The FedEx Ground Threat

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Then you are stupid. I've met him a bunch. He is a smart friend...er. He was a corporate attorney bro. He also hates Fred S. So does ups while we are at it. We are going to win. Ups always does. Until we are beatin we are the best and everyone else will lose.

God bless

Tell him to actually DO something if he's your big buddy. Big deal if he was a corporate attorney...he's a lousy IBT leader.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
This is pretty much some of what I see happening.

On my area I have already lost a few national customers to FedEx because FedEx has promised $5 shipping to them any where in the lower 48. If I remember correctly DHL tried that crap and remind me where they are now. These same customers have also voiced concerns to me that FedEx is never consistent with their pickup times. Every day is different depending on what the drivers out of work plans are. Whereas the could set their watch by me.

In the end, SERVICE will always win out.

Can you say DENIAL?
 
Can you say DENIAL?
Can you say scab labor?? I can and we are the best of the best. You CAN'T compare. It's your business model. We bleed brown=we bleed service. It's what we sell bro and know matter what you read on this forum we all bleed service. Pride it's what we ALL have. Upser

Gid bless
 

Maple7

Well-Known Member
why get a sales lead? They will still cut a route no matter how much work you have

So you can enjoy your sweet paycheck this week, next week and next year. This is even more true for the guy loading your car right now. Its easy to just brush off the competition but long term it could be a completely different ball game. If you aren't evolving you are dying. Its business. It logistics. I totally understand what your saying but growth is what has got us where we are. I'm very appreciative of our leading pay and benefits and would like to keep it that way.
 

'Lord Brown's bidding'

Well-Known Member
It's funny, all this talk of our service vs Ground inspired me to go take a look at UPS' and FedEX' FB pages. I thought people hated UPS....! There were complaints at UPS, sure, but there were many, many expressions of gratitude. And if someone did complain, someone from UPS reached out to them.

FedEx needs to take down their site as it appears to be all negative publicity/advertising. And the customer rep must have given up long ago, as hardly anyone answered the complaints.

Yet in still,customers (the shippers) are choosing Ground more. I wish UPS would advertise My Choice more (and I need to too, for that matter). I don't have network TV in my house so I don't see commercials, but I wish I heard more radio spots or advertisments on the sides of buses and billboards. Why aren't they advertising this more?
 

sortaisle

Livin the cardboard dream
Meh...worrying about the what ifs is unnecessary stress. The best thing I can do is offer the best service possible to the customers...driving sucks for the 5-15 minutes you're in the building listening to the blah blah of numbers. After that it's businesses, pickups, and resis. Much more reasonable. I just assume I'll be at UPS till 8 every night. But if I get in before that, then it's a bonus. I make sure I service my pickups since they're my direct customers. I try to service my business deliveries to the best of my ability, but not to the detriment of the pickups. The business deliveries are the consignees not the customers. Of course there's the SSI/SATA accounts you have to service and the air deliveries...UPS has found a way to make delivering packages hard. But at the end of the day driving for UPS isn't all that bad. Stressful when you leave...but once the bulk and the air is out, the day never seems to be that bad.
 

Johney

Well-Known Member
I really do not know what you expect us to do.

UPS has a lobbying arm that has lobbied heavily to change the RLA so that FE would no longer be able to be called an airline. That failed, in spite of the fact that BOTH UPS and the union lobbied for the change.

UPS lawyers have been accused of writing briefs for prosecutors in employee misclassification cases (specifically in Ohio and it would not surprise me if there were others.)

