When Is G-Day?

dvalleyjim

Well-Known Member
There are many things FedEx groundcould do to make the ISP model work. So much seems to be reactionaryon their part and interferes with good business decisions. Example.Handful of contractors sue over mis-classification due to controlissues. Ex's response: We'll show you, all single van contractors arefired and we'll set up a system where we control everything you doand make it legal down to what corporation your allowed to have andopening your books to us, who you can hire when to fire, what timeyou pickup a customer withing .1second.

Oversized packagelawsuit brought on by Ex's push to carry larger and heavier packages.Ex's response: Fine, we won't pay you anything for bigger packages,we'll take that away.

The mindset seems to be that we are allindependent business entities yet we are all treated the sameaccording to the lowest common denominator.

Petty example thathappens daily: An independent business entity, small business man,entrepreneur's driver has an accident. Management does not talk tothat entity but bellows over the loud speaker "safety meetingright now" in which they begin to lambaste how contractors musttake safety seriously and now there is going to be some new policywith retributions. The contractors with safe drivers are now lumpedin with the lowest common denominator and must now respond the sameas if it were one of their driver's that wrecked.


FedEx wants independent businessentities but doesn't deal with them on an independent basis but morelike you'd deal with employees.

Ex says were independent buttheir managers treat us like employees. I think that mind set comesfrom the top.


I get around this by not going tomeetings unless it has to do with my money. Over the years I havefound these meetings frustrate my feeling of independence.


Maybe I don't understand the normalcontracting environment. Perhaps if I contracted with an Aerospacecompany It would be the same thing. I don't know.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
There are many things FedEx groundcould do to make the ISP model work. So much seems to be reactionaryon their part and interferes with good business decisions. Example.Handful of contractors sue over mis-classification due to controlissues. Ex's response: We'll show you, all single van contractors arefired and we'll set up a system where we control everything you doand make it legal down to what corporation your allowed to have andopening your books to us, who you can hire when to fire, what timeyou pickup a customer withing .1second.

Oversized packagelawsuit brought on by Ex's push to carry larger and heavier packages.Ex's response: Fine, we won't pay you anything for bigger packages,we'll take that away.

The mindset seems to be that we are allindependent business entities yet we are all treated the sameaccording to the lowest common denominator.

Petty example thathappens daily: An independent business entity, small business man,entrepreneur's driver has an accident. Management does not talk tothat entity but bellows over the loud speaker "safety meetingright now" in which they begin to lambaste how contractors musttake safety seriously and now there is going to be some new policywith retributions. The contractors with safe drivers are now lumpedin with the lowest common denominator and must now respond the sameas if it were one of their driver's that wrecked.


FedEx wants independent businessentities but doesn't deal with them on an independent basis but morelike you'd deal with employees.

Ex says were independent buttheir managers treat us like employees. I think that mind set comesfrom the top.


I get around this by not going tomeetings unless it has to do with my money. Over the years I havefound these meetings frustrate my feeling of independence.


Maybe I don't understand the normalcontracting environment. Perhaps if I contracted with an Aerospacecompany It would be the same thing. I don't know.

Hey bbsam. Any of this sound like FedEx exerting an employee-like degree of control?
 

bbsam

Moderator
Staff member
Hey bbsam. Any of this sound like FedEx exerting an employee-like degree of control?

If you consider dvalley's previous posts, would you expect any less? I have said it before and now again: if the terms are not acceptable, people are free to leave. Dvalley is an ISP. He has been doing this for years. I have no sympathy for his tax situation and he and I know there is pushback at the local level. Local level management gets it from both ends and will do whatever it can not to rock the boat. On the other hand, I know of one midwestern station that recently lost their senior manager because he let things go too far. Why not terminate all the ISP's? Far harder and more headache. May eventually happen, but they would rather not have too.

