Cash Cows, FDX and Retirement

[lr1937]

While travelling I saw a lot of FDX trucks. Custom critical, freight, ground and express. I also noticed that many union carriers were no longer present. It would seem to me that fedex is becoming like the walmart of trucking in that they are the non union and cheap. Many union trucking companies are being replaced by fdx. If I were a teamster working in the trucking industry I would be bugging the hell out of my BA and any other teamster officials I know about what is going on. You can bet that all the union carriers that went out of business are hurting your health welfare and pension payments. There are many dollars no longer going into the funds and a lot more coming out. If the trend continues I would venture a guess that just about all teamsters health welfare and pension benefits will be in jeopardy. UPS is slowly becoming the only cash cow to be milked and there is not enough in ups coffers to make up for all of the lost contributions. FDX is a threat to your future benefits no matter what teamster represented company you work for. It is
your future retirement that is being put into jeopardy.
If it were my health, welfare and pension future I sure as hell would want some answers as to what the union was doing to stop the bleeding other than milking cash cows because the herd is growing thin. Based on how the teamster fund has been mismanaged in the past I would want answers to questions about how it is doing now and how they intend to make the payouts necessary in the future without enough cows to milk.
In addition I would want some answers about what your teamster organizing team is up to regarding FDX and other non union carriers that are taking away health welfare and pension dollars and jobs. I would want to know how they are going to cover growing retirement pensioneers with declining funds.
I think I would be demanding some answers now and not when your benefits are being cut or non existant.
I am not trying to be chicken little. These are some thoughts that kept re ocurring to me while travelling. How many small business owners have been shut down because they couldnt compete with the Walmart giant. I wonder if the same thing is not happening in the transportation industry. Some food for thought.

 

[atanman1]

I am sure that with the merger of their air and ground operations, there is a huge bullseye on FEDEX by the Union. A company in the media as much as they are and growing as fast as they are cannot avoid the union forever.

When they finally get taken down by the union and have to comply, they should be a shaking of the house so to speak. The stock will have a bumpy ride for awhile. Hopefully this will be sooner than later..

 

[pgraening]

I agree that while FedEx is becoming a bit of a "super-shipper," I wouldn't compare them to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not target the same markets as FedEx. FedEx has taken their marketing and focused it so much that they can't become a shipping monopoly.

I have huge issues with the FedEx system as it is - their logistics suck. Every time I have ordered something FedEx overnight, be it 10:30 delivery or 4:30 delivery, it always gets stuck in Memphis. Now I try to ship NDA if I can because I know it will be here by 10:30, plus, the 10:30 delivery is included in the shipping price, not an extra tack-on.

Also, look at FedEx's coverage. Here in Central WI, we have a FedEx ground depot and a FedEx express depot, and both of them are covering a nearly 75-mile radius, wheras our UPS operations cover about 25-30 miles. Before I moved to go to college, the nearest FedEx ground depot was nearly 1.5 hours away from my house, but our UPS station is only 20 minutes away. While FedEx is trying to increase volume, I don't think they have the infrastructure to handle it.

I think, UPS's #1 issue needs to be in re-targeting their markets, and working on promotion. I think "Synchronizing the World of Commerce" is a terrible slogan. I don't think of commerce when I think of UPS. I think about the delivery, the service. They need to change it. I like the way we're branching out, but it needs to be focused.

Anyhow, to wrap up my term paper here, I don't think FedEx has enough coverage everywhere. Their new ads are cute, but I don't think a brand war is going to happen.

 

[big-e]

The rumor in the west carolina distrct is that the union, in the near future, is raising union dues AGAIN and cutting our pension by 25%. Has any one else heard this? From what people are saying, the union will have a lot less members if or I guess "when" this happens, myself included.

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[atanman1]

I think we need a new marketing manager. "What can brown do for you?" It can degrade drivers by taking away their faces and calling them all brown.

"Synchronizing the world of commerce." Huh? I thought ads were supposed to be catchy? Our commercials are horrible, focusing on businesses and the like.

We need to make the ads more interesting, more personal and also focus on customer to customer relations.. not big business. I think the commercials are ok to show that we can handle big business, but there needs to be another side shown. We are big, but also personal.

 

[local804]

Atanman,
I think "Synchronizing the world of commerce" is as queer as a three dollar bill.As per do we need a new marketing mgr? I dont think so. Maybe we need a whole new marketing district.You always hear people talikng about the Bud commercials and even the Fedex Christmas ones.People mock what can brown do for you all the time. One day one maroon told me I could wash his car.I had no choice but to laugh.Monday night the Cowboys Giants game I must have seen 10 Fedex commercials. Maybe the commercials are geared up for a whole new generation. I dont see it......

 

[atanman1]

Wow, wash your car. Do people even think before they talk? You have a lot of patience...I dont see it as far as the new generation. The only people that even understand the commercials are the people that work for us.

People see the pictures of the big warehouses and red lasers and think we can locate every package at every minute. I got a call today from a customer that was angry because he scheduled a pu and had to pay 10$. He was mad because the driver had a delivery for them and didnt want to pay the 10$. He said "all your computers are linked, the person I called knew that I had a delivery today. Why was I charged?" Are you kidding? The commercials are misleading customers. We can locate where 99% of the packages SHOULD be, but not quite that advanced..

 

[rushfan]

I just took the ERI and it asked what I thought about "Synchronizing The World of Commerce". I put in comment section of ERI I thought it sucked. I wonder how much UPS paid some "think tank" to come up with "What can brown do for you".
As far as friend-word company goes...I've had numerous customers tell me if they want to ship with them, it's a hastle.
Read the post on the news section about them not making wall street expectations. Maybe the hype is over-for now.

(Message edited by rushfan on September 18, 2003)