The Undoing of Ground

[MrFedEx]

In a word...ACCIDENTS. Remember, the "test" for independent contractor status is "degree of control". For what Ground pays you aren't generally going to get professional drivers. Given the increasing incidence of Ground accidents as LCD takes hold, FedEx will have to exert even more control over it's non-employee employees. Couple that with the XS and E2 products and you have a recipe to bring the whole scam down. If Igor and Boris can't avoid running into things now, wait until they have some real time pressure. I would also expect the DOT and various local agencies to start watching Ground more closely.

Lawyers, pay attention, because there is a pile of money to be made off the Ground scam. ISP's who don't maintain their trucks, $450 per week drivers cutting corners? Ka-ching!!$$$

 

[bbsam]

In a word...ACCIDENTS. Remember, the "test" for independent contractor status is "degree of control". For what Groundpays you aren't generally going to get professional drivers. Given the increasing incidence of Ground accidents as LCD takes hold, FedEx will have to exert even more control over it's non-employee employees. Couple that with the XS and E2 products and you gave a recipe to bring the whole scam down.

Lawyers, pay attention, because there is a pile of money to be made off the Ground scam.

LOL. I feel like I just woke up and found myself in a movie called "Groundhog Decade".

 

[Goldilocks]

LOL. I feel like I just woke up and found myself in a movie called "Groundhog Decade".

I hear ya...

 

[HomeDelivery]

i'm getting paid decently, only because i know how to negotiate my terms with the contractors.

they pay me better than the average tattooed worker with a goatie and sideburns, who drinks in their off-time & comes in with a buzz, or whatever Express guys see in the un-professional worker...

As a swing, all i need to know is the route number, which van # i'll be driving & i'll handle the rest. I even offer to do interior detailing of the vehicles, light duty maintenance, like oil changes, filters, bulbs, brakes, coolant flushes, for a better rate than the local garage.

 

[bbsam]

i'm getting paid decently, only because i know how to negotiate my terms with the contractors.

they pay me better than the average tattooed worker with a goatie and sideburns, who drinks in their off-time & comes in with a buzz, or whatever Express guys see in the un-professional worker...

As a swing, all i need to know is the route number, which van # i'll be driving & i'll handle the rest. I even offer to do interior detailing of the vehicles, light duty maintenance, like oil changes, filters, bulbs, brakes, coolant flushes, for a better rate than the local garage.

you are paying taxes on that extra work, aren't you? Not running a scam, are you?

 

[MrFedEx]

LOL. I feel like I just woke up and found myself in a movie called "Groundhog Decade".

Wait for it. I respect you because you're decent ISP. If every ISP behaved like you, the scenario I have described probably wouldn't exist. Please remember the Ground driver from the motorcycle crash in CA. His new contractor had decided to become more profitable by screwing his drivers with a $450 flat rate per week. How many quality drivers are going to work for that kind of crap money? Not many. Other contractors cut corners on maintenance to save money and then threaten drivers who write problems up. Think that might catch up with some of them someday when they run someone over? Or, that it catches up with FedEx Corporation because they know full well how the ISP deal really operates?

When E2 hits the Ground system, the flakes and gremlins that make-up a lot of the Ground driver population are going to feel the pressure. And they're going to eff-up because they are eff-ups. That means accidents. Lots of them. And because Ground pays so little and expects so much, the real professionals aren't going to come anywhere near Ground. If you luck out and get someone good, they'll leave as soon as they have enough experience to drive for someone who offers decent pay and benefits.

FedEx has become an LCD company, throughout the opcos. When you aim for the bottom, you'll get there, and Fred is well on his way to a big pile of lawsuits and check writing.

 

[thedownhillEXPRESS]

Haha, "flakes and trolls".
Ground drivers do seem to always resemble characters from "Goonies"!!

 

[HomeDelivery]

you are paying taxes on that extra work, aren't you? Not running a scam, are you?

taxes are taken out; he's a big ISP & has PayChex as his financial organizer

still over the minimum wage by a few $ per hour, but it would be better to have UPS wages. My brother is a package handler for UPS for 6 years and he's still biding his time when a driver position comes up...

I like the freedom of HD over Ground; we don't have to travel in circles to get to certain pickup time deadlines... just bust through the load via stop-order. Very automated & anyone can jump into a route and follow the program. Sure it helps to have area knowledge so you can boost your SPORH, but with ROADS & a successful dispatch trace, it's plausible to be done within 12 hours on the road some days...

I agree, you're one of the rare contractors that hopefully compensate your drivers for making your ISP some $

 

[vantexan]

taxes are taken out; he's a big ISP & has PayChex as his financial organizer

still over the minimum wage by a few $ per hour, but it would be better to have UPS wages. My brother is a package handler for UPS for 6 years and he's still biding his time when a driver position comes up...

