A Carefully Crafted Image Gone Awry

[MrFedEx]

FedEx Express has spent many years skillfully crafting an image that is now being threatened by social media. Not unlike a politician, who acts one way in public, and another in private, FedEx projects an image of precision in motion, where your package is carefully and expeditiously routed and delivered to it's final destination by an army of dedicated, loyal workers. In general, the public has a very positive image of FedEx, and they think we still love good old Fred. Few know what really goes on behind the scenes in the sausage factory.

But all of that is being threatened, and the inner workings and machinations of FedEx and it's leaders are being brought out into the open, via the social media. FedEx is already trying to stop it, but that is like shoveling sand against the tide, because dictating that employees stop being honest about the way FedEx really works is a solution from the past. Sorry Fred, but you're not going to stop Facebook, Twitter, or any of the social media from exposing you. That's something you might have gotten away with 30 years ago when your lame policy memo would have been typed-out on an IBM Selectric.

I predict that there will actually be an increase in revelations about this company and the way it does business. Fred and his upper management clones can no longer keep the genie in the bottle. The market level scam, inequitably-applied discipline, and the rest of the games are rapidly being exposed to he light of day, and many employees are finally becoming aware that Mr. Smith most certainly does not have their best interests at heart.

FedEx can make all the claims it want...and we can expose them for the lies that they are. When they say they are "green", there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of examples of why FedEx is one of the least green companies out there. The same thing goes for the rest of the hype, and we owe it to the public to let them see the way this corporation really operates. It's all one big, fat LIE.

Expose them, and their illegal actions, and let the free market decide where the shipping dollars go. After all, Fred believes in capitalism, right? Never mind that he has rigged the "market" in his favor through political malfeasance. Let's let everyone know what this company is up to and the way they "respect" employees.

 

[vantexan]

While I don't like a lot of what's happened and is about to, I'm not aware of anything the company does that's illegal. I've seen mgrs do things that could be characterized as fraud, but when the company learned of it those mgrs were removed. It's been my experience that they'll deny to your face and sweep under the rug anything that might put the company in legal jeopardy IF THEY CAN. If not they try to handle the problem as quickly and quietly as possible with little if any admission of wrongdoing if possible. Now you can make a case about ethics IMO, but you might not want to accuse them of breaking the law unless you have knowledge you'd like to share.

 

[MrFedEx]

While I don't like a lot of what's happened and is about to, I'm not aware of anything the company does that's illegal. I've seen mgrs do things that could be characterized as fraud, but when the company learned of it those mgrs were removed. It's been my experience that they'll deny to your face and sweep under the rug anything that might put the company in legal jeopardy IF THEY CAN. If not they try to handle the problem as quickly and quietly as possible with little if any admission of wrongdoing if possible. Now you can make a case about ethics IMO, but you might not want to accuse them of breaking the law unless you have knowledge you'd like to share.

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

Lose or settle?

 

[vantexan]

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

But those are civil disputes, not criminal trials.

 

[MrFedEx]

Lose or settle?

Both. When they settle, it's because they know they'll lose even more when it goes to court.

 

[LTFedExer]

I'm not aware of anything the company does that's illegal.

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

I think van is talking about FedEx Corp. The lawsuits filed are mainly due to managers/SM/etc breaking/disregarding FedEx's own policies.

 

[xfdxgroundmgmt]

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

Most are not lost but............settled!

 

[MrFedEx]

I think van is talking about FedEx Corp. The lawsuits filed are mainly due to managers/SM/etc breaking/disregarding FedEx's own policies.

The managers operate according to what MEM tells them to do. These days, they can't do much of anything without running it by Legal. FedEx disregards DOT regs, safety regulations, and OSHA requirements every single day. Eventually, some of it will catch up with them. They also conspire to "reduce" injuries by blaming work injuries on off-duty activities. For example, you tear your rotator cuff at work lifting a heavy box, or just wear it out from repetitive stress. When you go see the Sedgewick/CIGNA?Anthem quack after being quizzed by management, they discover you play golf twice a month. Guess where the blame for the injury will be placed? Illegal as Hell, and happens all the time. There's much more.

