FedEx Pay in the UK

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Can anyone tell me what the pay rate is for fedex drivers in the uk is at the moment thanks

Probably not. You might want to know that FedEx Express pulled the plug on it's employees in the UK back in the 90's.Literally overnight. I'm not sure what the present arrangement is in the UK, but I'll bet the employees are non-union. Hopefully, someone in the UK monitors this site and can answer your question.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
I never knew that.

Were the employees signing union cards at the time?

I don't remember exactly, but I think they were about to go union. FedEx contracted their UK deliveries out and gave the excuse that volumes didn't justify having company employees. Canned them all. I do remember him firing all of the Flying Tiger flight attendants because they wouldn't de-certify. Tiger passenger ops were quite profitable too. That Fred is a sick little man.
 

quadro

Well-Known Member
I don't remember exactly, but I think they were about to go union. FedEx contracted their UK deliveries out and gave the excuse that volumes didn't justify having company employees. Canned them all. I do remember him firing all of the Flying Tiger flight attendants because they wouldn't de-certify. Tiger passenger ops were quite profitable too. That Fred is a sick little man.
And what exactly would the flight attendants attend to once the 747's were gone? But then that couldn't possibly be the reason that they no longer had flight attendant jobs.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
And what exactly would the flight attendants attend to once the 747's were gone? But then that couldn't possibly be the reason that they no longer had flight attendant jobs.

Flying Tigers had a number of 727's and DC-8's that could be converted from freight to PAX in short order. These are called "quick change" aircraft, and the passenger sections are moved into the plane along the cargo floor like a container. The 747's were cargo only, and were never used for passengers.

The passenger operations were very profitable and were usually military charters, although the planes were used for other purposes as well. The 727's stayed in the fleet for a long time, and some may still be flying for us. The DC-8's only lasted a couple of years and then FedEx got rid of them. The 747's also stayed in the FedEx fleet for several years. Some were even re-painted into FedEx colors, although most of them just had the "Flying Tigers" logos removed.

So, once again, your facts are simply wrong. The only reason passenger operations were abolished was the fact that the flight attendants would not dissolve their union. Fred threatened to fire them, and then he made good on the promise. Please get your facts in order next time you make a post, OK?
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Never knew Tigers was a passenger line before they were hauling cargo.

Flying Tigers used to move a lot of troops, especially during the Vietnam War era. Many of their DC-8's and 727's had "quick change" or "quick conversion" capability from freight to passenger. FedEx spent several years studying passenger operations because most of our planes sit all day long, not making any money.
 

quadro

Well-Known Member
Flying Tigers had a number of 727's and DC-8's that could be converted from freight to PAX in short order. These are called "quick change" aircraft, and the passenger sections are moved into the plane along the cargo floor like a container. The 747's were cargo only, and were never used for passengers.

The passenger operations were very profitable and were usually military charters, although the planes were used for other purposes as well. The 727's stayed in the fleet for a long time, and some may still be flying for us. The DC-8's only lasted a couple of years and then FedEx got rid of them. The 747's also stayed in the FedEx fleet for several years. Some were even re-painted into FedEx colors, although most of them just had the "Flying Tigers" logos removed.

So, once again, your facts are simply wrong. The only reason passenger operations were abolished was the fact that the flight attendants would not dissolve their union. Fred threatened to fire them, and then he made good on the promise. Please get your facts in order next time you make a post, OK?
DC-8's were never part of the FedEx fleet so those were pretty much gone with the acquisition of Tigers. FedEx was already operating all cargo 727's so the Tiger one's likely just slid right in to the fleet. Yes, Tigers used them for passenger service but that's not what FedEx wanted them for. The only thing left that had seats were the 747's, which, contrary to your belief, were used for passenger service before 1989. Did you ever jumpseat on one of the 747's? Best flight I ever took between LAX and HNL.

FedEx was always considering what to do with planes that sat idle all day and passenger service was considered but it was deemed not worth the risk. If a plane got stuck out of position (i.e. in the wrong freight city), was delayed getting back to where it needed to be etc, the risk to the freight was too great. Yes, those things could easily happen as planes do have MX issues but it was a matter of minimizing the risk. The 747's were the old 100 and 200 series and were not fuel efficient. They weren't around very long and couple that with the decision to not provide passenger service, there was no need for flight attendants. So on that point, we'll just have to agree to disagree (see, I can do that). Also, when the USPS contract came along, that coupled with the increases in Express volume allowed the planes to be used much more during the day for the day turns and the daysort.

Lastly, just look at UPS to see how well it works when you provide passenger service. It actually was profitable for them in the short term but it's not their business nor is it FedEx's and UPS realized that to succeed long term it just was too much of a commitment and took away from their core business.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
DC-8's were never part of the FedEx fleet so those were pretty much gone with the acquisition of Tigers. FedEx was already operating all cargo 727's so the Tiger one's likely just slid right in to the fleet. Yes, Tigers used them for passenger service but that's not what FedEx wanted them for. The only thing left that had seats were the 747's, which, contrary to your belief, were used for passenger service before 1989. Did you ever jumpseat on one of the 747's? Best flight I ever took between LAX and HNL.

