That is because of customer demand and Fedex would prefer to grow everything if possible, who wouldn't? Your sales people will take whatever a shipper is offering to use and they only push Ground when the customer is asking for ground, aka a no-brainer. And if a shipper is asking for Express Saver, they will get pricing for us on E.S. and be very happy doing so. And if one wants Intl, Custom Critical, LTL, Ocean.... They will happily do that as well. The shipper is dictating to the carrier what they want, it is not the other way around, same as it ever was.
You guys can live with this one in denial, I know it is fact, without question and what it does is make me not believe a lot of what is going on here, it is more paranoia, anger and the continuation of making up a group conspiracy theory to explain why your situation is deteriorating. Some of the deterioration is true in our corporate world, but micro-discussing several details, it's your paranoia's and anger twisting things up some. Do this, go get a quote on Express Vs Ground Vs USPS and then ask to yourself.... If I don't have to have a package there ASAP -OR- if I put a few warehouses around the country instead of shipping from one local for everyone and to get packages there still fast... That wow.... $35 vs $10 vs $8 adds up really fast for me in savings, like millions. This is what is happening, I am deciding what I want to use Fedex for, not a Sales person. If there was some type of game going on here why is UPS and Fedex giving me competitive prices in comparable services?
For Example:
Fedex Next Day $40
UPS Next Day $40
Fedex Ground $10
UPS Ground $10
You are alluding that Ground is over-discounting and Express is over-pricing to make Ground the be all end all supreme service. I guess UPS is up to the same game with itself then. It's all an evil plan to get at Express Couriers, even UPS is against you.
I know over a half dozen sales people at Fedex (2 really close), worked with them for many years now, old one's out... new one's in. Even prior to the rise of Ground... they haven't changed their tune to me or others companies I speak with at all during this whole period. Sure they'll mention new services etc., but it is up to me to decide what fits. There is no bull from me here or guess work, I'm talking business straight to Fedex representatives. And guess what? You get a lot of 2 Day from me, because it fits. If I could I'd ship more ground even and save. This isn't rocket surgery.
It is so funny that some here will think a sales person outside my company will tell me how my customers need their packages in terms of expediency. That is not happening. I tell them my business needs, they craft a rate sheet based around that. Same as it ever was.