Ground and Express Drivers are EXACTLY Alike!!

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You can take 35 grand and give the rest to feed fedex couriers for Thanksgiving if that will make you feel better. Welcome back.

...or you could take steps to better your financial position...

 

[bbsam]

It's not a matter of generosity. My drivers who do more, do it safely, do it consistently, and help out when needed, make considerably more because they are worth more.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Incentive based employment----what a novel idea.

Do your "lesser" drivers know this and are any working on their methods so that they may share in your largesse?

 

[dezguy]

Call me what you will----I personally feel that you are a joke and fear that a new courier will read your "advice" and lose their job----but I stand by what I said.

I will simplify this for you. Suppose you hire a neighborhood kid to mow your lawn. The two of you walk around the property so that he knows exactly what needs to be done. You propose and he agrees to be paid $10 every other week. After a few weeks the kid is talking to some of his friends who tell him that they are getting $20/week to do basically the same work. The kid comes to you and tells you what he heard. Do you offer to double his salary or do you stand by your initial agreement?

Ground drivers knew the deal coming in. The financial position of their employer is irrelevant. Should they be more generous? Absolutely. Should they be required to? Absolutely not----the personal assets of the owner of an LLC are irrelevant.

The problem with that argument is that ground drivers often do not know what their contemporaries are making at UPS or Express. They don't know that both receive benefits and both receive a pension in some form or another. Why is it fair to these people that they are doing essentially the same job but for far less pay, no benefits and no pension?

 

[dezguy]

It's not a matter of generosity. My drivers who do more, do it safely, do it consistently, and help out when needed, make considerably more because they are worth more.

So out of curiosity, what is a courier worth to you? Not sure if you intended the comment to sound this way but reading this screams elitist to me...

 

[59 Dano]

Suppose you hire a neighborhood kid to mow your lawn. The two of you walk around the property so that he knows exactly what needs to be done. You propose and he agrees to be paid $10 every other week. After a few weeks the kid is talking to some of his friends who tell him that they are getting $20/week to do basically the same work.

MFE would call the kid a tatted-up lawn monkey cigarette-smoking Borat felon in flip-flops. He would follow that by complaining that the $10 guy doesn't use a trimmer even though the customer doesn't want it or need it, and then attempt to further assert his supremacy by bragging about his ability to operate a zero-turn mower-- something the $10 guy hasn't been trained to do. "You can't do my job!"

He would then go to LawnCafe.com and say that if you pay $10 for lawn service, you are a criminal and should go to jail for running an illegal scam.

 

[59 Dano]

The problem with that argument is that ground drivers often do not know what their contemporaries are making at UPS or Express. They don't know that both receive benefits and both receive a pension in some form or another. Why is it fair to these people that they are doing essentially the same job but for far less pay, no benefits and no pension?

Blaine Gabbert does the same job as Peyton Manning for far less pay. Is that fair?

 

[dezguy]

Blaine Gabbert does the same job as Peyton Manning for far less pay. Is that fair?

The NFL is a league based on skill. The higher the skill level, the higher the pay. Apples and oranges.

 

[STFXG]

So out of curiosity, what is a courier worth to you? Not sure if you intended the comment to sound this way but reading this screams elitist to me...

A courier is worth whatever they are willing to accept as compensation. If no one is willing to accept the job at current levels of pay then pay will be raised. Supply/demand.

 

[59 Dano]

The NFL is a league based on skill. The higher the skill level, the higher the pay. Apples and oranges.

The majority of posts about Ground drivers in this forum (and the point of this thread) do nothing but point out their perceived shortcomings compared to Express couriers. Check out the 1st post in this thread. If there is that much of a difference in their skill sets, it stands to reason that there should be that much of a difference in their compensation.

 

[MrFedEx]

MFE would call the kid a tatted-up lawn monkey cigarette-smoking Borat felon in flip-flops. He would follow that by complaining that the $10 guy doesn't use a trimmer even though the customer doesn't want it or need it, and then attempt to further assert his supremacy by bragging about his ability to operate a zero-turn mower-- something the $10 guy hasn't been trained to do. "You can't do my job!"

