MrFedEx
Engorged Member
This peak really looks like it's going to be "The One". While there are exceptions, most stations seem to be experiencing far heavier volumes than forecast by our stellar upper management team. Apparently, their calculations were just a bit off...like 50% or so.
At my station, we're thousands over projected volume, with far too few couriers and no real plan to deal with the extra volume. No runners, no temporary handlers...nothing. We're just supposed to work harder and suck it up. Bad plan, because there is a point at which you cannot "suck it up". Factor-in late freight, pulsed freight, on-road meets and bad weather, and you have a recipe for meltdown.
We're already experiencing massive DEX 01's, which others have also mentioned on this forum. We have also had several CTV's miss the outbound aircraft, and ramp shuttles do the same. Not good.
The management response? Blame the employees, of course. We just aren't "efficient" enough, and it's time to crack the whip harder. The problem with that is that nearly everyone knows how screwed-up management is, especially at the upper levels of the company, and no matter how hard they whip us, there are still going to be major problems.
Again using my station as an example, we have numerous new couriers, who can only do about 50-75% of the work of an experienced, competent courier. These are the people who leave the building with 100 stops and still have 50 to go at 1630. Pickup routes go uncovered, and customers get told to go to the drop box because "the courier isn't going to make it by close time". These are the folks who work through their pretend "break" as well...just to try and keep-up. Every afternoon, the experienced couriers get called-on to bail-out the weak links and "B Team" players, and most of them are smart enough to manage their day so they are unavailable to help anyone...a smart call.
Overall, there is a very high potential for the type of meltdown where thousands of packages sit undelivered at stations at or near Christmas. Add-in some weather, and it looks even worse.
Go to Hell, Fred.
At my station, we're thousands over projected volume, with far too few couriers and no real plan to deal with the extra volume. No runners, no temporary handlers...nothing. We're just supposed to work harder and suck it up. Bad plan, because there is a point at which you cannot "suck it up". Factor-in late freight, pulsed freight, on-road meets and bad weather, and you have a recipe for meltdown.
We're already experiencing massive DEX 01's, which others have also mentioned on this forum. We have also had several CTV's miss the outbound aircraft, and ramp shuttles do the same. Not good.
The management response? Blame the employees, of course. We just aren't "efficient" enough, and it's time to crack the whip harder. The problem with that is that nearly everyone knows how screwed-up management is, especially at the upper levels of the company, and no matter how hard they whip us, there are still going to be major problems.
Again using my station as an example, we have numerous new couriers, who can only do about 50-75% of the work of an experienced, competent courier. These are the people who leave the building with 100 stops and still have 50 to go at 1630. Pickup routes go uncovered, and customers get told to go to the drop box because "the courier isn't going to make it by close time". These are the folks who work through their pretend "break" as well...just to try and keep-up. Every afternoon, the experienced couriers get called-on to bail-out the weak links and "B Team" players, and most of them are smart enough to manage their day so they are unavailable to help anyone...a smart call.
Overall, there is a very high potential for the type of meltdown where thousands of packages sit undelivered at stations at or near Christmas. Add-in some weather, and it looks even worse.
Go to Hell, Fred.