Clint Eastwood's voice: "You should have gone into management."
I wish it were more balanced, but there is always a path to move forward.
It's never too late.
Reports are suggesting a 98% delivery success for both carriers and from reading here it didn't seem either carrier in general (there are always exceptions) didn't have to jump through impossible hoops all day to obtain that.
FedEx lucked-out this Peak. Good weather, and lower than predicted volumes helped. UPS planned and executed extremely well, and I think FedEx reacted tothis, but much later, and their "solution" was very expensive in the form of cartage agents in many locations. If Fred was paying them $20 per hour and the contractor another $15 to $20 per hour, how much profit was FedEx making?
We always hear them saying "we cannot afford UPS wages". Well, Fred
was paying the equivalent of UPS wages this year. We'll see how Express profits respond.
Was I wrong about Express Armageddon this year? Obviously. But with typical weather and predicted volumes, it probably would have happened. In our district I have heard that it was 30% less than predicted, which is pretty significant.
Maybe they're all high-fiving each other right now in Memphis, but they shouldn't be. This company is a mis-managed cluster at all levels, and they got lucky this year.
No skill...just luck.