Fergus Mahoney
Well-Known Member
So you here crying. It’s weak, childish behavior. He needs to grow a pair and stop acting like a victim.
Olympics are starting early for contractors.
- Thread starter FedGT
- Start date
Precisely. They simply do not give a flying face fornication about the fact that they had to ask you to invest your own money in that operation. It means absolutely nothing to them. Did UPS drivers have to do that? USPS? FDX Express? FDX Freight?
What this action means is that it results in an even greater (if possible) command and control which was already way too excessive to begin with and not only that it places that contractors investment in even greater peril and uncertainty.....
and you're an INDEPENDENT contractor?
IN EXCHANGE FOR WHAT?
Good God you can go buy stock in a stable regulated utility and still get 6%. Even an insured CD can get you nearly 5.
So just who in their right mind needs this bull feces ( sorry, can't use the S word here)?
Well, it was that guy who was enticed to continue to put more and more and more of his own money into this con.
He knows now that he fell into the trap and trapped is what he is. His only hope is that the economics of the contract improves but knows deep down inside that they won't . Or if a real life Dirty Harry comes along and asks him if feels lucky . If he says that he does feel lucky then Dirty Harry might take the entire mess off his hands for what he owes on it.
purplelife
Well-Known Member
Serious question, why are any contractors still doing it? Seems like it's a lost cause to get in and continuing means you will just lose more.
Do any contractors actually earn well? I have no idea about ground contractor side so asking seriously here to get a grasp.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
I still make money, but I carry very little debt. 70% of my fleet is paid off and I haven’t bought any area in about 10 years.
The contractors that purchased routes or even got free areas that require buying an entire fleet are the ones that are struggling badly.
The key is focusing on profit, not service. New guys tend to want to do a great job, but really you want to shoot for “not the worst in the building.” It costs too much to be what they are now calling gold level. Mediocre is the goal.
Grounds motto
The thing to understand about this is that some years back contractors were required to become Subchapter S corporations. Those are "pass through" corporation which means that profits back when there were some were passed directly to the president/owner.
Now the president under the rules of Subchapter S corporations were required to take as so called "reasonable salary". That salary is then subject to FICA withholding . Federal income tax. Medicare, Social Security unemployment compensation if applicable in the given state etc.
That which isn't taken as salary is called a "distribution". Subject to income tax but not FICA.
Some contractors would take as little as possible as salary put as much of the rest as possible into distributions.
Trouble with the low salary is that it also means lower Social Security monthly benefit. And despite all it's critics one fact
remains. Social Security is the only retirement benefit plan whose deposits are federally insured.
How much they earn is up to the individual contractor and how good his luck is. For these contractors with all these additional routes, they're probably grossing some pretty impressive money. Trouble is now for many they're paying it out as fast as they're bringing it in.
As a side note as to just how absolute the command and control is over so called "independent contractors" After contractors became S-corps FDX started the practice of randomly demanding that contractors surrender their books and financial information over to FDX to subject them to so called "audits" Eventually they got to me. Now here I was, a privately owned sub chapter S corporation whose books and financial information are privileged information protected under US privacy laws. It was none of their dam business and the law said so but demanded them anyway. It was a poorly disguised effort to get a snap shot of how contractors were doing financially and to see to it that they weren't making too much money in their opinion. I turned them over but was out of there not many weeks later. They just went too far.
And to this day come hell or high water or no matter what the rule of law says, they continue to go on their merry old way....doing whatever they damn well please.
They're smelter bait. Lucky he got that many years out of them. Chances are he's selling off his reserve equipment just to try to raise some cash.
Average is the new good.
Should be interesting to see the next six months. FedEx seems to be proceeding as though the last six months of chaos in the contractor ranks never happened. They certainly have done nothing to make contracts more profitable. Even with low volume the new guys are struggling mightily.
Personally, I don’t know that I’ve ever been so bored. But the company for the past year has been betting on a recession so I’m guessing quite a bit of Express volume will be heading for Ground before too long.
Personally, I don’t know that I’ve ever been so bored. But the company for the past year has been betting on a recession so I’m guessing quite a bit of Express volume will be heading for Ground before too long.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Raj announce 10% workforce cuts today, probably precisely in the departments that will oversee the "Medal Transformation Process" (MTP). I foresee a CF of major proportions as Raj tries to cut costs with more improvements in technology, which we all know have been absolutely stellar.
Mutineer
Well-Known Member
It was my observation that free or abandoned areas are free or abandoned for very good reasons.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
Yep! Perhaps a migration to larger contractors. Why cast your fate to a collection of rinky dink contractors who don't have the sense or ability to adapt to the ups and downs of the business and who might panic and throw in the towel?
Or so I hear.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
He's all talk, no results. Right up your alley!
They can’t make up their minds. A few years ago they wanted to stay away from that model because when larger contractors fail, it takes months to clean it up, sometimes years.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Let's see. He's "all talk", but FedEx made a national example of him by revoking his operating authority. Patton Logistics covers 10 states and has 225 routes. I'd think that wouldn't be easy to cover. Dig a bit deeper, and Patton makes most of his money as a broker, of FedEx routes, and he makes even more money leasing vehicles to Ground contractors and consulting people on how to buy...FedEx routes. So, perhaps I've made a "hero" out of someone who doesn't deserve the status. Bad on me, but Patton obviously struck a nerve at Corporate by daring to question "God", so he has some courage, although he has entwined himself so deeply into Ground operations that his "bravery" comes with the knowledge that getting rid of him would be very costly.
That said, it would seem doubtful that Raj would carry through on a permanent revocation. give us some answers instead of opinions, Shillster. Are you going to be in charge of assigning medals?? I'll give you a big pink one with lipstick on it for kissing Fred's ring for so long.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Look into Patton and tell me what you think. He seems "too big to fail". You'll understand. Most will not.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
What type of investor do they think they are going to attract with 2-3% margins?
They aren’t.
Similar threads
