Response,what’s the goal?

[vantexan]

I started at the Memphis Hub in '86. Became a courier in '88. Retired January of 2017. I look at the equipment y'all are using now, what the company is trying to do, and it's not only a different world from when I retired but 1988 seems like the Stone Age. Yet we were part of one of the most exciting, innovative companies in the world back then and most people seemed to love what we did. How times have changed.

 

[Aquaman]

I started at the Memphis Hub in '86. Became a courier in '88. Retired January of 2017. I look at the equipment y'all are using now, what the company is trying to do, and it's not only a different world from when I retired but 1988 seems like the Stone Age. Yet we were part of one of the most exciting, innovative companies in the world back then and most people seemed to love what we did. How times have changed.

As far as what they do for their employees, the company has degressed in every single category.

 

[!Retired!]

The only way I see FedEx getting things right is to eventually combining Ground and Express like the UPS model. Keeping us separate has worked for a good while but the lack of efficiency is catching up fast and will be the downfall of the company if they don't change it. They know this and that's why they are try to bleed freight off to Ground.

Response is a watered down version of what UPS does. Do deliveries, then run a PUP route. Stations, at least ours, were unprepared for the additional routes they needed to fill. They assumed the PM PT divers would jump at the chance to become FT.....run P2 and a PUP route........they were wrong. We've had 5 people, including 2 good swings, quit in the last month.

 

[Aquaman]

Response is a watered down version of what UPS does. Do deliveries, then run a PUP route. Stations, at least ours, were unprepared for the additional routes they needed to fill. They assumed the PM PT divers would jump at the chance to become FT.....run P2 and a PUP route........they were wrong. We've had 5 people, including 2 good swings, quit in the last month.

They want to be like UPS, but have commit times that no one can compete with. Those two things contradict each other. Ever track a package delivered by UPS? It will say “delivery by end of day”. Because that’s how much work they kill their drivers with... too much for specific delivery windows. We can’t be like UPS while we stand around waiting for freight that’s already gonna be late.

 

[MAKAVELI]

Response is a watered down version of what UPS does. Do deliveries, then run a PUP route. Stations, at least ours, were unprepared for the additional routes they needed to fill. They assumed the PM PT divers would jump at the chance to become FT.....run P2 and a PUP route........they were wrong. We've had 5 people, including 2 good swings, quit in the last month.

It's not even close to a version of what UPS does. UPS does everything out of one truck. You're not ever going to see 3 or 4 drivers at the same stop. And it's not just at the station level that is a cluster . The hubs are just ed up. Like I said before they should have started at the station level first. Hire enough workers and vehicles first to make a 2 sort system work.

 

[NC man]

Today ,me and three other routes met the midday in our area,I took all my area and so did another and the other took most of theirs,midday took my five reg pups and I finished at 1830. The midday has two other routes stuff also. No way in hell this is gonna work unless the midday just meets us everyday and dumps us what’s ours. It’s impossible for the midday to del five route area,IMPOSSIBLE.
I was gonna try and wait til next summer to reire,year 33, but I’m pretty I’m bailing out at thanksgiving,before peak!

 

[NC man]

I think the big problem is the Hubs are understaffed. They can’t get flights out on time sorting P1 & P2... there’s just no way. So splitting the freight and only sorting P1 makes the sort quicker. Fly out P1, then sort P2 which the company doesn’t really care about lol. But the problem is they can’t even get the P1 flown out on time. The BIGGER problem the company is dealing with is pay. I can tell you in my area we are the lowest paying warehouse job around. Starting handler pay is like $14.20 or something. You can find 50 warehouse jobs in this same zip code paying $19-$23 per hour. There are Ground signs everywhere offering $22/hr lol. We’re not competitive anymore at all. And my station is mandating drivers to work the sort. This problem isn’t going away. Idk what the company is going to do when they’re forced to increase pay $5 or $6 an hour. They probably won’t, and idk what that’ll mean for Express but it’s not good...

If another stimulus check hits then they definitely won’t b able to hire people.

 

[NC man]

Yeah it's shuttled out. Sometimes we wait 30 minutes on the clock for it. Managers think we should all just work 10-12 hours and shut up about it. It sucks people are quiting and it just gets worse. It takes alot just to walk in that building everyday.

That’s why this is stupid, midday routes but they shuttle freight to you ,I assume you have middaybroutes or no? If middaybhave to drop over half of its just more of a s. s##tshow.engineers set up nbr of mid day routes and failed big time where I am

 

[Fergus Mahoney]

That’s why this is stupid, midday routes but they shuttle freight to you ,I assume you have middaybroutes or no? If middaybhave to drop over half of its just more of a s. s##tshow.engineers set up nbr of mid day routes and failed big time where I am

They never hired anyone for mid-day routes just a few to shuttle it out. Senior flat out lied to us and said 15 people will be hired. He now has a mutiny on his hands. 2 couriers per week are quitting. It is a nightmare.

