It will be fine
Well-Known Member
I would guess there's more than one terminal in KC
New branding!
- Thread starter STFXG
- Start date
There has to be more than one.
Or.......they keep the name of the corporation (contractor) they bought out and have many mini companies.....while X looks the other way and sees nothing, knows nothing that their fair haired is doing. It's happening in the terminal I used to park in. This way the teamsters would have to organize all the companies, if they try to organize one at a time the owner just sells to a relative for a buck and organizing starts all over again.
TeamLift
Well-Known Member
The hell they are
Ground drivers are the employees of the route contractor and they are not directly employed by Fedex Ground. However all meaningful command and control is the exclusive domain of Fedex Ground.
What is the most valuable asset a company has?
What takes years to achieve and establish?
What creates customer loyalty?
THE BRAND!
Many will disagree with me, and I respect those differences, however X is doing something more than just eliminating customer confusion by this color change. They are positioning themselves to establish one image for their brand. Then exert complete control by bringing all departments under one hierarchy.
Technology and increasing control mechanisms have pushed this service towards an employee status which will continue to present unavoidable consequences. The introduction of new competitors using the contractor model has exposed this scam and created more scrutiny.
X KNOWSthe days are numbered. Consider ISP as another delay tactic, but also a genius ploy to reduce the number of contractors that will be impacted, enjoy the complete loyalty of the few that will remain because they are over leveraged and completely reliant on X revenue, then they will end this model.
This will take a few years to achieve, but this is the only option for X to remain competitive for the long term....
Believe this, the Brand is more valuable than profit margins.
What takes years to achieve and establish?
What creates customer loyalty?
THE BRAND!
Many will disagree with me, and I respect those differences, however X is doing something more than just eliminating customer confusion by this color change. They are positioning themselves to establish one image for their brand. Then exert complete control by bringing all departments under one hierarchy.
Technology and increasing control mechanisms have pushed this service towards an employee status which will continue to present unavoidable consequences. The introduction of new competitors using the contractor model has exposed this scam and created more scrutiny.
X KNOWSthe days are numbered. Consider ISP as another delay tactic, but also a genius ploy to reduce the number of contractors that will be impacted, enjoy the complete loyalty of the few that will remain because they are over leveraged and completely reliant on X revenue, then they will end this model.
This will take a few years to achieve, but this is the only option for X to remain competitive for the long term....
Believe this, the Brand is more valuable than profit margins.
The stock price is more valuable than the brand and for the stock to have value it has to have above average profit margins. Now due to increased competition the most readily accessible way to stabilize margins is to rob from contractor margins by means of revenue cuts achieved through so called "negotiations". It's all pretty simple. Will the contractor model be transformed into an employee model? Not until the later half of the next decade at the earliest and only until legislation and or court rulings render the Teamsters and unions in general completely powerless and by that time most if not all current "entrepreneurs" will have sold for whatever price they can get and be long gone.
8 Hour Day
Well-Known Member
Wow. Didn't see this coming. On my route with Brown, and in my personal neighborhood, the difference between Express and Ground/HomeDelivery is obvious. I consider the Express drivers to be every bit the pros the guys in Brown are. Ground/Home scares the crap out of me... driving around with boxes on their dash, eating, music blaring, paperwork in their hands, crap trucks, nosing into driveways, leaving trucks running... If I were Express, I'd be ticked to be further related to them.
Sure, there are good Ground/HomeDelivery folks, but not many in my neck of the woods.
Sure, there are good Ground/HomeDelivery folks, but not many in my neck of the woods.
It's not a reflection on the individual driver but rather it points to a contractor forced due to settlements under heavy downward pressure to take whatever he can get in the way of employees and would most certainly would rather have a more professional looking employee but he can't compete in that arena and has to take what his compensation package will get for him.
overflowed
Well-Known Member
I've always noticed the ground contractors that are usually very outspoken are quite mum at these posts. crickets...
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
Mostly because it's old. The express guy in my neighborhood always noses into my driveway. There's a ups guy in my delivery area that is always holding a cell phone to his ear driving around. There are bad drivers in every opco, you guys just like to rag on Ground so you can feel superior to someone. The reality is the public views us all the same.
8 Hour Day
Well-Known Member
No, there's a very clear difference. I'm sure there are plenty of Ground contractors that are wonderful drivers, but that's the exception rather than the rule. And yeah, there are idiots at Brown and Express. The difference, however, is in accountability. The corporate side of FedEx Ground isn't nearly as accountable for their contractors' screw ups as Express or Brown is. As a result, the training and oversight isn't there.
If I hit something or someone with my truck, it's UPS that is held accountable. The same goes for Express... it's FedEx. For Ground? It's that contractor who owns the route. The results are predictable and obvious - nationwide.
It gets even worse when the guy who owns the route(s) just hires some kids to run those routes for roughly the equivalent of minimum wage. Ground's driver turn-over rate must be enormous.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
You are incorrect. Fedex insures every ground truck while it is under dispatch. They are liable, which is why they have strict standards to be approved as a driver. Try again.
With contractors having to train new hires at their expense many are entry level workers looking to acquire something in the way of a work history they hope will propel them into something better despite the fact that many lack the education and in demand skills needed to move them above a hand to mouth existence Many are lacking in maturity and the judgement that goes with maturity. Something that the driving requirements cannot determine.Most contractors are doing their best to provide the best compensation package they can but are under heavy settlement pressure making that hard to do. There's no denying the fact that it's a poor set up but it does what it was intended to do and that was to make Fedex Ground by it's founders own admission the most profitable transportation company in the industry .
STFXG
Well-Known Member
The express guy in one of my areas has been cruising around in a new Transit with no cargo partition and no decals for over a month. What's the point in throwing out anecdotal evidence? Doesn't prove anything.
I saw one of the newly rebranded Ground trailers today, looks identical to an Express rig other than the MUCH smaller "Ground" the under the Fedex logo. The Ground wording is the only about 12" long and is very small.
I suspect the reason for this is that Ground has a bad reputation and they have been getting pulled into secondary inspection at a much higher rate than Express. One way to avoid this issue is to camouflage your trailers to make them appear to be that of a safer company.
I suspect the reason for this is that Ground has a bad reputation and they have been getting pulled into secondary inspection at a much higher rate than Express. One way to avoid this issue is to camouflage your trailers to make them appear to be that of a safer company.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
Appear is definitely the key word there.
It's really a joke when a company has resort to camouflage.
It the safety area looks can be deceiving but the numbers don't lie and I expect that given Ground's safety record there will indeed be a day of reckoning sometime in the not too distant future.
Route 66
Slapped Upside-da-Head Member
This is just going to result in Express getting more closely scrutinized at the scale houses. We know that nothing is going to change other than all those upside-down Ground trailers burning in the ditches will now be wearing orange.
Even to the DOT - we'll all be Ground now.
So glad to be in the homestretch.
Even to the DOT - we'll all be Ground now.
So glad to be in the homestretch.
Code 82 Approved
Titanium Plus+ Level Member with benefits!
2 linehaul trucks parked side by side at the truckstop, 1 truck is shaking back and forth and a man is screaming from inside. Police show up to investigate, they knock on the door and out jumps a naked driver with nothing more than a body just covered in tattoos. When asked what the hell is going on the driver says "working as directed, dispatch said meet here and swap loads"
