3% for life.

[Glorifiedpackmule]

First time I've posted on here. 30 years old, been with Fredex for 6 years. Left work earlier tonight with a sharp pain in my rear end after looking at this years 3% "Cost of living" adjustment. It was soon after I realized what happend. I had just gotten screwed yet again by our loving Fred. Today was a reality check for me. This place really is hell. I've always prided myself on a clean driving record , good scan compliance , and showing up to work everyday on time. Its all for nothing now. This is how I get rewarded... 3%. Doesn't even cover how much my insurance went up this year. Someone please explain to me again why I do this? Guess It's time for me to stop trying to convince myself that this will ever be more than just a job.

 

[MrFedEx]

First time I've posted on here. 30 years old, been with Fredex for 6 years. Left work earlier tonight with a sharp pain in my rear end after looking at this years 3% "Cost of living" adjustment. It was soon after I realized what happend. I had just gotten screwed yet again by our loving Fred. Today was a reality check for me. This place really is hell. I've always prided myself on a clean driving record , good scan compliance , and showing up to work everyday on time. Its all for nothing now. This is how I get rewarded... 3%. Doesn't even cover how much my insurance went up this year. Someone please explain to me again why I do this? Guess It's time for me to stop trying to convince myself that this will ever be more than just a job.

Excellent post. Fred's goal is to always have employees pay for their "raise" so his net "loss" turns out to be a net gain. He's been doing it for years, giving token wage hikes while simultaneously sticking it to us with higher insurance costs etc. It is just a job, and always will be under the WalMart On Wheels business formula. And yes, it is Hell.

 

[whenIgetthere]

I was speaking to a friend at another station last week, and the SM there told them top of range would get 3%, middle 5% and bottom 6%. I told him his SM was wrong, it's reversed. Haven't heard back from him about the s--t storm coming from that station when all the lower quarter's realize they're getting screwed. He asked how could that be, and I told him one reason and one reason only, keep the sr. people from signing cards!!

 

[MrFedEx]

I was speaking to a friend at another station last week, and the SM there told them top of range would get 3%, middle 5% and bottom 6%. I told him his SM was wrong, it's reversed. Haven't heard back from him about the s--t storm coming from that station when all the lower quarter's realize they're getting screwed. He asked how could that be, and I told him one reason and one reason only, keep the sr. people from signing cards!!

Gee, a misinformed manager...what a surprise. Our Senior said the same thing and then quickly reversed himself shortly after the news about March "pay actions" first came out. FedEx is all about disinformation and keeping employees in the dark and confused. They are very good at it, and since Purple People still think that Fred sleeps on a pillow embroidered with the letters P-S-P, they honestly think that FedEx has their(the employees) best interests at heart. That simply isn't the case. We mean nothing.

 

[Glorifiedpackmule]

Yeah, see that reversed pay scheme would make too much sense. That would eventually put us all on the same playing field. Why do that when they can keep 60% of us in near poverty AND keep the top half from signing cards. now that a union is out if the question I wouldn't be surprised to see 2% raises across the board next year. It's also very possible that they'll pull the "slow economy" card back out and give us nothing again.

 

[Ricochet1a]

I was speaking to a friend at another station last week, and the SM there told them top of range would get 3%, middle 5% and bottom 6%. I told him his SM was wrong, it's reversed. Haven't heard back from him about the s--t storm coming from that station when all the lower quarter's realize they're getting screwed. He asked how could that be, and I told him one reason and one reason only, keep the sr. people from signing cards!!

You nailed it on the head!

Late last year when there were leaks coming out that there would be a 5 or 6 percent raise coming for the Express employees, most were thinking that the bottom of progression would get the 6%, the "middle" would get 5% and the top end would get 3% while the top of range would only be raised by a couple of percentage points. This may be part of the "confusion" in the manager's head that you're writing of.

Boy was everyone wrong when they thought FedEx would try to narrow the gap. FedEx pulled a real strategic move in what they did. THEY INCREASED THE GAP between employees in the top of progression and those in the bottom.

Anecdotal accounts coming out of stations indicate a "we've got ours" mindset has occurred among those in the top half of progression. The top end KNOWS that they only got either 5 or 6 percent, BUT they know that there is someone else doing the exact same job as they are doing - AND GOT SCREWED with a 3% pay raise.

Under the old broken "performance" system, no matter where you were in progression, you would get a percentage based on whatever the metric of the system indicated - it was "blind" as to how many years in, or how far in progression an employee was. Not that anyone made decent progression towards being topped out, but the percentage they got was dependent on what the performance review indicated NOT how far along in progression they were. A 5 year or a 15 year employee getting the same score received the same pay raise.

