franknitty
Well-Known Member
I was informed today that some FedEx Office Stores will be closing their doors permanently. Any truth to this rumor ?
R1a Question
- Thread starter franknitty
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Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
There have been closings of Office locations.
Locations whose revenue over the past couple of years has been sub-par (store expenses exceed revenue) have been closing as the lease on their location comes up. The personnel in these stores are offered positions in nearby stores to avoid having any layoffs.
Office knows which locations they are closing about 6 months before the location actually closes, so they place hiring freezes on the location and surrounding locations a few months before the location closing. They are actually doing a decent job in NOT laying people off, but rather transferring them to other locations. I believe that Office has the capability to offer positions in other locations up to 20 miles away from the closing store. If the employee turns down the offer, then they are considered to have voluntarily terminated their employment.
Locations whose revenue over the past couple of years has been sub-par (store expenses exceed revenue) have been closing as the lease on their location comes up. The personnel in these stores are offered positions in nearby stores to avoid having any layoffs.
Office knows which locations they are closing about 6 months before the location actually closes, so they place hiring freezes on the location and surrounding locations a few months before the location closing. They are actually doing a decent job in NOT laying people off, but rather transferring them to other locations. I believe that Office has the capability to offer positions in other locations up to 20 miles away from the closing store. If the employee turns down the offer, then they are considered to have voluntarily terminated their employment.
franknitty
Well-Known Member
franknitty
Well-Known Member
Thank-you R1a for your reply. Your response matches up exactly with the information that was shared with me. The first reason this person said this particular store was closing was that it hasn't made a profit since it been open. Informed a couple employees there sometime ago about the constant changes the entire FedEx Corporation has been making the past few years, but these guys thought their jobs were permanent. One of the store's employees was just hired for a different position at another store, so that person's job is secure at a different location. The rest of the employees there are still in shock and say they're just going to collect unemployment for a while. FedEx doesn't like paying unemployment benefits, but the remaining 4 workers seem to think FedEx is going unemployment to them. It's kind of sad but many of the changes that have been discussed in this forum regarding FedEx are taking place as we speak, ESPECIALLY if you are a TOPPED OUT pay employee, which I am.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
I was led to believe by people here that the company should never change anything and that FedEx should keep all operations going as usual even if the business climate/economy didn't justify it.
Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
If there is an Office location within 20 miles (or so) of a closing location, any remaining wage employees at the closing location will be offered positions at one of the locations within that 20 mile radius. Office obviously tries to move them to understaffed locations, but if all locations are up to manning levels, Office will over-man the location to ensure they won't have to offer unemployment. From what I've heard, the tactic is to offer a position at another location and if the employee turns down all offers, then the employee is considered to have voluntarily terminated their employment and FedEx is relieved of any unemployment consideration. Most employees don't understand this at the moment the announcement (for their closing location) is done - they think they are eligible for unemployment, they are not.
Many of the entry level workers at Office locations are college students (much like the Kinko's of old). These students don't have the ability to commute to locations distant from the location where they live. For others, the added time and expense in commuting to a location which may be 10 to 20 miles more distant from where they are living simply isn't worth the added effort for a part-time job. These employees then simply work up until the store closes and "quit". I do know a store which closed which offered positions at a store right at the 20 mile radius - I think all of the employees took the offer, since there were and are no jobs in the area for them to take. Their saving grace was the existance of mass transit which enabled them to get to the location without too much hassle.
I believe that Office offers a tuition reimbursement package of $5,000 a year (compared to Express' $3,000/yr) - this is what is keeping the employees in - particularily the part-time college students. Their actual wage rate is actually very close to an Express handler's, Office wouldn't be able to keep people around for long at that wage rate considering the hectic pace at which they run these employees - if it weren't for the "boosted" tuition reimbursement.
What FedEx is doing, is keeping total hours at the subsequently over-manned locations relatively constant, and "spreading out" the hours assigned to their part-time employees. They then rely on the expected gradual attrition (yes, that is a FedEx wide tactic) to bring any overstaffed locations back down to planned manning.
The managers of the locations which close are offered positions at other stores on a nationwide basis.
