Here is probably the best article I read so far over all of this, it seems an investor had a private conversation with Fred and Co:
FedEx chairman Frederick W. Smith backs efforts to boost passenger service in Memphis � The Commercial Appeal
For Example:
Sechler: It does to me, but you know, when you say several thousand, that doesn’t sound that significant, but when you say $600 million ...
Graf: The six hundred’s not limited to voluntary severance. There are some other things that we are doing in there. It’s not just total severance. The vast majority of it is severance. Bob, we need to take care of our folks here who have given us a lot of long service. We need to make it attractive to them so that they’ll feel good and the people who are still here will feel good. That’s our culture. That’s the right thing for us to do. So, it has an acceptable buyback, that’s why we selected voluntary. I know we’re going to get a lot of people who will say, ‘Thank you,’ and be happy because they were ready to retire, thinking about it anyway. We’re now getting almost 40 years old and there are a lot of baby boomers on staff who have been here a long time, I think will be happy and thankful to take the voluntary severance.
Unfortunately, Graf's comment are limited to management and staff positions, not hourlies. We're being "taken care of" through attrition (read targeted elimination), and not being offered voluntary severance.
Smith is much more interested in looking like a big shot sponsoring Nascar and golf. So much money wasted on stupid stuff, no wonder why express isn't "profitable enough."Cutting the minimum 20-25+million dollars Freddy dumps in sponsoring Nascar is a good start if he were at all concerned about his workforce.
I disagree with you. You still seem very angry and vindictive towards the Express people.Before there was Ground,Freight,LTL,Critical,Office,there was us. There would be none of you without us,not Fred S but the couriers who sacrificed,sweated to make this company what it is today. It will never be another opco it will always be the face of Fedex,period. There are no planes that say Ground on them nor Freight. Overseas there is no Fedex Ground nor Freight from what I know. Fedex Express is WorldWide and never will be an opco. Sorry to disappoint you bbsam. I still get the impression that you still hate us because we are the employees of Fedex, and Ground is treated like the step children of Fedex who are exploited ,I may be wrong but that's my impression.I don't think Memphis has any love fest going on for Ground. It's just that Express isn't seen as the "Jewel in the Crown" any more. It's just another opco now, the same as Ground or Freight etc.. And to be honest, that's how it should be.
I disagree with you. You still seem very angry and vindictive towards the Express people.
Agreed,so now is not the time for us to be at each other's throats. Now is the time to unite and tackle the corporate greed that is polluting our society. Who is with me ?Who made who?
Face it we're all swimming around middle-class somewhere, no need to be jelly of one another and let the top-end laugh away.
Yes, you are wrong. Express is an opco and Fred S sees it as one and treats it as one. The recent release from Memphis even states as much in that the market has changed over the years and FDX acquired opco's to meet the demands of the customer. The customer demand for Express has depleted significantly and the cost side of the equation has risen faster than the profit. I have never since starting with RPS wanted to be an employee, not even looking back to my days with UPS. If there is any hatred whatsoever, it is Express hating Ground. It is Express that tries to insist that Ground is a scam and that Ground is inferior in every way. It is Express that has been prodded by Memphis to become more profitable and has had to bear the burden. It is Express that is being treated more and more like Ground everyday and resents every bit of it. I've known nothing other for 18 years. Listen to how Goldi posts here. Y'all seem to think you deserve better, and maybe you do. Maybe Fred broke promises to you. I, on the other hand, have never been promised any such thing and have had nearly two decades to feel my way through it. I understand your angst, but from a bigger picture, strictly business standpoint, Express is just another opco adjusting to the market.I disagree with you. You still seem very angry and vindictive towards the Express people.Before there was Ground,Freight,LTL,Critical,Office,there was us. There would be none of you without us,not Fred S but the couriers who sacrificed,sweated to make this company what it is today. It will never be another opco it will always be the face of Fedex,period. There are no planes that say Ground on them nor Freight. Overseas there is no Fedex Ground nor Freight from what I know. Fedex Express is WorldWide and never will be an opco. Sorry to disappoint you bbsam. I still get the impression that you still hate us because we are the employees of Fedex, and Ground is treated like the step children of Fedex who are exploited ,I may be wrong but that's my impression.
