Best Peak in Many Years

[By The Book]

Probably would have but, had to raise 3 daughters. Use to love this company but now its all about who can profit who. I so care about the front line employee and that's it....We are the companies cash cow. It truly upsets me to see how Express has shifted its priority. God how did it go so wrong.......................

Dear jaded, (goldilocks), I want you to focus on the good. Obviously there is more to a company making profit than just the front line employee. Times are a changing and we front line employees have to adapt. Do I wish things ran like they used to 25 years ago, sure. I focus on my fellow workers and how well I treat my customers and share stories with them. It takes the sting out of what we are forced to deal with on a day to day basis.

 

[MrFedEx]

Clint Eastwood's voice: "You should have gone into management."

I wish it were more balanced, but there is always a path to move forward.

It's never too late.

Reports are suggesting a 98% delivery success for both carriers and from reading here it didn't seem either carrier in general (there are always exceptions) didn't have to jump through impossible hoops all day to obtain that.

FedEx lucked-out this Peak. Good weather, and lower than predicted volumes helped. UPS planned and executed extremely well, and I think FedEx reacted tothis, but much later, and their "solution" was very expensive in the form of cartage agents in many locations. If Fred was paying them $20 per hour and the contractor another $15 to $20 per hour, how much profit was FedEx making?

We always hear them saying "we cannot afford UPS wages". Well, Fred was paying the equivalent of UPS wages this year. We'll see how Express profits respond.

Was I wrong about Express Armageddon this year? Obviously. But with typical weather and predicted volumes, it probably would have happened. In our district I have heard that it was 30% less than predicted, which is pretty significant.

Maybe they're all high-fiving each other right now in Memphis, but they shouldn't be. This company is a mis-managed cluster at all levels, and they got lucky this year.

No skill...just luck.

 

[TUT]

FedEx lucked-out this Peak. Good weather, and lower than predicted volumes helped. UPS planned and executed extremely well, and I think FedEx reacted tothis, but much later, and their "solution" was very expensive in the form of cartage agents in many locations. If Fred was paying them $20 per hour and the contractor another $15 to $20 per hour, how much profit was FedEx making?

We'll get to see when the next quarterly comes out with volumes and profit. I think USPS is playing a bigger role as well, which help out both UPS and Fedex in terms of perceived performance, with lesser overall volume, which doesn't mean less than expected, just less than what was possible.

 

[MrFedEx]

We'll get to see when the next quarterly comes out with volumes and profit. I think USPS is playing a bigger role as well, which help out both UPS and Fedex in terms of perceived performance, with lesser overall volume, which doesn't mean less than expected, just less than what was possible.

FedEx moves USPS Priority and Express mail airport-to-airport, so we are involved directly in their operation. I don't know how much Amazon diverted to it's cheaper alternatives like OnTrac. And those of you who thought drones might be a factor? The FAA recently ruled that drones had to be operated in line of sight, which precludes any chance of them taking away business from traditional delivery methods.

Sorry, Jeff. I've always maintained that Bezos uses "drones" as a bargaining chip anyway.

 

[TUT]

FedEx moves USPS Priority and Express mail airport-to-airport, so we are involved directly in their operation. I don't know how much Amazon diverted to it's cheaper alternatives like OnTrac. And those of you who thought drones might be a factor? The FAA recently ruled that drones had to be operated in line of sight, which precludes any chance of them taking away business from traditional delivery methods.

Sorry, Jeff. I've always maintained that Bezos uses "drones" as a bargaining chip anyway.

Right well aware you move long distance USPS, almost everyone does including passenger airlines to some extent. But from the sounds of it Amazon has been moving more over to them and the runs become shorter more regional, so Fedex most likely doesn't see these in any way. Perhaps much heavy during the season, which again helps you. Free surcharge Sat and Sun helps everyone's systems. As you mention you move long distance USPS, it is also hard for a standard driver to always know volume increases or decreases, as your company I'm sure prefers high-volume B2B business, which you very likely don't see and those are the quantities that move the needle the most.

Drones like hourly delivery, we'll have to see how this goes, imo it's a shot in the dark. Hourly perhaps has better shot in metro areas.

 

[Cactus]

God how did it go so wrong.......................

Employees reaping the cost of Zapmail's failure with lower wages and stalled-out pay progressions, going public and getting in bed with Wall Street, Fred's special RLA deal, MT3 given way too much power, clueless engineers who think they know our jobs better than we do, etc.

All of these things are huge nails in the coffin of once was a good place to work.

 

[Goldilocks]

Right but think about this... if you did move into management, you would have found new priorities and new colleagues to work with. You would have seen things from another perspective, assuming you are a good reasonable person, you would have then cared about them.

About your first sentence, I take it you became a stay at home mom for a decade or two?

NO, I pumped Breast milk in the back of my truck. Went back to work 2 weeks after every child. I am married to an Express Driver. We NEVER got to enjoy bringing our child home and having some time with them. I stayed PT to be able to pick up my kids from school. Also, my husband my myself always worked opposite shifts to prevent child care.....

