Value evaluation of Fedex Route

[bbsam]

Yup. E-commerce < HD < Ground. And they are getting rid of HD. So the only stuff getting “full rate” will be Ground stops. He said we would negotiate at least 3-4 times before the contract year is up.

Lol. How are they going to get that many negotiations over a year for 7000 contractors?

 

[It will be fine]

Lol. How are they going to get that many negotiations over a year for 7000 contractors?

Got me. I asked why 7 day and e-commerce wouldn’t be the same negotiation but he didn’t have a good answer.

 

[bbsam]

Got me. I asked why 7 day and e-commerce wouldn’t be the same negotiation but he didn’t have a good answer.

What do they have a good answer for?

 

[59 Dano]

Chronic staffing issues and profitability aside, if a person has an interest in contracting with XG, the above quote accurately sums up what should be an adequate deterrent.

Nothing at XG is static. Rules and compliance requirements are cooked up on a whim. And just as quickly changed or discarded altogether. But not until you have spent time, money and resources into complying with them.

The purpose of XG management is to create problems and errands for contractors to solve, and then blame the origins and existence of the problems on the contractor. There are legions of white-collar desk-jockeys devoted to this purpose.

It's a never ending goose-chase with everything a contractor has invested hanging in a balance.

How is it that one person can experience a set of circumstances and see it as a horrible experience imposed on them by bad people and so forth, yet another person can enter into that same set of circumstances, turn it around, and not really have much of a problem with it?

There have been dozens of people on this forum who claim that Ground was this awful thing run by bloodthirsty suits who have no regard for anything but money and who exist almost solely to screw the contractor. Haven't seen any former Ground guys who have said, "I'm not the businessman I thought I was. I don't know how the successful guys do it." People tend to waltz into situations thinking that they're going to hit the ball out of the park only to find out that they aren't prepared, then blame someone else for it.

 

[59 Dano]

Probably worst time ever to enter ground.3 divisions of Fedex, freight have to pay more to keep drivers, express need to compete with Amazon air by investing in newer assets..

Express has assets and an infrastructure that Amazon can only dream about at this point. I don't know why you say Express needs to compete with them. Compete with them for what?

 

[bacha29]

I have personally seen Ground trucks bricked out the same as many UPS trucks.

The freight they steal fills them up fast but you'll often see 3 guys on those type of routes. Once coming, one driving and one leaving.

 

[bacha29]

Chronic staffing issues and profitability aside, if a person has an interest in contracting with XG, the above quote accurately sums up what should be an adequate deterrent.

Nothing at XG is static. Rules and compliance requirements are cooked up on a whim. And just as quickly changed or discarded altogether. But not until you have spent time, money and resources into complying with them.

The purpose of XG management is to create problems and errands for contractors to solve, and then blame the origins and existence of the problems on the contractor. There are legions of white-collar desk-jockeys devoted to this purpose.

It's a never ending goose-chase with everything a contractor has invested hanging in a balance.

Be wary of rural addresses, state parks, natural resource exploration fields, and outskirt areas in any service area that you are considering. It only takes a few of these addresses to cause you chronic logistics, and profitability problems.

I know this may sound strange. And other XG'ers may have had very different experiences than mine. But if you abide in making money in this game; be very wary of any military bases, government installations, or anything federal in a service area.

I agree.Given the margin pressures that are expected soon you'll be ok if you operate in the type of area the model is built upon. But, if you are in a slow growing or a depressed area whose economy is actually regressing and population going down not up things are likely to get a whole lot worse before they get a whole lot better. And there are a lot of areas the country where these conditions exist.

 

[Mutineer]

How is it that one person can experience a set of circumstances and see it as a horrible experience imposed on them by bad people and so forth, yet another person can enter into that same set of circumstances, turn it around, and not really have much of a problem with it?

There have been dozens of people on this forum who claim that Ground was this awful thing run by bloodthirsty suits who have no regard for anything but money and who exist almost solely to screw the contractor. Haven't seen any former Ground guys who have said, "I'm not the businessman I thought I was. I don't know how the successful guys do it." People tend to waltz into situations thinking that they're going to hit the ball out of the park only to find out that they aren't prepared, then blame someone else for it.

My years contracting at XG were sometimes challenging. But overall it was a very positive, very profitable experience. I sold my contracts at a time when XG was becoming, in my opinion, overly capricious and controlling. The passage of the California Diesel emissions law was the final straw for what I considered an ideal time to exit.

For a few years after I sold my contracts, I filled in as an on-call, substitute driver for other contractors. It is from the experiences of the contractors that remained, and some Johnny-come-latelys, that I observed what contracting for XG had become after I had sold out.

In a nutshell: nothing bad became better, and everything good became worse.

Yes. Without a doubt, bad, unlucky, difficult things happen to contractors at XG. It has been that way since Day One. The difference now is that these very negative, expensive, life-altering experiences happen FAR more often than they used to.

Unless you are, or have been a contractor for XG, your opinions and theories of the competence of those who have, or are wearing those shoes are absolutely, laughably irrelevant.

 

[zeev]

Express has assets and an infrastructure that Amazon can only dream about at this point. I don't know why you say Express needs to compete with them. Compete with them for what?

