Is FedEx Scrambling for ideas?

[SmithBarney]

I mean in the past 2-3 years.

We tried Final Mile(or whatever we called it) Ground taking Express packages, it stopped then started, then half of it comes back to express a week late with "bad addresses" or whatever reasoning.

We Tried Response, doubled our employee numbers $$, doubled vehicle numbers all rentals $$ it pretty much was a failure.

We Tried Estar which has good intentions but after a short while was mothballed because it wasn't helping service.

Now the merger, I know it's well intended, and makes sense to make things more efficient but risky. Managers at express were already backpedalling some of their speaking points, because folks started talking about leaving, and of course they can't have a mass exodus during the roll out of this because it will fail or hurt the company badly. So they were doing damage control trying to keep people from leaving. The new people with no seniority have their eye on the door because they don't want to be in line with 200 other people trying to find jobs around town, older high seniority people aren't ready for/willing to change so they are eyeing up retirement... if express goes into this with less than 100% staff on board it has the potential to be catastrophic .

So far we've been told nothing has been announced for our area, and the nearest station effected was only 10 drivers and apparently they are all still working(we don't know if they work for FedEx or if they are under a contractor) We've been told some Express locations will Take on Ground packages to fill volume, and that areas will be split with less overlap with other drivers. We've been told some Ground locations will take on Express Freight, and we've been told some small Express locations will be absorbed...

So far you really can't believe anything you are told.

Keep this in mind, FedEx didn't hatch this plan overnight, the full plan is laid out somewhere, but they aren't sharing it. They know exactly when and where and how things are planned.. and the fact that they aren't disclosing it should be warning enough for all of us Ground and Express.

 

[AB831]

Fedex has absolutely no clue what they’re doing and no one to blame but themselves.

 

[btrlov]

seems like they stuck in a pretty pickle

they cant go “all contractor” because the quality assurance will degrade the brand . And they will eventually be sued by various interested parties for trying to be UPS w/o UPS wages

they cant go all employee because , they dont have the market share and brand recognization over ups compeition wise. They apparently dont have skill or nerve to compete with ups directly
Therefore labor unions would decimate profit margins


Seems like they will continue the hybrid scheme

I think they are better off with an all employee model where the keep talented persons They just need better management

 

[dezguy]

At this point, they're throwing at the wall to see what sticks. Upper management is so hell bent on making the stock look good, they're willing to destroy what made the brand, in order to achieve that.

 

[bacha29]

Fedex has absolutely no clue what they’re doing and no one to blame but themselves.

The commonly accepted plan at my former terminal was to take the air box to one of 2 regional/county airports in the area . One 12 mile trip, the other 65 miles. Then send it to the international airport. Seemed like a sensible enough plan.

Not. Somebody came up with the bright idea of trucking directly out of the big airport. That's a 135 miles one way and get it back in time for offload, sort and reload and done by 8AM. And if he's sent on up to catch the small terminal up north it will add even more miles. Oh, BTW, it's a snow belt region.

OK....we'll see. But if it doesn't work , it will be contractor's fault which will filter down to the driver's fault.

 

[Serf]

I agree with you. Especially with management not being honest and playing dumb for fear of ppl leaving. Whatever happens with the merger, I’ll stay in some smaller capacity if they will have me. If not

 

[bacha29]

Fedex has absolutely no clue what they’re doing and no one to blame but themselves.

As bad as I fell for Express gear punchers at least they'll be free of this and have a better chance of transitioning to a new job while the economy is still on the plus side. They can move on

Ground contractors on the other hand is another story altogether. Over committed, too far in debt unwilling to organize and fight through the courts to gain some contractual power....good or bad their stuck with the damn thing.

And now in addition to all the other tasks Ground was never designed for to begin with it now has to haul air box and there will be zero tolerance for missed deadlines and service minimums. And it all rests on the shoulders of people going out there everyday 6 days a week in every type of weather and in an increasingly hostile environment and kill themselves out there for convenience store clerk pay.

Now people like IWBF are giddy over tis latest move. But before they go spec out their yachts , perhaps they should first wait to see if they might find themselves at the helm of a dry land yacht on wheels.....every single day .

 

[vantexan]

As bad as I fell for Express gear punchers at least they'll be free of this and have a better chance of transitioning to a new job while the economy is still on the plus side. They can move on

Ground contractors on the other hand is another story altogether. Over committed, too far in debt unwilling to organize and fight through the courts to gain some contractual power....good or bad their stuck with the damn thing.

And now in addition to all the other tasks Ground was never designed for to begin with it now has to haul air box and there will be zero tolerance for missed deadlines and service minimums. And it all rests on the shoulders of people going out there everyday 6 days a week in every type of weather and in an increasingly hostile environment and kill themselves out there for convenience store clerk pay.