FedEx was always considering what to do with planes that sat idle all day and passenger service was considered but it was deemed not worth the risk. If a plane got stuck out of position (i.e. in the wrong freight city), was delayed getting back to where it needed to be etc, the risk to the freight was too great. Yes, those things could easily happen as planes do have MX issues but it was a matter of minimizing the risk. The 747's were the old 100 and 200 series and were not fuel efficient. They weren't around very long and couple that with the decision to not provide passenger service, there was no need for flight attendants. So on that point, we'll just have to agree to disagree (see, I can do that). Also, when the USPS contract came along, that coupled with the increases in Express volume allowed the planes to be used much more during the day for the day turns and the daysort.

Lastly, just look at UPS to see how well it works when you provide passenger service. It actually was profitable for them in the short term but it's not their business nor is it FedEx's and UPS realized that to succeed long term it just was too much of a commitment and took away from their core business.

The DC-8's were in the fleet for awhile. I should know, since my ramp loaded some of them. The 747's had upper deck seating only, at least the ones I saw. And we will have to agree to disagree about getting rid of "union" people. The Flying Tiger flight attendants I spoke with back in 1989 were very clear about FedEx telling them to de-certify or else. PAX operations were very profitable, so why not continue them with planes you were not going to use for cargo ops? FedEx has never been stupid enough to turn away a profitable opportunity, so getting rid of a union threat seems the plausible reason for eliminating PAX ops.
 

quadro

Well-Known Member
The DC-8's were in the fleet for awhile. I should know, since my ramp loaded some of them. The 747's had upper deck seating only, at least the ones I saw. And we will have to agree to disagree about getting rid of "union" people. The Flying Tiger flight attendants I spoke with back in 1989 were very clear about FedEx telling them to de-certify or else. PAX operations were very profitable, so why not continue them with planes you were not going to use for cargo ops? FedEx has never been stupid enough to turn away a profitable opportunity, so getting rid of a union threat seems the plausible reason for eliminating PAX ops.
If you loaded DC-8's then I stand corrected. I don't know if they just used the upper deck of the 747's or had quick change seats. When I jumpseated it was just the upper deck seats. Sitting in the cockpit for takeoffs and landings was pretty cool in the 747's.

UPS was profitable while they offered passenger service but realized after a short time that the time and cost investment to compete with the passenger airlines wasn't worth it and they shut it down. I think FedEx came to that realization only it was a few years earlier.
 

klein

Für Meno :)
If you loaded DC-8's then I stand corrected. I don't know if they just used the upper deck of the 747's or had quick change seats. When I jumpseated it was just the upper deck seats. Sitting in the cockpit for takeoffs and landings was pretty cool in the 747's.

UPS was profitable while they offered passenger service but realized after a short time that the time and cost investment to compete with the passenger airlines wasn't worth it and they shut it down. I think FedEx came to that realization only it was a few years earlier.

Actually, from watching the show "Mayday", I learned combining passengers with cargo flights, have been outlawed.
It's either 1 or the other.

Has nothing to do with fedex or UPS, was a Chinese or some asian airline that exploded with a bomb hidden in 1 of the pallets of cargo, that a worldwide ban on those combo flights began.
I believe it was the 100 series that blew up.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Actually, from watching the show "Mayday", I learned combining passengers with cargo flights, have been outlawed.
It's either 1 or the other.

Has nothing to do with fedex or UPS, was a Chinese or some asian airline that exploded with a bomb hidden in 1 of the pallets of cargo, that a worldwide ban on those combo flights began.
I believe it was the 100 series that blew up.

It may be banned in some countries. The flights we've been discussing were not combined. The aircraft would be re-configured
after each flight to either a pure cargo or pure passenger setup. I may be wrong, but a recent airline magazine featured an article on Alaska Airlines, which flies combo 737's to service the state of Alaska.

What you might be talking about is lower deck cargo containers being mixed with passengers, which I also doubt because many airlines cannot afford to run pure freighters. You could be right.
 

klein

Für Meno :)
It may be banned in some countries. The flights we've been discussing were not combined. The aircraft would be re-configured
after each flight to either a pure cargo or pure passenger setup. I may be wrong, but a recent airline magazine featured an article on Alaska Airlines, which flies combo 737's to service the state of Alaska.

What you might be talking about is lower deck cargo containers being mixed with passengers, which I also doubt because many airlines cannot afford to run pure freighters. You could be right.

Ok, those planes are called combi's, and I found the incident :

The test proved to the investigators that the design of the Boeing 747 Combi did not provide enough protection to the passengers. After the accident South African Airways discontinued use of the Combi. The Federal Aviation Administration created new standards for the use of the Combi. Complying with these new standards would have required substantial weight increases, which made the 747 Combi economically non-viable.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_295

So, I guess all they did was put in new standards, making them basically impossible .
 

Cactus

Just telling it like it is
I don't remember exactly, but I think they were about to go union. FedEx contracted their UK deliveries out and gave the excuse that volumes didn't justify having company employees. Canned them all. I do remember him firing all of the Flying Tiger flight attendants because they wouldn't de-certify. Tiger passenger ops were quite profitable too. That Fred is a sick little man.

I had a feeling that was the reason the UK employees were let go.

Can't Fred do anything that isn't underhanded?
 
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