Three things -
1. There is a world of difference, a galaxy of difference, between being an independent (Joe's Delivery Service & Lawnmower Repair) and being an independent contractor (FedEx Ground).
2. I never claimed any one model was better / worse than another. Anywhere. I did say it was a valid, legal model. And, if I didn't before, I meant to.
3. You state "To use the coffee truck analogy: You buy the coffee truck and route. After you've been running YOUR ROUTE (after all you paid for it). You find you've got some customers that want donuts but the people you buy your coffee from won't let you sell donuts."
I was waiting for something similar but better, but your anti-analogy (?) will work. If you purchased a route to sell coffee, knowing that you were to only sell coffee, then there should be no concern that you cannot sell donuts. It is a coffee company.
If I were hired as an independent contractor by say, Exxon, to go around & clean all the gas stations they have, then my job, what I have contracted to do, is go clean all the exxon gas stations. Just because I am an independent contractor does not, in any way, give me the right to say "ah, the hell with it, today I'm going to go PAINT all the exxon stations". The definition of "Independent Contractor" has nowhere in it the right to do as you choose, and was never meant to be such. It is contractually cooperating with outside individuals/companies to do a specific job, in a specific way.
Im sorry but you are lost and obviously Do not understand the definition of Independent Contractor. If you pay thousands of dollars to buy a route and a company tells you oh it will be great. You will have the opportunity to grow as an entreprenuer. Hire drivers and run your route. But then once you have the route. The company begins to try and control what you do. They tell you that you have to go back and deliver a package. They begin to make threats. They don't allow you to hire who you want to hire. They tell you that you have to knock on the door, you have to leave a tag. You cannot drop the package at the office first, no matter how busy you are. They control how many packages that you will deliver and how many stops you will make every day. They write you up and tell you if you get more than 3 complaints in a year then they can take your route. Now Do You Think As An Independent Contractor Who Pays Thousands Of Dollars For A Route. Should Be Controlled Like This? Do you think that they have the right to tell you that you should not take a break, or a lunch? When a company has the right to control---Such As Fedex....You Are No Longer A Independent Contractor. Im sorry that some of you are pointing your finger at the wrong people. Everyone would love to be able to have the chance to run their own business. That is why people paid thousands of dollars for routes. To be free of being underneath someone elses thumb. To have control of their business. But this is not what is happening. You do have contractors that are major brown nosers --some of you are probably reading this right now and I don't care. I know how you ended up with more routes. Some had easy, tight routes.But some of these people did not have easy routes and some were so bad that you couldn't afford to hire a driver or the contractor would lose too much money. Try to understand, or are you really just envious of the people that were really trying to be self-employed? These people broke their backs to try and have their right to be independent contractors. BUT THESE PEOPLE THAT WORK AT FEDEX ARE NOT INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. Im sure some of them will say how wonderful it is and swear by fedex that they are happy. They are the thieves and the brown-nosers. But many of them want out, but they are trapped. It is hard to get back what you paid into it, but they are not being treated like kings and queens. I would love for fedex to fall, they are crooks and they need to start forkin out what they owe. The next time you slam the door in a fedex drivers face-just remember don't blame it on the messenger. He does not really have that much control over how fast you get your package. And some of you really need to get a life if that is your main focus in life is to piss and moan to the driver for being a few minutes late. They work more hours than ups or dhl or fedex express ever did. I know go ahead, Im sure your ready to attack..bring it on. But just remember...You haven't really been there Have you?????