Now people like IWBF are giddy over tis latest move. But before they go spec out their yachts , perhaps they should first wait to see if they might find themselves at the helm of a dry land yacht on wheels.....every single day .

And what if it turns out not nearly as bad as you say? Anyone new to this forum should be aware that @bacha29 has an axe to grind with FedEx and portrays them in the worst possible light every chance he gets. No doubt they deserve some of it but if they do anything badly he'll make it sound 10 times worse.

 

[Cactus]

And what if it turns out not nearly as bad as you say? Anyone new to this forum should be aware that @bacha29 has an axe to grind with FedEx and portrays them in the worst possible light every chance he gets. No doubt they deserve some of it but if they do anything badly he'll make it sound 10 times worse.

Just look at FedEx’s track record. They have to lie and manipulate to work with people and every project they’ve attempted lands them flat on their faces. Now what makes you think that “what if it turns out nearly so bad as you say?” How’s gonna be any different this time?

 

[bbsam]

Just look at FedEx’s track record. They have to lie and manipulate to work with people and every project they’ve attempted lands them flat on their faces. Now what makes you think that “what if it turns out nearly so bad as you say?” How’s gonna be any different this time?

Maybe it’s different this time because it has to be. There is no going back.

 

[bacha29]

Maybe it’s different this time because it has to be. There is no going back.

The entire corporation is at the edge of the abyss .

 

[bacha29]

And what if it turns out not nearly as bad as you say? Anyone new to this forum should be aware that @bacha29 has an axe to grind with FedEx and portrays them in the worst possible light every chance he gets. No doubt they deserve some of it but if they do anything badly he'll make it sound 10 times worse.

Looks like I'll have to straighten old VT out again. The basic structure of the Ground OPCO has changed very little from it's original Dan Sullivan design back in the Roadway era. As long as it stayed within those parameters a business to business only operation working inside the city limits it could get the job done.
However as it expanded out into rural America the shortcomings of Sullivan's folly became more obvious. Upon seeing this Roadway kept it expectations pretty modest and reasonable.
When Fat Freddy and his disciples took over they couldn't stay in the original market. They made the new Fedex Ground be all things to all markets.
One of the long standing problems with Ground is the lack of constant service and that's attributable to contractors focused on their own self interests, turnover and permanently unprofitable to service areas. As was evidenced by the Express boxes being returned to Express from Ground days later along with many of those permanently unprofitable routes today being forcibly imposed on nearby contractors.
Now you would think that Fat Freddy would be well aware of the inherent shortcomings that use of third party contractors brings with them.
Nevertheless he is shoving them into a market that has zero tolerance for anything less than one hundred percent consistent premium nationwide service. And he's not going to tolerate anything less or give any quarter to anyone who can't keep up despite the fact that you the contractor was asked to put ever increasing amounts of money at risk for the sake of this venture.

 

[vantexan]

Just look at FedEx’s track record. They have to lie and manipulate to work with people and every project they’ve attempted lands them flat on their faces. Now what makes you think that “what if it turns out nearly so bad as you say?” How’s gonna be any different this time?

I've pointed out the lies and manipulations many times. But Bacha tends to embellish. Not just on FedEx.

 

[vantexan]

Looks like I'll have to straighten old VT out again. The basic structure of the Ground OPCO has changed very little from it's original Dan Sullivan design back in the Roadway era. As long as it stayed within those parameters a business to business only operation working inside the city limits it could get the job done.
However as it expanded out into rural America the shortcomings of Sullivan's folly became more obvious. Upon seeing this Roadway kept it expectations pretty modest and reasonable.
When Fat Freddy and his disciples took over they couldn't stay in the original market. They made the new Fedex Ground be all things to all markets.
One of the long standing problems with Ground is the lack of constant service and that's attributable to contractors focused on their own self interests, turnover and permanently unprofitable to service areas. As was evidenced by the Express boxes being returned to Express from Ground days later along with many of those permanently unprofitable routes today being forcibly imposed on nearby contractors.
Now you would think that Fat Freddy would be well aware of the inherent shortcomings that use of third party contractors brings with them.
Nevertheless he is shoving them into a market that has zero tolerance for anything less than one hundred percent consistent premium nationwide service. And he's not going to tolerate anything less or give any quarter to anyone who can't keep up despite the fact that you the contractor was asked to put ever increasing amounts of money at risk for the sake of this venture.

How would you know what contractors in other areas are doing? You knew your area plus what other contractors at your building groused about. And weren't you a single driver, yourself, contractor? How would you know what bbsam and IWBF deal with day to day?

Guess what? It's dog eat dog out there and the bigger dog usually wins. That's life. But pretty obvious you resent how it went for you and you'll spend the rest of your days trying to get even. FedEx is a lousy company to work for, period. But still better than a lot of companies which is pretty sad.

