FedEx Express: Hopelessly Out of Touch

[MrFedEx]

A few months ago, I wrote about the concept of "Human Capital" and just how far out of touch and behind FedEx was regarding this concept, Basically, progressive and forward-thinking organizations realize the importance of their frontline employees, and reward and encourage teamwork, personal growth, and creativity. Together, these concepts become realized and the organization moves forward and becomes more efficient and profitable. Does this sound like FedEx? Hardly. Do you think that anyone with brains and talent would take a job at FedEx when they can get a job with a company that actually rewards effort and innovation? Probably not. Synergy happens when people work together as a team and become more than their individual efforts...2+2=5. FedEx doesn't get this.

hypohanna pointed-out that we are not very technologically savvy at FedEx, nor is there any significant investment in changing the status quo. The SFA is a perfect example, around since the 70's, essentially unchanged, and 30 years out of date. ROADS and DRA are both examples of the kind of technology FedEx is interested in, programs that will allow basically "anyone" to walk-in the door and become an "effective" employee. Sorry, but that isn't going to happen, so all of that money has been pissed-away into the ozone. Even if you could plug a housewife or warehouse worker into a truck and cut them loose with DRA, the job is so much more than that, and no computer program can train someone to be motivated, actualized, and an integral part of the organization. All you get is a drone that delivers boxes. No motivation to excel, create, or advance the goals of the company. Punch-in, deliver pkgs. punch-out, and go home. That's what Fred wants.

This company is hopelessly behind the times and equally clueless about the value of it's employees.

 

[Route 66]

preach it, brutha!

 

[hypo hanna]

..... Even if you could plug a housewife or warehouse worker into a truck and cut them loose with DRA, the job is so much more than that, and no computer program can train someone to be motivated, actualized, and an integral part of the organization. All you get is a drone that delivers boxes. No motivation to excel, create, or advance the goals of the company. Punch-in, deliver pkgs. punch-out, and go home. That's what Fred wants.

This company is hopelessly behind the times and equally clueless about the value of it's employees.

I think this is the crux of the problem. No matter how they try and slice and dice it, FedEx is still a service company. (At least that's what our sales force is selling.) To have the kind of motivated employee that takes the extra step to make the customer happy requires that they believe that they are a part of the team. Not a member of the team in words but in actual actions. I am so sick of being asked to share in the sacrifice but never asked to share in the rewards. My pension has been frozen, my benefits cut to the bone, my workload almost doubled and my pay cut. All of this while Wall Street and the company execs reap HUGE rewards. Why on earth should I care one bit whether their customers are 100% happy? There simply is nothing in it for me. I used to care, I really did. And even after they started with the takeaways, I would still try and help the customer. Not anymore. From here on out, I do the absolute minimum to keep the job while I need it. (If your reading this Fred, Dave, MT3, make no mistake, after all these years, i know exactly how much and how to do the minimum.)

To the customers, you have my apologies but I just can't continue to give my best efforts knowing it lines their pockets while my family makes one sacrifice after another.

 

[Route 66]

Very succinctly stated, HH... FedEx has made its bed, it can now lay down and die in it. Why anyone would continue to go the extra inch, let alone the extra mile for this merry band of cut-throats is beyond me. They can stick their purple promises and golden packages right up their brown holes.

 

[MrFedEx]

I think this is the crux of the problem. No matter how they try and slice and dice it, FedEx is still a service company. (At least that's what our sales force is selling.) To have the kind of motivated employee that takes the extra step to make the customer happy requires that they believe that they are a part of the team. Not a member of the team in words but in actual actions. I am so sick of being asked to share in the sacrifice but never asked to share in the rewards. My pension has been frozen, my benefits cut to the bone, my workload almost doubled and my pay cut. All of this while Wall Street and the company execs reap HUGE rewards. Why on earth should I care one bit whether their customers are 100% happy? There simply is nothing in it for me. I used to care, I really did. And even after they started with the takeaways, I would still try and help the customer. Not anymore. From here on out, I do the absolute minimum to keep the job while I need it. (If your reading this Fred, Dave, MT3, make no mistake, after all these years, i know exactly how much and how to do the minimum.)

To the customers, you have my apologies but I just can't continue to give my best efforts knowing it lines their pockets while my family makes one sacrifice after another.