 

[whenIgetthere]

The managers operate according to what MEM tells them to do. These days, they can't do much of anything without running it by Legal. FedEx disregards DOT regs, safety regulations, and OSHA requirements every single day. Eventually, some of it will catch up with them. They also conspire to "reduce" injuries by blaming work injuries on off-duty activities. For example, you tear your rotator cuff at work lifting a heavy box, or just wear it out from repetitive stress. When you go see the Sedgewick/CIGNA?Anthem quack after being quizzed by management, they discover you play golf twice a month. Guess where the blame for the injury will be placed? Illegal as Hell, and happens all the time. There's much more.

This may work in to what MFE is saying. While working the sort back in 2004, courier across the belt grabs a package, brake rotor falls out of package, across the belt, lands on my foot and breaks three of my toes. Fedex calls it PREVENTABLE, said I should have been wearing steel toes! But as a courier, I wasn't eligible for repayment for buying said steel toes! Now, how is that prevebtable on my part?

 

[MrFedEx]

This may work in to what MFE is saying. While working the sort back in 2004, courier across the belt grabs a package, brake rotor falls out of package, across the belt, lands on my foot and breaks three of my toes. Fedex calls it PREVENTABLE, said I should have been wearing steel toes! But as a courier, I wasn't eligible for repayment for buying said steel toes! Now, how is that prevebtable on my part?

Yes. You should have "anticipated the hazard". If an asteroid falls through the roof of the station and hits you, it's also your fault. Once, I saw a courier unloading a can have a large box fall from the top of an AMJ and strike her while she was placing another pkg on the belt. In other words, she was facing away from the pkg that fell on her. Guess whose fault it was?

This all stems back to their big injury reduction program, which "worked" because they blamed the employee for almost everything.

 

[mitchel]

This may work in to what MFE is saying. While working the sort back in 2004, courier across the belt grabs a package, brake rotor falls out of package, across the belt, lands on my foot and breaks three of my toes. Fedex calls it PREVENTABLE, said I should have been wearing steel toes! But as a courier, I wasn't eligible for repayment for buying said steel toes! Now, how is that prevebtable on my part?

actually, couriers can be reimbursed for steel toes. ive had two pairs paid for... unless something has changed in the last two years since ive bought a pair.

 

[55+]

unless you're working the cans..no reimbursement for you ..at least thats how its explained at our station

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

This may work in to what MFE is saying. While working the sort back in 2004, courier across the belt grabs a package, brake rotor falls out of package, across the belt, lands on my foot and breaks three of my toes. Fedex calls it PREVENTABLE, said I should have been wearing steel toes! But as a courier, I wasn't eligible for repayment for buying said steel toes! Now, how is that prevebtable on my part?

Same thing happened to my wife when she was working at the Purple Playground, only it was her finger got smashed. I was glad she was there to keep me from beating her manager, although I now wish she'd have let me...lol Everything is preventable here. Poor packaging allows a package to open and you get broken toes, you should've known it was going to happen and worn steel toes that you don't need and would hold you up at customer locations increasing your gap times.

A bird flies up and smashes your mirror or headlight or maybe even the windshield (saw this once with a hawk...pretty damn scary!), it's your fault because you are supposed to know what the animals are going to do. Someone rear-ends the car 2 spaces behind you and causes you to hit the 2 in front of you from the impact. Your fault because you should have seen it coming (and how you do that with the way the mirrors shake in these things is beyond me) and allowed yourself a larger cushion. It's icy out and even the insane stay home, but because you're a professional driver (which probably told you to stay home in the first place) you go in and get stuck in a ditch while trying to deliver. It's your fault because you ignored the treacherous conditions and went out, even though you made your protestations to your crack management team and only a handful showed up.

Notice a pattern here?

