MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Didn't understand it? LOL - Because it is not one! It was such a bad example I was hoping someone else would chime in. I was disappointed. RE Brokers & salespeople are under a Broker / Licensee agreement, State-mandated relationship. It is truly an apples to bullfrogs comparison.
If you are either a RE Broker or licensee placing his shingle in the office of same, you already know this.
Sigh. It's apples to bullfrogs because it's a different relationship. Please tell me how delivering pkgs and real estate are similar? As a realtor, I am independent, except in the legal broker/licensee relationship you describe. If FedEx Ground IC's were truly independent, it would operate the same way, but it doesn't, because FedEx has an employer/employee relationship with it's "contractors", at least on the single vehicle operator level.
While I am held to the legal bounds of the broker/licensee relationship, I have enormous freedom to set my own hours, select my own clients, drive the type of car I choose, and on and on. If I don't feel like working for 3 weeks, I don't. Could I do that at FedEx Ground as a single vehicle operator? NO,I COULD NOT!! That's why FedEx has moved away from the single IC model to the multiple plan. How can a single vehicle Ground operator behave as anything but an employee given all the rules and regulations he/she must follow? Under the new plan, you may have a point. When you can designate someone else to do your work as a sub-contractor, then it IS possible to be an IC.
At FedEx Ground, it's all spelled-out, and besides having an employer/contractor relationship, the "IC" also has the additional quota of
stringent FedEx rules and regulations that apply to "employees". Sure, they're "independent", but they're also an "employee"? Sorry Fedex, you cannot have your cake and eat it too, which is exactly the way Fred S expects to do business and has for years. He gets his own special set of rules because he is the almighty Smith.
We're going to have to agree to disagree, OK?