Quit!

[Epoisode7]

I walked out today. I was torn between being honorable and giving a two week notice and just walking. I compromised and tried talking some reason into the contractor and manager, and was summarily denied everything I brought up. I then walked. Being faced with the prospect of 80 DNA packages and more every day after they both showed their true colors and decided to reason with me on things like time off, benefits that had been promised for a year, and several other broken promises. Too little, too late. In fact, another driver walked out as well for similar reasons. Different contractor but he often helped us out. My only fear was adding a huge burden to my coworkers. They simply wished me well. True men, unlike the contractor and manager. I don't know much about the inner workings of contracts between FDX and a company, but the routes owned by this guy have a real chance of collapsing. There are dozens of DNAs, late pickups, no pickups, and several very large businesses that use Ground for outbound shipments daily switching to UPS because the pickups have been late or not at all the last few days. I don't know how accurate it is, but there's even been talk of the contractor being forced to sell all the routes.

NOTE TO ALL CONTRACTORS: If you're going to run a route or more, and treat your employees like smile*, with low pay, no benefits, and long hours at least have a backup plan in place! This guy may lose everything, or at the very least have much less revenue due to loss of business contracts for outbounds and other accruing errors, not to mention pissed off employees, all because he was too cheap to provide smile**y benefits and a couple of unpaid days off for us us drivers this summer to take our families to a water park and call it a vacation. He had no spare driver and was unwilling to drive a single hour in a truck to cover.

I hope UPS overtakes all Ground operations and puts these people out of business.

I was able to find lucrative work elsewhere, so I consider myself lucky. All of the drivers out there, be safe! All of the fedex contractors, I hope you are forced to reconcile your poor business practices and provide a living wage and some crappy benefits to the people you ride to the top. Later.

 

[hypo hanna]

Good luck on your new path!

 

[MAKAVELI]

Congrats for having the courage to stand up for yourself and get out of that hell hole! Your situation is a microcosm of what is going on and what is wrong with Fedex. Both Express and Ground. Wish you luck in your future endeavors.

 

[thedownhillEXPRESS]

Good for you and thank you for sharing your FedEx experience.

 

[55+]

Good for you ..and the best of luck in the future. I have a question for the contractors out there..If a driver that you were considering hiring asked you to sign a contract which stated all the of the benefits you promise to them ie paid week off after a year , some unpaid days etc..would you sign it?. and if not ..why? As an express employee the benefits we receive are all listed in the people manual. which even though is not a contract it is at least on paper.

 

[STFXG]

No. Most of us have employee handbooks that state what an employee will make and any type of benefits offered.

 

[northbound]

I give a week vaca in first 6 months. I have this all included in new employee hand book that I'm in the process of building. I know there are bad contractors but if all this stuff was going on daily contractor would be gone along with terminal manager

 

[bbsam]

Episode
You may find this hard to believe, but there are very few contractors who are going to feel sorry for your former boss.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Congrats and good luck!

 

[Cactus]

Good going on walking out on those shmucks. Those lying managers had it coming and long overdue.

 

[Grounded]

I walked out today. I was torn between being honorable and giving a two week notice and just walking. I compromised and tried talking some reason into the contractor and manager, and was summarily denied everything I brought up. I then walked. Being faced with the prospect of 80 DNA packages and more every day after they both showed their true colors and decided to reason with me on things like time off, benefits that had been promised for a year, and several other broken promises. Too little, too late. In fact, another driver walked out as well for similar reasons. Different contractor but he often helped us out. My only fear was adding a huge burden to my coworkers. They simply wished me well. True men, unlike the contractor and manager. I don't know much about the inner workings of contracts between FDX and a company, but the routes owned by this guy have a real chance of collapsing. There are dozens of DNAs, late pickups, no pickups, and several very large businesses that use Ground for outbound shipments daily switching to UPS because the pickups have been late or not at all the last few days. I don't know how accurate it is, but there's even been talk of the contractor being forced to sell all the routes. NOTE TO ALL CONTRACTORS: If you're going to run a route or more, and treat your employees like smile*, with low pay, no benefits, and long hours at least have a backup plan in place! This guy may lose everything, or at the very least have much less revenue due to loss of business contracts for outbounds and other accruing errors, not to mention pissed off employees, all because he was too cheap to provide smile**y benefits and a couple of unpaid days off for us us drivers this summer to take our families to a water park and call it a vacation. He had no spare driver and was unwilling to drive a single hour in a truck to cover. I hope UPS overtakes all Ground operations and puts these people out of business. I was able to find lucrative work elsewhere, so I consider myself lucky. All of the drivers out there, be safe! All of the fedex contractors, I hope you are forced to reconcile your poor business practices and provide a living wage and some crappy benefits to the people you ride to the top. Later.

