Any of you Ground/HD guys seen a pretty significant bump in volume?

[MAKAVELI]

We were told by FedEx management that after peak we should not expect the volume to reduce all that much; for once they were not lying.

I commented on this back last August and September - that Ground would see a marked increase in volume with peak 2012 and there wouldn't be much if any tapering off off that volume into 2013.

And indeed it is happening.

FedEx has indeed induced customers to begin the shifting of volume ON THEIR OWN, solely by having the software which generates shipping labels (and quotes price) unified into a single page. About the only customers who use computer generated shipping labels who are still using Express 3rd day - are the shippers on the coasts. There are a handful that want the convenience of Express pickup, but even these are generating Ground labels and stuffing the shipments into Express drop boxes.

This is why Express Couriers should let these shipments SIT in the drop boxes for a couple of days before they clear them - if the customers don't want to pay for Express Saver, then they shouldn't be receiving Express service convenience.

Excellent idea R1a.

 

[DontThrowPackages]

Excellent idea R1a.

.

Way ahead of you. Ground will sit in the Dropbox for one week unless vacation is coming up and we'll wait to see if swing will get it.

 

[HomeyinNY]

my route has seen more freight on a constant basis. on sat. i have to service 2 more zips. 50 more stops . been out to 7 and 8 oclock in consecutive weeks. More is less here at HD!!!!

 

[vantexan]

Will be interesting with all these Ground deliveries to see what profits look like at the end of May.

 

[MaineGroundDriver]

Interesting correlation between the uptick in volume and the apathy of the FedEx Ground/HD driver. In my delivery area over the last 9 years I've seen over 10 different Ground/HD Drivers. Since last summer it's gone through 4 HD drivers and 3 Ground drivers. Last HD driver was terminated for his 3rd rollaway during his training, apparently FedEx said he was un-insurable. Anyhow the other drivers all spoke of all they were doing was buying time till something better comes along.
My point is it looks like you guys are at the tipping point of where your drivers say we're no longer willing to do this much work for this low of pay.

Into my 3rd year and still love it .....

 

[MaineGroundDriver]

my route has seen more freight on a constant basis. on sat. i have to service 2 more zips. 50 more stops . been out to 7 and 8 oclock in consecutive weeks. More is less here at HD!!!!

You must work for a lousy contractor ..

 

[MAKAVELI]

my route has seen more freight on a constant basis. on sat. i have to service 2 more zips. 50 more stops . been out to 7 and 8 oclock in consecutive weeks. More is less here at HD!!!!

You must work for a lousy contractor ..

There are a lot of them. Just like there are a lot of lousy managers at Express.

 

[HomeDelivery]

my route has seen more freight on a constant basis. on sat. i have to service 2 more zips. 50 more stops . been out to 7 and 8 oclock in consecutive weeks. More is less here at HD!!!!

to add, i just seen a local craigslist ad about re-hiring hourly temp drivers for HD (this early in the year!?!?!) starting PT & moving to FT as volume kicks even higher!!!!

last Sat i was out until 1830 so it's still not that bad...(was a rural/suburbia mix with 5% business of my load that were open)

however, i was a supplemental running out of another rental boxtruck to help with the load of some regular drivers.

I'm going in Tues to see if i can be paid by the hour again since the contractor told me that he was just breaking even when he runs a supplemental route. Getting paid for nothing while we load / sort our own vehicles is getting old...

I ask he and other contractors as to why is FedEx taking so long to make those supplemental routes legit so they can add real stepvans with the dog logo on them & they're all currently trying to do so (i'm in an IC state so ISP doesn't factor in here yet)

 

[overflowed]

to add, i just seen a local craigslist ad about re-hiring hourly temp drivers for HD (this early in the year!?!?!) starting PT & moving to FT as volume kicks even higher!!!!

last Sat i was out until 1830 so it's still not that bad...(was a rural/suburbia mix with 5% business of my load that were open)

however, i was a supplemental running out of another rental boxtruck to help with the load of some regular drivers.

I'm going in Tues to see if i can be paid by the hour again since the contractor told me that he was just breaking even when he runs a supplemental route. Getting paid for nothing while we load / sort our own vehicles is getting old...

I ask he and other contractors as to why is FedEx taking so long to make those supplemental routes legit so they can add real stepvans with the dog logo on them & they're all currently trying to do so (i'm in an IC state so ISP doesn't factor in here yet)

Hey Home Delivery what happened? I thought you being paid by the hour last you said. Wondering is all. I haven't seen you posting too much recently.

 

[HomeDelivery]

just got back (got done for a change @ 1600 hours ~85 stops)

I was getting paid by the hour during peak season; then most drivers were let go & their info go into "file 13" or a "no-rehire status" or whatever they call it these days because they sorta had too many disputed deliveries/ mis-deliveries.

they kept some drivers as supplementals since volume didn't go down after peak... but not hourly pay (by salary or by-the-stop or a combination of both depending on which contractor they stayed with after peak)

______________________________________________

ok that temp agency on a recent craigslist ad; they replied and it was GROUND! Looks like drivers don't like what's going on over there for the little pay they get, eventhough it's an hourly PT gig to start

 

[northbound]

Very rare for a guy on my crew to work after 5. most days they average between 330-430 except during peak.

No response to this? I figured I would be called a liar cause every ground driver is out til 8 or later

 

[MAKAVELI]

Very rare for a guy on my crew to work after 5. most days they average between 330-430 except during peak.

No response to this? I figured I would be called a liar cause every ground driver is out til 8 or later

You're a liar. There, are you happy?

 

[bbsam]

You're a liar. There, are you happy?

How would you know?

 

[MAKAVELI]

You're a liar. There, are you happy?

How would you know?

I'm just trying to cheer him up. He seems so. upset nobody called him a liar

 

[northbound]

You're a liar. There, are you happy?

How would you know?

I'm just trying to cheer him up. He seems so. upset nobody called him a liar

Not upset just surprised

 

[MaineGroundDriver]

No response to this? I figured I would be called a liar cause every ground driver is out til 8 or later

My route is pretty compact area compared to most .. well, compared to ALL in my terminal .. but I have timed pickups I usually have to wait around for, so the earliest (as well as latest) I'm back is 4 PM most days. However, lately my boss has been spreading the pickups around a bit to another driver so say this past Monday I was back at my terminal at 1 PM. Arrive for pre-trip 5:40ish, load truck until around 7 or so, arrive at WA around 8, back to terminal at 1 and leave terminal at 1:20 .. yup, days like that I like! lol

 

[northbound]

No response to this? I figured I would be called a liar cause every ground driver is out til 8 or later

My route is pretty compact area compared to most .. well, compared to ALL in my terminal .. but I have timed pickups I usually have to wait around for, so the earliest (as well as latest) I'm back is 4 PM most days. However, lately my boss has been spreading the pickups around a bit to another driver so say this past Monday I was back at my terminal at 1 PM. Arrive for pre-trip 5:40ish, load truck until around 7 or so, arrive at WA around 8, back to terminal at 1 and leave terminal at 1:20 .. yup, days like that I like! lol

Wow sounds like a great contractor there!

 

[Code 82 Approved]

I logged out at 17:20 today. 16:15 yesterday. Anywhere in between is the norm.

 

[STFXG]

Pretrip at 540? Why so early? And why are you loading your truck?

 

[northbound]

Pretrip at 540? Why so early? And why are you loading your truck?

Some of the real small terminals have contractor sort and the drivers all load their own trucks