FedEx Portable Pension Plan Sucks vs. UPS Plan

FedexExEmployee

Well-Known Member
Wake up man! The fedexaminer site is owned by a lawyer trying to recruit participants for lawsuits against FDX. This topic was covered here years ago.

So?

I'm there for my own reasons (as is anyone on any forum/site).
I enjoy reading the posts, as well as posting myself.

I'm sure no one is being "recruited" if they don't want to be (assuming what you stated about the site is accurate.....not that I care either way).
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Although it's certainly true that many companies are cutting-back their retirement plans, it's also true that most companies are not because they are interested in retaining good employees. If you did work at FedEx you would have noticed many talented people leaving for greener pastures. The net result is a company being gutted from the inside-out. Anyone who has worked there for more than a year or two can attest to the steady downhill slide.Pretty soon it's going to be straight down. It's not just hourlies quitting, but plenty of managers as well. The customer is finally starting to see the difference in increasingly lousy service and indifferent workers that no longer care about doing an excellent job. Why go the extra mile for a company that treats you like crap? The message is loud and clear..."We no longer value you enough to compensate you fairly".

The big difference between FedEx and a lot of other companies that have cut pension plans is that FedEx is still extremely profitable. The major airlines that started this trend were bankrupt....hardly the case at FedEx. Continuing to fund it's traditional pension plan would not have harmed Fedex substantially. They eliminated the plan because of favorable legislation that allowed them to do so, and the lack of viable opposition by employees. It's all about money, and if screwing over the employees adds to the bottom line, it's a "good" thing.

Eventually, it will backfire, and FedEx will have to rebuild the reputation for excellence that they are very rapidly losing. Nobody but the Purple Promise types will put forth the extra effort management has come to expect over the years because they know that the payoff is ZERO.
 

DeputyDip

Backwoods Hillbilly
Although it's certainly true that many companies are cutting-back their retirement plans, it's also true that most companies are not because they are interested in retaining good employees. If you did work at FedEx you would have noticed many talented people leaving for greener pastures....The big difference between FedEx and a lot of other companies that have cut pension plans is that FedEx is still extremely profitable. The major airlines that started this trend were bankrupt....hardly the case at FedEx.

Here's an interesting read when you have time:http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/02/are_traditional_pensions_finis.html

As for leaving for greener pastures, I've heard it and probably said it a thousand times, problem is you still have to mow it once you get there. FDX is a company that I don't see going away anytime soon. It will have it's growing pains and learning curves, people on all levels of the food chain will come and go, but it will sail on. Just about anyone with a 401k of any type better hope so because there's a good chance that FDX makes up a portion of the holdings. I certainly agree that the PPP is a way to increase the bottom line over the long haul. Unfortunately it's not just FDX and I only see it as a growing trend for companies in the future.
 

FedexExEmployee

Well-Known Member
Nobody but the Purple Promise types will put forth the extra effort management has come to expect over the years because they know that the payoff is ZERO.

Yup, and even the Purple Promise types will eventually see the light one way or the other.

I bled purple for a portion of the time I spent there. As I saw co-workers get fired for petty crapp, and I'm even talking old-timers. I began to question my own job security. It quickly occured to me that there was no job security. The BS lines like "if you do a good job, you will have a job" soon became transparent for what it really was.

What really did it for me was when I became a "lead/aspire candidate".
I decided to go to management with employee concerns.
I learned in a day or two tops that management HAD ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in employee concerns. NONE.
That sickened me to the extreme.

So, all of the above plus PLENTY more led to my decision to leave Fedex.

It's one thing to be overworked and underpaid. It's another to be overworked, underpaid, and do so without being appreciated at all.

My favorite saying about Fedex: It's a thankless job. PERIOD.
 

paidslave

Well-Known Member
Too many today just don't plan and take care of themselves. I am so very grateful for my Teamster's Pension Plan, after 22 years I will be getting nearly 3,000 a month with great health benefits at no cost.

However when I started over 20 years ago I had no intention whatsoever of staying long enough to receive my pension so I started contributing 10% to the 401k as soon as I was eligible.

I learned a long time ago you have to take care of yourself cause no one else will.



Lots of future retirees are a bit confused about this free healthcare...Nothing is for free...Ck with your local because where I am at is $50 a week for healthcare for 25 and out....
 

tieguy

Banned
So, management get a retirement check, 401k match, and retiree healthcare...anything else? Another question, where is the new crop of mgt people going to come from when all of the 1980's mgt retire? its hard enough to find hub personnel that will make a two year stay, let alone finding drivers in some areas? Please shed some light on these two things tie.

shed some light on what? a Full list of management benifits on a thread that has nothing to do with the subject? How manual labor jobs have lost mass appeal in todays world with todays kids? Wrong thread Cole. Don't understand what you're asking or why when I was responding to a statement on the fdx retirement plan.
 