He would then go to LawnCafe.com and say that if you pay $10 for lawn service, you are a criminal and should go to jail for running an illegal scam.

Thank you, corporate apologist. How come we were worth more in the past, Dano Boy? Adjusted for cost-of-living, we actually make less than we did back in the 80's, and Fred still wants to take more. Yet we are more productive than ever and have higher expectations placed upon us. You're comparing apples and tomatoes when you try and "explain" that Ground and Express drivers do essentially the same job. They do not. Now, go back and tell MT3 you've failed again.

 

[vantexan]

Without answering anyone specifically let me just say this. The problem isn't that workers are demanding much more than they are worth. It's employers constantly pushing down wages and trimming benefits, seeking the lowest point that people will still stay to do the job, while seeking ever increasing productivity levels. They do this because they know in an economy like this they can get away with it because there are few options. And why? Is it because it's necessary? No, it's because they want as much money as possible for themselves. No matter the difficulty placed on their employees. The result being employees feel they are being squeezed in a vise. I never said employers should be made to do this. And this is naïveté on my part but they should do it because it's the right thing to do. Employees shouldn't be seeking a workers' paradise with fantastic pay and benefits for minimal effort. That'll ruin a company. But companies shouldn't go to the other extreme either, which is what is happening now in this country. There's nothing admirable about taking advantage of others, working them into the ground to make an extra buck or two for those that frankly don't need more than their already generous salaries. But the stock is where the big money is, so ruin people in pursuit of riches? Just plain wrong.

 

[MrFedEx]

Without answering anyone specifically let me just say this. The problem isn't that workers are demanding much more than they are worth. It's employers constantly pushing down wages and trimming benefits, seeking the lowest point that people will still stay to do the job, while seeking ever increasing productivity levels. They do this because they know in an economy like this they can get away with it because there are few options. And why? Is it because it's necessary? No, it's because they want as much money as possible for themselves. No matter the difficulty placed on their employees. The result being employees feel they are being squeezed in a vise. I never said employers should be made to do this. And this is naïveté on my part but they should do it because it's the right thing to do. Employees shouldn't be seeking a workers' paradise with fantastic pay and benefits for minimal effort. That'll ruin a company. But companies shouldn't go to the other extreme either, which is what is happening now in this country. There's nothing admirable about taking advantage of others, working them into the ground to make an extra buck or two for those that frankly don't need more than their already generous salaries. But the stock is where the big money is, so ruin people in pursuit of riches? Just plain wrong.

I couldn't agree more. Vote all the Republicans out of office so it can happen.

 

[vantexan]

I couldn't agree more. Vote all the Republicans out of office so it can happen.

We've certainly seen how well the Democrats are running things.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

So out of curiosity, what is a courier worth to you? Not sure if you intended the comment to sound this way but reading this screams elitist to me...

A courier is worth whatever the market will bear.

 

[overflowed]

...or you could take steps to better your financial position...

My financial position is fine. you could take steps to better you're addiction from this place.

 

[dezguy]

A courier is worth whatever the market will bear.

UPS and Express (Add Purolator up here in Canada) all pay well over $25/hour here. So then why is it considered fair that Ground drivers be paid minimum wage (or just above)? The market for three of Ground contemporaries allows for a livable wage.

 

[bbsam]

Because Ground drivers are tatted up ex cons. You see, you get what you pay for and FDX seems ok with what they are getting.

 

[TUT]

We've certainly seen how well the Democrats are running things.

If you call gridlock running things.

 

[59 Dano]

Thank you, corporate apologist. How come we were worth more in the past, Dano Boy?

A decrease in demand for overnight service coupled with a much cheaper alternative for deferred service. Are you so daft that you can't grasp the basics of... anything?

Oh wait, you can deliver packages AND make pickups! WOW!!!

Hey, about a month or so ago you said that you were about to start a new job that was so much better than being a topped out courier. I guess that didn't work out. Maybe you're too smart for them to hire you.