Labor shortage concern at Fedex

[bacha29]

No question there will be many millions spent on hub and satellite automation and mechanization but what will be done in the "final mile" portion of the transaction? For the foreseeable future it will still require an ocean of manpower at least at Ground to load up those crates much of it stolen off the LTL's drive it out and try and find the place often no names, no numbers, nothing, then literally drag it up stairs down into cellars up onto the back porch etc. Right now there would appear to be nothing on the horizon in the way of a transportable machine with the ability to lift and move heavy crates across a variety of terrain along with the traction to move across ice or through deep snow or up steep inclines or stairways.

As was pointed out earlier the US birthrate is currently the lowest since 1930 . Combine that with the required physical endurance, medical card, clean drug test, speak clear discernable English and clean driving record plus the low pay and the overall undesirable nature of the work itself finding a person who can withstand the physical beating and be willing to take governance over a route on a continuous daily basis.... you'll just have to wait and see how many are still out there.

Based on available census and demographic data there just might not be as many out there as some of you think.

 

[59 Dano]

And then a smartass like me will point out that that says more about you than the 10 year guy.

The librarian who lives 10 miles out that takes delivery at the library.

The mother of the guy who lives 15 miles out who will sign for DSR that works in town at the convenience store.

The….. you get the drift. Right?

Of course. And most of that information you'll learn in the first year or so, none of which makes or breaks the route.

Sweetheart, that’s why we were trained to Indirect.

Indirecting a DSR to someone other than the recipient? I'd fire someone for that.

 

[59 Dano]

Look if "anyone can do the job" than anyone would... the fact is turnover is at a all time high because not just anyone can do the job,
-we have <5yr drivers on a single route who still map everything on roadwarrior, and still do horribly.
-we have new hires who drive into the garage doors trying to pull out of the building,
-we have management that doesn't care about actually making service.
-we have engineers that decided to make changes and hope for the best. <- this was told to us "they'll make the change and tweak it afterword" instead of consulting with the loops before, now they are having emergency loop meetings to fix it.

about the only ones who care is the mechanic and the senior crrs who stand in disbelief of what is happening. the good crrs are doing what they can, but you can only tread water for so long with your hands tied.

They're hiring anyone with a pulse and barely giving them any training. I don't know about your particular station, but things are working decently considering the circumstances.

 

[59 Dano]

No question there will be many millions spent on hub and satellite automation and mechanization but what will be done in the "final mile" portion of the transaction? For the foreseeable future it will still require an ocean of manpower at least at Ground to load up those crates much of it stolen off the LTL's drive it out and try and find the place often no names, no numbers, nothing, then literally drag it up stairs down into cellars up onto the back porch etc. Right now there would appear to be nothing on the horizon in the way of a transportable machine with the ability to lift and move heavy crates across a variety of terrain along with the traction to move across ice or through deep snow or up steep inclines or stairways.

As was pointed out earlier the US birthrate is currently the lowest since 1930 . Combine that with the required physical endurance, medical card, clean drug test, speak clear discernable English and clean driving record plus the low pay and the overall undesirable nature of the work itself finding a person who can withstand the physical beating and be willing to take governance over a route on a continuous daily basis.... you'll just have to wait and see how many are still out there.

Based on available census and demographic data there just might not be as many out there as some of you think.

I use Google when I'm having a computer issue. I plug in the symptoms and search. There's that one guy on every tech help site who immediately advises you to gather up a couple hundred bucks in computer-specific tools, go to a clean room, take the whole thing apart, and diagnose all soldered connections of every component.

The answer is always something simple like making sure the video card isn't loose in the slot.

 

[bacha29]

I use Google when I'm having a computer issue. I plug in the symptoms and search. There's that one guy on every tech help site who immediately advises you to gather up a couple hundred bucks in computer-specific tools, go to a clean room, take the whole thing apart, and diagnose all soldered connections of every component.

The answer is always something simple like making sure the video card isn't loose in the slot.

And your point is?

 

[fedx]

FedEx executives claiming they had to up the pay to gain package handlers, well that's only at their superhubs. Most ramps have not seen a pay increase in any jobs in the past few years. We have a shortage of package handlers (and RTDs) at my ramp and the company is still offering the same low starting pay from 3 years ago to try to attract them. It's not working either. Then those executives say they had to 'tweak' how they are handling their labor shortage. Tweak means making the remaining handlers work extra hours to burn them out even more, which leads to them quitting, which leaves even more tweaking for the remaining handlers. It's a downward spiral. The solution is simple, you increase pay to draw people in, but FedEx is in denial. They don't think pay is the issue (even though they know it is). It shows the level of disconnect between the executives and the front line workers. The company has a massive increase in volume which means an increase in revenue to cover the cost of increasing pay to hire more employees, but they want to squander that extra revenue in the form of bonuses for executives.

 

[SmithBarney]

They're hiring anyone with a pulse and barely giving them any training. I don't know about your particular station, but things are working decently considering the circumstances.

Define Decently? It's not good at all.

 

[!Retired!]

Our Unload handlers are getting over 20 an hr, plus 2 hr for surge pay (whatever that is) and close to if not over 50 hrs a week. FedEx still can’t hire enough people for to fill the void.

They can offer $25/hr. Until the 'stay at home bonus' goes away, there's no reason for anyone to apply

Sweetheart, that’s why we were trained to Indirect.