UPS and the Teamsters have not won in either of these battles.
Won't FedEx lose this advantage if they get rid of Express and switch all their volume to the Ground dept? I've always thought maybe that's why Fred hasn't done it yet. There has to be a reason he keeps the Express guys around. They get decent pay,benefits. Why not just give everything to the low paid ground guys and make them just like us? Air,ground,homes. I've seen a time or two when the H.D. guy and the ground guy are at the same house at the same time. There has to be a reason for FedEx to do this. It seems to me that if there was just one cheaply paid FedEx guy doing it all like us FedEx would make twice as much $$$ than it does now. So there is some reason why it's not happening.
 

happybob

Feeders
Won't FedEx lose this advantage if they get rid of Express and switch all their volume to the Ground dept? I've always thought maybe that's why Fred hasn't done it yet. There has to be a reason he keeps the Express guys around. They get decent pay,benefits. Why not just give everything to the low paid ground guys and make them just like us? Air,ground,homes. I've seen a time or two when the H.D. guy and the ground guy are at the same house at the same time. There has to be a reason for FedEx to do this. It seems to me that if there was just one cheaply paid FedEx guy doing it all like us FedEx would make twice as much $$$ than it does now. So there is some reason why it's not happening.
Fred knows if they do away with Express and keep just ground he will lose his ability to keep the union out.
 

BMWMC

B.C. boohoo buster.
Because crap wages and benefits are better than no wages and benefits. In this economy that's the reality.


That's a good point. Once the economy picks up FDX ground will have a difficult time find DOT qualified drivers. Right now they churn and burn these driver and the "owners" in the middle barley make ends meet. FDX ground is working on market share not higher margins. Sooner or later a higher labor cost structure will catch up to them.
 

Limper

Out For Delivery
It's funny, all this talk of our service vs Ground inspired me to go take a look at UPS' and FedEX' FB pages. I thought people hated UPS....! There were complaints at UPS, sure, but there were many, many expressions of gratitude. And if someone did complain, someone from UPS reached out to them.

FedEx needs to take down their site as it appears to be all negative publicity/advertising. And the customer rep must have given up long ago, as hardly anyone answered the complaints.

Yet in still,customers (the shippers) are choosing Ground more. I wish UPS would advertise My Choice more (and I need to too, for that matter). I don't have network TV in my house so I don't see commercials, but I wish I heard more radio spots or advertisments on the sides of buses and billboards. Why aren't they advertising this more?

No $. UPS dropped their NASCAR sponsership. FedEx continues to sponsership the number 11 Denny Hamlin car.
Fedex continues to sponser an entire PGA golf playoff. FedEx sponsers FedEx Field. On and on...........
UPS mantra is cut, cut, cut........
 

BMWMC

B.C. boohoo buster.
In the end its really come down to pricing power. UPS has raised its rate without appreciable volume lost. It running a far more efficient system than FDX. Its cost are competitive and its service is unmatched.

I've talk to many a FDX ground drive and to a person are only doing the job until a better one comes along. Nobody see the job as a career and there customers know it too. UPS's number one advantage are its driver who take ownership of there routes. When asked in customers surveys UPS driver are the biggest reason people choose the service. Its the above and beyond attention to customers needs that FDX ground will never have with there current business model.

They compete on price point period. Wal-Mart thought they would rule the world with there "always low prices" model. Target, Macy's, and many other retailers do just fine or better sell up rather than reaching DOWN.

EOM.
 

bbsam

Moderator
Staff member
That's a good point. Once the economy picks up FDX ground will have a difficult time find DOT qualified drivers. Right now they churn and burn these driver and the "owners" in the middle barley make ends meet. FDX ground is working on market share not higher margins. Sooner or later a higher labor cost structure will catch up to them.
I will repeat what I have said before. I have been hiring drivers for 18 years for Ground. I have never had a problem getting qualified drivers in a good economy or a bad economy. What about keeping them? Do I want drivers staying around for 30 years? Not sure on that one. Might want to keep them "young and hungry".
 

barnyard

KTM rider
There is definitely a peak for employee performance. There is not 1 person here that can say that every old-timer they know gives the effort of a 10-15 year employee. In our business, area knowledge is good, but endurance is just at important. Turnover is not a bad thing, too high a turnover is.
 
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