I like the freedom of HD over Ground; we don't have to travel in circles to get to certain pickup time deadlines... just bust through the load via stop-order. Very automated & anyone can jump into a route and follow the program. Sure it helps to have area knowledge so you can boost your SPORH, but with ROADS & a successful dispatch trace, it's plausible to be done within 12 hours on the road some days...

I agree, you're one of the rare contractors that hopefully compensate your drivers for making your ISP some $

Wow, done in 12 hrs some days! How do you do it?

 

[DS]

Haha, "flakes and trolls".
Ground drivers do seem to always resemble characters from "Goonies"!!

You are stereotyping here. The truth is,everyone needs a job and these guys are just trying to
pay a mortgage just like you.I know 2 fedex ground drivers that used to be ups drivers.
When I ask "how's it going?" They always say...better than you.
Sure,you have to maintain your own truck,but you get to start early,and you decide the best way to get it done.
I asked one of them why he left ups,he said one day he snapped when he was "already over dispatched" was told to meet someone and take 20 stops off him.He said no,screw you,I'm finishing the day but as of right now I Quit.
He seems happier now.

 

[bbsam]

MFE. Have you ever considered that the existing crop of ISP's are a "first batch" and that down the road the churn of Fedex will separate out the "bad from the good"? Fedex won't abandon the contractor concept, but neither will they except underperformance. The happenings at Express should make that abundantly clear.

 

[LTFedExer]

For what Ground pays you aren't generally going to get professional drivers.

I thought the drivers get paid by the contractors? And don't the contractors have their own insurance to cover accidents?

 

[TUT]

In a word...ACCIDENTS. Remember, the "test" for independent contractor status is "degree of control". For what Ground pays you aren't generally going to get professional drivers. Given the increasing incidence of Ground accidents as LCD takes hold, FedEx will have to exert even more control over it's non-employee employees. Couple that with the XS and E2 products and you have a recipe to bring the whole scam down. If Igor and Boris can't avoid running into things now, wait until they have some real time pressure. I would also expect the DOT and various local agencies to start watching Ground more closely.

Lawyers, pay attention, because there is a pile of money to be made off the Ground scam. ISP's who don't maintain their trucks, $450 per week drivers cutting corners? Ka-ching!!$$$

You got it all figured out from your extreme limited view. Face it your a genius that doesn't know how to take advantage of such genius, hence you still work for Fedex. You go girl. Fedex <> Earth.

 

[HomeDelivery]

Wow, done in 12 hrs some days! How do you do it?

well, it's really 9 hours ( the other 3 is the sort/load & drive to 1st stop & dead-head it back to base or back to home)

we're having high volume for a while now; guess customers are taking advantage of the "free shipping" options that companies are doing online, including me... beats wasting my own gas money to go to a brick-n-mortar place to purchase an item when shipping is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[59 Dano]

You got it all figured out from your extreme limited view. Face it your a genius that doesn't know how to take advantage of such genius, hence you still work for Fedex. You go girl. Fedex <> Earth.

Yup. With his vast legal knowledge and business acumen, you wonder why he's wasting his time working as a courier and complaining about it.

 

[MrFedEx]

Yup. With his vast legal knowledge and business acumen, you wonder why he's wasting his time working as a courier and complaining about it.

I would rather be a prostitute than a shill. Wait a second...they're pretty much the same.

 

[vantexan]

Yup. With his vast legal knowledge and business acumen, you wonder why he's wasting his time working as a courier and complaining about it.

Yes, let's take advantage of couriers because they're all idiots who are lucky to have a job. If they had anything going on upstairs they wouldn't be couriers, right?

 

[TUT]

I would rather be a prostitute than a shill. Wait a second...they're pretty much the same.

But it seems you could be neither and be much better off.

 

[TUT]

Yes, let's take advantage of couriers because they're all idiots who are lucky to have a job. If they had anything going on upstairs they wouldn't be couriers, right?

Well someone as a group didn't stand up for what they felt right years ago and when times get tough there is no protections when you re-org. What do you expect? Anyone would do that with the structure that is setup. My old time buds are the sharpest in the shed, but they are union bridge, steel, construction workers. I applaud that hard working men and woman should also be compensated, but it takes balls and hard work to form and well it didn't happen here.

 

[MrFedEx]

But it seems you could be neither and be much better off.

The fact remains that you don't work for FedEx, never have, and never will. Therefore, your opinions about the company and it's leadership don't have much validity. You are an outsider looking-in, and always will be.