Asset Vs. Liability

[Cactus]

You know there are thousands of different companies that deliver Ground volume, right?

And there's thousands of companies that deliver ground volume that pay a hell of a lot better.

 

[It will be fine]

And there's thousands of companies that deliver ground volume that pay a hell of a lot better.

A lot better than what? Are you claiming to know the compensation of every driver for every Ground contractor? I don’t even know what the other contractors in my building pay.

 

[Cactus]

A lot better than what? Are you claiming to know the compensation of every driver for every Ground contractor? I don’t even know what the other contractors in my building pay.

You claim your drivers are stupid and lack education. So why would you pay them anything but peanuts?

 

[It will be fine]

You claim your drivers are stupid and lack education. So why would you pay them anything but peanuts?

Why does any employer pay any wage? What sets the level of compensation?

 

[vantexan]

Words from a guy who up quit upwards of a half a dozen times because somebody said something to him he didn't like.......but he too had to go crawling back.

Twice.

 

[59 Dano]

Why does any employer pay any wage? What sets the level of compensation?

He's taking his sweet time trying to come up with an answer.

 

[MrFedEx]

He's taking his sweet time trying to come up with an answer.

Why does it take 20 years to top-out at Express when the competition pays higher wages? The level of compensation only reaches parity with the labor market when a driver tops-out. So, FedEx would be an outlier and not fall under your "theory" of compensation.

 

[Cactus]

He's taking his sweet time trying to come up with an answer.

So says the guy who’s dodged many of my questions.

 

[doodlebug]

The one big thing that got me off the FedEx Kool-Aid and transformed into pro-union, pro-employee,was the way FedEx dealt with people who had become "liabilities". Let me explain. For Fred, and his corporation, if you're making him money, you're an "asset", and the second you are costing him money, the employee is a "liability". It makes no difference if you've been there 25 minutes or 25 years, because they don't care. You could be a stellar employee who won a Golden Falcon award, or the slacker who always just barely made it. They want you gone and off the books.

This is a calculation made long ago, and codified in the numerous P&P provisions that protect the company and make it very difficult for an employee to fight back. Like Ford, who figured that the cost of lawsuits would be less than a recall for the infamous Pinto gas tank issue, Fred will cut you loose, and then hope that the minefield he has laid-out will end up costing him less overall. In the long run, the lawsuits and settlements will be less than just getting rid of a "liability".

I saw this over and over again during my 25+ year Express career. Good people, who were great employees, got the shaft if they got hurt or somehow made a screw-up, whether real or imagined. A lot of lives were harmed in the process.

All it takes is a complaint from a big shipper, a spurned receptionist,"harassment", or a wide variety of other reasons. FedEx does not care, and they'll just cut you loose after an "investigation", which is often a joke. They now see you as a liability, not an asset. Sure, you might get your job back, or you might not. Either way, they've covered the corporation, and you're on your own.

Back in the 90's, I knew a courier who had a homeless person run out of a side alley directly into his van. Absolutely nothing he could have done to prevent it, but they fired him after a short "investigation". He fought it with an attorney and got his job back, but he had been fully awakened to just how expendable he was to a company he thought had his back. The police report fully cleared him, yet it took months to get back on the job.

Stellar employee, and full of Purple Pride.

I have tons of other examples, and Dano will soon be on here to say I'm making it up or lying. I'm not, and he's here just to cover for FedEx.

Keep this in mind as we go forward with Covid-19 and the aftermath.

So true. There are three of us old-timers that take newbies under our wing.

Can't tell you how many jobs we've saved, because we don't have a union.

Living in an "At Will" state, is no picnic.

Knowing policy helps. But when there are 4 across the table and you have no representation, it sucks.

 

[59 Dano]

So says the guy who’s dodged many of my questions.

Yeah I'm terrified of that rapier-like intellect of yours.

Or I just don't pay that much attention to you.

 

[Cactus]

Yeah I'm terrified of that rapier-like intellect of yours.

Or I just don't pay that much attention to you.