Personally I feel very independent. I don't have any problem with their silly little requirements and I don't much listen to anything that even comes close to threats, orders, mandates, anything other than respectful communication. Seems like each member of management and I have had a go around at one time or another and we all now understand where we stand.
 

dvalleyjim

Well-Known Member
I have no tax situation, you leave, I've got too much time and money invested. Sorry if you think I'm disgruntled I'm not. I just call it as I see it. That being said I like what I do and make a good living at it. I'm also one of the best at what I do because I'm smart and hard working. If I didn't I wouldn't do it. I'm just the kind of guy that voices my opinion. For years people have said to me" if you don't like it leave". I now say "no, you leave I think I'll stay here awhile longer":. Just because the fedexguy uses me as fodder against you because your a positive person and have a positive attitude toward what you do don't lump me in his group. I may not be as trusting toward FedEx as you are but we are both on the same page believe it or not. Even kindred spirits. Fedex Ground has been good to me over the years. That being said I know that I can be disposed of at any time and lose everything. It says so in my contract.
 

morgan

Well-Known Member
i've spoken with sales people in my station and as far as express goes they dont even sell express saver(3day) anymore. its 2day or overnight only. other than that they try to sell ground in most instances. while i think express isn't going anywhere, but someday it will get to the point that we're only doing FO, p1 and std overnight. with most routes getting done around noon. with a lot of express's workforce getting older and closer to retirement they're just going to slim down by not replacing people when they retire or leave. they'll start combing routes and before you know it's going to be all partime delivery/pickup positions, and maybe a few split shift fulltimers since we dont get split shift pay anymore. our upper management is more of a scumbag than any teamster could ever dream of being.
 

Ricochet1a

Well-Known Member
The domestic market for overnight and 2nd day shipping has been completely tapped out. There is no growth beyond the growth that occurs with the economy naturally growing (which hasn't been much in the past few years).

Up to about 2000, the growth in Express shipping surpassed the growth in the economy - the annual growth of Express volume year over year surpassed the growth rate of the national economy. All of Express' growth has been in international shipping since then.

With the proverbial "pie" no longer getting larger - and just being left between Express and UPS to divide between themselves, there isn't much "selling" that FedEx sales can do for Express.

FedEx sales won't offer pricing below cost to customers just to grab them from UPS - UPS sales will offer pricing below cost for a year in order to gain Express customers.

If any of you have noticed customers that bounce back and forth between UPS and Express, this is the reason. They go to UPS when they offer a low rate, then when they increase the rate the next cycle, Express comes in with a bid that is just marginally higher than their cost and the customer switches.

Another issue that is hampering sales is the method by which shipping charges are computated. There is the "standard rate" which is the starting point, then sales offers a discount from that rate. The problem is, customers trying to perform cost comparisons between Express and UPS are left in a quandry (the customers' purchasing agents), since there isn't a flat rate fee schedule they can compare to one another to get "the lowest bid". There are actually third party companies which will compare bids by Express and UPS, then offer advice as to which is the better bargain. UPS has made it clear it doesn't want to work through these third party bid comparisons...

What many customers do is use both Express and UPS. They ship comparable packages to a given location, then track the actual billing they receive from both companies. The company which has the consistently low billing is given more and more volume. The shipping managers in these companies are directed by their purchasing/accounting department how to divide up volume, and if they should avoid using one carrier or another for pieces going to certain destinations, or beyond a certain distance.

For those who were in when DHL left the US domestic market, Express did pick up some of their volume. But in most cases, they lost that volume within 12 to 18 months since the customer was used to paying DHL rates (low), instead of Express rates. The overwhelming majority of former DHL customers are now using either UPS or USPS for their shipping.

The "growth" within FedEx Corporation is now Ground volume. It isn't growing by double digit percentages, but it is definitely growing beyond the rate of the national economy (they are grabbing market share from UPS). So far, UPS hasn't reacted too seriously to this trend - but within 5 years, they will have no choice.

Just as the "800 pound gorilla" for Express employees is the plan for FedEx to shift volume over to Ground, the soon to be "800 pound gorilla" for UPS is FedEx Ground.

It does appear that FedEx is going to move real slow to implement their vision. Looking back over the past 15 years, all of their business plans that worked, were implemented over a long time scale - no sudden moves. I think that gradual downsizing of Express full-timers will follow this pattern (as you suggested "Morgan").
 
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