FedEx "Logic"

[MrFedEx]

Fred wants to have a company that has a 10% profit margin instead of settling for 5%. So, as usual, he's going to pick it from our pockets. But how's he doing?

So far, he's managed to drive morale to an all time low, caused even more seasoned employees to leave, and made an already difficult job worse. Hey Fred, do you think a courier that is having adjoining routes collapsed regularly is going to turn-in a sales lead that will make them even busier? I highly doubt it. Whenever I see new sources of revenue, I ignore them because I know I'll never get help with the additional volume. If I'm dumb enough to turn-in a hot lead, the sales rep will get all the credit, and if I'm lucky, I'll get a donut or some worthless piece of company merchandise to go with my paper BZ. That's why I only submit bogus leads where FedEx doesn't have a prayer of landing any new packages. Self-protection.

I ran a shuttle to the ramp last week, and ran into a friend who is a sort manager there. They've lost so many people that they don't even issue them uniforms any longer. Missorts are through the roof because 75% of the workers are so new they don't know the job, much less understand the intricacies of the operation.

Service sucks. When you collapse routes, "productivity" jumps, but customers get crappy service. Think they notice when their 1030 pkg shows up at noon. Yes, they do. UPS got there at 0930. We're so short of couriers that we send handlers on the road that have about 30 minutes of informal training. No more borrowing from neighboring stations because they have the same problem.

A dispatcher who I know tells me it's like this district-wide, and every day for them is an exercise in holding the hands of the newbies and trying to get the freight to the ramp before the plane leaves without it. Many seasoned managers have either downgraded or left, so the leftovers and ASSPIRE's are running people all over town, duplicating effort and wasting miles. Missed and late pickups are pretty much the norm.

Oh, and working through your break? New folks do it regularly. After all, MT3 was recently quoted as saying that every courier needed to take out 17 additional P2 stops per day in order to hit the magical 10% profit goal. Think that's going to happen? I love how the Memphoids simply make declarations and then expect it to "happen", just another indicator of just how far these freaking morons are removed from reality. We've got new couriers who can't even locate a city, much less a specific address within it.

Yes, Fred. Your new breed WalMart wannabees are going to give you that extra 5% of profit you need so badly, right? Not likely. Since the stock dropped 12% on Thursday, you're going to be pressing even harder. Good luck with that, you cheap bastard.

 

[vantexan]

They've put up several fliers around the station stating that UPS recently beat FedEx in a customer satisfaction survey. The gist of it is we've got to try harder or else UPS will get our business. It's amazing that they don't see that of course a company with well paid workers with a future is outperforming one where everyone is expected to sacrifice so that a relative few can get super wealthy. A mgr told me yesterday how much she appreciates the effort I make every day. Said she told another mgr that I was about the only courier in the station that is always trying to do my best. It was nice of her to say, but what does it state about the well being of a company that a courier stands out for just doing what he's supposed to do? Just another reason I think we'll switch to just being an overnight service only. If workers aren't inspired to make an effort because they know there's no payoff for doing so, the company might as well switch as much freight as possible to workers who make $12hr with no benefits. You get what you pay for.

 

[Cactus]

Isn't it amazing that when a new "hot button" is pushed it always falls on the courier's shoulders?

Fred and MT3 are idiots that can't see the forest for the trees. They want more volume and more business but also want to have crappy customer service as well. Hey Matt, THEY DON'T GO HAND IN HAND!

Next year on Frontline they'll want 17 more and the same the year after that etc. etc.

If FedEx wants to make better profits well I can understand that to a point but there's many ways better to improve the bottom line. Get rid of the corporate jets and all the influential politicians they fly around. Do away with these overly generous salaries for the Memphis upper class and the overly generous perks that go along with them. Quit giving money to lobbyists. And so forth.

There's simply no pleasing these bastards who would pass out within 2 hours on the road if they had to do our job for one day.

And as far as sales leads go, what a joke, that's what the sales guys are for. You certainly don't see them putting on a uniform and going out there to get this crap delivered.

 

[Cactus]

Service sucks. When you collapse routes, "productivity" jumps, but customers get crappy service. Think they notice when their 1030 pkg shows up at noon. Yes, they do. UPS got there at 0930. We're so short of couriers that we send handlers on the road that have about 30 minutes of informal training. No more borrowing from neighboring stations because they have the same problem.

Sending out handlers on the road is like playing Russian Roulette.

They're working outside their classification which is against company policy (or so I thought) and if they got into a serious accident that involved people and/or property, well Fred's gonna be much poorer than he planned on. (Ambulance chasing lawyers this is your calling.)

Nothing against handlers but 30 minutes of pseudo training is hitting a new low.

And we're gonna take business away from UPS this way? ROTFLMAO!!!

 

[jmeti000]

I dont think its against company policy to work outside your classification, so long as you've had training and are certified for it. I work in heavyweight on occasion, which is outside my classification, but I've done all the training for and am certified so its fine. I do agree that a 30 min crash course isnt enough to be considered training though, especially for driving considering all the DOT rules and regulations that need to be adheared to.

 

[Ricochet1a]

I ran a shuttle to the ramp last week, and ran into a friend who is a sort manager there. They've lost so many people that they don't even issue them uniforms any longer. Missorts are through the roof because 75% of the workers are so new they don't know the job, much less understand the intricacies of the operation.

Did some calling around and it appears that stations now are regularly - defacto permanent - sending shuttles down to their respective ramps to return missorts and take back any missorts they can - sort of a "missort swap meet". Then the afternoon delivery routes are being given any retreived missorts for same day delivery if possible, to avoid WDLs.