 

[NC man]

We hired but I dont see them,not sure if any quit yet either

 

[El Morado Diablo]

They never hired anyone for mid-day routes just a few to shuttle it out. Senior flat out lied to us and said 15 people will be hired. He now has a mutiny on his hands. 2 couriers per week are quitting. It is a nightmare.

20% of our couriers have quit in the last month.

Every one of them got a job with better pay than what they had at FedEx. We can hire people, we just can't hold on to them. It's something we've been telling upper management for years and they still act like they can't believe people would rather work somewhere else. It doesn't take long for people to realize they aren't going to go anywhere at FedEx so they start looking for new jobs.

 

[Operational needs]

20% of our couriers have quit in the last month.

Every one of them got a job with better pay than what they had at FedEx. We can hire people, we just can't hold on to them. It's something we've been telling upper management for years and they still act like they can't believe people would rather work somewhere else. It doesn't take long for people to realize they aren't going to go anywhere at FedEx so they start looking for new jobs.

It’s amazing how out of touch with reality they are. I’m in Florida and I remember when FT positions didn’t come open very often. Now people have their choice of what station they want to transfer to because there are so many openings. They keep telling us to recommend people. Uh, no. First of all, they made the hiring process too complicated. I just heard our HR person is two hours away and hires through Indeed.com. Secondly, no way in hell would I want anyone I know to work here.

 

[El Morado Diablo]

It’s amazing how out of touch with reality they are. I’m in Florida and I remember when FT positions didn’t come open very often. Now people have their choice of what station they want to transfer to because there are so many openings. They keep telling us to recommend people. Uh, no. First of all, they made the hiring process too complicated. I just heard our HR person is two hours away and hires through Indeed.com. Secondly, no way in hell would I want anyone I know to work here.

We've heard the spiel to recommend FedEx to our friends and family. They've also offered bonuses if we successfully recruit someone (given the way we hire people I have no idea how they will know we were responsible for recruiting them).

The real problem with FedEx is that the entry level wages are high enough to attract people. That's great, if you were making minimum wage at your previous job. From that point forward all you do is slide slowly backwards as the true cost of living outpaces your wage progression. I live in an area where the cost of living is much higher than Memphis yet we are still bottom market level. This is true in many areas of the country. Market levels that reflect cost of living rather than what it takes to attract new people would help (because it would benefit everyone in the market). They also need to quit $@($ing around with step progression and guarantee it if they want people to stay.

 

[vantexan]

It’s amazing how out of touch with reality they are. I’m in Florida and I remember when FT positions didn’t come open very often. Now people have their choice of what station they want to transfer to because there are so many openings. They keep telling us to recommend people. Uh, no. First of all, they made the hiring process too complicated. I just heard our HR person is two hours away and hires through Indeed.com. Secondly, no way in hell would I want anyone I know to work here.

Are they still telling people they'll top out in 7 to 8 years?

 

[vantexan]

20% of our couriers have quit in the last month.

Every one of them got a job with better pay than what they had at FedEx. We can hire people, we just can't hold on to them. It's something we've been telling upper management for years and they still act like they can't believe people would rather work somewhere else. It doesn't take long for people to realize they aren't going to go anywhere at FedEx so they start looking for new jobs.

I think management believes if people are willing to work for Ground wages then they should have no problem hiring at Express.

 

[Cactus]

I think management believes if people are willing to work for Ground wages then they should have no problem hiring at Express.

Yeah, they can hire them but just try to keep them. And good @!$”/& luck with that.

 

[Aquaman]

We've heard the spiel to recommend FedEx to our friends and family. They've also offered bonuses if we successfully recruit someone (given the way we hire people I have no idea how they will know we were responsible for recruiting them).

The real problem with FedEx is that the entry level wages are high enough to attract people. That's great, if you were making minimum wage at your previous job. From that point forward all you do is slide slowly backwards as the true cost of living outpaces your wage progression. I live in an area where the cost of living is much higher than Memphis yet we are still bottom market level. This is true in many areas of the country. Market levels that reflect cost of living rather than what it takes to attract new people would help (because it would benefit everyone in the market). They also need to quit $@($ing around with step progression and guarantee it if they want people to stay.