 

[bacha29]

I've pointed out the lies and manipulations many times. But Bacha tends to embellish. Not just on FedEx.

But here's what's different. All you had tied up in your employment with Fat Freddy was tour, time, shoes and lunch pail. Some of these contractors have everything to their name tied up in it.
Given that they are going to be handling Fat Freddy's legacy product there will be zero tolerance for anything less than a full complete and perfect imitation of that product.....oh and btw....at a far lower cost.
I don't think it will be long until contractors are saying....."this isn't what I signed up for. "

 

[bacha29]

How would you know what contractors in other areas are doing? You knew your area plus what other contractors at your building groused about. And weren't you a single driver, yourself, contractor? How would you know what bbsam and IWBF deal with day to day?

Guess what? It's dog eat dog out there and the bigger dog usually wins. That's life. But pretty obvious you resent how it went for you and you'll spend the rest of your days trying to get even. FedEx is a lousy company to work for, period. But still better than a lot of companies which is pretty sad.

The capitulation of the number of contractors who came and went before and after me speaks for itself. The ones there today all have primary gigs. Log trucks, freight brokerage, greenhouses garages etc. Their Ground contracts are side gigs. When the clueless starry eyed wannabe's came running in immediately taking multiple routes and immediately dropped like flies we 3 Day 1's just looked at each other and laughed. They failed to properly measure the weak economy and unfavorable demographics of the areas they would be covering.

 

[bbsam]

Looks like I'll have to straighten old VT out again. The basic structure of the Ground OPCO has changed very little from it's original Dan Sullivan design back in the Roadway era. As long as it stayed within those parameters a business to business only operation working inside the city limits it could get the job done.
However as it expanded out into rural America the shortcomings of Sullivan's folly became more obvious. Upon seeing this Roadway kept it expectations pretty modest and reasonable.
When Fat Freddy and his disciples took over they couldn't stay in the original market. They made the new Fedex Ground be all things to all markets.
One of the long standing problems with Ground is the lack of constant service and that's attributable to contractors focused on their own self interests, turnover and permanently unprofitable to service areas. As was evidenced by the Express boxes being returned to Express from Ground days later along with many of those permanently unprofitable routes today being forcibly imposed on nearby contractors.
Now you would think that Fat Freddy would be well aware of the inherent shortcomings that use of third party contractors brings with them.
Nevertheless he is shoving them into a market that has zero tolerance for anything less than one hundred percent consistent premium nationwide service. And he's not going to tolerate anything less or give any quarter to anyone who can't keep up despite the fact that you the contractor was asked to put ever increasing amounts of money at risk for the sake of this venture.

Actually, they will pay a premium. They did last year in terms of contingency pay. Oddly enough, when contingency was paid, things got done. And guess what? The company still made money!! Shocking I know!!

They would be smart to take a good bit of the money saved and infuse it into contracts now. It’s definitely a case of “pay now or pay much, mich more later.” And that’s not just paying in monetary terms. It’s the brand and market share as well.

Think of it this way. If they refuse to pay the premium and service tanks, where do they turn? Shove it all back to whatever is left of Express?

 

[bacha29]

Actually, they will pay a premium. They did last year in terms of contingency pay. Oddly enough, when contingency was paid, things got done. And guess what? The company still made money!! Shocking I know!!

They would be smart to take a good bit of the money saved and infuse it into contracts now. It’s definitely a case of “pay now or pay much, mich more later.” And that’s not just paying in monetary terms. It’s the brand and market share as well.

Think of it this way. If they refuse to pay the premium and service tanks, where do they turn? Shove it all back to whatever is left of Express?

Only so much money to go around. Will they cave to the demands of the shareholders and short change you contractors? Past history seems to indicate that this is the direction they'll go in.

 

[zeev]

How will Express integrate into Ground kinda like heavyweight runs now. Leave building at 9:00 drive an hour have 6 p1 stops and with a little code trickery have no lates. Any body calls for a refund you get transferred to Outer Mongolia than you have to fill out 12 forms have it notarized and return in 7 days.

 

[bbsam]

Only so much money to go around. Will they cave to the demands of the shareholders and short change you contractors? Past history seems to indicate that this is the direction they'll go in.

When contractors failed last year, the share price dropped. That’s history. It’s a baseline. If contractors fail this time, what does history suggest will happen?

Maybe they’ve learned from last year. Maybe they haven’t. But as FedEx said in their own press release, this is far bigger than anything they’ve tried before.

Raj, John Smith, and all the others have their careers on the line. It’s all them. They have to get it right and they know what it took to get it right. Money. Lots of money. One way is smarter and cheaper than the other but neither is cheap.