I haven't been able to get any hard numbers on ramp missorts, but it appears that the missort rate has spiked in recent weeks/past couple of months. I know in the past a ramp missort rate of 1 per 2500 pieces was routine, the goal was 1 per 5000 pieces and I personally saw it go as high as 1 in 1250 pieces during times of high handler turnover.

In the past (not sure now) new hire ramp handlers weren't given their uniform allowance till they hit their 90 day point. Since the uniform allowance is another thing that disappered, it wouldn't be shocking for new hire handlers to work in blue jeans and whatever shirt they wanted - as long as they had all the necessary ID badges displayed.

With the very anecdotal numbers I've gotten, it appears that the missort rate has hit at least 1 in 1000 pieces handled, if not even higher. If this is the case, it explains why Express is spending all the time running Couriers down to the ramps to swap out missorts. The customers more often than not still get a late POD, but on the "books", having a RDL is better than a WDL.

More often than not, ramp senior managers would be handing out Warning Letters to their sort operations managers if this missort rate continued for more than a couple of weeks. I know first hand that in times of exteme handler turnover, the missort rate skyrocketed. It also skyrocketed if there was a push for productivity. Handlers can be pushed to an extent, after that, they start tossing pieces in any can they find to end the sort. I know Express pushes its ramp handlers past the breaking point, especially in extremely hot summer conditions. Given that the shuttles coincide with the summer heat, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that the ramps were pushing their handlers the same way DGO has been pushing their Couriers, and the result is a dramatic increase in missort rates along with a possible spike in handler turnover, making the problem even worse - a downward spiral of bad management practices.

 

[Cactus]

I dont think its against company policy to work outside your classification, so long as you've had training and are certified for it. I work in heavyweight on occasion, which is outside my classification, but I've done all the training for and am certified so its fine. I do agree that a 30 min crash course isnt enough to be considered training though, especially for driving considering all the DOT rules and regulations that need to be adheared to.

FedEx's idea of "training" handlers won't hold any water in a court of law.

 

[MrFedEx]

This same sort manager says that they regularly have to rework cans, especially on Saturdays, when SDR's get tossed into the wrong container. 2 Saturdays ago, they found 5 missorted SDR's in just one can. During the week, they just let most of the missorts go, knowing that the new system is in place to retrieve them. From what I hear, few of these pkgs actually get delivered, so it's more an exercise in looking good on paper, because as Ricochet1a says, "a RDL is better than a WDL".

This is the kind of extra expense (reworks, missort couriers) that is incurred when you've gone WalMart with the way that you pay and treat employees. As the Express operation continues to erode and head even further down the toilet, we're likely to see more of these kind of Three Stooges "solutions". If Express is looking to improve it's bottom line, maybe they need to look toward the top and get some new talent instead of trying to extract more blood from the stone (us). When the shift to Ground happens, it will be a full-blown disaster.

FedEx Express is quickly degrading into a Third World operation, and you can place most of the blame right at the top.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

I used to do the missort run for my station, until one of the geniuses decided it would be better to let the RTD's do the transporting and the already busy CSA's do the rest and pass it on to the PM couriers. I miss this run, because I took out all the extended stops so everyday was a 4-6 stop, 12.5 hour day..lol SPH BE DAMNED!!!

 

[bbsam]

What a depressive lot.

 

[vantexan]

What a depressive lot.

I bet over at your place you set out bowls of porridge for your wee laddies and send them off with a rousing chorus of "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off to Work We Go"...

 

[bbsam]

No, but for a bunch of people who have it worse than Express, sure don't hear all the bitchin'

 

[DorkHead]

That`s because it`s behind your back!

 

[bbsam]

Nah. It's cause no one else around here is hiring at near the pay. In fact, working for me looks better and better every day....

 

[vantexan]

Nah. It's cause no one else around here is hiring at near the pay. In fact, working for me looks better and better every day....

And with the economy tanking again(was it not tanking?), business will be looking for cheap solutions, people will be desperate for jobs, and FedEx will supply you new sources of freight. Great to be you right now. Mind if we bitch about how our slice of the pie is being whittled down to a sliver?

 

[Cactus]

What a depressive lot.

But I see you've managed to read through 14 posts so far.

So.......what's your excuse?

 

[bbsam]

Schadenfreuden. (sp?)

 

[tracker2762]

Schadenfreuden. (sp?)

That's very sad, let hope nothing ever happens to you, in any part of your life.

 

[bbsam]

Oh, no. It has and does happen in my life and I laugh at that too. I've taken the shots around here, had ground drivers called" tatted up monkeys" and heard Ground disparaged time and time again. Each time I've stated that we weren't going away and that we represent the wave of the future in this company. Now it seems we finally have an onslaught of believers and i'm certainly not above that satisfaction. Now, I'd like to see them buy in to the system and we could make it better for all. Sadly, they wont and will continue to facilitate their own demise.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Oh, no. It has and does happen in my life and I laugh at that too. I've taken the shots around here, had ground drivers called" tatted up monkeys" and heard Ground disparaged time and time again. Each time I've stated that we weren't going away and that we represent the wave of the future in this company. Now it seems we finally have an onslaught of believers and i'm certainly not above that satisfaction. Now, I'd like to see them buy in to the system and we could make it better for all. Sadly, they wont and will continue to facilitate their own demise.

I had a little fun with the HD driver in my area today. I was delivering to an apartment complex, when I pulled up to the office to do an indirect delivery, the HD truck was sitting out front running! So after I finished delivery and he was still inside, I hopped in and drove his truck around the other side of the building. The look on the drivers face when he came out was PRICELESS! So I went over and told him where his truck was! Think he'll keep that thing running again tomorrow?