Exactly. Management is under the impression that pay is pretty good. Maybe starting pay is decent, but like you said, it doesn’t take long for those new hires to realize top out isn’t gonna happen. And when you do the same job as someone making $8-$10 more per hour than you, you’re gonna want top pay before long. They look at the pay and think it’s competitive. But they completely overlook the 10-20 year employees in the middle of pay progression. And there are A LOT of us. And we are the most vocal. Is $22/hr competitive after 13 years? What about $25/hr after 19 years. No... it’s not competitive at all at that point. And those new hires talk to those drivers... they hear the complaints. They listen when they talk about being stuck. Top out drivers say nothing to new hires because they know their situation isn’t attainable anymore. They’ve built a culture of angry mid range employees, that purposefully sabotage hiring. I know I’ve told multiple new RTD’s to get their CDL’s and go. Don’t wait until you get your 4th week of vacation. Get out now. And guess what... they’ve all left and gone to better paying jobs. They’ve done this to themselves. The old topped out guys are retiring. And “response” is gonna speed it up. And what they’re going to have is an angry mid range mob and new hires that are actively looking for better jobs. That’s Express.

 

[dezguy]

Exactly. Management is under the impression that pay is pretty good. Maybe starting pay is decent, but like you said, it doesn’t take long for those new hires to realize top out isn’t gonna happen. And when you do the same job as someone making $8-$10 more per hour than you, you’re gonna want top pay before long. They look at the pay and think it’s competitive. But they completely overlook the 10-20 year employees in the middle of pay progression. And there are A LOT of us. And we are the most vocal. Is $22/hr competitive after 13 years? What about $25/hr after 19 years. No... it’s not competitive at all at that point. And those new hires talk to those drivers... they hear the complaints. They listen when they talk about being stuck. Top out drivers say nothing to new hires because they know their situation isn’t attainable anymore. They’ve built a culture of angry mid range employees, that purposefully sabotage hiring. I know I’ve told multiple new RTD’s to get their CDL’s and go. Don’t wait until you get your 4th week of vacation. Get out now. And guess what... they’ve all left and gone to better paying jobs. They’ve done this to themselves. The old topped out guys are retiring. And “response” is gonna speed it up. And what they’re going to have is an angry mid range mob and new hires that are actively looking for better jobs. That’s Express.

I don't know how true that is. I make sure I tell all the new people they're doing the same job as me, maybe even working harder because I'm on a cup cake retirement route, all for much less than I'm making.

I want people to be pissed off because it's the only way things will ever change without a union. I was in their shoes for years so I know what it was like. We all do the same function. We should all be paid the same wage.

 

[Aquaman]

I don't know how true that is. I make sure I tell all the new people they're doing the same job as me, maybe even working harder because I'm on a cup cake retirement route, all for much less than I'm making.

I want people to be pissed off because it's the only way things will ever change without a union. I was in their shoes for years so I know what it was like. We all do the same function. We should all be paid the same wage.

I had no problem with the 10 step plan. But it definitely should be 10 years. With no union there’s nothing forcing them to stick to that. And what the employees are so furious about, is the company actively looks for excuses NOT to give the step raise. There’s 3 year employees still on step 1 right now. It’s ridiculous and if they don’t start topping people out this place is going under.

 

[Maui]

Exactly. Management is under the impression that pay is pretty good. Maybe starting pay is decent, but like you said, it doesn’t take long for those new hires to realize top out isn’t gonna happen. And when you do the same job as someone making $8-$10 more per hour than you, you’re gonna want top pay before long. They look at the pay and think it’s competitive. But they completely overlook the 10-20 year employees in the middle of pay progression. And there are A LOT of us. And we are the most vocal. Is $22/hr competitive after 13 years? What about $25/hr after 19 years. No... it’s not competitive at all at that point. And those new hires talk to those drivers... they hear the complaints. They listen when they talk about being stuck. Top out drivers say nothing to new hires because they know their situation isn’t attainable anymore. They’ve built a culture of angry mid range employees, that purposefully sabotage hiring. I know I’ve told multiple new RTD’s to get their CDL’s and go. Don’t wait until you get your 4th week of vacation. Get out now. And guess what... they’ve all left and gone to better paying jobs. They’ve done this to themselves. The old topped out guys are retiring. And “response” is gonna speed it up. And what they’re going to have is an angry mid range mob and new hires that are actively looking for better jobs. That’s Express.

Most managers I know do NOT think the pay is competitive. Especially not RTD. Especially not when IND pay over $20/hr to the night/sunrise sort. Maybe directors or VPs think it's competitive, but managers know better.

Top out pay IMO is mostly competitive, but not enough people get that pay and everyone, including executives, knows that there isn't trust the for step progression. Now they need to make sure that movement up is mandatory and not subject to whim. If the company has a bad quarter or year, then they need to find the money elsewhere to maintain pay increases. Rumor has it that will be happening for Ops. Not sure what that means for raises this year, but nearly all acknowledge it NEEDS to take into account at least some of the missed step in addition to moving up this year. Employees have worked hard and EARNED it.

Personally I'd like to see a raise ASAP and one in October. I'm not holding my breathe, but it would show commitment to people.