Yes, you are wrong. Express is an opco and Fred S sees it as one and treats it as one. The recent release from Memphis even states as much in that the market has changed over the years and FDX acquired opco's to meet the demands of the customer.
Yes, you are wrong. Express is an opco and Fred S sees it as one and treats it as one. The recent release from Memphis even states as much in that the market has changed over the years and FDX acquired opco's to meet the demands of the customer. The customer demand for Express has depleted significantly and the cost side of the equation has risen faster than the profit. I have never since starting with RPS wanted to be an employee, not even looking back to my days with UPS. If there is any hatred whatsoever, it is Express hating Ground. It is Express that tries to insist that Ground is a scam and that Ground is inferior in every way. It is Express that has been prodded by Memphis to become more profitable and has had to bear the burden. It is Express that is being treated more and more like Ground everyday and resents every bit of it. I've known nothing other for 18 years. Listen to how Goldi posts here. Y'all seem to think you deserve better, and maybe you do. Maybe Fred broke promises to you. I, on the other hand, have never been promised any such thing and have had nearly two decades to feel my way through it. I understand your angst, but from a bigger picture, strictly business standpoint, Express is just another opco adjusting to the market.
this is right, but then knowing/living the history you read here you can see how some feel jilted. In one case the worker has to understand things change and not always for the better, for me even with the bad, if i can logically understand how we got to point b, i deal with it. To me it seems fedex is like that, at one point all they knew was express. They had $$$ coming out the yang (even though they profit more today, still struggling with this), they had one team and there was a family'ish type atmosphere. Then they spread out to ground and ltl and everything. The one company was lost and now it's some bottom-line conglomerate. I get why the express worker is upset, i get how it happened and if fedex didn't buy rps it would have been a different kind of equal pain for express workers and i get how fedex is swept up into the w.s. Corporate world, where investors are the one's you make happy. I just wonder if i'll live long enough for the tables to turn back around?
Who shed a tear here for the steel industry in america? The paper-mills? Etc. Being from the outside you see it coming and blow it off as logical progress etc. But there were people just as upset, betrayed and hurt more along the way. It's all related. So when you get the paycheck, if you feel shorted, you are the responsible person in making a decision of "should i look for something else?".
Here we are again oddly oppposed. You can't defend the oil companies and spit at Fedex because it suits you better. I on the other hand am not against the oil companies, just the foolish notion that the government is causing high prices. Nor (as I have said before) am I all that pro Fedex. I do enjoy profitting from my long, hard years as much ass the next and am glad to see Ground growing.But you aren't a courier, you are management. Imagine how I felt after years of having to be clean cut to see a Ground driver for the first time with tattoos all over his arms, long earrings, a goatee, and turquoise rings and bracelets. Talk about culture shock. Think I liked being screamed at by a customer because a Ground guy threw a $3000 case of rifles over her gunshop's 8 ft high fence? And as couriers we think it's deplorable that someone doing our job is doing it for so much less with no benefits. I personally feel bad for them. Not for you, it's a good deal for you. You can't talk about Big Oil's profit motive on one thread and avoid that 800 lb gorilla here just because it benefits you. The fact is that we could have a better economy right now if so many millions weren't being forced to live on subsistence wages so that these large corporations could hoard profits for themselves. Big Oil pays their people well by the way.
Here we are again oddly oppposed. You can't defend the oil companies and spit at Fedex because it suits you better. I on the other hand am not against the oil companies, just the foolish notion that the government is causing high prices. Nor (as I have said before) am I all that pro Fedex. I do enjoy profitting from my long, hard years as much ass the next and am glad to see Ground growing.