Fed Ex Media Campaign - Gloves coming off

[sosocal]

In the many years I have been at UPS I have never seen things get nasty between UPS and FEDEX in the media or in the advertising arena... you know the type of call outs you see in the Cola or burger wars...In this industry companies have generally claimed superiority over "the competition"...or more guaranteed deliveries than "anyone"....


That is about to change....Fed Ex will be taking the niceties out of their full-court, fight for their life campaign to maintain thier cost advantages through their current labor classification. It will be nasty. It will be public, and it will spill outside the beltway.

They will position pending legislation (rights to organize for their employees) as a GOVT sponsored bailout for UPS. --Spinning the rhetoric that UPS cannot compete in the free marketplace.

Public relations spinsters are coming - the money is behind it....And it will essentially call out UPS. You will hear more....As will many of your customers.

Should be fun

 

[dannyboy]

Interesting concept.

And as usual, UPS will be trying to play catchup.

For once I would love to see us take the fight to them.

d

 

[COSMOS]

http://ir.fedex.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=388559

 

[dilligaf]

Interesting reading. Much of this I did not understand until now.

 

[BLACKBOX]

How many of you remember those USPS commercials that compared their service against UPS and FDX? Those commercials were short lived, wonder what made them stop those advertisements so abruptly?

 

[brownmonster]

If Express runs a seperate operation why are there Fedex Ground trucks backed up to the docks at the Fedex Express terminal in my town. I'll have to take a picture and send it to my Senator.

 

[705red]

I hope all of you that read this will now take the gloves off when it comes time to steal Fed ex volume. Most people feel that there is enough for both companies. The fact is we have the WORST P R department and we can not just sit back and wait for them to try and rebut any of Fed ex's release. They simply are not competent enough, they have clearly shown this over the last several years.

We are always back peddling in this department. So tomorrow morning us as drivers should take the fight to them ourselves and grab up what ever business we can. IMO

 

[MrFedEx]

If Express runs a seperate operation why are there Fedex Ground trucks backed up to the docks at the Fedex Express terminal in my town. I'll have to take a picture and send it to my Senator.

Do it. Express does not run a separate operation....Ground moves a lot of our packages on their tractor-trailers, which has been taking away work from Express feeder drivers (RTD's) for years. If this is a "Brown Bailout" then FedEx has been getting a Purple Bailout for 36 years with Smith's special exemption.

I hope this blows-up in their face. Smith has got some big brass ones to try this stunt, and I hope they get fed to him by UPS and the Teamsters. What an ***!!!

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

We've already had a preview of how FedEx plans on playing this one. This is taken from the FedEx forum.

FedEx Sues UPS Over ‘Most Reliable’ Claim

Monday, May 04, 2009, Vol. 124, No. 86
ANDY MEEK | The Daily News


Memphis-based FedEx Corp. has gone to court in an attempt to get rival United Parcel Service Inc. to take down TV and print advertising touting UPS as “the most reliable” shipment carrier.
FedEx filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Friday asking for a temporary restraining order against UPS. The legal flap concerns UPS’ promotion of a November 2008 Morgan Stanley Parcel Return Survey the Atlanta-based carrier refers to in TV and print ads.
FedEx and UPS spokesmen did not immediately return calls. In its complaint, FedEx uses the wording of a voiceover in the UPS TV ad as one example of why the Memphis shipping giant was rankled enough to go to court.
“If you’re looking for a shipping company who really understands today’s economy, you’d want one that’s helped customers through 20 recessions, had over 400,000 employees worldwide, over a hundred years’ experience and was just ranked the most reliable,” the TV ad tells viewers. “Well, that would be UPS.”
Not quite, FedEx lawyers told its rival in a March 31 letter to UPS lawyer James Harris.
In the 2009 version of the Morgan Stanley survey, FedEx was listed at the top of the “service reliability” category, according to the FedEx complaint. The Memphis company also takes issue with the wording that UPS was “just ranked” the top carrier.
“UPS’ claim that it was ‘just’ ranked most reliable is simply not true,” FedEx senior counsel Bradley Peacock wrote to Harris a few weeks ago. “The ‘survey’ was published in early November 2008, and was obviously based on information compiled prior to that date.
“Moreover, the survey was conducted prior to DHL’s departure from the U.S. domestic market, a factor which would likely have a significant impact on the results if the survey were conducted again today.”
Late last year, UPS and FedEx competitor DHL announced it would end its U.S. domestic operations effective Jan. 30.

So, it looks like FedEx is going to be like that one whiney kid out on the recess yard that usually gets his arse handed to him any any competitive event and always accuses people of cheating.

 

[upssalesguy]

If Express runs a seperate operation why are there Fedex Ground trucks backed up to the docks at the Fedex Express terminal in my town. I'll have to take a picture and send it to my Senator.

do it. post it here and I will send to mine as well.

this is complete crap. fedex is playing the role of spoiled child perfectly.

 

[beentheredonethat]

I hope all of you that read this will now take the gloves off when it comes time to steal Fed ex volume. ........ So tomorrow morning us as drivers should take the fight to them ourselves and grab up what ever business we can. IMO

Totally agree,

I also thought UPS should do something similar, tell Boeing they will buy more planes if the legislation is signed. Kind of keep Boeing out of the fight.

