Was talking to a coworker this morning about what kind of buyout/voluntary severance we might be looking at. I told him if they offered $50k to me a couple of years from now I'd take it. He mentioned the "Rule of 80" formula that is often used but wasn't sure how it worked. Did some digging on the 'net and found various companies and government agencies have their own interpretations, but generally if your age+years of credited service equal 80 or greater, you can retire at that point, if you choose to, with your full retirement benefit. Thus if you are 50 and have 30 years in you can take your full pension then. Some companies say you have to be at least 55 under this formula. It varies.The rule of 70 is similar, but would allow more people the option of retiring early. I'm 50 with 23 years of credited service. My full benefit at 60 on my traditional pension is $16,100. If FedEx implements this plan I'd qualify and I would take it. I was very frustrated with the pension termination. Should've got in the low $20k's at 55. This isn't perfect but hopefully they'll make a broad inclusive offer to those at least 50(or even younger) as opposed to the rule of 80 which would be very limited in scope. Still think topped out employees will be the ones hanging on for Social Security but more might go for this. If their goal is to get as many out the door as possible as quickly as possible then they will probably be as inclusive as possible. If anyone thinks this scenario is unlikely then would be interesting to hear realistic options they might consider.
Rule of 80? 70?
- Thread starter vantexan
- Start date
In 2004 it was in two stages..the first was 50 and over with 5 continguous years of service..the second was everyone else and this was a buyout..All those people as you know were management and some staff..I don't think it will be a rule of 80 because that is the standard calculation for people who don't retire early and it wouldn't include enough people..in 04 they trimmed 170 million.and 3600 took the buyout. this time they want to cut 270 million so you can kind of deduct that will be about 6 to 7 thousand..
HuckToohey
You are entering a world of pain.
"If FedEx implements this plan I'd qualify and I would take it. I was very frustrated with the pension termination. Should've got in the low $20k's at 55."
Agreed. I'd take the buyout also. Well Freddy...there's two for ya!
Agreed. I'd take the buyout also. Well Freddy...there's two for ya!
Unfortunately any buyout from FedEx will probably be taxed at least 40%. If a buy out is offered and paid as a last paycheck, max out your 401k contribution to get the maximum match from FedEx. It will never be as much as anyone imagines anyway. FedEx gets by with the bare minimum in everything it does.
Goldilocks
Well-Known Member
I would take it in a heartbeat. But I think it will only be offered to managers.
Normally I would agree with you about that but this time I think it will also be offered to couriers..just a gut feeling on this one..I hope I'm right, I can't wait to leave. I would've left last year if they had kept the traditional pension in place for a little while longer..
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Let's say the average starting age is 21---that means that only those with at least 32 years of service who are at least 53 years old would be eligible.
Would those who accept the proposed buyout begin to receive pension payments immediately or would there be a waiting period?
northeast swing driver
Well-Known Member
what makes anyone think there will be buyouts for older entitled topped couriers
they'll fire you. you will be browbeaten and harassed to the point of quitting or they will look for every little thing to try to fire you.
and i love the guys who say that the company will have a big lawsuit on there hands if they do that
they have 100s of lawyers sitting in a room twittling there thumbs waiting for a scenario like that.
and even if they lose it still brings them to there end game. entitled topped out couriers gone.
matter of if the lawsuit is cheaper than the supposed buyouts.
i also love the entitled topped out couriers who sit around swearing they'd leave if they were bought out.
most of these guys will need to be dragged out kicking and screaming. they love it. topped out. easy as pie route. couriers in my station have been saying for years they are gone and there old crusty asses are still there breaking up 2 weeks vaca to take every monday or friday off in the summer loving every minute of it.
they'll fire you. you will be browbeaten and harassed to the point of quitting or they will look for every little thing to try to fire you.
and i love the guys who say that the company will have a big lawsuit on there hands if they do that
they have 100s of lawyers sitting in a room twittling there thumbs waiting for a scenario like that.
and even if they lose it still brings them to there end game. entitled topped out couriers gone.
matter of if the lawsuit is cheaper than the supposed buyouts.
i also love the entitled topped out couriers who sit around swearing they'd leave if they were bought out.
most of these guys will need to be dragged out kicking and screaming. they love it. topped out. easy as pie route. couriers in my station have been saying for years they are gone and there old crusty asses are still there breaking up 2 weeks vaca to take every monday or friday off in the summer loving every minute of it.
Goldilocks
Well-Known Member
Yep and we deserver it!! It's because of us old crusty asses that you have a job. We sacrificed so much when I started in the 80's. I was making 10.75 hour in 1988 and when my children got sick I had to take them to the hospital to a sick kid floor for 9 dollars hour. They did not allow sick calls when your children where sick. There is so much but I wont go in to it. We paved the way for you to have a job.