 

[whenIgetthere]

Same thing happened to my wife when she was working at the Purple Playground, only it was her finger got smashed. I was glad she was there to keep me from beating her manager, although I now wish she'd have let me...lol Everything is preventable here. Poor packaging allows a package to open and you get broken toes, you should've known it was going to happen and worn steel toes that you don't need and would hold you up at customer locations increasing your gap times.

A bird flies up and smashes your mirror or headlight or maybe even the windshield (saw this once with a hawk...pretty damn scary!), it's your fault because you are supposed to know what the animals are going to do. Someone rear-ends the car 2 spaces behind you and causes you to hit the 2 in front of you from the impact. Your fault because you should have seen it coming (and how you do that with the way the mirrors shake in these things is beyond me) and allowed yourself a larger cushion. It's icy out and even the insane stay home, but because you're a professional driver (which probably told you to stay home in the first place) you go in and get stuck in a ditch while trying to deliver. It's your fault because you ignored the treacherous conditions and went out, even though you made your protestations to your crack management team and only a handful showed up.

Notice a pattern here?

Awesome post Downtrodden! BZ!!

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

I do my best.

And that deal about the hawk, I saw it when the courier got back and it was still stuck in the windshield, she taped over the inside with clear packing tape (like to know where she got it since it still seems to be in short supply these days...) and drove it back after talking to her manager and making her last FO stop! What a trooper!

 

[whenIgetthere]

I do my best.

And that deal about the hawk, I saw it when the courier got back and it was still stuck in the windshield, she taped over the inside with clear packing tape (like to know where she got it since it still seems to be in short supply these days...) and drove it back after talking to her manager and making her last FO stop! What a trooper!

I've seen the bird thing with a turkey going thru someones windshield on a sprinter.

 

[59 Dano]

The number of lawsuits they lose speaks volumes about their adherence to the law.

The number of lawsuits that are dismissed in the preliminary stages says even more.

When they settle, it's because they know they'll lose even more when it goes to court.​

​

It would have nothing to do with, say, spending $900,000 to defend against a case that's seeking $800,000. Never. THEY SHOULD FIGHT ON PRINCIPLE ALONE IF THEY ARE IN THE RIGHT!!!111!!

 

[MrFedEx]

The number of lawsuits that are dismissed in the preliminary stages says even more.


[/COLOR][/LEFT]
It would have nothing to do with, say, spending $900,000 to defend against a case that's seeking $800,000. Never. THEY SHOULD FIGHT ON PRINCIPLE ALONE IF THEY ARE IN THE RIGHT!!!111!!

Translation: "I (59Dano)am a pathetic corporate lackey tasked with the impossible ...defending FedEx".

 

[MrFedEx]

The number of lawsuits that are dismissed in the preliminary stages says even more.


[/COLOR][/LEFT]
It would have nothing to do with, say, spending $900,000 to defend against a case that's seeking $800,000. Never. THEY SHOULD FIGHT ON PRINCIPLE ALONE IF THEY ARE IN THE RIGHT!!!111!!

A lot of lawsuits against FedEx never see the light of day because Fred has a veritable army of lawyers who will try and starve you out through changing venues, bumping cases up to higher courts, and generally stalling to make you use-up of all of your resources and go broke before the case comes to trial.

Here's one for you, Dano. FedEx used to do a lot of side-loading in curtainside (ragside) CTV's. Because they were too cheap to buy and install readily available pneumatic docks, FedEx used flimsy portable plates that regularly failed and sent employees crashing 3 or 4 feet to the ground. They fought every suit, even though they were clearly at-fault. In fact, I hear they are still using the portable plates in a few locations. That's pretty dumb, but Legal apparently thinks they can weasel out of litigation.

Some injured employees were hurt quite badly, and FedEx still tried to pin fault on them, even though said plates were defective, poorly-designed, and completely inadequate for the job.

In principle, and in fact, FedEx was, and is, wrong...and they still fight it. FedEx sucks, and so do their operatives.