Amazon has the logistics and money to take all the profits in the FedEx business. Lots of DHL and Airborne assets for cheap out there.

 

[It will be fine]

Amazon has the logistics and money to take all the profits in the FedEx business. Lots of DHL and Airborne assets for cheap out there.

They don’t have the customers. I find it strange that people think they will scale their network and then leverage excess capacity to undercut the other carriers. They aren’t building a nationwide network, their offerings will be niche for a long time if not always.

 

[It will be fine]

My years contracting at XG were sometimes challenging. But overall it was a very positive, very profitable experience. I sold my contracts at a time when XG was becoming, in my opinion, overly capricious and controlling. The passage of the California Diesel emissions law was the final straw for what I considered an ideal time to exit.

For a few years after I sold my contracts, I filled in as an on-call, substitute driver for other contractors. It is from the experiences of the contractors that remained, and some Johnny-come-latelys, that I observed what contracting for XG had become after I had sold out.

In a nutshell: nothing bad became better, and everything good became worse.

Yes. Without a doubt, bad, unlucky, difficult things happen to contractors at XG. It has been that way since Day One. The difference now is that these very negative, expensive, life-altering experiences happen FAR more often than they used to.

Unless you are, or have been a contractor for XG, your opinions and theories of the competence of those who have, or are wearing those shoes are absolutely, laughably irrelevant.

It’s changing a lot for sure. FedEx seems focused on contracting with larger companies that can handle the changes. The skill set for a successful contractor is changing and has been for over 20 years since the first guys won the first lawsuit. It doesn’t matter how well you can deliver packages these days, you need to run the back end and play politics well to protect your investment.

 

[burrheadd]

I’m a driver for a Ground contractor. No way do I do anywhere near what the UPS drivers do.

@MAKAVELI

Tends to talk out his ass

 

[bacha29]

It’s changing a lot for sure. FedEx seems focused on contracting with larger companies that can handle the changes. The skill set for a successful contractor is changing and has been for over 20 years since the first guys won the first lawsuit. It doesn’t matter how well you can deliver packages these days, you need to run the back end and play politics well to protect your investment.

I agree. The first one to go were the sole proprietors followed by the K1 partnerships and the LLC's All that's left are the S-Corps and the C-Corps. I expect what you'll see about 5 years is that the only entities they'll deal with are well capitalized C-Corps. And in the end they'll own and manage the terminals are all inbound and outbound operations and will have their own trucks and drivers.

 

[It will be fine]

I agree. The first one to go were the sole proprietors followed by the K1 partnerships and the LLC's All that's left are the S-Corps and the C-Corps. I expect what you'll see about 5 years is that the only entities they'll deal with are well capitalized C-Corps. And in the end they'll own and manage the terminals are all inbound and outbound operations and will have their own trucks and drivers.

I don’t see FedEx handing that much control over the operation to contractors. A contractor running a sort and a terminal for an entire area would give them actual leverage in negotiations. They need the freedom to pull contracts as an enforcement mechanism. It would be difficult for another contractor to take over a building. The large autosats run over 100 trucks for daily P&D not to mention Linehaul. Smartpost/7 day is expected to increase that by at least 50% in resources. No way they put that many eggs in one company’s basket.

 

[MAKAVELI]

@MAKAVELI

Tends to talk out his ass

As apposed to some old fart who's retired and not currently in the industry.

 

[Fred's Myth]

Hooked on Phonics.

 

[bacha29]

I don’t see FedEx handing that much control over the operation to contractors. A contractor running a sort and a terminal for an entire area would give them actual leverage in negotiations. They need the freedom to pull contracts as an enforcement mechanism. It would be difficult for another contractor to take over a building. The large autosats run over 100 trucks for daily P&D not to mention Linehaul. Smartpost/7 day is expected to increase that by at least 50% in resources. No way they put that many eggs in one company’s basket.

But, if X were to maintain direct ownership or some other form of building control such as a lease or something all the lines of a master franchise agreement like you're seeing more of the the restaurant business these days X would still be the big enchilada .

 

[59 Dano]

Yes. Without a doubt, bad, unlucky, difficult things happen to contractors at XG. It has been that way since Day One. The difference now is that these very negative, expensive, life-altering experiences happen FAR more often than they used to.

Unless you are, or have been a contractor for XG, your opinions and theories of the competence of those who have, or are wearing those shoes are absolutely, laughably irrelevant.

Please. The remarks I made are applicable to any business and any job.

 

[59 Dano]

Amazon has the logistics and money to take all the profits in the FedEx business. Lots of DHL and Airborne assets for cheap out there.

Lots of blue sky in your world.

 

[Cactus]

How is it that one person can experience a set of circumstances and see it as a horrible experience imposed on them by bad people and so forth, yet another person can enter into that same set of circumstances, turn it around, and not really have much of a problem with it?

There have been dozens of people on this forum who claim that Ground was this awful thing run by bloodthirsty suits who have no regard for anything but money and who exist almost solely to screw the contractor. Haven't seen any former Ground guys who have said, "I'm not the businessman I thought I was. I don't know how the successful guys do it." People tend to waltz into situations thinking that they're going to hit the ball out of the park only to find out that they aren't prepared, then blame someone else for it.

Then you go do it.

Buy a couple of Ground routes and then show us your massive profits.

LMAO!