We can certainly agree to disagree, and I'm glad you appear to be one of the few ethical contractors out there. I stay with FedEx because I have many years invested in the company and would probably have difficulty starting a new career in my late 40's. Maybe you're familiar with the term "loyal opposition", maybe not. I am a "loyal opposer". While I have little respect for upper FedEx management, I still do an outstanding job for them. FedEx Express usd to be a great place to work, until the P-S-P philosophy was replaced with P-P-P (Profit-Profit-Profit). Now it's a lousy place to work, unless you're a pilot.Ironically, Smith had it right the first time around, when he put the employee first, and motivated employees made customers realize that there was a better alternative to the status quo. Now, people are leaving left and right, and the average Express driver isn't very motivated to provide the outstanding customer service that earned FedEx the stellar reputation it no longer deserves.
Smith is famous now for running a stripped-down hollow shell of what an excellent Express division used to be. He ran Ground the same way until the employee vs contractor issue hit the fan recently. Any gains you've received as a contractor come from pressure from the courts, not any desire on the part of Smith to be equitable. They are scrambling to make sure that you appear to be an independent businessman (which you are now), and not the previous contractor model, which saw a lot of individual contractors working about 70 hours per week for about $30-$35,000 per year, with no benefits but all of the responsibilities of a bona fide employee. In other words, they sweetened the deal because they had to.
Sorry to be so antagonistic with you, but I've seen so many Ground guys get screwed over the years that it really makes me angry.