E-Star* Update!

[fatboy33]

so has estar went live mon-fri anywhere yet?
It would be interesting if they could plug estar into existing sra routes that people know and see how man vs machine does.
I bet a person with knowledge of their route would beat the computer every time.
This reminds me of what UPS got years ago, Orion. Their focus was to save on gas. I havent heard any mention of that from Fedex, only so the customer has an idea when their pkg is arriving.
Fedex should just kill p1 res, it doesnt seem to bother amazon. They would save so much money becoming more efficient it would eclipse any profit on p1 res. Hell most of the time the customer isnt even home lol.

Can't compare the two. For one, Estar could route you stops just outside your station. It's nothing to deliver in 3 or 4 different areas before getting to your own area...... "own" being used loosely. A knowledgeable courier would smoke ESTAR, areas being the same. ESTAR can not and will not be able to adjust for unforeseen happenings on a route. I will say, if I were to grab a guy from home depot parking lot and throw him into a truck with ESTAR, he'd do ok. ANd you could be right. I wouldn't doubt fedx turns priority Resi into due by 1800. Personally, I see this happening.

 

[Star B]

I will say, if I were to grab a guy from home depot parking lot and throw him into a truck with ESTAR, he'd do ok.

and this ladies and gentlemen, is the final endgame with eStar. Put any idiot in the truck and get them to run the route, ala Amazon. The only reason why UPS and FXE wages were "high" back when was because there was no technology to route and spoon-feed a route to someone -- you had to find someone who had the mental capacity and get them trained and up to speed... and that training was costly in time and wages spent. UPS employees were smart to make sure they unionized. We were hamstrung by the RLA and that barrier was effective as shown by our pay and benefits.

Now, you can throw any idiot in a Sprinter with turn-by-turn and eStar and they can do "okay". Amazon is proving that to be fact and soon it will be shown here also. Memphis is trying to save themselves from the insurance claims/damage that inexperienced drivers cause by having the cameras in the trucks.

 

[MAKAVELI]

and this ladies and gentlemen, is the final endgame with eStar. Put any idiot in the truck and get them to run the route, ala Amazon. The only reason why UPS and FXE wages were "high" back when was because there was no technology to route and spoon-feed a route to someone -- you had to find someone who had the mental capacity and get them trained and up to speed... and that training was costly in time and wages spent. UPS employees were smart to make sure they unionized. We were hamstrung by the RLA and that barrier was effective as shown by our pay and benefits.

Now, you can throw any idiot in a Sprinter with turn-by-turn and eStar and they can do "okay". Amazon is proving that to be fact and soon it will be shown here also. Memphis is trying to save themselves from the insurance claims/damage that inexperienced drivers cause by having the cameras in the trucks.

Amazon does " ok " because they don't offer time commits and pu. Ok will not work in the Express business.

 

[59 Dano]

Now, you can throw any idiot in a Sprinter with turn-by-turn and eStar and they can do "okay".

But but but some here have told us for years that's impossible because if there's a train stopped on the tracks, no one would know what to do unless he's been on that route for at least 15 years!

 

[59 Dano]

Amazon does " ok " because they don't offer time commits and pu. Ok will not work in the Express business.

"OK" would be good enough in most cases. Outside of FO/PO/PU, it would be fine.

 

[Star B]

But but but some here have told us for years that's impossible because if there's a train stopped on the tracks, no one would know what to do unless he's been on that route for at least 15 years!

like Memphis has cared about service for the past 2 years. Until recently our linehaul was +60 minutes late daily.

 

[Star B]

Amazon does " ok " because they don't offer time commits and pu. Ok will not work in the Express business.

In my limited experience with it, eStar does a pretty damn good job at making sure time commitments get made. However, it's really poor at not pissing away money doing stupid routing decisions.

I will admit though the only experience I have with it is in SDR ops, so it might not have to make such stupid decisions with more people and freight on road.

and... yes, Amazon does do pickups.

 

[fatboy33]

like Memphis has cared about service for the past 2 years. Until recently our linehaul was +60 minutes late daily.

My bet is, commitment times will be done away with altogether. Paying a two man crew 300,000 a year to fly a plane full of freight will need to be offset somewhere and I feel without service commits the company can hire just ok drivers and pay amazon wages. (If not merge with Amazon) Now for how long this last depends on how long those employees parents live. in 15l20 years those parents will probably be dead and the new fedx employees won't be about to afford to work and pay rent. But they'll just hire new kids? well, Lots of young people arent having kids so I gets the government will just open wide the boarders.,,

 

[MAKAVELI]

In my limited experience with it, eStar does a pretty damn good job at making sure time commitments get made. However, it's really poor at not pissing away money doing stupid routing decisions.

I will admit though the only experience I have with it is in SDR ops, so it might not have to make such stupid decisions with more people and freight on road.

and... yes, Amazon does do pickups.

SDR ops and Weekday ops are two different animals. Less inbound volume, less outbound volume, less time commits and less pick ups.