 

[BigTex61]

Employees reaping the cost of Zapmail's failure with lower wages and stalled-out pay progressions, going public and getting in bed with Wall Street, Fred's special RLA deal, MT3 given way too much power, clueless engineers who think they know our jobs better than we do, etc.

All of these things are huge nails in the coffin of once was a good place to work.

Good synopsis.

 

[59 Dano]

Get a life. When u have walked in our shoes for 25 plus then you can post " its a wonderful life" what a joke

I'm sure he'd love to walk in your shoes. From what all of you old-timers say, the job was darn easy for years and years. You all are the ones complaining the loudest about how it's just soooooooooooooo hard now.

 

[59 Dano]

Right but think about this... if you did move into management, you would have found new priorities and new colleagues to work with. You would have seen things from another perspective, assuming you are a good reasonable person, you would have then cared about them.

No, there is no other perspective. They've made that perfectly clear.

 

[Cactus]

I'm sure he'd love to walk in your shoes. From what all of you old-timers say, the job was darn easy for years and years. You all are the ones complaining the loudest about how it's just soooooooooooooo hard now.

Oh boo-hoo.

Nobody said the job used to be darn easy. The main complaint is unfair treatment and wages that aren't even coming close to keeping up with inflation while Express enjoys record profits.

Whenever you have unrealistic management wanting perfection while we have to accept less and less that makes the job that much harder to take.

 

[59 Dano]

Oh boo-hoo.

Nobody said the job used to be darn easy. The main complaint is unfair treatment and wages that aren't even coming close to keeping up with inflation while Express enjoys record profits.

Whenever you have unrealistic management wanting perfection while we have to accept less and less that makes the job that much harder to take.

Oh bull.

Spend 15 minutes around any courier that's been there for 20 years or more and they won't shut up about it.

 

[vantexan]

I'm sure he'd love to walk in your shoes. From what all of you old-timers say, the job was darn easy for years and years. You all are the ones complaining the loudest about how it's just soooooooooooooo hard now.

Baloney. Before Ground it was Express couriers delivering bulk in 700's and 900's. We worked very hard back then but most were happy to work for FedEx. My beef is with them telling us every year in a mailing how great our traditional pension was going to be for us, then whoosh, there goes the rug out from under. I worked very hard, transferring into very heavy routes that no one local would touch. It makes me angry that after all that they shrugged about the pension like it was no big deal and that they were actually giving us something better. And you spinmeisters come on here and act like we're not getting better because we don't do anything to deserve it. I'm 125 miles from my station. Most of the month of December I was out very late, past midnight 6 or 7 times including 12:25 a.m. Christmas Eve. That's what I have to look forward to every year for Peak out here. For that alone pay progression should be faster. We sacrifice a lot for this company and you spinners act like it's nothing. Let's hope for a heated up economy with great job growth. Everyone knows what FedEx has become, and will leave in droves if the opportunity arises.

 

[Boulevard859710]

2005 was my worst peak. Nothing compares.

 

[nicky]

FedEx moves USPS Priority and Express mail airport-to-airport, so we are involved directly in their operation. I don't know how much Amazon diverted to it's cheaper alternatives like OnTrac. And those of you who thought drones might be a factor? The FAA recently ruled that drones had to be operated in line of sight, which precludes any chance of them taking away business from traditional delivery methods.

Sorry, Jeff. I've always maintained that Bezos uses "drones" as a bargaining chip anyway.

Nah look at teh day that was released.... If memory serves it was on black friday.... I bet they drove a million more hits to their website with one news story. Brilliant marketing plan...

 

[59 Dano]

Baloney. Before Ground it was Express couriers delivering bulk in 700's and 900's. We worked very hard back then but most were happy to work for FedEx. My beef is with them telling us every year in a mailing how great our traditional pension was going to be for us, then whoosh, there goes the rug out from under. I worked very hard, transferring into very heavy routes that no one local would touch. It makes me angry that after all that they shrugged about the pension like it was no big deal and that they were actually giving us something better. And you spinmeisters come on here and act like we're not getting better because we don't do anything to deserve it. I'm 125 miles from my station. Most of the month of December I was out very late, past midnight 6 or 7 times including 12:25 a.m. Christmas Eve. That's what I have to look forward to every year for Peak out here. For that alone pay progression should be faster. We sacrifice a lot for this company and you spinners act like it's nothing. Let's hope for a heated up economy with great job growth. Everyone knows what FedEx has become, and will leave in droves if the opportunity arises.

I haven't met a single long-timer yet who hasn't complained about how the job has gotten hard in the last 10 years or so.

 

[Operational needs]

I haven't met a single long-timer yet who hasn't complained about how the job has gotten hard in the last 10 years or so.

The job's not hard. It's all the micromanaging and BS from management that's difficult.

 

[dezguy]

The job hasn't gotten harder but management has made the job harder than it is.

 

[BigTex61]

Wow Dano, that's about the dumbest statement you've made.

 

[MAKAVELI]

Wow Dano, that's about the dumbest statement you've made.

Just wait a while, he won't disappoint you.