Start time for GROUND

[FedExer267]

I decided last week I was going to go in later than normal because it has been light in the building for a couple weeks. I started off going in at 800 am and to no suprise it was light so by Thursday I was showing up at 945 am.

Thursday morning I show up and FedEx management is waiting at my truck they start chewing me out for showing up later than normal. Keep in mind I have had no misses at all during the week and I am still back at my normal time I just dont feel like sitting out there and waiting a couple hours to go do pickups.

They chew me out and tell me I need to be there everyday by 7am. Is this so they can send their loader home and have me finish loading the truck for free? I asked what the problem was I am still finishing my route with no misses and getting back at regular time and they start spouting off about it being unexceptable that THEIR drivers feel they can show up whenever they want.

Needless to say I went out did my route was back at regular time and went home for the day. The next day I came in at 10am and went about my business.

FedEx wants me to now follow their rules of when I can show up to do my job. Is this not overstepping the boundaries between IC's and their employees. Why should any of us go in early to hit the road early just to sit around for awhile and wait for pickups. I am curious to see how this all shakes out however if I am getting my job done and back at regular time why does it matter when I come to work? If I am not their employee why do I need to go by their time frame, why does it matter if I get my job done? These are the questions I asked to which they had no answer.

My Contractor basically says he doesn't care when I show up as long as I can get the route done. I wonder if they are upset because they get no more free loading from me and I get in and get out in 8 hours instead of the 10 to 11 they used to get.

 

[MrFedEx]

I decided last week I was going to go in later than normal because it has been light in the building for a couple weeks. I started off going in at 800 am and to no suprise it was light so by Thursday I was showing up at 945 am.

Thursday morning I show up and FedEx management is waiting at my truck they start chewing me out for showing up later than normal. Keep in mind I have had no misses at all during the week and I am still back at my normal time I just dont feel like sitting out there and waiting a couple hours to go do pickups.

They chew me out and tell me I need to be there everyday by 7am. Is this so they can send their loader home and have me finish loading the truck for free? I asked what the problem was I am still finishing my route with no misses and getting back at regular time and they start spouting off about it being unexceptable that THEIR drivers feel they can show up whenever they want.

Needless to say I went out did my route was back at regular time and went home for the day. The next day I came in at 10am and went about my business.

FedEx wants me to now follow their rules of when I can show up to do my job. Is this not overstepping the boundaries between IC's and their employees. Why should any of us go in early to hit the road early just to sit around for awhile and wait for pickups. I am curious to see how this all shakes out however if I am getting my job done and back at regular time why does it matter when I come to work? If I am not their employee why do I need to go by their time frame, why does it matter if I get my job done? These are the questions I asked to which they had no answer.

My Contractor basically says he doesn't care when I show up as long as I can get the route done. I wonder if they are upset because they get no more free loading from me and I get in and get out in 8 hours instead of the 10 to 11 they used to get.

Interesting that FedEx (the corporation) makes the rules, not the contractor. You sound exactly like an employee to me. Also, if there was any "chewing-out" to be done, shouldn't it have been done by the contractor? What an absolute scam. FedEx pretends not to have any "employees' but deals with workers exactly as if they were real employees. By having you come-in early, you essentially provide free labor, and your hypothesis sounds 100% correct.

A truly "independent" contractor sets their own hours. Using the example of a contractor on a house under construction, nobody cares what time they are on the job, as long as it gets done by the agreed-upon time. You said you were still finishng on-time, even though you were starting later. Doesn't that meet the contractor standards as per the FedEx logic that you are non-emplyees who work for an "independent" contractor?

By starting you earlier, FedEx gets both your "free" labor, and earlier delivery times to customers. FedEx rules, FedEx start times. FedEx managerial discipline= FedEx EMPLOYEE!!!

GROUND IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER SCAM. I have no idea why UPS doesn't begin legal proceedings against FedEx, nor why the Class-Action type lawyers aren't all over this like flies on you-know-what.

 

[LTFedExer]

Needless to say I went out did my route was back at regular time and went home for the day. The next day I came in at 10am and went about my business.

Good for you. I'd would have done the same. Did they say anything the following day?

 

[FedExer267]

They just gave me that look and apparently then decided to chew out my Contractor. I really don't get it the job is getting done and I am back at regular time. We all know if FedEx had to pay me by the hour there is no way they would want me sitting for a couple hours. I could see them being concerned if I was missing business but that is not the case.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

That's really odd...on the Express side, they are always moving start times back and expecting the same results....

 

[bbsam]

They just gave me that look and apparently then decided to chew out my Contractor. I really don't get it the job is getting done and I am back at regular time. We all know if FedEx had to pay me by the hour there is no way they would want me sitting for a couple hours. I could see them being concerned if I was missing business but that is not the case.

There you go. Next time they say ANYTHING to you, stop them in their tracks and refer them to the contractor. It's possible that he may enjoy telling them to "go blow" as well. I do.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Just curious--suppose 267 decides to set his own start time tomorrow morning, say 10 am, but the preload wraps early, say 8 am and his PC is just sitting there. Are you going to tell me that FedEx would have no recourse in a situation like that?

 

[bbsam]

Just curious--suppose 267 decides to set his own start time tomorrow morning, say 10 am, but the preload wraps early, say 8 am and his PC is just sitting there. Are you going to tell me that FedEx would have no recourse in a situation like that?

Exactly. I had a driver for 5 years who did exactly that. My response to management was, "As long as he gets it done, I don't care what time he comes in."

