Numbers or The Purple Promise?

[upsyo]

So you don't think that UPS undercuts our pricing? Happens all the time. One example I can give you is John Deere. Their contract expires every 5 years I believe, and when it does FedEx sends a team of sales people in to try to negotiate a new one as it is a lot of Int'l/large/priority/FO/SAT shipping. They take our proposal to UPS and say "Beat it" which UPS then does. They screwed us after the UPS strike in '97 after we were bringing in 2 additional planes just for them, we went on good faith that they would continue to ship with us, but shortly after the strike ended they moved most of their volume back to UPS. They still ship enough with us to get a decent discount and keep us on the hook, but ship far more with UPS. Coincidence that they are both union companies and basically use us as a bargaining tool? I don't know.....

Also, Amazon ships a lot of Saturday, a surcharge for which we don't discount, only the base shipping charges.

Fedex fumbled the john deere account. I wasn't around at the time but I heard they screwed up pretty bad so they came back to us.

 

[bbsam]

Fedex fumbled the john deere account. I wasn't around at the time but I heard they screwed up pretty bad so they came back to us.

Yes and no. I was around for that. JD was with us to protect themselves from another possible strike at UPS. Also, alot of JD parts distributors weren't getting deliveries until late in the day when they had been used to getting it earlier. Very high maintenance account kind of like American Honda but we've had them for years now and doesn't seem like they are going anywhere.

 

[Cactus]

Very high maintenance account kind of like American Honda but we've had them for years now and doesn't seem like they are going anywhere.

Don't get too comfortable.

 

[bbsam]

Don't get too comfortable.

Right. Because all the Fedex customers are ready to jump ship and go running elsewhere, right? Just around the corner. Gotcha.

 

[FedEx2000]

Yes and no. I was around for that. JD was with us to protect themselves from another possible strike at UPS. Also, alot of JD parts distributors weren't getting deliveries until late in the day when they had been used to getting it earlier. Very high maintenance account kind of like American Honda but we've had them for years now and doesn't seem like they are going anywhere.

With all the hoops we jumped through for AH at the location I was at, they would only switch if it was a corporate decision. We went in and redesigned their warehouse/shipping layout, got them discounts on new rollers/belt systems, etc. We had 6 handlers staffed there everyday, scanning/loading/labeling everything for them. We were able to get it down to 2 after all the changes....brought the others back to the station sort. Had a good relationship with their mgrs also, they were very reasonable and easy to work with.

 

[bbsam]

With all the hoops we jumped through for AH at the location I was at, they would only switch if it was a corporate decision. We went in and redesigned their warehouse/shipping layout, got them discounts on new rollers/belt systems, etc. We had 6 handlers staffed there everyday, scanning/loading/labeling everything for them. We were able to get it down to 2 after all the changes....brought the others back to the station sort. Had a good relationship with their mgrs also, they were very reasonable and easy to work with.

That sounds about right. Every now and then we get a call from the local AH warehouse (usually about delivery times somewhere) but still they seem happy with the service overall.

 

[FedExer267]

Yes and no. I was around for that. JD was with us to protect themselves from another possible strike at UPS. Also, alot of JD parts distributors weren't getting deliveries until late in the day when they had been used to getting it earlier. Very high maintenance account kind of like American Honda but we've had them for years now and doesn't seem like they are going anywhere.

 

[FedExer267]

High maintenance accounts my favorite. We all know everybody wants to be the first delivery and the last pick up of the day. I usually deliever when I pick up. Not many drivers want to drive across 4 or 5 zipcodes knocking off all the big accounts first. I have some customers that dont mind and some that ask if I can get there earlier, after explaning to them how big my route is they typically seem to understand. I usually tell them Ground has no commit time as long as we are there by the end of the business day.
You just cant make everyone happy but there are other options to any business. They either get use to it or they switch to someone else.

 

[MrFedEx]

Don't get too comfortable.

Customers are about as faithful as Hollywood celebrities. Whoever discounts the most usually gets the account.

 

[FedExer267]

aint that the truth. it dosen't matter how much they like you and I have had a few accounts tell me that Ups is offering pickups for cheaper than us. Its all about getting the business. I do know one of the big pluses for UPS is you have one driver to pick up everything.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Friday job is worthwhile.

Eloquence and brevity.