It seems you're taking more than a few liberties with what people are writing here. Couriers, managers, handlers, CSAs, etc. were all very professional - that's why the company succeeded. And along with that professionalism/dedication to the job came a strong feeling of camaraderie among all employees who worked together as a team.
Back in the 80's
- Thread starter Goldilocks
- Start date
It seems you're taking more than a few liberties with what people are writing here. Couriers, managers, handlers, CSAs, etc. were all very professional - that's why the company succeeded. And along with that professionalism/dedication to the job came a strong feeling of camaraderie among all employees who worked together as a team.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
I didn't see anybody condoning those actions just pointing out how crazy it was back then and I'm guessing it was just as crazy in a lot of different places . We are talking about the 80s, the decade of excess.
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Route 66
Slapped Upside-da-Head Member
Well I have to say that my personal recollections of the "Express of the Eighties" experience don't seem to be quite so full of the debauchery as enjoyed by some of my colleagues here 
, however it definitely was a looser, happier - yet somehow much better performing - outfit than it is today.
, however it definitely was a looser, happier - yet somehow much better performing - outfit than it is today.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Bingo. Even though it was fast and loose after hours, the operation was extremely professional, mainly because everyone truly cared. Plus, the pay and benefits were top-notch, and getting better all the time.
Now, everything has been taken away, nobody cares, and we are an operational disaster.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
No I'm not. I am, however, right.
Of course the drinking and partying needed to be brought under control. The point is that the operation was excellent, without any of the micromanagement that characterizes every facet of Express today.
The bigger problem was that they killed pay progression, profit sharing, excellent medical, and everything else that made Federal Express a great place to work.
Stone dead.
I understand the point, but read for yourself...were your fellow couriers reminiscing about smooth, professional, competent operations? No they most certainly were not.
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
You mean to tell us that you never reminisce about your party days?
Sure. But I don't want them back.You mean to tell us that you never reminisce about your party days?
I remember a FedEx that would fire anyone for coming to work intoxicated and routinely sent us to get drug screens. I also remember my first fulltime route where the senior fulltimers met pretty much every day on the clock for breakfast. At another location where they had about half a dozen couriers who met at a gas station, but eventually they grew into a full station, they told me how every day they split a six pack while waiting for their freight. Knowing those guys I believed it. I also worked at a station where the DEA came through with dogs routinely, and eventually half a dozen couriers got arrested for shipping drugs for a drug cartel. Heard each of them was making $1500-$3000 a week for two years. Always wondered how they afforded such nice vehicles.You mean to tell us that you never reminisce about your party days?
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
FedEx has had a long and prosperous relationship with drug dealers. Whether they acknowledged it or claim complete innocence, or ignorance. It has been known for decades, if you wanted to ship drugs, FedEx was the carrier of choice.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
There were plenty of stations where drugs were shipped, stolen, and maneuvered. In the days before scanning, it was very easy to make a package "disappear" or to smuggle something through undetected.
I know of one ring where the entire management team and over half the station had a huge drug operation going. The same district also had CTV drivers smuggling dope in the dromedaries (long gone), and/or gold. Gold used to be shipped as a "Poison" dissolved in cyanide and if you knew anything about chemistry, it wasn't hard to get the gold out of solution.
Same with jewelry, and other expensive items. Large amounts of cash would often end-up with a courier. I knew of many who would routinely slit an envelope and/or repackage it to get at the contents. If the courier was dishonest, it would be very easy to steal. Federal Express Security sucked, and it usually took years to discover wrongdoing. They also wouldn't prosecute, because they didn't want the adverse publicity.
My brother, a long-time cop, tipped me one time about my manager, who was the biggest coke dealer in the local area, which had over 1 million residents. Even though he made less than $40,000 (the early 80s), he drove several expensive cars and lived in a house that would require 10 times his salary. He eventually got busted.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
They still are the carrier of choice. FedEx management does almost nothing to screen for illegal shipments nor do they encourage the police to inspect anything at the ramp.
Total sham. If I wanted to ship you 10 pounds of cocaine tomorrow P1, you'd have it the next day, assuming the pilots showed-up and they had enough couriers to deliver the package.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
True. If I can find a local police department who will ship some of their seized product to an officer in another state, I'll prove it.
SmithBarney
Well-Known Member
olroadbeech
Happy Verified UPSer
sadly, bean counters are running the world.
priorities are skewered. what the bean counters cant count is the price of loyalty, pride, moral, and ethics.
priorities are skewered. what the bean counters cant count is the price of loyalty, pride, moral, and ethics.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
No doubt lol. " TEACHER, TEACHER, John and Robert have a dirty magazine in the desk". lolYou're no fun.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
With such a emphasis on numbers starting back in late 90's, that camaraderie left and the courier who only cares for him/herself was born. Dispatch: "Can anyone help Route 31, he's going to have 8 lates". Courier thinks to himself, "If I drive 15 minutes over to him, my numbers will drop. I'll ignore that help message and grab some early PU's. That will help me more that going over to someone else's route." It's what the system forced couriers to do.
