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[vantexan]

It's been that way for years and any shipping manager worth their salary knows the prices of the services. We get all kinds of tools and sheets on that. We decide which service we'll ship with and sales pushes all services equally as they simply offer us the portfolio for us to choose. There are goals for your Sales team to be at or better then 100% for all your services individually. If they are under in any one they are pressured.

I'm not talking about just shipping mgrs. Anyone shipping a pkg for the first time is seeing the prices and realizing that they can get it there for considerably less through Ground. And they'll tell family and friends.

 

[MrFedEx]

That is not happening. What they said is what I get. Your company is offering transportation and have several services to choose from. I am totally and I mean totally in charge of what service I pick. The discounts for both ground and express are inline with your competitor. It isn't like Ground is way cheaper then UPS and your Express is way more than UPS, if it were I would agree, but that is not happening. My educated guess is shippers are being driven by consumers and what they want and right now they want cheap over speed. But Ground discounts are comparable between the two. Express rates are comparable between the two companies. Like it pretty much always has. Your sales people are happy with any business and I would still say they favor Express a wee bit more. If anything is really being pushed is International, and seeing what is being charged there, no wonder.

As to answer Fessup. The question wasn't answered. Any direct questions like that are never really answered anymore to investors or the public. It's all hidden behind broad generalities, fears and lawyers. Questions like that were asked several times and never even close to being addressed directly. That is part of rising to the top, playing/learning that game. That all falls under the black name of "Corporations".

Like I said, the rep admitted he was pushing Ground over Express. That's because he's being told to do it from above. If the customer can't use Ground, then he starts selling Express. I'll make it simple for you. Fred makes 40 cents on every Ground pkg but only 5 cents from an Express pkg. Which is going to give old Fred some wood? Never mind that if he pulled his head out of his ass, and didn't overpay his underperforming "top" people, and didn't have MT3 commuting via executive jet, that Express would have a much higher profit margin. It's easier to just sheet all over us and throw us under the bus. You don't "get" Fred...we do.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

Like I said, the rep admitted he was pushing Ground over Express. That's because he's being told to do it from above. If the customer can't use Ground, then he starts selling Express. I'll make it simple for you. Fred makes 40 cents on every Ground pkg but only 5 cents from an Express pkg. Which is going to give old Fred some wood? Never mind that if he pulled his head out of his ass, and didn't overpay his underperforming "top" people, and didn't have MT3 commuting via executive jet, that Express would have a much higher profit margin. It's easier to just sheet all over us and throw us under the bus. You don't "get" Fred...we do.

We had a short pre-work meeting yesterday with our SM, and he looked like a weatherman during a tornado outbreak. He blabbered on about how there really wasn't much info coming out of the meeting in MEM, but there would be some restructuring in the Express side of the house. He also said something about how Ground "only" makes $.17 per pkg and Express is at $.03 per package. He then went on for several minutes about how there would be no buyouts for hourlies, but there would be major losses by attrition, he was almost glowing on that one.

 

[MrFedEx]

We had a short pre-work meeting yesterday with our SM, and he looked like a weatherman during a tornado outbreak. He blabbered on about how there really wasn't much info coming out of the meeting in MEM, but there would be some restructuring in the Express side of the house. He also said something about how Ground "only" makes $.17 per pkg and Express is at $.03 per package. He then went on for several minutes about how there would be no buyouts for hourlies, but there would be major losses by attrition, he was almost glowing on that one.

I think now that they are being told to downplay the huge cost advantage of Ground and spin-it in a way that doesn't make what they are doing so blatantly obvious. If Ground continues eating into the market share of UPS, there will be a bigger push for increased scrutiny of the Ground business model, which they don't want. Nobody in MEM wants to come out and say "we're gutting Express so we can shift as much business over to our more profitable Ground opco". That just isn't their way.

Instead, they will keep on with the effort to eliminate senior couriers and replace them with PT employees making much less. The Dental Care cutback will hit older employees disproportionately harder, and Memphis knows that they will take less crap before they say "enough", and just leave. Between hours cuts, increased harassment, and the undesirability of the job, they will get rid of a lot of people.

I'm forecasting another eventual class action on Age Discrimination. I don't think it will be that difficult to prove that Express is waging an all-out war to jettison senior employees. Fred is too cheap to offer a buyout. Instead, he'd rather railroad the people who built his empire for him out the door like criminals. What a nice guy.

 

[CJinx]

didn't have MT3 commuting via executive jet

I know you like to throw that alleged factoid around to support your arguments but has anyone actually proven that yet? I just did a few quick google searches and it appears that you are the only person on the entire internet that is making that claim as all searches seem to point to your posts right here on brown cafe.

 

[TUT]

Like I said, the rep admitted he was pushing Ground over Express. That's because he's being told to do it from above.

If I can't make you sleep better at night, perhaps someone else. I just went over this today at lunch with your Sales Rep. They get goals for all opco's each month. They said what is odd to them even is that they are all over the place. For example one month the goal states they want last years numbers +5% for Express one month, the next month it could be 15% over last. Sometimes Express %'s are higher then Grounds goals and sometimes it is reversed This includes Intl and LTL. They haven't been able to really understand why the goal %'s fluctuate so much, but it's not always "in favor of ground". Then I asked, if you are pushed beyond those numbers or do you favor anything? Which I have asked before, just wanted to make sure, because some truly paranoid people here have to believe everything is against them. They are only pushed to meet each opco goals. If they really could control it, they would favor those in need of help to make their goal. Their aim is to get all services at or above 100% month to month. But they mention they are far more at the mercy of what their shippers want to do. Which is what I do. They don't personally make any more money shipping a ground package vs an express, it based on the % of their goals.

They did throw this tid bit out, for a new customer they prefer Express because it's not always that automatic putting a new customer on-board that the contractors will abide by the customers needs. That it's a bit of a two way street and ground op's has to "ok" they can handle it, where as Express seemingly will get done what needs to be done. They have said that has improved and was a real issue a few years back, they were told to sell, they would sell, but then the pickups weren't happening routinely enough or at all and ground op's at some level balked at the additional biz because it didn't work for them one way or the other. With Express that hasn't ever come into play.

 

[MrFedEx]

I know you like to throw that alleged factoid around to support your arguments but has anyone actually proven that yet? I just did a few quick google searches and it appears that you are the only person on the entire internet that is making that claim as all searches seem to point to your posts right here on brown cafe.

I've always said the evidence was circumstantial, but strong. He owns homes in Memphis and the Chicago area, and he and "his" jet have been seen by employees in that same area frequently. Whenever FedEx execs attend events in the field, they travel by executive jet, not commercial airlines. They also spend a lot of time and money flying around politicians, money that could be spent on FedEx operations instead.