Peak Season

[whenIgetthere]

Like many things FedEx addresses, I expect no action until they are forced to confront it. Maybe there will be a slight lull in late summer. But otherwise, I can’t see why buying habits and volume would change very much. Especially when Covid season 2 kicks in. Around mid September is when I believe peak will start. From there, volume will be a total nightmare.

Not that I’m going to volunteer for it, but FedEx should consider adding a night shift to deliver P2 freight. And pay an hourly premium in addition to straight time. That would take some pressure off the day side.

By night shift, what hours are you thinking. SPH drop drastically after dark.

 

[It will be fine]

By night shift, what hours are you thinking. SPH drop drastically after dark.

With decent tech it’s not bad for residential delivery. My guys can stay above 20 easily in the dark. Probably lose 15% ish on average. Not great but not the worst thing in the world. I think it’s a bit more dangerous though, much harder to gauge tail swing in the dark.

 

[59 Dano]

You would be the perfect FedEx manager. You’re obtuse and reactive. You’re missing your calling.

You're right where you belong.

 

[AB831]

You're right where you belong.

In my bathroom? What the hell are you talking about?

 

[burrheadd]

With decent tech it’s not bad for residential delivery. My guys can stay above 20 easily in the dark. Probably lose 15% ish on average. Not great but not the worst thing in the world. I think it’s a bit more dangerous though, much harder to gauge tail swing in the dark.

Lol

You are definitely a glass half full kind of guy

 

[It will be fine]

Lol

You are definitely a glass half full kind of guy

It’s not that hard when you have a google map that shows the house you’re looking for is the 3rd one down from the corner and a little voice tells you you’ve arrived at your destination.

 

[McFeely]

In my bathroom? What the hell are you talking about?

You pooping bruh?

 

[MassWineGuy]

Maybe the after dark idea wouldn’t work too well. Besides, nights are when our fine fleet is repaired.

 

[bacha29]

You use this phase, or a variant of, in nearly every post. Do you think it means anything? Do you think it adds anything to any conversation?

Well. isn't your ability to handle the unsolved problems handed to you by management the basis of "building your business"? LMFAO!

 

[fedx]

Is anyone else a little anxious/curious about peak season this year? As is the case with everyone, we’re running comparable numbers with Christmas season, and we have been for the past few months. However, the experts are calling for a resurgence of the virus in the fall/winter and if that coincides with Christmas, I feel like we could get absolutely blown out beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. I haven’t seen or heard anything about making preparations or hiring, so is anyone else tight in the loins about it or am I just a nervous nelly?

One thing you can rest assured, FedEx will not be giving us a raise once again this year claiming hardship. They'll say, "we can't move you up a pay step because we're hurting so bad-never mind the record volume we're having." I know many stations have turnover just like a conveyor belt. If they want to keep employees (which is cheaper than constantly replacing employees) they need to bump up the starting pay. UPS is blowing FedEx out of the water in what they pay. Granted, UPS works their employees way harder, but FedEx is right now paying about 1/2 of what UPS does. FedEx needs to step it up to remain competitive.

 

[AB831]

You pooping bruh?

Wendy’s will do that to a man late at night.

 

[AB831]

One thing you can rest assured, FedEx will not be giving us a raise once again this year claiming hardship. They'll say, "we can't move you up a pay step because we're hurting so bad-never mind the record volume we're having." I know many stations have turnover just like a conveyor belt. If they want to keep employees (which is cheaper than constantly replacing employees) they need to bump up the starting pay. UPS is blowing FedEx out of the water in what they pay. Granted, UPS works their employees way harder, but FedEx is right now paying about 1/2 of what UPS does. FedEx needs to step it up to remain competitive.

Unfortunately, no such thing will occur. It’s a race to the bottom. The starting pay will probably decrease as Fat Freddy shifts freight over to Ground and turns Express into a part time job. If you don’t like the changes at Express, your options are to quit, retire, or suck it up. After all, “it is what it is” is the favorite line of company shills around here. If you elect to leave, you will be replaced by a 21 year old making less than half of what you were making. The strategy isn’t to compete with UPS, it’s to compete with Amazon for being the lowest paying company at the party. However, like with most things, Fat Freddy is banking on something based in his own ideals and not reality. He is envisioning a world where people are lining up like at a ride at Disneyland to come work for him for a retail wage. The opportunity to be a part of the greatest company in the world is worth more than the financial compensation. What will actually happen, is that no one will want to apply there to replace the people leaving in droves because it’s not a desirable field of work. And they will have a turnover problem like the local McDonald’s that can’t retain dope smoking 16 year olds. You’ll have tons of routes with no bodies to cover and “you guys need to absorb 605” will start becoming the norm as more and more people quit due to the burnout. Fat Freddy will reap what he’s sewn soon enough.

 

[zeev]

Ground drivers working at night 7 days a week for crappy wages and benefits where do I sign up.

 

[AB831]

Ground drivers working at night 7 days a week for crappy wages and benefits where do I sign up.

You can’t have crappy benefits when you have no benefits.