Yes. I only do the absolute minimum as well, and I think there are a lot of employees out there doing the same thing. If a customer approached me on Monday, told me they wanted to ship 500 pkgs a day with us, and wanted to start ASAP...I'd tell them to use UPS. After everything this crap company has done to us, do you think I'd expend one iota of energy to make Fred another penny? No way, and there are plenty of people who feel the same way turning away business at every opportunity.

I feel no guilt at all. As you said, there is nothing in it for me either, so I do the same thing you do...as little as possible in order to keep the job as long as I need it. That means doing nothing that I'm not absolutely required to do. Think customers notice that? You bet they do, and I'll keep right on advising them to use UPS, because they can actually get it done and also give their workers a square deal.

I take pride in reducing Express revenues however and whenever possible. Just one less dollar to pay for MT3's caviar on Happy Hands 1.

 

[LongTimeComing]

Whether or not this is any consolation, that's up to you, but we (UPS) have this little package delivery system that is starting to be integrated called Orion. It's quite the nifty piece of tech on paper. But it ultimately aims to do what you have described; to make any route doable by anyone. Corporate America, as a whole, is trying to maximize the profit margins by any means necessary....and most times it's turning it's people work....into drone work. (both literally and figuratively) Robot's WILL take over one day. Sarah Connor, where art thou?

 

[hypo hanna]

Whether or not this is any consolation, that's up to you, but we (UPS) have this little package delivery system that is starting to be integrated called Orion. It's quite the nifty piece of tech on paper. But it ultimately aims to do what you have described; to make any route doable by anyone. Corporate America, as a whole, is trying to maximize the profit margins by any means necessary....and most times it's turning it's people work....into drone work. (both literally and figuratively) Robot's WILL take over one day. Sarah Connor, where art thou?

And when we are all replaced with terminators, there will no one left who can afford to make purchases of items that require shipping. Whoever is left holding the bag will be surrounded by his rusting machines and our great society will devolve into something far less then its potential. A nice legacy to leave to our descendants eh Fred?

 

[Goldilocks]

I, like many of you "Old Timers" bled purple. Until I saw it in October, on my computer, the tap dancing and sucking up to the stockholders. They threw us the frontline employees of Federal Express under the bus. It hurts because most of us have given Express half our lives, giving up family, Christmas, and many others things in our lives, to deliver the Golden Package because we were proud and wanted to get the job done with perfection. They implemented DRA, SRA and many other tools for efficiency to cut cost, but what they did was break our spirit and love we once had. And who do they think is the biggest loser? Not us, but the customers! I hope Memphis is reading these threads, because the frontline employees can make or break this company. Take care of your frontline people first and they will take care of you....How simple is that? Use to walk into stops and the customers loved us and would say, " Hello Federal", now they just sign and treat us like trash. This is what Memphis has created. Keep tap dancing to your stockholders and throwing your frontline employees in the trash Memphis, because the results are not good. Open your eyes Memphis !!!! Thank you BC for opening my eyes!!

 

[b33nman]

I, like many of you "Old Timers" bled purple. Until I saw it in October, on my computer, the tap dancing and sucking up to the stockholders. They threw us the frontline employees of Federal Express under the bus. It hurts because most of us have given Express half our lives, giving up family, Christmas, and many others things in our lives, to deliver the Golden Package because we were proud and wanted to get the job done with perfection. They implemented DRA, SRA and many other tools for efficiency to cut cost, but what they did was break our spirit and love we once had. And who do they think is the biggest loser? Not us, but the customers! I hope Memphis is reading these threads, because the frontline employees can make or break this company. Take care of your frontline people first and they will take care of you....How simple is that? Use to walk into stops and the customers loved us and would say, " Hello Federal", now they just sign and treat us like trash. This is what Memphis has created. Keep tap dancing to your stockholders and throwing your frontline employees in the trash Memphis, because the results are not good. Open your eyes Memphis !!!! Thank you BC for opening my eyes!!

Our manager was written up because we did a work slow down on our scans. He said "What the **** was our problem?" rather bluntly. We told him we want our uniforms, or this continues. Your move. It actually worked. So, we had to blackmail our manager for him to do his job.

