Welcome to the forum. That being said you are definatly free to feel how you want to about anybody and yes there are some ground drivers that do a bad job and have complaints a mile long. However you dont know me and I dont know you my service is anything but shoddy. I was actually almost hired by Express then they decided on the hiring freeze I am not at ground because I want to be more like its some sort of pay to feed my family. I understand how you feel completely but you cant always judge a book by its cover.
Yes, I do have a clue to what is happening. And yes, we do need to worry about our jobs. Bottom line is that the company wants a sharp reduction in complaints and accidents and a much more professional and safe driver at the wheel. Far more stringent rules to remain an eligible driver. Pain in the ass for contractors but, as has been alluded to here over and over, Ground has a ways to go to bring up it's image. So if you are serious about being a contractor, now is the perfet time to look to buy from a multi-route owner looking to downsize.
So what your saying is FedEX is shooting themselves in the foot yet again. I would believe this move would worry any contractor first of all if they are trying to sweep the crap out the door, For a more professional minded person they are in for a suprise. Most professional minded drivers want a competitive wage, OT, vacation and benefits which is not provided under the model they are running now. The only way this would work is if the pay structure was set up like Express/UPS. They have professional minded employees because lets face it they are employees of that business. FedEx cant believe they will get those kind of people wanting to work for ground because as the old saying goes you get what you pay for.
Thats a good point MR FEDEX I do not see it happening. It sure seems funny that Contractors are their own business owners but their day to day operations are ran how FEDEX wants and if not your contract is in jepordy.
This information only came down on Tuesday so it can't be the reason of the vehicles for sale. And I agree that it's time Ground cleaned up it's act. In the past I have admitted to the problems that Ground has and stated that I didn't think they were unmanageable. Now we will find out.
Paralyzed by fear? Sad to hear it. The issues that I see are not difficult to fix. They may require that one or more drivers be let go. In fact if I could find just a little more darkness in my soul, I'd fire one on the morning I have my driver's meeting just to make sure I have their attention. I don't know about other contractors, but I feel like I have a core of 4 drivers, 2 I could hire back off the street, and the other two route could be covered by the seven of us while training 2 more. Sounds crazy, but I've actually had a similar occurrence happen in the past. As far as losing a contract, possible but not likely. The contract puts 2 items in play. 1) Inelligibility of 2 drivers within a year (by accidents or complaints). and 2) Lack of driver training program by contractor. Both of these would have to occur. I will have #2 in place by the end of the month.
It is a waste and yes we do it. Why do we do it? Because before we were leaving virtually none. Therefore, we now leave them at every residential delivery. Strange thing is, both claims and complaints having to do with not finding a delivery or finding it days later dropped dramatically. I think it has someting to do with drawing the homeowners attention to look at the front door in instances when they drive into the garage. Silly, but effective.
Well if old Uncle Fred is going to treat us like employees he better start paying us like employees. Ive said it before you cant really expect the average joe to go out and bust his butt for a non competitive salary with no OT. There are a few that work hard but are just buying time til something better comes along. For a company to say you run your own business to save hundreds of millions a year but expect you to run your company their way how much control do you have. Now there is a rumor floating around the Ground and Home Delivery are going to merge this year as well. Is that more work same pay or more work more pay. If FEDEX wants more quality people at Ground they need to change their pay structure because quality professional drivers will not work to long if at all under the current pay structure. I can honestly tell you that once this new addendum goes into affect to keep down complaints and get the guys off the road that should not be driving in the first place half of our terminal will be gone.
Well I came from Ups where at the time I was making 28 and change a hour. I hear at Express you guys top out at 22 I believe although it takes like 20 years to get there. When you average out the hours worked for the salary we get on a weekly basis its like 12 a hour whether you work 40 hours or 70 hours that week. No overtime, no benefits, no vacation, no paid holidays you dont work you dont get paid.. The funny thing is if you miss a day but still work 40 hours you get paid for 32 hours instead of the 40. Basically you get a certain amount a day times 5 thats your weekly total. I know you guys are not rich by any stretch of the imagination however you get hourly and OT which is not the case working for a contractor. But you have to do what you have to do to feed your family
