Ground Vs. Home Delivery

HomeDelivery

Well-Known Member
some wants to know the difference, so i'm making a thread about it for faster search results:

yea, yea, HD is a subdivision of Ground... we just need this to distinguish how they both operate differently

I'll start:

Ground operates Mon-Fri delivering mostly to business addresses
Vs
Home Delivery operates Tues-Sat going to mostly residential addresses

(exception of peak season when we both work 6 days a week up to our 70-hour DOT limits ~ LOL)

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yes, we share the same scanner, but Ground has texting / messaging capabilities to their hub by using the "Alt + T" function.

Home Delivery has to use our personal cellphones to contact the drivers on-the-road...

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Ground has more pickups (mostly from businesses) with different time windows

while

HD has once-in-a-blue-moon pickup with a time limit of 8AM to 8PM & deals with more Call Tags (similar to a pickup but you have the printed label /barcode for the box)

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HD has an automated plot sequence for their service areas; so anyone can slip into a route when the regular driver calls out... you just follow the street-by-street order to "straightline" and attempt every stop in your package car (aka VRP ~ Vehicle Route Planning) ~ sometimes the trace doesn't follow common sense, then that's when you have to use your brains (if you have any)

Ground requires some "area knowledge" and their parcels aren't sorted/sequenced like HD's... or you'll be out there all day & will miss your pickups if you don't have some sort of order in the cargo area (aka Vision ~ preloaders load the parcels into the trucks & you decide what order to go in).

I know for a fact that Ground can use HD's capability to plot all your stops for you, but due to the sheer amount of pieces per package car, it will take too long for each route... lazy bastards!

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Ground deals with Haz Mats & the drivers should know how to deal with them accordingly

while HD deals with ORM-D only so it can be lumped into the package car any way they want to

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PS: if express guys are going to be sarcastic on this thread, please use #sarcasm after your notations, thanks!:peaceful:
 

Nick9075

Well-Known Member
As a contractor you can make much more working ground than home delivery. The rate per package and settlement enhancement rate is a joke. Is it better with ground? It must be they have newer vehicles and some ground contractors I know are making $$$.
There are also more possibilities for disputes and lost packages with home delivery which leads to loss of routes . Eventually I will sell I keep hoping I will make money because I am in a lucrative area but their model is set up so the bulk of profits goto fedex ground and home delivery which if you look at their quarterly earnings are making barn burner profits but it is set up in a way that the contractor model ensures those doing the work and owning the routes can't make anything
 

Nick9075

Well-Known Member
HD has premium services :)

Premium for whom? The new settlement enhancement and rates as of September 1 equate to a huge cut but I am sure the executive management In Pittsburgh got huge raises and are able to buy another luxury SUV or take family to Disney
 

Nick9075

Well-Known Member
Is the company paying for your plan? If not, oh hell no!

NOPE! you think those contractors of Ground/Home Delivery would do that?

How can one afford to do that? Would corporate do that for the contractors or just give more money to the paper pushers so they can buy that fifth SUV or for more trinkets for their mcmamsions . You get what you pay for. The structure ensures that the contractors have to pay the lowest rates possible in order to stay in business
 

HomeDelivery

Well-Known Member
k, i know that they can enable sending & receiving texts on those SAME SCANNERS for the HD side, but they chose not to

if they do that, we won't need to use our personal cellphones to contact the hub & vice versa

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we're slightly veering off the main topic of how HD Vs Ground operates,

but in your service area at the city, you are either having drivers bring back too many code 07s? or DR those parcels for any passer-by to steal them off the porch/front door?

i'm telling the trainees not to DR to "high risk" areas & to leave a status door tag... so the next day, the customer either calls back to go to a kinkos for a pickup or sign the tag to relieve any dispute/claims against FredEx.

as an hourly temp, we get paid if we bring back send-agains so it doesn't matter. But, if a contractor pays by-the-stop, that driver may risk it to get paid
 

bluehdmc

Well-Known Member
How does the whole "70 hours" thing work? How are FedEx drivers able to drive more than most truck drivers, as well as UPSers.

UPS could use the 70hrs, they just choose to use the 60hrs. With the new hrs of service where you have to have 2 periods of 1am to 5am off along with your 34hrs, UPS may change to the 70hrs. (I think it was proposed somewhere in contract negotiations.)

With the 60hr set up some feeder drivers could have 34hrs off, yet not be able to work because they didnt' restart. With 70hrs it wouldn't happened as often if at all.
 
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