Rhoderunner
Well-Known Member
Not that you'll take advantage of any of that when they do leave and YOU are the top dawg !!
No matter what buyout or no buyout I'm gone before Christmas...just need to decide which day..maybe for pension sake Dec. 1st..that's a good day ya think?..the way they treat our parttimers at this station is really pathetic. I wouldn't be surprised if at least 2 or 3 more will by then as well.
Most likely it will just be taking your pension early, getting a monthly payment. In my case $16,100 divided by 12. If that's my only income taxes will be fairly minimal.
The goal of this buyout is to encourage senior better paid couriers to leave, and being replaced with cheap newhires or not even replaced due to, eventually, much less freight. Someone somewhere mentioned reducing employee head count by 20%. That's a lot of couriers. If Express becomes a strictly overnight service there won't be enough work for all the employees we have now.
When I got rehired in 1998 I was making $10.85hr. Unlike NE I know what you guys went through. Originally started in '86. Hopefully one day he'll realize it's not your fault you have a better deal than he does. And one day when he's an old, crusty ass he'll realize that when he was young he acted like an ass.
SmithBarney
Well-Known Member
Lets see in 1988 -Minimum wage was $3.35/hr -Gas was $.99/gal -a gallon of Milk was ~$1.50
And Now in 2012 - Minimum wage is $7.67/hr - Gas is 3.50/gal -a gallon of milk is $3.69
So in 1988 you got 10.85/hr in 2012 a new hire makes ~14.00 Depending on market.(That's ~30%)
Minimum wage has increased almost 100%
Gas Costs increaded over 300%
Milk is over 100%
And top out has gone from 2 years to infinity since with the current pay schedule ~85% will never top out.
Guess what my wife got sick last year and I had to spend nearly 1/3 of what I made for out of pocket expenses because our "insurance" isn't really that good.
You can go to cigna's home page and actually get a better deal(but that's another story for another time)
So will they offer a buy out... for Couriers, maybe in the form of saying "we will give you 30 year pension at 25 years" or "25 at 20"
You bet junior Couriers are peeved, because day in and day out they see what the company is doing.
And unfortunately eventually all these "crusty's" as you call them will eventually go away and retire, but then you will be stuck
with people still not topped out, still carrying a chip on their shoulder, and with the incredibly high turnover at Express you will have
a bunch of $14 employees who don't give a crap about the company.
I do believe that senior employees are a value to the company, unfortunately most cannot realize how hard it is to work
at these wages, because today's $1 doesn't go as far as 1988's $1
Maybe Express will have a internal "workforce" service and Job placement with Ground Contractors so displaced couriers have
somewhere to work... LOL
And Now in 2012 - Minimum wage is $7.67/hr - Gas is 3.50/gal -a gallon of milk is $3.69
So in 1988 you got 10.85/hr in 2012 a new hire makes ~14.00 Depending on market.(That's ~30%)
Minimum wage has increased almost 100%
Gas Costs increaded over 300%
Milk is over 100%
And top out has gone from 2 years to infinity since with the current pay schedule ~85% will never top out.
Guess what my wife got sick last year and I had to spend nearly 1/3 of what I made for out of pocket expenses because our "insurance" isn't really that good.
You can go to cigna's home page and actually get a better deal(but that's another story for another time)
So will they offer a buy out... for Couriers, maybe in the form of saying "we will give you 30 year pension at 25 years" or "25 at 20"
You bet junior Couriers are peeved, because day in and day out they see what the company is doing.
And unfortunately eventually all these "crusty's" as you call them will eventually go away and retire, but then you will be stuck
with people still not topped out, still carrying a chip on their shoulder, and with the incredibly high turnover at Express you will have
a bunch of $14 employees who don't give a crap about the company.
I do believe that senior employees are a value to the company, unfortunately most cannot realize how hard it is to work
at these wages, because today's $1 doesn't go as far as 1988's $1
Maybe Express will have a internal "workforce" service and Job placement with Ground Contractors so displaced couriers have
somewhere to work... LOL
Really? Fedex's insurance is worse then what you can get on Cigna's home page? I went to check them out, hard to believe.
Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
That is EXACTLY what they are looking to accomplish. As long as they get the volume off without getting too many customer complaints (misdelivered packages, etc), FedEx won't care what they think about the company - just get the volume delivered
This is true right now. Once Dynamic ROADS is perfected, senior employees (wage) will be a liability to Express. No need to pay someone $23/hr when the job can be done nearly as well by someone getting paid $15/hr and not getting overtime.
Now that is a RIOT!!! Once you hit the door, they forget you were even there. Everyone knows what goes around stations when an employee is fired for some reason - management acts as if they never existed and they simply "vanish". The only thing that is left is a mailbox with their name on it, maybe a Powerpad with either name or employee number on it and that is it. The ex-employee becomes an "unperson".