Everyone was in the same boat when it came to getting next to nothing under the old system.

What this "new system" is doing (what I believe was INTENDED by Express) is to eliminate solidarity among wage employees. Express has very cheaply, bought off the top end, screwed the bottom end - and sent a very implicit message to those in the top end that you could've ended up with a 3% raise yourself - so you'd better behave.

So in the process of creating a de facto two tiered compensation system (all the rage currently among business execs), they've also placed a very real wedge between the employees. There are winners and losers among the wage employees of Express now.

What does that do to the employees regarding establishing any solidarity among themselves?

I and those I privately speak with regarding Express believes that Express is deliberately attempting to establish a two tiered compensation system (bottom half and upper half). The upper half is nearing the door towards retirement or eventually getting booted out (or quitting if Express makes up its mind and pulls the trigger on outsourcing delivery of non-overnight volume) - so they will be gone in a matter of a few years.

The bottom half will turnover after 5 or so years and fresh (that is, non-informed) new hires will replace them, only to learn that Express isn't a career like UPS is (or the Federal Express of old), and then continue the cycle of 5 year Couriers.

Unfortunately, organizing Express now is a completely hopeless cause. It just isn't going to happen, even if the IBT were to camp outside of every station providing free steak and lobster once a week for Express employees.

If you are stuck, continue to be one of Fred's package monkeys till you are tossed away. If you are in your 20's or 30's, start looking for something you can call a career. If you are in your 40's, you are stuck unless you make a monumental effort to get out (I ended up going to Graduate School after swearing that I'd never return to a university campus after getting my Bachelor's when I was "young").

The Federal Express of the 80's and early 90's (the Federal Express my friends started in and convinced me to get into as a second career) no longer exists. It has been slowly morphed into a different beast, that still moves packages, but where employees are seen not as assets, but as hard liabilities.

 

[fedex_rtd]

I tell ALL the younger guys at work, I'm in my 50's that if they are under 40, they need to find another place to work at as there is NO future at FedEx, I have talked to drivers at 3 of the big name companies in my area and they all top out their people within 3 to 5 years of service. FedEx "may" claim to have a higher top pay but why spend 15 to 18 years trying to get to $27 an hour when you can top out at $24 is 4 years. Do the math and take a walk is what I tell them to do, I would do the same thing if I were in their age group.

 

[SmithBarney]

Its been years my excel skills are lacking, but I'd love to find someone who can graph in
Excel the pay progression differences of Lower middle and upper CRR ranges over say 20-30 years given the
current pay structure, then we could make copies and distribute it around...

 

[Ricochet1a]

I ran a real quick sheet using the following assumptions (have to make assumptions)...

Starting Courier at $15.50 with top out of $22.50 (current scales)

Courier Starting last year receiving 3% raise this year. Bottom of scale NOT being increased by 3% this year, but increased by 3% each year after that. Top end increasing at 3% per year (basically a cost of living adjustment)

The 3% raise system for those with less than "half progression" is used for this hypothetical individual.

The question was: When does this Courier hit mid range in progression to kick up to a 5% pay increase.

Answer.... NEVER

At year 10, the Courier will be making $20.84, top end at that time will be $29.36, starting wage will be $20.22 (all effects of inflation, NOT real increases in purchasing power) and the Courier will be at 7% progression - a whopping 62 cents above starting wage.

At year 20, the Courier will be making $28.00, top end will be $39.45, starting wage will be $27.18 and progression will be.... 7%. A whopping 82 cents an hour above starting.

For those that are mathematically astute, whenever you increase an array of numbers by the same percent, the margins between those numbers by definition will remain the same regardless of the "year". Thus this particular Courier will always remain at 7% progression in scale.

When the top and bottom ends move up by the same percent "you" are receiving, the scale progression will remain a constant. In this case 7%. Express held back the bottom end of scale this year - "pushing" those in along in progression, but not doing a damn thing towards moving them towards top of scale.

Let's run another assumption... Assume that all Couriers receive a 5% pay increase each and every year, the bottom and top are each increased by 3% each year. How long to reach mid-progression?

It would take this Courier 12 years to hit mid progression under this assumption at $27.31. The bottom end would be $21.46 at this time and top end would be $31.15 (using the assumptions for starting and top out wage currently existing). If the 5% pay raise assumption were to be "stuck to" by Express each and every year without fail, it would take this individual that started last year 19 years to hit top out at what would be $38.30 then (in real terms, same as $22.50 in 2012 dollars).

