Fedex ground contractor jobs/nc

You will have to incorporate as an S-Corp. They will no longer take LLC's.

You will NOT need your own authority.

I was never charged a fee for permits.

I never used their base plates, so can't help you there. I always ran my own tags.

You do need to check with some guys that run out of that terminal to make sure they aren't doing a lot of sitting.

Make sure you actually talk to the guy who really owns the truck. Lots of guys will tell you they own the tractor when they are really doing a halfazzed lease purchase scheme with the guy that does own it. Those are usually the guys you see pulling FXG trailers 80 mph swerving all over the place. Well, those and guys working for contractors that won't pay anything. Make SURE that YOU are the one signing the contract with FXG. DO NOT SIGN SOME SORT OF DEAL WITH AN EXISTING CONTRACTOR UNLESS YOU WILL END UP OWNING THE TRUCKS 100% AND BEING THE CONTRACTOR!!!!!!!!!!

It can sometimes be better to buy tractors from existing contractors. There is a point system that determines who gets what runs. It's sort of like a seniority system. The points are assigned to each tractor. If you were to buy a tractor from a contractor, you can also acquire the points with the tractor. That would give you a little bit of seniority as far as running the board or getting a dedicated run as soon as you start.

Get ready for a lot of hoop jumping. Since FedEx took over, they can find a way to make a simple process into a 3,452 step program full of silly demands and requirements.

It's also not as simple as being an S-Corp. You'll need ALL KINDS of paperwork. Things like a letter of good standing from the state you're in. All kinds of things. There is a whole list of things you'll need to get started. They'll give it to you.

 

You can take a truck you're approved on to FedEx, provided that it's white. FedEx does not lease any trucks, and has no lease purchase program or anything like that.

The hoops you'd jump through are not getting approved for a truck, or anything else, really. They just like paperwork. I have my guesses why. My contract is almost as long as the New Testament. It's just FedEx. They like minutia and vagaries. If it makes sense, is logical, or is easy, FedEx won't look anywhere around doing it. It's just the way a corporate behemoth is, I suppose.

Don't take my word for it. I started there in '96 before FedEx ever thought about us. I've actually seen two buyouts of the company. I was there before fedEx was and I've seen lots of changes. I don't like many of them. I'm sort of a curmudgeon about it. Check it out for yourself. It might be a perfect fit for you. For many it's not. It's not going to be your typical trucking gig.

There are pros and cons. I don't do any sitting. I have ZERO unpaid miles. ALL dispatched miles are paid, empty or loaded, at my normal rate. I am home every morning. I don't touch any freight, it's all drop and hook. There's NO pressure. We're dispatched at 46 mph. Many will tell you (lie to you) about the crazy schedules we keep. WRONG. It's really laid back. Those who run hard do so for their own reasons. Reasons that I've never figured out. There is an amount of stability that sure is nice. Even with the last few years being tough, I've never failed to make more than I have the year before. It's nice to know that you'll have a load to put on your truck every night.

There are DEFINITELY cons, too. It's NOT anything like what it used to be. Before FedEx, it was a very personable company. You felt you were part of a team. You worked with them and they respected you. Even the upper management knew who you were. Not any more. With FedEx came the video cameras, locks on all the doors, recording all the talking that goes on in the terminals, sometimes a real "us vs. them" attitude. You have about 4 gigantic phone numbers with you all the time and people associate those FedEx logos with money. People will call those 1-800 numbers with dollar signs in their eyes. I've never had an accident and never had a ticket and I intend to protect my CSA score, so I bought a dash cam that's saved my butt on a few different things more than once. You'll get a little bit of disrespect on the road because there are so many slugs pulling FXG trailers. I call in on them, too. I call in more on our own trucks than other companies. If I had one wish, it'd be that we had the contractors and drivers we used to have. Too many guys now contract with the goal of selling trucks.

There are a lot of rumors you hear on the road. Some of telling how much we're paid, and some of how tight the schedules are. You'll hear guys claiming to be owner/operators who are tied up in a crazy scheme with a contractor and getting hosed thinking he'll one day become a contractor and own the truck he's driving.

I have friends who really like it. I'm still here, even though I have lots of complaints. Making good money and coming home every day is a big motivator. I often say that I have one foot out the door, and true, if I found another gig that I liked, I'd go. I guess I'm kind of bored, disappointed in FedEx, tired of the paperwork, and miss running more than two states. Due to other irons I have in the fire, though, I need to be home every day, so I'll be here for a while.

Just check it out for yourself. It may be what you want and it may not.

 

So how much are you paid as a contractor to FedEx?

 

Gosh, I haven't even looked yet for last week. I am paid per mile and it's tied to the average price of fuel around our domicile terminal. There are ways to game the system by watching the prices of fuel and the breaking point that moves the rate up and down and then deciding which price to pay. Also, fuel mileage is HUGE. The difference in my check at the end of the week between 6.5 and 7 mpg is astounding. So, I try to watch my fuel mileage and the price point on fuel and can come out almost a quarter ahead sometimes. Sometimes I get it wrong and it costs me. Without looking I think I should have made 1.70 a mile this past week. I know that's not a whole lot, but overall, I make a good living and the work is easy. I usually tell people that I can make more with the truck, but not while coming home every day and only working 8 or nine hours a day with weekends off.

 

I've pulled a 53' about four times in two years. I rarely do it. The run I'm on just usually requires doubles. I'd take a 53', especially in the winter, but the runs out of our terminal that pull 53' trailers are the ones I don't like for other reasons.

Doubles aren't anything to be afraid of. I wouldn't pay anyone at a school to teach you how. If oyu are mechanically inclined at all, you could figure it out, but I'd find an experienced hand familiar with the equipment you'll actually be using to show you how. The ones we pull, the drop frames, have a low center of gravity and the wind doesn't get under them too much. They don't dance all over the road and sway back and forth. If you sling them around, you could turn over the second one, but you can do that with a 53', too. Just make sure they're hooked together properly, the heavier trailer is on the front, and you won't have any trouble. In some places they've saved my butt, too. A few times, I was diverted off of a highway due to a wreck. A few times, some of us were running together. The guys with 53' trailers couldn't make the turns out in the country. I didn't have any problem. True, you aren't going to back them up, so you need to make sure you can drive out of anything you pull into. I have heard my whole life about how, "Yup, 'ol Jimmy Jack Billy Bob could take those doubles and back them right up to a dock door, first try." I've heard that my whole life, but have yet to see it. As a matter of fact, if I could do it without fail every time, I can't think of a time in the last five years I would have needed to. I can back a dolly behind a trailer under a second trailer, but rarely do I ever need to do that, either. I haven't done it in so long, that maybe I can't do it anymore.

Being paid on percentage is news to me. I've never heard of that. I'd probably not like it. I like my mileage pay. I do a run that I chose because the trailers are normally really light going one way and it helps my fuel mileage. Percentage would really change the way I've done things, and I'm not too sure about it. I'd be interested in what website that was on.

I will tell you that since FedEx took over, things seem to be different around the country. A couple of states won't let you lease on any less three trucks. Some states have a bit of a different I/C model called an Independent Service Provider, but I don't know anything about it. I also don't have a clue what they are paying new contractors. A couple of years ago, I talked to a guy who told me what they were paying him and it wasn't anywhere close to what I made when I started, but I don't know if what he was telling me was true.

Again, check it out and don't take my word, or anyone else's for it. It's a big, important decision that you need to have all of the facts in black and white for.