"Retiring" from FedEx

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
I'm somewhere in my 40's, and when I quit FedEx, I'll be able to survive at a decent level of comfort. I always contributed the maximum to my 401k and will get a small retirement check from Fred someday. What Fred pays me won't be even close to enough, so I've invested on the side and have been lucky enough to do well.

But what about you 20-30 year olds out there who had only a few years in under the Traditional Plan, or maybe none at all. What are you going to do so you can retire? Fred is offering you essentially nothing for your Golden Years, and unless you plan on inheriting a pile of money, you are going to be left out in the cold someday.

When you are 20 or even 30, you never think you'll get hurt, or sick, and that you'll just be a courier forever and that "things will change". If anything, things continue to change for the worse, because Fred continues to extract more from your check every year. On the FedEx "90 Day Plan", your career is over if you ever have a major illness or injury in most cases, and OT is scarce in many locations. Overtime used to be the way that many of us made an underpaid job a decent-paying job, and for the most part, that's gone. What you've got left is a subsistence paycheck that probably allows you to drive a 10 year-old car, live in a starter house or condo, or maybe a decent apartment. Trouble is, there isn't much left after you pay the mortgage and bills, and that's what Fred wants for you.

If you can leave...LEAVE NOW!! This has become a job with zero future, low job satisfaction, and a high probability of injury and/or disability. Even if it's for less money now, consider other companies that actually have room for upward mobility or have positions that don't require 25 years to reach maximum wage.

We have all become completely disposable at any time to this company, and if they can get rid of you after 5 years, it's cheaper than trying to eliminate you after 20 years. FedEx used to be an exceptional company that desired equally exceptional workers who would provide outstanding service. That's no longer the case, and if you're a quality employee you need to shop your talents around to a company that will appreciate them. Going above and beyond no longer counts for much at FedEx, and they are a company that has lost both it's ethical and directional compass.
 

DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS

Well-Known Member
True words sir. Wonder how long until certain "entities" chime in with how great it is that FedEx is trying to get rid of everyone with more than 5 years in?
 

snackdad

Well-Known Member
I feel the true measure of your earnings is how much you are able to save every year. I always say if you are not worried about money then you are not saving enough.
In my first year of hire in 1990 I quickly realized that FedEx was NOT a company to be trusted. I saw how they used discipline to keep employees in line and in a state of fear to keep from speaking up too much.
The corporate tactics that FedEx uses daily are pathological. I thought it was normal to work 11 hours a day without a break or a drink of water. Everyone operated that way. The more you did the more the company wanted. They were never satisfied. It was always just one more, just a little faster.
Because of this mistrust I took my vacations every year at the very end of the fiscal year in case the machine turned against me and I was terminated like so many before me. I would have that cashed in vacation pay as a back up. I also saved a lot and always maxed out my contribution to 401k. I sold back a week or two of vacation every year.
In the past we used to get a lot of overtime, it was lucrative but those days are over forever. I used to work six days a week for 10 to 12 weeks in a row. Looking back I do not know how I did it but I am glad I did and I am glad I saved it and lived within my means.
Did any of this matter on the day of my termination when a final check was slid across a table to me after more than 20 years in the heat, rain, working through breaks, being the best I could be for my customers, hell no. You are as good as your last delivery. You are a number, a unit and your spirit, personality and value mean nothing to FedEx. And now FedEx calls us team members, what team acts like this.
The problem is that employees get stuck in the position because they do not even have the time to think outside the box and take a look around. We operate in a theater of constant threat, fear of retaliation, unnecessary change, intimidation and complete ineptitude of management. It is a dysfunctional company that promotes those that lack moral compass and conscience.
I agree with Mr. FedEx, get out now. Use your current job to keep income coming in while you look around for better work for a better employer. There are major changes coming to Express in the next year. I would be surprised if full timers ever get over 40 hours in the future. And you senior people watch your back. You are the targeted, your contributions to the company mean nothing. Management only sees today and tomorrow, never yesterday.
I could tell you amazing stories about the manager that fired me but I do not want to jeopardize my current lawsuit against FedEx. And I am the one escorted to the door while she is still doing the dirty work of her senior manager, protected by that senior, and still turning a blind eye to the mass falsification in our station that I was complaining about.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
At FedEx, it's always on their terms. If you don't want to work 14 hours a day during peak, you have a "bad attitude", but if you won't leave the premises after only 4 hours the week after Christmas, your attitude is even worse. No matter how hard you work, how many flawed managers you "cover", and how much you sacrifice, you're nothing but a unit of production to the corporation. If and when you "break", you are just another part of the machine that needs to be replaced, hopefully (for FedEx) by a cheaper alternative.