Many of the entry level workers at Office locations are college students (much like the Kinko's of old). These students don't have the ability to commute to locations distant from the location where they live. For others, the added time and expense in commuting to a location which may be 10 to 20 miles more distant from where they are living simply isn't worth the added effort for a part-time job. These employees then simply work up until the store closes and "quit". I do know a store which closed which offered positions at a store right at the 20 mile radius - I think all of the employees took the offer, since there were and are no jobs in the area for them to take. Their saving grace was the existance of mass transit which enabled them to get to the location without too much hassle.
I believe that Office offers a tuition reimbursement package of $5,000 a year (compared to Express' $3,000/yr) - this is what is keeping the employees in - particularily the part-time college students. Their actual wage rate is actually very close to an Express handler's, Office wouldn't be able to keep people around for long at that wage rate considering the hectic pace at which they run these employees - if it weren't for the "boosted" tuition reimbursement.
What FedEx is doing, is keeping total hours at the subsequently over-manned locations relatively constant, and "spreading out" the hours assigned to their part-time employees. They then rely on the expected gradual attrition (yes, that is a FedEx wide tactic) to bring any overstaffed locations back down to planned manning.
The managers of the locations which close are offered positions at other stores on a nationwide basis.
Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
The overwhelming majority of FedEx wage employees don't have the acumen to see things from "a strictly business standpoint". This isn't their fault, they're employees and not educated in the methods of business operations. They punch a clock, do their job and believe the BS that they get from their managers and monthly videos they are forced to watch. When the hammer is dropped on them, the reaction that "franknitty" described (still in shock) is common place.
When the pension plan was gutted in Express, I still remember the "shock" among all the "loyal" employees of Express (the ones who bled purple up until that time). They couldn't believe that the company that had "People, Service, Profit" and "FedEx Cares" would devastate their pension. Many just subsequently accepted the fact and carried on, others got real pissed off and either made plans to get out or to start trying to fight back (or both).
What you and I take for granted (the writing on the wall), simply isn't within the ability of most Express (or Office)employees to fully digest. You've seen the disbelief of many Express employees on this forum over the years - they simply couldn't or WOULDN'T believe that their employer was planning on dumping on them while feeding them all the BS at work telling them to "remain calm" and "all is well".
Well now, FedEx has made the decision to pull the trigger on their plan. They are doing it slowly, but it is obvious beyond any doubt that the decision has been made - a decision to execute a business plan which I and a couple of others here have been detailing as much as possible over the past 2.5 years. You're going to be reading a lot of "shock" in this forum over the coming months.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
Since when do most employees have training courses in the way the company runs their business?
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
Employees by and large don't care or pay attention until it affects them. Express volume has been in decline for a while now, and the company has made that point over and over. Employees don't care. Some don't even believe it! This guy is an extreme example, but he swears that volume in his station isn't down (they've just cut 2 routes) because his truck "is as full as it's ever been." The only people shocked by the killing of the FedEx defined benefit pension plan are those who haven't been paying attention to the rest of the nation for any of the last 20 years as employers have been converting to defined contribution plans.
A general awareness is not that much to ask.
Are you making the point that I really am a business owner and not a misclassified employee? My how the times are a changin'! If only MFE could see us now!
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
Well......why not? All FedEx drivers are misclassified.
Really, we were so convincing that you actually believed it? Will miracles never cease?!!
I say we all chip in and help the company achieve that extra billion in profit. Come on people, get with the program!
Nah, that's just Ground drivers.
Told a coworker about this today. He said if it does happen he's going to GFT it, LOL!!
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
In all seriousness, the best ideas about how the company should be run come from those who think the margin of profit doesn't matter as long as the opco is in the black.
Well then I guess we'll just have to accept our lot in life. Don't expect anything for your efforts, it's just good enough to have a job. What's important is the twinkle in the eye of major stock owners when they look in the WSJ and see the share price is up! Or when they see the 3000th sports event sponsored by FedEx on tv at the clubhouse and turn to their golf buddies and say "Hey, better get in on that action! They made me $5k last week!"
Rhoderunner
Well-Known Member
That's priceless !!!! Go get em tiger !!
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
Alrighty then. Revenues are at their highest level in a decade. The operating margins, however, have failed to return to pre-recession levels. I've asked you several times how to solve that problem *and* implement the compensation package that you want and your answer consists of nothing but "I don't care, I want this/that/the other and there are rich people and I blame them."
The company is doing the same we do --most of us, at least-- when our expenses and income reflect that same scenario.