As another poster has pointed out, it is traditional for jobs that are "like" those in Express (blue collar) to have employees hit top of pay scale at between 4 and 6 years of service. There is only so much "learning and experience" that goes on, after that, you are top of productivity and in most blue collar jobs, making top scale wage.

If you are in Express, you will NEVER hit top out under any system that Express dreams of (unless you are already at 75%+ progression and Express continues to throw out 6% pay raises for number of years). Are you starting to see what Express really did? You would literally be chasing the dragon, each year hoping to get closer and closer to "top out" while never getting even close.

In order to top out in 6 years (assuming the differentials between top and bottom of scale for Express), wage employees would have to receive what amounted to a 11% pay increase each and every year till they hit top out at year 6.

When I first started Express, this is what I was expecting as far as pay progression - a 10% or so pay increase till one hit top of scale. My first lesson of what Express really is came with the first pay raise cycle and I received about half of that. I started learning real quick that the Express I researched prior to going into wasn't the Express that existed at the time. It has only gotten worse over the past decade and will continue to get even worse.

In the 80's, Federal Express employees did in indeed receive pay raises that amounted to close to 10% of their wage till they hit top out. This is the Federal Express that is out in the "literature" and what most people think of when they think "Express Courier, you must be paid fairly well....). Everyone who has been in Express sometime in the last 5 years knows better.

There is nothing holding Fred back now since even the threat of unionization is now gone from Express. Fred spent his millions well, and now will be reaping the benefits of having a labor force compensated at well below market standards.

Get out now or as soon as you can - or you'll spend you working years chasing the dragon, thinking you'll top out somewhere in the future when in fact, you don't stand a chance in Hades...

 

[MrFedEx]

The Supreme Weasel is living-up to his reputation. FedEx Express, "The Cheapest Labor Dirty Money Can Buy".

 

[Ricochet1a]

Had a friend email me and point out that under the system they used for raises in 2011 (I was out of Express before the end of 2010), that those in the bottom 2 quartiles received anywhere between about 2% on up to around 4 % or so (he wasn't positive what the top potential raise was last year).

So for those in the bottom two quartiles, they actually would've ended up getting MORE had the old system still been in place.

The irony is just too striking...

Remember how everyone cheered on this forum how the merit review system was gone and how now everyone would get a "decent" payraise... I seem to remember having some words of caution - FedEx always has an ulterior motive whenever it does ANYTHING regarding compensation.

Express says they're trying to "fix the problem". Well in the process, they shoved those in the bottom two quartiles just a bit further under the bus it seems. That's fixing the problem alright!

Most stations whose management believed that there were potential problems with the pay raise scheme have already had their "vent" sessions. No one managed to convince their manager they were worth more or should get a 5% or 6% raise (not that they really expected anything to change). The real question is how long does Express believe that they can have these vent sessions and not have some real problems?

And yet again, there is no upsurge in union rep cards being signed and returned to DC... It's a bit too late for that though.

 

[MrFedEx]

We had a skip level meeting where the MD was askedwhy the new pay structure did not establish a time to max and he replied that Express was never going to do that. He said next year it could be different--or nothing! I'm sure that was just a rhetorical device but it was unsettling. Two other very telling things he said: Express employees are the most costly wage employees in the corporation and that we have to acknowledge that Ground is the future. Not very inspiring if you ask me.

Remember, you "need something to aim for", which is the official corporate BS line regarding ridiculous topout times and miniscule raises.

 

[Ricochet1a]

We had a skip level meeting where the MD was askedwhy the new pay structure did not establish a time to max and he replied that Express was never going to do that. He said next year it could be different--or nothing! I'm sure that was just a rhetorical device but it was unsettling. Two other very telling things he said: Express employees are the most costly wage employees in the corporation and that we have to acknowledge that Ground is the future. Not very inspiring if you ask me.

Well, it may be unsettling, but at least he was honest enough to tell you the truth. When I was in Express, I had a senior that was the same way - he didn't spit out the corporate talking points to the wage employees and gave honest answers to hard questions. I appreciated that in him and respected him for the respect he showed to me in not trying to pass off a corporate talking point and insult my intelligence in the process of doing so. Personal level respect is a two way street.

Many of the management types in Express are what I'd describe as either pathological liars or just to plain too stupid to recognize the talking points they are given are a load of horse crap. Many know the talking points are crap, but since they've made the decision to make Express a career, they know they'd better tow the line and dispense purple KoolAid whenever questions are asked.