 

[It will be fine]

Well. isn't your ability to handle the unsolved problems handed to you by management the basis of "building your business"? LMFAO!

Your expectation that FedEx management would solve your problems is why you never ran a business.

 

[It will be fine]

You can’t have crappy benefits when you have no benefits.

The average Ground contractor is quickly getting to the scale where benefits are easier to provide. Soon they will all be large enough for the law to require health insurance. It won’t make any difference on turnover.

 

[bacha29]

Your expectation that FedEx management would solve your problems is why you never ran a business.

And you've never run a business either. All you're doing is carrying out the directives handed down to you by the master you serve.
Eventually you'll discover that you are in complete servitude to your one and only overlord and when you finally do discover that reality you'll quickly tire of it and will be willing to do whatever it takes to free yourself from it. That's assuming of course that some day you'll acquire the courage to stand up to him.

In the meantime you're completely free to go on kidding yourself with the delusion of having "built a business" and that you're an "independent businessman" but unfortunately you're the only one who believes it.

 

[bacha29]

Unfortunately, no such thing will occur. It’s a race to the bottom. The starting pay will probably decrease as Fat Freddy shifts freight over to Ground and turns Express into a part time job. If you don’t like the changes at Express, your options are to quit, retire, or suck it up. After all, “it is what it is” is the favorite line of company shills around here. If you elect to leave, you will be replaced by a 21 year old making less than half of what you were making. The strategy isn’t to compete with UPS, it’s to compete with Amazon for being the lowest paying company at the party. However, like with most things, Fat Freddy is banking on something based in his own ideals and not reality. He is envisioning a world where people are lining up like at a ride at Disneyland to come work for him for a retail wage. The opportunity to be a part of the greatest company in the world is worth more than the financial compensation. What will actually happen, is that no one will want to apply there to replace the people leaving in droves because it’s not a desirable field of work. And they will have a turnover problem like the local McDonald’s that can’t retain dope smoking 16 year olds. You’ll have tons of routes with no bodies to cover and “you guys need to absorb 605” will start becoming the norm as more and more people quit due to the burnout. Fat Freddy will reap what he’s sewn soon enough.

Yours is a full and complete description of the direction the entire industry is headed in. For the sake of becoming the cheapest carrier in the industry the industry has embarked on a path toward complete self destruction and in doing so invites state and or federal reregulation of that industry.

Yesterday I was informed that even the small rural Ground terminal that I hauled out of will go to 7 day a week operations the first Sunday in August. At least a full year earlier than expected. Already burdened with heavy turnover and fearful of the consequences of shifting to a split work week schedule contractors are scrambling to find weekend only drivers. Good luck with that come fall football and hunting season. A situation made even worse by the manner in which contractor employed drivers at the terminal have had their fill of being cuffed around and disciplined by management in the same manner they do their own employees. An increasingly common situation OPCO wide due to contractors in general including IWBF lacking the courage to stand up to management in defense of their employees given the fact that Fat Freddy has them locked into an economic position whereby the risk of personal economic loss should they decide to confront and oppose him renders them powerless to offer even token resistance .

I'm happy for the fact that you see that there's nothing to gain long term by staying where you are, you've decided to try to get to a better place before it's too late But. for many others "too late" has already arrived.

 

[AB831]

The average Ground contractor is quickly getting to the scale where benefits are easier to provide. Soon they will all be large enough for the law to require health insurance. It won’t make any difference on turnover.

I know you know your industry well, so I don’t mean to question you, but don’t you think with the way the winds of change are blowing, that you’re being a little optimistic. Retail stores like Target are trending towards the $15 an hour mark. The shipping industry is trending towards that same benchmark, from the opposite direction. You don’t foresee any trouble keeping personnel when people can go to Target and make the same amount of money that they could at Ground? At Target, you’ll spend half of your shift on your iPhone and smoking behind the dumpster. At Ground, you’ll have no life other than your job.

 

[AB831]

Yours is a full and complete description of the direction the entire industry is headed in. For the sake of becoming the cheapest carrier in the industry the industry has embarked on a path toward complete self destruction and in doing so invites state and or federal reregulation of that industry.

Yesterday I was informed that even the small rural Ground terminal that I hauled out of will go to 7 day a week operations the first Sunday in August. At least a full year earlier than expected. Already burdened with heavy turnover and fearful of the consequences of shifting to a split work week schedule contractors are scrambling to find weekend only drivers. Good luck with that come fall football and hunting season. A situation made even worse by the manner in which contractor employed drivers at the terminal have had their fill of being cuffed around and disciplined by management in the same manner they do their own employees. An increasingly common situation OPCO wide due to contractors in general including IWBF lacking the courage to stand up to management in defense of their employees given the fact that Fat Freddy has them locked into an economic position whereby the risk of personal economic loss should they decide to confront and oppose him renders them powerless to offer even token resistance .

I'm happy for the fact that you see that there's nothing to gain long term by staying where you are, you've decided to try to get to a better place before it's too late But. for many others "too late" has already arrived.

Exactly. Yet, you can come on here and read the daily denials from people like Dano.