The FedEx Ground guy in my area is overweight, has numerous tats, a scraggly beard,piercings, and drives one of the old ex-RPS Internationals that looks like it belongs in Somalia.
Appearances aside, he's a pretty decent guy, but he isn't professional and he doesn't really care about providing superior service. He gets $12.50 per hour and gives the kind of customer experience you'd expect for that kind of money.
bbsam, you've never worked for Express and do not realize that it was once very much a premium service with top-notch employees. The FedEx name actually meant something instead of the cheap knock-off brand that it is today. Think of Nordstroms suddenly selling JCPenney's merchandise with 7-11 type employees.
Eventually, Fred is going to lose on the Ground model. It doesn't mean anything that it's thriving right now because it's not going to hold up in court in the long run. I think the old man knows this, and is going to push for something different that still lets him screw people but also offer a better quality of service over at Ground. I don't know what he's got in mind, but you can be assured that the employees will not be treated with any measure of respect in the process.