 

[bbsam]

On the flip-side, if it starts not getting done, I have no problem imposing an early start time and enforcing it upto and including termination.

 

[LTFedExer]

That's really odd...on the Express side, they are always moving start times back and expecting the same results....

Not true. If the start time is pushed back (later start), P1 service is usually canceled, like it was Friday. We straight lined the whole day. If freight is late enough to warrant a 2nd sort, we have to make service on what we get early and straight line the rest of the day. Very rarely is there a later start AND we have to make P1.

 

[Cactus]

On the flip-side, if it starts not getting done, I have no problem imposing an early start time and enforcing it upto and including termination.

Aye aye Captian Bly!

 

[bbsam]

Captain? Nay. As Mel Brooks would say, "It's good to be the King!"

 

[Cactus]

That's really odd...on the Express side, they are always moving start times back and expecting the same results....

Good point.

No time for anything that remotely resembles quality service.

 

[MrFedEx]

Good point.

No time for anything that remotely resembles quality service.

Nope, it's all about the $$$$. If customers really knew how little regard Express has for "service", they'd use someone else. There's a huge difference between the commitment to service from the former Federal Express and the present FedEx. The first always did right by the customer. The second could care less.

 

[MrFedEx]

Not true. If the start time is pushed back (later start), P1 service is usually canceled, like it was Friday. We straight lined the whole day. If freight is late enough to warrant a 2nd sort, we have to make service on what we get early and straight line the rest of the day. Very rarely is there a later start AND we have to make P1.

I believe that Friday was a National Disruption Day.

 

[MrFedEx]

Captain? Nay. As Mel Brooks would say, "It's good to be the King!"

OK, "King". What do you have to say about FedEx management running the IC's business instead of the other way around? It is so painfully obvious that FedEx is using the ISP model as a smokescreen to operate Ground as they see fit while claiming that "contractors" run the show. Give me a break...

 

[bbsam]

OK, "King". What do you have to say about FedEx management running the IC's business instead of the other way around? It is so painfully obvious that FedEx is using the ISP model as a smokescreen to operate Ground as they see fit while claiming that "contractors" run the show. Give me a break...

Now where on God's green earth did it ever say in anything put out by Fedex or by anyone (other than your own hate-warped view of Fedex) claim that "contractors run the show"? Time for you to give me a break. You are putting up a straw-man arguement and it is very, very weak. When a trucker leases on to a company, does the "trucker" run the show? No. When a contractor works at a construction jobsite, does the contractor "run the show"? No. When the federal government hires groups like Blackwater, does that mean Blackwater "runs" American foreign policy? Of course not. In each case there are goals set by the principal and the agent is expected to meet those goals. How the goals are met becomes the perview of the contractor. In the past, Fedex has been shown to cross the line in that area. It sounds as though they still do at 267's terminal but as he himself has found out, until one pushes back, Fedex will do what they've always done. I never cared about drivers starting late because I could always design a route around a late starter by putting late pickups on that route.

 

[MrFedEx]

Now where on God's green earth did it ever say in anything put out by Fedex or by anyone (other than your own hate-warped view of Fedex) claim that "contractors run the show"? Time for you to give me a break. You are putting up a straw-man arguement and it is very, very weak. When a trucker leases on to a company, does the "trucker" run the show? No. When a contractor works at a construction jobsite, does the contractor "run the show"? No. When the federal government hires groups like Blackwater, does that mean Blackwater "runs" American foreign policy? Of course not. In each case there are goals set by the principal and the agent is expected to meet those goals. How the goals are met becomes the perview of the contractor. In the past, Fedex has been shown to cross the line in that area. It sounds as though they still do at 267's terminal but as he himself has found out, until one pushes back, Fedex will do what they've always done. I never cared about drivers starting late because I could always design a route around a late starter by putting late pickups on that route.

Weak arguments. A contractor doesn't "run the show" at the jobsite, but does he have to wear a uniform, be there at a specific time, and be disciplined by someone he supposedly doesn't work for? No. At a jobsite, he/she probably has to wear a hardhat, and just show-up and do whatever it is they are supposed to do. If there's aproblem, the job foreman probably contacts the worker's boss, and it goes from there. Maybe they go on the job at 0700, or perhaps they come-in at 1400. All that matters is that the job is done in a timely manner that fits with the parameters of the project.

Again, it's all a matter of degree. Does FedEx have oversight responsibilities? Certainly. But the degree to which they exercise oversight exceeds the boundaries of a principal/agent agreement and becomes an employer/employee relationship. You say potato, I say potatoe. I still believe that the ISP model will eventually be shot down in flames.

 

[bbsam]

But that's where you are wrong. As I've said before and 267 has even attested too start time is not determined by the company. I drive a vehicle at times that is a Fedex approved vehicle with no markings on it whatsoever. The degree to which they want contractors to believe they call the shots and the degree to which Pittsburgh's legal department will let them are two very different standards.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Not true. If the start time is pushed back (later start), P1 service is usually canceled, like it was Friday. We straight lined the whole day. If freight is late enough to warrant a 2nd sort, we have to make service on what we get early and straight line the rest of the day. Very rarely is there a later start AND we have to make P1.

I would agrree with that to a point. At my station, we have four belts. When the start time is later or we leave the building really late, three of the belt managers let everyone straight-line, but one manager forces her people to finish P1 first, no matter what time they leave or the weather conditions. She thinks she's going to be a SM someday, but we all know it's only in her dreams!!!