Business lost due to early pup.

[DontThrowPackages]

Spoke to a long time driver about how his vacation went and the conversation quickly turned to how the floater/PT'ers went to all his pups early. Most of the stops let the drivers get away with coming early but a large shipper told the drive, who came really early, "You're coming back right?". Driver said no and was out the door as the customer was saying it's too early. Customer got on with call center and they gave him a huge run around. Then he hung up and called back asking for the station manager in the area. Time went by and customer hung up again. Vacation driver said, customer #1 called as many of his customers as possible apologize to as many of his customers as he could saying,"Fedex failed us today....", while customer #2 broke down the shipments and relabeled them to ship BROWN. So for almost 2 weeks, Brown received all of the business that should have been Xpress. Regular driver is back and that company is using xpress again but is talking to higher ups in their company about using BROWN long term. Problem now is, their recipients mostly want them to use xpress. Cutting 40 minutes on a RTB equals less than a 20 dollar savings(drivers pay). But this is the new math. 20 dollars is worth more than 25 outbound express packages per day, I guess.

 

[StuffItFred]

Regular driver should have turned in a lead.......lol

 

[overflowed]

When cost saving by taking employee hours becomes more important than servicing the customer this is what starts happening.

 

[FedExRookie]

Regular driver should have turned in a lead.......lol

Bring us $$$$$ and get me a bonus (Sales person) and i'll give you a candy bar and pen!

 

[MrFedEx]

When cost saving by taking employee hours becomes more important than servicing the customer this is what starts happening.

Exactly. the customer has become secondary to the goal of cutting costs. The end result is very predictable, and they deserve to lose every customer they have.

 

[Mr. 7]

Yup.
You cut my hrs., I give much less service.

 

[hypo hanna]

Spoke to a long time driver about how his vacation went and the conversation quickly turned to how the floater/PT'ers went to all his pups early. Most of the stops let the drivers get away with coming early but a large shipper told the drive, who came really early, "You're coming back right?". Driver said no and was out the door as the customer was saying it's too early. Customer got on with call center and they gave him a huge run around. Then he hung up and called back asking for the station manager in the area. Time went by and customer hung up again. Vacation driver said, customer #1 called as many of his customers as possible apologize to as many of his customers as he could saying,"Fedex failed us today....", while customer #2 broke down the shipments and relabeled them to ship BROWN. So for almost 2 weeks, Brown received all of the business that should have been Xpress. Regular driver is back and that company is using xpress again but is talking to higher ups in their company about using BROWN long term. Problem now is, their recipients mostly want them to use xpress. Cutting 40 minutes on a RTB equals less than a 20 dollar savings(drivers pay). But this is the new math. 20 dollars is worth more than 25 outbound express packages per day, I guess.

Plus mgmt will use that 20 min against the regular driver the next time they set his 280 goals. I've seen it over and over. Swing driver does it wrong but in less time and his numbers are the new benchmark.

 

[!Retired!]

You didn't mention details (ready/close/cut off times). He should have called in an oncall, if there was still time.

 

[hypo hanna]

You didn't mention details (ready/close/cut off times). He should have called in an oncall, if there was still time.

Why should the customer be inconvienced? I read it that the driver was there before the ready time. Now if the driver was there during the stated pick up window and the customer wasn't ready, that's another matter.

 

[dezguy]

You didn't mention details (ready/close/cut off times). He should have called in an oncall, if there was still time.

Why? The customer had a set regular pick up. Because another courier wanted to get done early or whatever the excuse was, they should have to go through the hassle of calling in an oncall? I'm not sure about over there in the states but customers here hate calling in oncalls. FedEx has made something that should be as easy as giving an address and pickup time, to making it a 10 minute ordeal in order to get their package picked up.

 

[Doc Sorting Dude]

I don't about Ground, but for Express, Dispatch sends you a message if you are picking up too early (especially a reg pup). It's dispatcher's fault for letting him clear early.

 

[!Retired!]

Why should the customer be inconvienced? I read it that the driver was there before the ready time. Now if the driver was there during the stated pick up window and the customer wasn't ready, that's another matter.

Correct. But, I'd be the couriers biggest pain in the butt.

I don't about Ground, but for Express, Dispatch sends you a message if you are picking up too early (especially a reg pup). It's dispatcher's fault for letting him clear early.

Not true. I picked up regulars early all the time. NEVER did dispatch say a word. They don't care, as long as the pickups are made. I did have 2 customers I could NEVER pickup early and 1 stop I picked up 30 minutes before their ready time.

 

[whenIgetthere]

I don't about Ground, but for Express, Dispatch sends you a message if you are picking up too early (especially a reg pup). It's dispatcher's fault for letting him clear early.

Here, if you pick up early, you're required to have the name of the person who told you they are done for the day. Saw one guy get a written warning for just using the contact listed on the PP screen. If I go early, and they aren't finished, I always go back.

 

[hypo hanna]

I don't about Ground, but for Express, Dispatch sends you a message if you are picking up too early (especially a reg pup). It's dispatcher's fault for letting him clear early.

​Nope. The driver has the pickup window on his power pad. If he picks up a stop before the ready time and the customer calls in a complaint, its on him. The dispatcher isn't the one driving the truck.

 

[STFXG]

We can't make pickups outside the window without losing a good amount of money. Better customer service over here at Ground. We make our pickups when the customer requests they get made.

 

[Cactus]

Better customer service over here at Ground. We make our pickups when the customer requests they get made.

I see you got your sense of humor tonight.

Thanks. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

 

[!Retired!]

Here, if you pick up early, you're required to have the name of the person who told you they are done for the day. Saw one guy get a written warning for just using the contact listed on the PP screen. If I go early, and they aren't finished, I always go back.

Not here or, unless it's changed, my other 2 stations.

​Nope. The driver has the pickup window on his power pad. If he picks up a stop before the ready time and the customer calls in a complaint, its on him. The dispatcher isn't the one driving the truck.

Correct HH.

 

[DontThrowPackages]

You didn't mention details (ready/close/cut off times). He should have called in an oncall, if there was still time.

No need to. Knowing some of our PTers, 30 to 45 minutes BEFORE the ready time would not surprise me. And to add, a customer shouldn't have to beg to have their packages taken away if they're paying good money.

 

[DontThrowPackages]

I don't about Ground, but for Express, Dispatch sends you a message if you are picking up too early (especially a reg pup). It's dispatcher's fault for letting him clear early.

I seriously would not be surprised if someone, with authority, let it be known to dispatch that those types of messages shall be placed on the back burner for the time being. Just the vibe I get. Also, when I came back from last vacation, some of my customers said to me for 1 or 2 of the day, during the time I was gone, nobody came by to make the PU. I have no way of knowing but I'm thinking when one of these newbies PTers gets hung up, he simply does a 43 and eliminates that pup to get back on schedule. Some of the newbies, I do know for a fact, are photoing the barcode in the Drop boxes and blowing off the ones which may have only 3 letters for the entire week.

 

[Route 66]

I wonder how much business has been lossed due to packages which have been tost.