He was absolutely correct in that the Express wage employees are the most costly to FedEx within the whole corporation. In their view, Express employees are compensated TOO MUCH right now. They see the problem as being one of perception among the Express employees - they need to be "educated" about how "tough" things are in the business world and accept what FedEx gives them - the "be thankful you have a job" line that is a standard Express talking point.

There is absolutely no guarantee that you will receive the same pay raise next year, a lower pay raise or nothing at all. You have no employment contract, there is no longer a stated Express pay progression scale - it is whatever Express decides they have to give out to maintain the highest level of turnover that is acceptable to them.

The bottom of scale didn't move up since they are literally flooded with applicants for openings right now. It used to be that in most cases, open positions that were filled with applicants off the street that had (after all the background screeening, residency requirments, drug screeenings) maybe 2, sometimes 3 applicants for managers to choose from. Now, they are swamped with people applying. People that have been subjected to a lay off from a white collar job are applying for Express wage positions. Most managers were "delighted" to have such a qualified applicant pool, till they discovered that these applicants in many cases couldn't handle the physical aspects of the job or started asking for time off here and there like they could in the old career. Still, there are lines of people for every Express opening, so that means there is absolutely no pressure on Express to move wages and compensation up. To the contrary, you've been experiencing a steady decline in compensation since 2008 when the DBPP was gutted. Yet Express comes up with the talking point of "we're working on the problem...". Yeah, they're working on it alright.

He was right on the mark when he stated that "Ground is the future". Not a single Express executive type will admit that to wage employees, but they all know that is the goal. Intellectual dishonesty or just plain lying... you decide.

For perspective, look at how the airlines implemented the code share carriers back about 20 years ago. They developed these regional airlines, that looked just like the legacy carriers (same aircraft livery, virtually identical aircrew uniforms, allowed passengers seamless travel between the mainline routes and the regional feeder routes, and gave passengers the mistaken impression that they were flying the "major" airline). However, this arrangement offered the major carriers one very important advantage - the employees of these regional carriers WEREN'T employees of the major airline. The employees operating the regional aircraft were employeed by a small independent air provider, who were contract operations that are paid to provide personnel to fly the smaller aircraft into smaller airports at a fraction of the labor costs the majors would incur if they had their employees provide the service.

I think you can see the parallels between how the regional air carriers operate and how FedEx has made Ground operate. There is NO coincidence there.

And people still have doubts that FedEx (Express in particular) wants to further outsource particular aspects of its overall business model.

 

[55+]

It appears that our only recourse at this point is to 1) go back to school, find a career 2) tow the line or 3) slow down...best practices, right hand turns, take your breaks and don't work during your breaks, drive the speed limit, don't take more work than you can handle even if the mgr is begging you, lock your truck at every stop even if your 5ft away from a resi stop. I tried this one Saturday and it cost our wonderful company about 25 minutes..... .

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

It appears that our only recourse at this point is to 1) go back to school, find a career 2) tow the line or 3) slow down...best practices, right hand turns, take your breaks and don't work during your breaks, drive the speed limit, don't take more work than you can handle even if the mgr is begging you, lock your truck at every stop even if your 5ft away from a resi stop. I tried this one Saturday and it cost our wonderful company about 25 minutes..... .

It's always nice hearing about someone following policy to the letter...

 

[MrFedEx]

It's always nice hearing about someone following policy to the letter...

If everyone were to follow it to the letter, productivity would drop significantly. Just follow the rules, do the absolute minimum, and there isn't much they can do about it. Purple Promise behavior and effort gets you nothing, so why go above and beyond when there is no payoff? It's finally starting to sink-in for a lot of FedEx employees that Express is a losing proposition.

Leave, maintain at absolute minimum effort, or "like" it. Those are your basic choices.

 

[vantexan]

If everyone were to follow it to the letter, productivity would drop significantly. Just follow the rules, do the absolute minimum, and there isn't much they can do about it. Purple Promise behavior and effort gets you nothing, so why go above and beyond when there is no payoff? It's finally starting to sink-in for a lot of FedEx employees that Express is a losing proposition.

Leave, maintain at absolute minimum effort, or "like" it. Those are your basic choices.

Except FedEx would counter with no raises because we didn't meet our "goal".

 

[MrFedEx]

Except FedEx would counter with no raises because we didn't meet our "goal".

Our raises are so small as to be inconsequential. I think it would take a lot of the stress off if more people just took their time and effectively told them to shove "goal".