Indirect a DSR?

 

[Fred's Myth]

Indirecting a DSR to someone other than the recipient? I'd fire someone for that.

They can offer $25/hr. Until the 'stay at home bonus' goes away, there's no reason for anyone to apply

Indirect a DSR?

Mea culpa. ISR, not DSR.

That’s the third mistake I’ve ever made.

First one, I thought I was wrong, but I was right.
Second one, I was wrong just to see what it felt like.

 

[Fred's Myth]

They're hiring anyone with a pulse and barely giving them any training. I don't know about your particular station, but things are working decently considering the circumstances.

Koolaid overdose!

 

[Basement Dweller]

Our superhub was so short staffed today they couldn't even field a whole input line. We're something like 36 people short of the bare absolute minimum. This is also considering they brought in temps. Without temps we can't even do two input lines (3 is the standard). The result? A 3 hour sort delay and it wasn't even that heavy in volume. Part Timers are not obliged to stay the required 10-12 hours required to finish everything up, so it further pushes the few remaining people to stay even longer. I came in at 7 AM and left at 9 PM. This is summer season. Peak 2021 is going to be so bad even the veteran koolaid drinkers are going to quit and move on.

FedEx executives claiming they had to up the pay to gain package handlers, well that's only at their superhubs.

Nope! They ended that with our shift after March. Only nightshift gets a pay bump, and that's only to encourage people to pick up that shift and not any other. It's terrible too because I spend almost 1/3rd of my shift cleaning up their mess, they get to leave at 10 AM no matter what even if there's thousands of boxes on the floor.

 

[Aquaman]

FedEx executives claiming they had to up the pay to gain package handlers, well that's only at their superhubs. Most ramps have not seen a pay increase in any jobs in the past few years. We have a shortage of package handlers (and RTDs) at my ramp and the company is still offering the same low starting pay from 3 years ago to try to attract them. It's not working either. Then those executives say they had to 'tweak' how they are handling their labor shortage. Tweak means making the remaining handlers work extra hours to burn them out even more, which leads to them quitting, which leaves even more tweaking for the remaining handlers. It's a downward spiral. The solution is simple, you increase pay to draw people in, but FedEx is in denial. They don't think pay is the issue (even though they know it is). It shows the level of disconnect between the executives and the front line workers. The company has a massive increase in volume which means an increase in revenue to cover the cost of increasing pay to hire more employees, but they want to squander that extra revenue in the form of bonuses for executives.

This company has the perfect storm of pay problems. It’s a multi tiered issue. It isn’t just new hire pay. It’s 10-20 year employees no where close to top out. So not only do they need to bump handler pay $3 - $4 per hour everywhere. But they need to top out thousands of employees WAAAAAY behind in pay progression. Then you have topped out drivers on nice day routes getting tired of the “response” garbage. It’s a nightmare and the company has earned it. If drivers made what we should make, they’d only have to worry about handler pay. Unfortunately they’ve royally screwed up the entire hourly operation regarding pay.

 

[Freightwizard2012]

This company has the perfect storm of pay problems. It’s a multi tiered issue. It isn’t just new hire pay. It’s 10-20 year employees no where close to top out. So not only do they need to bump handler pay $3 - $4 per hour everywhere. But they need to top out thousands of employees WAAAAAY behind in pay progression. Then you have topped out drivers on nice day routes getting tired of the “response” garbage. It’s a nightmare and the company has earned it. If drivers made what we should make, they’d only have to worry about handler pay. Unfortunately they’ve royally screwed up the entire hourly operation regarding pay.

I didn’t really realize it was that bad at express. At Freight everyone reaches the top out rate in 3 years or less, for the most part.

 

[zeev]

The slowing birth rate has slowed the influx of box tossers, also the physical condition of most young handlers is atrocious. Obese flabby unable to move there is not an unending supply of handlers and much competition from Amazon UPS and now fast food.

 

[Aquaman]

I didn’t really realize it was that bad at express. At Freight everyone reaches the top out rate in 3 years or less, for the most part.

Idk why they have a setup like that at Freight. Then leave Express RTD’s on the 20+ year courier scale lol. The people running the show at Express probably aren’t even aware Freight is cherry picking their drivers. Everyone is pretty clueless over here.

 

[zeev]

Freight is a conglomeration of trucking companies, they are veteran drivers and know the company does not love them, only the threat of the Teamsters gives them the wages and benefits they have earned.

 

[Cactus]

Everyone is pretty clueless over here.

^^^^ This ^^^^
Too many corporate thugs worried about their own careers/asses/stock portfolios to even take notice.

 

[Aquaman]

I dont

^^^^ This ^^^^
Too many corporate thugs worried about their own careers/asses/stock portfolios to even take notice.

I don’t even think they know it takes 20 years to top out lol. So many other things they have to worry about.

 

[MAKAVELI]

I dont

I don’t even think they know it takes 20 years to top out lol. So many other things they have to worry about.

Like making that 9:00 tee time.

 

[Freightwizard2012]

Freight is a conglomeration of trucking companies, they are veteran drivers and know the company does not love them, only the threat of the Teamsters gives them the wages and benefits they have earned.

Yeah, we had a union scare a few years ago. Ever since then the company has bent over backwards for the drivers.