 

[shartpost]

so has estar went live mon-fri anywhere yet?
It would be interesting if they could plug estar into existing sra routes that people know and see how man vs machine does.
I bet a person with knowledge of their route would beat the computer every time.
This reminds me of what UPS got years ago, Orion. Their focus was to save on gas. I havent heard any mention of that from Fedex, only so the customer has an idea when their pkg is arriving.
Fedex should just kill p1 res, it doesnt seem to bother amazon. They would save so much money becoming more efficient it would eclipse any profit on p1 res. Hell most of the time the customer isnt even home lol.

Hasn't gone live during the week where I am but some neighboring stations are reporting less than favorable results. Most Saturdays they just tell our couriers to make service and ignore pee stain altogether since they don't have enough staffing for SDR anyway. Mind you our station is also resuming mid day sorts for some unrelated reason. Another station in particular is on week 3 of implementing pee stain Monday-Saturday and their reattempt cage has been completely filled with DEX01s by Wednesday. Their filthy casuals and sidelined mid day couriers get to clean that mess up on Thursday and Friday. Nowadays, 5-10 percent of their total inbound volume is not even attempted since they switched over, and their P1 on time percentage has slipped into the low 80 percent range.
Reality is, the set routes everyone is used to will go away once pee stain rolls out fully. There are no hard geographic boundaries separating the newly generated routes. Every single courier will have different businesses, apartments, gated communities, and pickups every day. They aren't going to know every single gate code, side street, shortcut or pickup location so the amount of unattempted and missed freight will be enough to build a damn house. Get your popcorn ready.

 

[floridays]

Amazon does " ok " because they don't offer time commits and pu. Ok will not work in the Express business.

When will you understand they don't give a about time commits today, in this current time.

It was everything in building the brand and for years later.
When was the last time you saw or heard a commercial about, "World on time," or "when it absolutely positively........"

They don't exist.

Commit times are not for the customers benefit until they bitch.
Missed commitment times are strictly a metric to remind you of your failures whether the failure was caused by you or the hand you were dealt.

It's my opinion, anyone convince me I'm wrong.

Starting with you @59 Dano.

 

[59 Dano]

Commit times are not for the customers benefit until they bitch.
Missed commitment times are strictly a metric to remind you of your failures whether the failure was caused by you or the hand you were dealt.

It's my opinion, anyone convince me I'm wrong.

Starting with you @59 Dano.

Convince us you're right.

 

[Fred's Myth]

Convince us you're right.

I'm convinced.

Evidence?

You still work for FedEx.

 

[MassWineGuy]

So if what Shart says will happen really happens everyone will basically be a swing driver. New route daily. It all just sounds so cataclysmic. And it will make the company’s poor service reputation much worse.

 

[floridays]

Convince us you're right.

You have all the information in front of you if you choose to be truthful.
I don't deliver packages, I have heard of the show in getting the freight to the ramps and then stations for timely delivery.
I have nothing to prove, the effort defines itself.

Covid is or was no excuse, take the damn freight with no premium for service if no guarantee is offered.

Don't hold freight at the hub which was accepted as express saver then deliver it to the ramp to go to the station and effectively turn it into an overnight for the courier to make service. Extended route couriers will understand exactly what I am talking about.

Let's not play games, I don't deliver but I do listen.
I'll let any courier chime in exactly how they have been hamstringed in making commitment times.

I have a question for you relating to this frame of thinking.

What is more accceptable, a late pick-up or a delivery failure to get a pick-up on time?
That was true when X gave a about on time delivery.

 

[Guitarman01]

Im a year in and I just might be a year out depending on how all this goes between estar and valet.
mother's day will be interesting to see how estar handles heavier volume.
Those yellow roads labels better not get off with estar, because no one is going to know their route.
im a creature of habit though, I like a set routine. If both of these new systems bring about too much randomness, I dont think ill be able to handle it for another 30 years lol.
Thats one thing about express, not much to do outside of being a driver that pays decent.
Also, our manager definitely still cares about lates at our station.

 

[floridays]

Also, our manager definitely still cares about lates at our station.

I'm sure he does.

 

[shartpost]

So if what Shart says will happen really happens everyone will basically be a swing driver. New route daily. It all just sounds so cataclysmic. And it will make the company’s poor service reputation much worse.

This is assuming the roll out has its bugs and issues worked out, which will never happen. Our station was supposed to have it in March but nothing came of that because our senior noticed all the missed pickups from the latest Saturday disasters. The engineering monkeys can't even get that right. My guess is that pee stain goes totally out the window for peak season and it gets repurposed as a training aid for noobies. This isn't realistic of course but the routing as it is now, is completely inefficient and it uses a lot more fuel to boot. Once that hurts the bottom line enough, it's over for pee stain. The best thing you could do now for your fellow unpaid swing drivers is fill in those stop notes and keep a list of gate codes handy.

 

[MassWineGuy]

Fuel? Each time I fill up even a small van it’s more than $100. More fuel surcharges coming, I suppose. I think they should drop all pretense and just call it a convenience fee.

It took our station two years to get the Leo. Maybe this will take as long. If it causes as many lates and other problems as have been reported, I can’t see our managers letting it happen for long. I hope.

 

[whenIgetthere]

So if what Shart says will happen really happens everyone will basically be a swing driver. New route daily. It all just sounds so cataclysmic. And it will make the company’s poor service reputation much worse.

I believe your first sentence is the end game.