 

[MrFedEx]

I, like many of you "Old Timers" bled purple. Until I saw it in October, on my computer, the tap dancing and sucking up to the stockholders. They threw us the frontline employees of Federal Express under the bus. It hurts because most of us have given Express half our lives, giving up family, Christmas, and many others things in our lives, to deliver the Golden Package because we were proud and wanted to get the job done with perfection. They implemented DRA, SRA and many other tools for efficiency to cut cost, but what they did was break our spirit and love we once had. And who do they think is the biggest loser? Not us, but the customers! I hope Memphis is reading these threads, because the frontline employees can make or break this company. Take care of your frontline people first and they will take care of you....How simple is that? Use to walk into stops and the customers loved us and would say, " Hello Federal", now they just sign and treat us like trash. This is what Memphis has created. Keep tap dancing to your stockholders and throwing your frontline employees in the trash Memphis, because the results are not good. Open your eyes Memphis !!!! Thank you BC for opening my eyes!!

Guess what's going to start happening now when we need to go "above and beyond" to fulfill the Purple Promise? Nothing. In fact, it's already happening.

A few months ago, someone posted a story about how their CTV had overturned and how everyone had pulled together to recover the freight and make it all OK. Somehow, I don't really see that happening any longer. Another example is when the belt breaks and the cans are required to be loaded/unloaded all by hand and pushed down the belt. It used to be that everyone would automatically kick-in to "do-it" mode, because that was the corporate culture and expectation. Nobody really questioned it...they just accomplished the "impossible". I think that now, at least in a lot of locations, that people would just sort of go through the motions of trying, all the while hoping that by doing the minimum that it turns out to be a failure.

You are so right about the customer being a big loser in all of this. I personally think that we (the employees) have lost more, but when someone really needs something and we blow-it...they remember. They also tell their friends and business associates...word gets around.

If I have a light morning, I start backing-off early so I will get done right around 1030 on P1. If I'm light on pickups, I pace myself so it's impossible for me to assist anyone on the way in. If I'm the one who is heavy on deliveries or pickups I just take the lates or come back late. It isn't my responsibility to manage my route any longer...it's management's. Remember, we're all too stupid to know what to do so I put it all back on their plate. If I have to drive to the ramp. more hours for me anyway. And if I miss the aircraft? Too bad, so sad. I no longer give a crap. I do my job at a pace that equates with what they pay me and how good my benefits are, and if that means service failures and late pickups...too bad. Management should have taken pickups or deliveries off me so I could finish on time. No heroics required, and none provided.

If everyone would just do the minimum, things would begin to change, but there are always enough "heroes" out there willing to work through break, drive 75 mph, or whatever else it takes to save the day. Every day, however, more people see the light, and the day isn't going to be saved.

 

[Route 66]

Our manager was written up because we did a work slow down on our scans. He said "What the **** was our problem?" rather bluntly. We told him we want our uniforms, or this continues. Your move. It actually worked. So, we had to blackmail our manager for him to do his job.

ahhh yes - uniforms! that's a whole 'nuther issue. I don't even bother asking anymore. I figure if they want me to look like a homeless person, then I'm all too willing to oblige.

 

[jmeti000]

Ya know, every company in america is pushing for "more profit" and "growth". I have always wondered if they realize that we live in a finite world and there is only so much "expansion and growth" that can be achieved. Once this level is reached, the best they can hope for is to maintain the profits they have, unless of course they get greedy like fedex and try to manufacture it from their workforce, therby creating the illusion of greater expansion and increased profits. In which case you get exactly what is happening now...pissed of employees who dont give a . Like I said, just something I always wondered.

 

[MrFedEx]

Ya know, every company in america is pushing for "more profit" and "growth". I have always wondered if they realize that we live in a finite world and there is only so much "expansion and growth" that can be achieved. Once this level is reached, the best they can hope for is to maintain the profits they have, unless of course they get greedy like fedex and try to keep the illusion of growth by taking from their workforce to create the illusion of greater expansion and increased profits. In which case you get exactly what is happening now...pissed of employees who dont give a . Like I said, just something I always wondered.

You can only get so much juice from an orange, but that isn't keeping them from trying to get more. I think you are exactly correct in that the "illusion of growth by taking from the workforce" is in full force at Express. Besides the push for increased production, they continue with the benefit takeaways and hours cuts. It's pretty ridiculous when your company is so cheap that you have to engage in a work slowdown just to get a decent uniform. For awhile, at least, it took the signature of an MD to get approval for someone to order a uniform item. How ridiculous is that?