 

[airbusfxr]

The RLA is an old law that protects companies from job actions. The official term was "Railway Labor of 1929", to keep railroads and interstate commerce moving during disputes. The aircraft mechanics at UPS have not had a raise or benefit enhancement since 2005 thanks to the RLA of 1929. We have seen the economy fall and will not be able to recoup our money that UPS owes us due to this law. At the end of 2009, I will have worked over 8k hours at pay and benefits from a contract that was signed in 2001. This law only benefits fat cat companies that hold employees hostage for years and in the end only pay pennies on the dollar owed. How many Grade 20s would work for 4 years without an increase? How many fat cat div mgrs would work for 4 years without an increase? Well since I have been stuck at a 2001 contract agreement Grade 20s have had 3, 200% raises, and that was just the last 3 years.

 

[satellitedriver]

For once I would love to see us take the fight to them.

This post says it all.

 

[upssalesguy]

i have had my salary frozen, my 401k match stopped and I am stuck with a supervisor who can't be moved becasue of the no-relo policy.

i give lots of money to the UPS pac and if we do not come out fighting, I am going to be VERY disappointed.

I am on the front line talking to customers and i bet when i check my email first thing in the morning, i will have talking points from corporate....but what i really hope is for them to tell us our plan to counter this BS.

 

[Just Numbers]

I hope all of you that read this will now take the gloves off when it comes time to steal Fed ex volume. Most people feel that there is enough for both companies. The fact is we have the WORST P R department and we can not just sit back and wait for them to try and rebut any of Fed ex's release. They simply are not competent enough, they have clearly shown this over the last several years.

We are always back peddling in this department. So tomorrow morning us as drivers should take the fight to them ourselves and grab up what ever business we can. IMO

It's not stealing....it's called taking back. I started driving in the early '70's and the drivers had an attitude at that time that every package should be picked up and delivered by UPS. That attitude provided job security and allowed UPS to expand and provide more jobs. Where does it say we should be complacent with market share, I want it all. We were very proud drivers then, and proud drivers now. The only difference is we need to bring back that bada#s attitude like NOW!

 

[pickup]

Interesting reading. Much of this I did not understand until now.

I was embarassed, I thought I was the only one who didn't thoroughly understand it. Thanks dilli, now I don't feel so dumb

 

[over9five]

Interesting concept.

And as usual, UPS will be trying to play catchup.

For once I would love to see us take the fight to them.

d

I agree. I am really irritated right now because no one has mentioned ONE WORD OF THIS AT WORK.

If UPS doesn't get its head in the game.... well, I better never hear the phrase "unlevel playing field" again.



Brown Cafe's 10th Anniversary 124 days, 8 hours

 

[PobreCarlos]

Over9;

This is simply speculation on my part, but I'm wondering if the company isn't deliberately trying to go low-key on this issue. While I'll quickly admit that I've not seen a reason to (and have been quite vocal on the issue myself!), I wonder if maybe they're thinking that publicly pushing too hard might be viewed as a little self-serving. Or that pushing what many seem to think is a "pro-labor" point of view may be detrimental (in terms of the Senate vote) as well. As I said, pure speculation on my part.

One wonders what ducks the company might have in a row already. This is perceived by many as a "Democrats v. Republicans" thing, in which the Republicans are expected to uphold the FedEx position. On the other hand (and I haven't look at the spread of Senators yet), I'd be willing to bet that Demo Senators who have large FedEx facilities in their state, like Hagan in NC and Bayh in Indiana might vote for FedEx., while the two Republican Kentucky Senators mind tend toward UPS. In any case, I suspect that UPS has accounted for as much Republican financial support in absolute terms as FedEx. Given that - and the Dem's majority in the Senate, one would THINK it would be a slam dunk....one would THINK (i.e. - famous last words)

Not sure if it would make a difference, but it might help if those Democrat Senators who might be perceived to be leaning toward FedEx were approached with the idea that, even though their states may have large FedEx facilities, it's likely that UPS has close to - or as many - employees in their states. At least enough to get some "correct" information out.

With that in mind, I noticed that the Indianapolis Star's article today had a side-bar that stated "FedEx has one hub in Indianapolis" on one line, then a second line that said "UPS doesn't have any" (or the equivalent). Now, while Indy may not have a UPS AIR hub, to the best of my knowledge, it DOES have TWO regular hubs....but if you got your information solely from the newspapers blurb, you'd never know that.

Again, if things are like I think they are, and UPS has its hands tied to a certain extent, then it's probably going to be up to individuals like us to get the word out.

Too long a post again. Sorry....

 

[over9five]

PC,

Maybe, but I think a letter to all employees requesting them to write their Senators is the way I would go. I would also include a sample letter for employees who don't often write their Congressmen and are unsure what to write.

At the minimum, mention it in a PCM, and let the employee have the information and decide for themselves what to do. I think many (most?) of our employees are not news savvy, and may not know this is even happening.

I can even recall a time when we were all brought to a conference room, and basically paid to write our Congressmen on some issue, though the issue escapes me right now.

I hope you're right that UPS has some "ducks in a row", because as I said in another post... If they don't, I better not hear that phrase "unleveled playing field" again!

 

[MrFedEx]

All of this didn't get so much as a mention at our AM meeting today, nor was their anything on the corporate website. In short, while FedEx bleats that they're about to capsize, Fred can afford an expensive media blitz. Hmmmm.

I think a lot of you are finally starting to figure out the way Fred S does business. He's like the little rich kid who won't stop crying until Daddy gets him a pony, and he's going to kick and scream even as his father carries him out to the limo. Even if this stunt fails (and I think it will), he's got more dirty tricks left in his bag. He is Satan's spawn.