Looking Ahead

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wkmac

Guest
I posted this on another board but thought I'd throw it out here to see what the thoughts of you guys are.

Now That The Contract Is Done

What will be interesting to watch is not the stock price but what happens with UPS' customer base and FedEX Ground. With a 6 year agreement in hand, a growing presence in Asia with the ability now to offer a lower cost transport via Ocean Liner verses Air coupled with the ability to take from production site directly to end user, will this translate into just more delivery volume or will it couple with further growth domestically especially on the ground side? Will this in turn put added pressure on FedEx Ground and force them to lower prices still in order to attract further volume? What will drive the market, price or service or a combination of both? IMO, the next 6 to 9 months for UPS will be very important and in this timeframe could relegate FedEx Ground to just another minor player or see them become a real foe at the very market we to some extent created and dominated for years. Could be fun to watch! JMO.
 
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upsdude

Guest
Ive noticed an increase (15 20 stops a day) in volume on my route. Im also delivering packages from shippers that are new to my area. Air volume is holding steady. The biggest complaint I hear from customers about FedX is that as many as 3 different drivers bring their shipments on a daily basis.
 
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thedrooler

Guest
Something else that might be interesting to watch is the master freight negotiations. If the teamsters play hardball, some freight outfits may be unable to afford them. If this forces anyone out of business, you can bet UPS will be there offering logistics services to take up the slack.

Drooler
 
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wkmac

Guest
We've picked up an air account at my location in the last few days with a 100 or more daily and another account with lots of international. Our ground volume is up and several nights this week hitting near peak season numbers. When I got to work Friday I talked with a BD person I know and the news made my day. IMO, things appear very good in our area.

Drooler, you bring up an excellent point. I was surprised myself to see UPS give in the area of pension and benefits after what happened in 97'. I find it hard to believe that UPS felt that threatened at the bargaining table. My feeling is the Teamsters will hit hard on the Freight companies to pony up especially since many of recent have posted some good profits. When you play chess to win sometimes you must sacrifice a piece or 2 to gain a strategic advantage and that is what I think UPS has done. JMO.
 
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proups

Guest
Another good place to look and see where UPS is headed is ups.com. Go look at all of the businesses we are in. We not only have Logistics, we have UPS Capital, Freight Services (Fritz), and several more subsidiaries that will provide us the ability to not only help people run their businesses, but we can now go in and tell them that we can ship anything they manufacture anywhere in the world. Buy some stock!
 
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deliver_man

Guest
I was surprised myself to see UPS give in the area of pension and benefits after what happened in 97'. I find it hard to believe that UPS felt that threatened at the bargaining table.

Well, in all honesty, I don't think they felt that threatened. They agreed to a contract that they know is well within their spending limits based on their predictions for future growth and profits. And volume is growing again in my area as well, we had to put in 2 split routes all last week just in my group to handle all the excess. Very encouraging
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