a surgeon remove the seat from one tight .....well you know.

d
 

Channahon

Well-Known Member
One of my best package car drivers came out of feeders after a layoff. Now this goes back a way to the 80's.

But what a great attitude and personality he had, as I trained him on a new route. And sure enough, after he was done with his package stint, he went back to feeder and never came back.

Just a great memory for us both, he got what he wanted, and I had a great driver, respected by all in the center.
To this day, I remember his name.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
I remember his name.

I remember his name!

I remember his name?

Thats OK. I have the same problem. The memories are just like they were yesterday, and I see their faces and remember their names. Ah it was .....ah, you know, ah..... Aw hell, its not important what his name was!

Hey sis, it happens to the best of us.:wink2:

d
 

raceanoncr

Well-Known Member
I'm a backup feeder driver, haven't won a bid yet in that dept. and haven't been in package for about 3 months. This week I'm going back due to no vacations, no weather problems, etc.

What are your suggestons to help me cope with this horrible situation.


Sorry for your situation, help, but do you REALLY want to hear about mine? Probably not, and nobody else does either but I'll spout off anyway.

I was hired as a feeder driver off the street in the 70's. Well, not quite. I drove before, trucks and equipment and had a chauffeurs (sp? don't have time to check) license before the days of CDL. The company said, "Well, we don't have any openings right now. Would you be willing to do p/c til there is?" Dumbarse me said, "Sure!", thinking maybe a month or two or three, cuz it WAS Sept.

Once hired as p/c driver, I then found out you had to get a yr safe driving in just to qualify for feeders! Did somebody lie to me? Well, not technically! They just didn't TELL me!

After my requisite yr safe driving and feeder school list was up, nobody told me that all the senior people AHEAD of you got first chance to sign up, go to school, flunk out or quit for various reasons, leaving no time to qualify drivers for peak, meaning they could hire off the street for that time. Hmpf! It was a time of unusual growth here then so those drivers were brought back, having already been feeder drivers and hiring ratios were basically non-existant then. I lost count of how many times I had no-senior drivers pass me by from the street.

Shortening up this diatribe, I finally was called and passed to cover vacations in feeders but did not gain feeder seniority. Was still technically a "feeder-qualified package driver". Vacations over, thrown back to p/c every Jan. Called up in May, thrown away in Sept. Called up maybe in Oct, Nov, thrown back in Jan. Went on for 5 yrs.

Okay, finally got to stay in 6th yr. More runs coming, more feeder school, more senior drivers signing, passing and moving ahead of me. Went on for another 3 yrs, finally getting feeder seniority after almost 9 yrs of off-and-on feeders.

Finally got bid feeder job after about 14 yrs of same. Of course, you can imagine what kind of bid it was.

Also, after some district downsizing after 1997 and center closings, some more senior feeders were allowed to move here and bump me down some more. Are you crying yet? There was a time, after almost 20 yrs with the company, that I was in worse seniority position than when I started.

Am I complaining? Some will think so and I'm not and I will also be derided for this letter but I'm trying to show you that a few months of p/c is to be expected and if that's ALL you got to do, consider yourself lucky! Hang in there, it may get better but don't expect miracles.
 

feeder53

ADKtrails
I have been through a lot of the same type of setbacks in my 30+ years in freight. After about 12 years, I was #1 on the list with a new tractor for myself and they went non-union and the only spot I could find was #45 on the OTR list with the last tractor in the yard and last trip...usually the worst. Then I went overseas and when I returned...They went out of business. The second job I had, people off the dock would bid the road after the winter was over and.......there ya go. Now at UPS....xtra...but the money is good.
 
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