There's not really any difference between UPS and Fedex pensions. They will provide about the same. When a UPSer is 65 years old he will be getting $3000 a month or so if I am reading right. This assumes 30 or more years. The Fedex courier at 65 will get up and take his advil and go to work. He will probably get around $3000 or more a month as well. The idea is not that other places don't have pensions or good 401ks. It's that the UNIONIZED employees at Fedex get both a portable pension and a traditional one. The rest of us get peanuts.
 
No one else as of now. Herein lies the problem. Hopefully the mechanics will vote and then maybe down the line, the couriers too. The more I read on this site, the more it seems like we work for the same kind of people. After years of management criticizing Brown, it seems now that all we do is copy you guys, albeit slowly. I have never dislike UPSers, but the more that I read on this site the more I view brown shirts as brothers and mgmnt on both sides as adversaries.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
I think the 401k match is pretty nice, I contribute very little right now
as my wife is currently out of work, but as an example
I contributed $17 last paycheck, and fred threw in $11.
Thats kinda nice. And since its pretax my final paycheck $ is actually
affected less than 17$ difference.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
If you contributed $17.00 and got $11.00 from Fred that's a bit more than a 6% match. My calculator shows $1.02 as what Freddie would chip-in. Figure in how poorly the stock market has been performing lately and your true retirement savings are miniscule. Bend over and grab your ankles Fredly.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
You'd have to check your math.. I wouldn't rely on any one source for retirement
..(I have many..) Diversify my friend.. But the math is calculated from my
pretax $ so for example $100 paycheck $3 dollars from me, $1 from fred.(3%/1% ratio) I don't know about you, but I wouldn't walk past a $1 sitting on the sidewalk
without picking it up.. free money is free money, and I won't miss that $3 at the end
of the week. Smart saving is key, unfortunately for some of the older generation
guys at FedEx they are getting shafted hard.. Could FedEx be more generous, sure.. but they are in the market of pinching pennies... will I be here forever.. I doubt it but while I'm here I might as well take advantage of whatever I can.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
All I'm saying is that if Fred gave you $11.00 on a $17.00 contribution you're getting way more than 6% from FedEx, pre-tax or not. What I try to impress on FedEx employees is that no matter what you're contributing to your 401k, you're still getting shafted because FedEx has basically walked away from it's retirement program and made it mostly employee-funded. An employer-subsidized 401k program is great, but it isn't a substitute for a bona fide retirement plan. We are not just being screwed, we are being screwed royally.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
To be honest I can't tell you how the match is calculated.. but I'll keep it as is for now.
03/24/2008 Plan Contribution EMPLOYER MATCH $11.23
03/24/2008 Plan Contribution PRE-TAX/401(K) CONTRIBUTIONS $16.84

Yes being screwed doesn't help, but I'm not relying on anyone but me for retirement
if I happen to get extra from an outside source, great, otherwise I don't "bank" on it.

EDIT:
Ok I did the math, Fedex contributes your % based off Gross Pay
so they are Contributing 2%(of gross) to my 3%(of gross) contribution.. don't do the math, my gross pay is GROSS.. so sad really.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
I saw the poster on the station wall today regarding the new plan, and was wrong about their matching percentage. If the employee contributes the 6% maximum, FedEx will match 3.5% of that amount.
You're right, the whole thing is sad. I was actually around when it was a great company, and to have seen it fall so far is pretty mind boggling. Not just the employees, but the customers who don't get what they're paying for most of the time.
What's worse, is that I don't think that upper management is done ruining the place yet.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
So if you gross $1000 a week Fedex will kick in $35 towards your pension. Wow, how generous. This is the way corporations are heading. I hope the next generations enjoy working until death.
 

ups79

Well-Known Member
So if you gross $1000 a week Fedex will kick in $35 towards your pension. Wow, how generous. This is the way corporations are heading. I hope the next generations enjoy working until death.

No, the way its written to me they will put in $2.10. $1000.00 x .06= $60.00. $60.00 x .035 = $2.10.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
As someone else astutely pointed out....how do you retire with programs like this? Even the most agressive savers won't be able to compensate for the lack of a true pension program. And FedEx isn't the only company pulling this crap.
 
So if you gross $1000 a week Fedex will kick in $35 towards your pension. Wow, how generous. This is the way corporations are heading. I hope the next generations enjoy working until death.
Only if you kick in $60 first. That is in the 401k. They put anywhere from 5 to 13% in the Portable Pension Account depending on age and length of service. That pays a fixed percentage interest rate. It has never been as high as 5% and is currently about 4.75. If inflation is 3% and your money is getting 4% then in 20-30 years you will just about break even. So if they put in $3000 now, in 20 years, taking inflation into account, it will be worth just a shade over $3000. Some plan, huh?
 
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