Unfortunately, having everyone wake-up and pay attention this late in the game is probably pointless. It's kind of like a football game where you've let the other team just pound you for 3 quarters, and now the score is 45 to 0 at the start of the 4th quarter. Even if everyone on the team now wants to kick butt and take names, you're still going to lose unless everyone on the other team passes out.

It's very clear now that E2 and XS are going over to Ground, and sooner than everyone probably thinks. FedEx has used it's Express employees while they were needed, and now that's no longer the case. If you're pissed-off, they don't really care, nor do they care if you quit and go somewhere else, because they want to replace you with a 28 year-old PT housewife whose only delivery experience is dropping her kids off at school and picking-up groceries. DRA, the software miracle, will transform her into a delivery powerhouse, and she will be just as good as a career employee making way more than the $14 per hr. Fred wants to pay her.

We'll see how that works out.

 

[Goldilocks]

Guess what's going to start happening now when we need to go "above and beyond" to fulfill the Purple Promise? Nothing. In fact, it's already happening.

A few months ago, someone posted a story about how their CTV had overturned and how everyone had pulled together to recover the freight and make it all OK. Somehow, I don't really see that happening any longer. Another example is when the belt breaks and the cans are required to be loaded/unloaded all by hand and pushed down the belt. It used to be that everyone would automatically kick-in to "do-it" mode, because that was the corporate culture and expectation. Nobody really questioned it...they just accomplished the "impossible". I think that now, at least in a lot of locations, that people would just sort of go through the motions of trying, all the while hoping that by doing the minimum that it turns out to be a failure.

You are so right about the customer being a big loser in all of this. I personally think that we (the employees) have lost more, but when someone really needs something and we blow-it...they remember. They also tell their friends and business associates...word gets around.

If I have a light morning, I start backing-off early so I will get done right around 1030 on P1. If I'm light on pickups, I pace myself so it's impossible for me to assist anyone on the way in. If I'm the one who is heavy on deliveries or pickups I just take the lates or come back late. It isn't my responsibility to manage my route any longer...it's management's. Remember, we're all too stupid to know what to do so I put it all back on their plate. If I have to drive to the ramp. more hours for me anyway. And if I miss the aircraft? Too bad, so sad. I no longer give a crap. I do my job at a pace that equates with what they pay me and how good my benefits are, and if that means service failures and late pickups...too bad. Management should have taken pickups or deliveries off me so I could finish on time. No heroics required, and none provided.

If everyone would just do the minimum, things would begin to change, but there are always enough "heroes" out there willing to work through break, drive 75 mph, or whatever else it takes to save the day. Every day, however, more people see the light, and the day isn't going to be saved.

Yep, your right, no HEROES any more. We've had it and tired of getting the blame....Like one engineer told me, "Oh your route is going to be like a paper route now with DRA". Paper route Memphis? Is that what you want? Well you got it......You have slit my wrist and drained the purple away. I'm done....Throw and Go should be the new slogan....Dont talk to me, I dont have time. You have one second to sign if not pick it up at the station. Is this the new Fedex customer service? Everything we tried to build is now smashed. But lets please our stockholders, and offer buyouts to the people that put their sweat and tears into this company, "managers and up" They are the ones who made this company what it is. The couriers are nothing but crap. I'm tired and burned....

 

[thedownhillEXPRESS]

Going to work everyday reminds me about that ad against Romney in which the guy said it was like they built their own coffin.
Ground is our coffin.

 

[bbsam]

Going to work everyday reminds me about that ad against Romney in which the guy said it was like they built their own coffin.
Ground is our coffin.

No coffin for you. You are our fertilizer.

 

[MAKAVELI]

Going to work everyday reminds me about that ad against Romney in which the guy said it was like they built their own coffin.
Ground is our coffin.

No coffin for you. You are our fertilizer.

I wouldn't be so smug if I were you. If Express goes down so does Ground. So be careful what you wish for.

 

[bbsam]

I wouldn't be so smug if I were you. If Express goes down so does Ground. So be careful what you wish for.

Express isn't going down. It's just never going to be what you want it to be again.

 

[thedownhillEXPRESS]

Not quite, Ground is going to be SEVERELY minimizing Express operations.

You all spent years building the reputation of Fedex, and are handing it off to Ground, now we can look forward to a future part time job that Express is becoming.

 

[Mr. 7]

It's very clear now that E2 and XS are going over to Ground, and sooner than everyone probably thinks.

Prove it!