I'm confused, who did you think you were working for? I'm pretty sure that FedEx didn't say you couldn't have your days off, or benefits. I think that might be your old boss. I don't see why you are saying FedEx should fail because your old boss was a jerk. I was on your side until you said that it was FedEx that was to blame....

 

[dHatch]

I'm confused, who did you think you were working for? I'm pretty sure that FedEx didn't say you couldn't have your days off, or benefits. I think that might be your old boss. I don't see why you are saying FedEx should fail because your old boss was a jerk. I was on your side until you said that it was FedEx that was to blame....

My view is that FedEx did create the circumstances he described previously and allowed them to persist, such as hiding DOT violations by cheating the scanner. Even Apple catches flack for what goes on at Foxconn.

 

[Cactus]

I'm confused, who did you think you were working for? I'm pretty sure that FedEx didn't say you couldn't have your days off, or benefits. I think that might be your old boss. I don't see why you are saying FedEx should fail because your old boss was a jerk. I was on your side until you said that it was FedEx that was to blame....

It's the FedEx corporate mentality that grooms these managers to be jerks for the most part. Think about it.

 

[Grounded]

It's the FedEx corporate mentality that grooms these managers to be jerks for the most part. Think about it.

The managers don't manage drivers, they don't work for us, they work for their boss. We pay the boss, the boss pays them, and chooses to offer benefits or not.

 

[Code 82 Approved]

Epoisode7 :

Did you formerly work for DHL and suddenly wake from a coma? I doubt I have ever heard of such ridiculous things regarding FedEx Ground in my entire career. Well good luck there trooper and I hope I never have to transfer to that terminal. Although with the picture you paint, a few routes are available cheap, and if I bring a few new trucks I'm set.

 

[MrFedEx]

I walked out today. I was torn between being honorable and giving a two week notice and just walking. I compromised and tried talking some reason into the contractor and manager, and was summarily denied everything I brought up. I then walked. Being faced with the prospect of 80 DNA packages and more every day after they both showed their true colors and decided to reason with me on things like time off, benefits that had been promised for a year, and several other broken promises. Too little, too late. In fact, another driver walked out as well for similar reasons. Different contractor but he often helped us out. My only fear was adding a huge burden to my coworkers. They simply wished me well. True men, unlike the contractor and manager. I don't know much about the inner workings of contracts between FDX and a company, but the routes owned by this guy have a real chance of collapsing. There are dozens of DNAs, late pickups, no pickups, and several very large businesses that use Ground for outbound shipments daily switching to UPS because the pickups have been late or not at all the last few days. I don't know how accurate it is, but there's even been talk of the contractor being forced to sell all the routes.

NOTE TO ALL CONTRACTORS: If you're going to run a route or more, and treat your employees like smile*, with low pay, no benefits, and long hours at least have a backup plan in place! This guy may lose everything, or at the very least have much less revenue due to loss of business contracts for outbounds and other accruing errors, not to mention pissed off employees, all because he was too cheap to provide smile**y benefits and a couple of unpaid days off for us us drivers this summer to take our families to a water park and call it a vacation. He had no spare driver and was unwilling to drive a single hour in a truck to cover.

I hope UPS overtakes all Ground operations and puts these people out of business.

I was able to find lucrative work elsewhere, so I consider myself lucky. All of the drivers out there, be safe! All of the fedex contractors, I hope you are forced to reconcile your poor business practices and provide a living wage and some crappy benefits to the people you ride to the top. Later.

Thank you for helping to expose the lie that is Ground, and by extension, the lie that is FedEx...all of the opcos.

