Peak Season

[It will be fine]

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.

Most of my drivers make in the mid 20s/hr if you break it down by hour. They get health benefits, 2 weeks paid vaca, paid holidays, average 40 hours a week. Retail is dying, there aren’t going to be as many unskilled jobs available when brick and mortar continues to dissolve.

It all depends on the contractor and how they run their operation. I have high expectations and my guys get paid well when they meet them. If they are the type of person that wants to lay around doing nothing they can go somewhere and get that $15/hr. Some contractors will take the crap drivers, pay crap and get crap productivity. I don’t think they’ll last long with the changes rolling out in the Ground network. Our pay per stop is going down to remain the cheapest carrier, productivity per truck will have to increase to make up for it. If your workforce is disgruntled slobs that you pay poorly you won’t make it.

 

[AB831]

Most of my drivers make in the mid 20s/hr if you break it down by hour. They get health benefits, 2 weeks paid vaca, paid holidays, average 40 hours a week. Retail is dying, there aren’t going to be as many unskilled jobs available when brick and mortar continues to dissolve.

It all depends on the contractor and how they run their operation. I have high expectations and my guys get paid well when they meet them. If they are the type of person that wants to lay around doing nothing they can go somewhere and get that $15/hr. Some contractors will take the crap drivers, pay crap and get crap productivity. I don’t think they’ll last long with the changes rolling out in the Ground network. Our pay per stop is going down to remain the cheapest carrier, productivity per truck will have to increase to make up for it. If your workforce is disgruntled slobs that you pay poorly you won’t make it.

Are you the exception or the norm? It sounds like a pretty good deal working for you. The second scenario you listed sounds awful. Again, I’m asking you to pick your brain, not to challenge you.

 

[It will be fine]

Are you the exception or the norm? It sounds like a pretty good deal working for you. The second scenario you listed sounds awful. Again, I’m asking you to pick your brain, not to challenge you.

I don’t know exactly what other contractors pay. I think I’m above average in compensation. I rarely lose drivers to other contractors and drivers that work for other contractors often come asking for a job from me. I know some of those actually get paid more from the contractor they work for but the area they deliver is more stressful.
The increasing productivity demand is going to be a challenge. I think the expectations of FedEx are too high and there’s going to have to be widespread failure for them to adjust.

 

[59 Dano]

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

Behind the wheel and with practically no input - where you belong.

 

[AB831]

Behind the wheel and with practically no input - where you belong.

Yeah, I’m a driver for FedEx during this season of my life. What Forbes list job do you have?

 

[59 Dano]

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.

This is the same prediction that's been posted here a few times a month for the past ten years. Always long on why the company will fail at any moment, always short on why all the other predictions were wrong and why the company continued to grow.

 

[59 Dano]

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

I'm supposed to take bacha seriously?

 

[59 Dano]

Yeah, I’m a driver for FedEx during this season of my life. What Forbes list job do you have?

Don't have one. Then again, I'm not an armchair QB endlessly critiquing those above me when I've never once had the levels of responsibility that they've had.

 

[AB831]

Don't have one. Then again, I'm not an armchair QB endlessly critiquing those above me when I've never once had the levels of responsibility that they've had.

LMFAO levels of responsibility. Okay. When questioned, pass the buck to the next guy and turn the page. Sounds so oppressive.

 

[bacha29]

Are you the exception or the norm? It sounds like a pretty good deal working for you. The second scenario you listed sounds awful. Again, I’m asking you to pick your brain, not to challenge you.

What he isn't telling you is that he operates in the Boston Metro area which is among the higher cost of living areas of the country making what he offers only slightly better than a hand to mouth existence. Even in the sparsely populated rural area where I live tree climbers and trimmers working on nonengerized right of ways start out at $17 and that's the bottom starting rate.
Yes, what he offers is better than the norm but has to be measured against the other existing factors.

 

[burrheadd]

Most of my drivers make in the mid 20s/hr i

have high expectations and my guys get paid well when they meet them

Lmao you really are a trip

 

[It will be fine]

Lmao you really are a trip

What’s the wage for a full time UPS driver in year 1?

 

[It will be fine]

What’s the wage for a full time UPS driver in year 1?

Never mind. Looked it up.
Start $21
1 year $23
2 year $24
3 year $28.75
4 year full rate.
So after 3 full years of driving my guys would be better off at UPS. They’d likely have to spend a few years as a part timer inside before they even started driving. But go ahead and act superior @burrheadd. Lol, most people don’t spend their lives slinging cardboard. It’s a job to do for a few years.

 

[burrheadd]

What’s the wage for a full time UPS driver in year 1?

Better add the bene’s if you want to compare apples to apples

 

[It will be fine]

Better add the bene’s if you want to compare apples to apples

I offer health insurance. How much do you think it costs for a kid in their 20’s? It’s not much. How many years do you need to be vested in the pension? Or the 401k? Benefits aren’t a big deal if you’re a young kid looking for work. Making a life of this job is a terrible life choice.

 

[burrheadd]

I offer health insurance. How much do you think it costs for a kid in their 20’s? It’s not much. How many years do you need to be vested in the pension? Or the 401k? Benefits aren’t a big deal if you’re a young kid looking for work. Making a life of this job is a terrible life choice.

So nobody wants a 100k a year job after 4 years with no education

Ohh-k keep believing that

 

[Wally]

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?

Work until you run out of hours, come in. The company should be nervous, not you.

 

[It will be fine]

So nobody wants a 100k a year job after 4 years with no education

Ohh-k keep believing that

4 years? Be honest, what’s the average time spent as part time? You’re the one arguing nobody wants a 50k/yr job walking in off the street. Keep believing that.

 

[It will be fine]

Work until you run out of hours, come in. The company should be nervous, not you.

Some people stress when the company they work for is a mess. It’s not a great work environment.

 

[zeev]

UPS hiring full time off the street now. If there is no future in Ground why stay 4 years?