Watch the mayhem when all of the OT goes away, and the suckups don't get their payoff. Some of them get satisfaction from paper BZ's or "attaboys", but the real goal of many of them is extra hours. If Ground takes away a big portion of Express volume, they can sniff management's butts all day long but there will be no longer be any "treat".

As snackdad said, your viewpoint isn't realistic when you're inside the maelstrom. It's only when you step away that you see just how ridiculous their demands are, how much favoritism there is, and what a fool you've been for busting your ass for a company that will eliminate you as soon as you are no longer useful to them.

As others have stated, FedEx Express now only gives service that is just "good enough". It is seldom outstanding, sometimes awful, but is generally passable. That is such a difference from the original "mission", which was to "make every experience outstanding". Most of us willingly went above and beyond every day, occasionally doing something that really sent a message to the customer that FedEx was something unique. Now, even if you save the day for a customer, it's rarely noticed, and even more rarely recognized and rewarded. Even if it is acknowledged, there isn't likely to be a monetary gain.

Again, why put forth the effort, and why stay? Talk with some 20+ year veterans and ask them if they'd choose FedEx again as a career. My bet is that about 90% would say "leave now". FedEx sucks, every day.
 

Ghostwriter

Well-Known Member
WOW! Snackdad- your story sounds remarkably similar to my former illusion of a career at Fedx. Once I realized I had a bright neon target on my back, I used my vacations to go to interviews. I had a manager setting her sights on me (of coarse- only after I taught her how to run the PM reload). Anyway, for those still there: REMEMBER TWO WORDS!!! Personality Conflict! Its an ace card, that may be used with a senior mgr to temporarily keep a manager at bay. After your senior has been informed of the personality conflict, any immediate retaliation by your manager proves you have case and/ grievance. However, this legitimate tactic only works for so long. I used it during my exit strategy. Make no mistake, it is losing proposition to stay. For those still there- resist and rise above- then tactically retreat. You are not going to win- going head to head with them.

ghost.
 
I left FedEx in 2008 to go to work for the railroad. To me it wasn't the games management played. The culture of FedEx changed dramatically over the 10 years and for the worst.

Bennies were being stripped down to having no value whatsoever. The "Pension raid", loss of BPP, jumpseat, BZ's that had actual value to them, I could go on, but most of us know what I am talking about. Service was tanking, going through people like yesturday's underwear.

I recall the mgr's at one point buying the pm sort food almost on a twice a week basis, a "thank you" that actually meant something. Gee, this was clear back in the late 90's. Overtime grew on trees and was there for the taking! Managers that actually worked their way up the ranks, knew the operation and were realistic, not these College kids and "theories" and on how to run FredEx. the unrealistic SPH's, engineers that tell us the route "works", yeah, looks good on the computer, how about actually taking a ride with the Couriers once in a while to get a taste of reality.

It's too bad it turned out the way it is now. I once myself thought I would stick around for the long haul myself.

I am very happy were I am at now. The pay is far better. My medical benefits are unbeatable, doesn't cost me an arm and a leg, most everything is covered 90% or better, no deductibles, the retirement is unbeatable! And I have UNION protection.

The only part of FedEx I miss is the fellow Couriers I worked with for my 10 years. Some fantastic people, which a few are unfortunately stuck there until they reach retirement, whom I still keep in touch with. I hear from them the same things I see on this forum.

BTW, I did get a FedEx retirement statement. If I am lucky, I will get about 500.00 a month when I reach retirement, yep, I taken the traditional plan. Sad for working my ass off those 10 years just to see 500 buh. Good thing I jumped ship when I did. No big loss, just a supplement to my Railroad Retirement.

I once had a fellow Courier say "We are like mice on a sinking ship, Rats!"
 
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