 

[MrFedEx]

It's the FedEx corporate mentality that grooms these managers to be jerks for the most part. Think about it.

It is almost required that you be a jerk to be a FedEx manager. That is what they want. If you can be a complete A-hole, browbeat people into compliance, and also make your numbers...you are a superstar. The decent ones, of which there have always been very few anyway, are being forced out. They don't want nice...they want numbers.

Actually, that's how you reach the top. I have met people who worked under MT3 when he was an MD, and the man was a tyrant even then. He made his name by being a dickwad.

 

[Epoisode7]

I'm confused, who did you think you were working for? I'm pretty sure that FedEx didn't say you couldn't have your days off, or benefits. I think that might be your old boss. I don't see why you are saying FedEx should fail because your old boss was a jerk. I was on your side until you said that it was FedEx that was to blame....
​

FedEx did not do anything. I mean, they don't do ANYTHING. The brunt of the problem is placed on the shoulders of the contractor and his lackey (manager). FedEx is also to blame, because FedEx used the Ground model to avoid paying a living wage to drivers, vehicle maintenance, customer disputes, benefits, retirement, etc. I can't say it's a surprise because FedEx is just a greedy corporation just like many others. Instead of bitching day in and day out I just quit. I also accept full responsibility for the treatment I endured, because I was the one voluntarily working there. Fred S, the contractor, nor anyone else ever forced me to do anything. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to expose a few things and share my story on a place where other Ground/Express/UPS gather. Some may find it humorous, others may find it informative. Some may think I'm a bag, or an idiot, some may think I'm smart. It doesn't matter to me, I would just like a place to vent and share my experience. No one else understands what it's like outside of my co workers, so it's nice to get feedback.

I doubt I have ever heard of such ridiculous things regarding FedEx Ground in my entire career.
​

Unfortunately, it is all true. I would not make those things up. It's okay now, because it ain't my problem! If someone like you, or another decent contractor can pick the routes up for cheap and actually run them in a fair fashion, I sincerely wish them luck. In response to your statement I quoted, here is a parallel. I used to be a law enforcement officer before Ground. I worked with some of the finest people on the planet. I could never ever imagine any of my coworkers being dirty, taking bribes, or being corrupt in any way. But there are corrupt police officers in every major city. Just because you don't see the things I described doesn't mean they don't happen. I can assure you, they all happen and will continue to happen. To me, the worst thing isn't the shady business anyway. The worst part of FedEx ground is right in front of you. The exploitation of workers for poor wages, no benefits, and long hours. The shady business is just a byproduct. If you are a fair contractor, none of my statements apply to you and you can brush me off as a bitter, pretentious .

The managers don't manage drivers, they don't work for us, they work for their boss. We pay the boss, the boss pays them, and chooses to offer benefits or not.
​

I apologize, I should clarify. By manager, I mean the manager the contractor hired. He is a driver, but also "manages". The actual terminal manager isn't off the hook though, he did some shady things like delivering packages in his POV, catching guys with 1/32 tire tread and letting them get new tires that day, with packages already loaded, among other things. The driver/manager was not a manager at all. He took advantage of me and the 2 other drivers by taking off early and giving us his stops to go do "managerial duties", which consisted of eating long lunches and shopping at Costco (I followed him a few times). He once threatened to fire me because he gave me 20 packages and told me to 79 them to myself. He wanted me to scan them with his scanner, 79 them to me, and forge his signature. I refused an just delivered them as my work area, which hurt the service. I got in trouble for NOT committing fraud. Anyway, Im done ranting.

No longer my business, no longer my problem!

 

[DontThrowPackages]

This site is just a microcosm of the workforce that is the company. Since Jan 1, we've had 3 quit or retire. I know of two co-workers who say they really want to get out before 2014. One guy looks at me, anytime something goes bad, and says, " I don't need this smile*". I hope he gets what he wants, he's a cool dude(hired in the early 80's). But I really would be interesting to know the numbers as to how many have left the company, on their terms, since 2012.

 

[MaineGroundDriver]

Everything Episode7 is describing is because he worked FOR A BAD CONTRACTOR .. how does any of this "expose Ground" as MrFE would like us all to believe .. at the terminal I work at, there's nothing like this going on .. AT ALL!