FedEx contractor revolt?

[bbsam]

I think the answer is a painful one for FedEx. Ultimately they will have to choose one model. One offers total control and more efficiency. The other will offer more short term profit but less control, efficiency, and long term stability. The clock is ticking and Raj and the board have some major decisions to make.

It is painful but it’s a corner they’ve painted themselves into.

 

[HedleyLamarr]

The company has no choice. They have to up the pay for their contractors or the entire company will cave along with Ground. Express can't handle the bulky stuff Ground gets. How many mattresses and trampolines do you think fit in a Sprinter? An all employee model would cost more than upping contractor pay; it ain't gonna happen folks.

 

[zeev]

The company has no choice. They have to up the pay for their contractors or the entire company will cave along with Ground. Express can't handle the bulky stuff Ground gets. How many mattresses and trampolines do you think fit in a Sprinter? An all employee model would cost more than upping contractor pay; it ain't gonna happen folks.

Yes it’s the only choice the Ground contractors are not one guy with he truck begging, they are 20 to 30 trucks put a couple together your talking 100 trucks, together they are the bulk of the operation forget the planes and semi trucks the last mile is key, how will they pay them Express bend over

 

[yadig]

I’m not sure this isn’t planned. It appears they are gonna get rid of some of the weaker, less productive contractors. The easy pay days are over and this will help profit margins in the end. Grounds profit margin has slipped last couple of years and throwing more money at it doesn’t help the bottom line. Raj is betting on the more productive contractors to pick up slack with a very minimum pay increase. They will dangle some carrots at them also and that’s the FedEx way! Y’all are gonna be like express now 50% are mad as hell and the other 50% thinks it’s not that bad, welcome to Fred express/ground. Y’all might get lucky and get BPP, like they gave express 25 yrs ago.

 

[It will be fine]

I’m not sure this isn’t planned. It appears they are gonna get rid of some of the weaker, less productive contractors. The easy pay days are over and this will help profit margins in the end. Grounds profit margin has slipped last couple of years and throwing more money at it doesn’t help the bottom line. Raj is betting on the more productive contractors to pick up slack with a very minimum pay increase. They will dangle some carrots at them also and that’s the FedEx way! Y’all are gonna be like express now 50% are mad as hell and the other 50% thinks it’s not that bad, welcome to Fred express/ground. Y’all might get lucky and get BPP, like they gave express 25 yrs ago.

Nothing I’ve seen or heard from any level of management indicates a plan. Let alone a well thought out one, or a plan this organization is capable of following through on.

More likely it was top brass told the nerds to lower contractor costs. The nerds tweaked their algorithm too aggressively, the economy went haywire, and contractors started going under. I refuse to believe anyone has a grand plan, they aren’t that smart.

 

[bbsam]

I’m not sure this isn’t planned. It appears they are gonna get rid of some of the weaker, less productive contractors. The easy pay days are over and this will help profit margins in the end. Grounds profit margin has slipped last couple of years and throwing more money at it doesn’t help the bottom line. Raj is betting on the more productive contractors to pick up slack with a very minimum pay increase. They will dangle some carrots at them also and that’s the FedEx way! Y’all are gonna be like express now 50% are mad as hell and the other 50% thinks it’s not that bad, welcome to Fred express/ground. Y’all might get lucky and get BPP, like they gave express 25 yrs ago.

If that were the plan, they’re doing a poor job of it. They’re replacing weak contractors with weaker candidates.

 

[bacha29]

I think the answer is a painful one for FedEx. Ultimately they will have to choose one model. One offers total control and more efficiency. The other will offer more short term profit but less control, efficiency, and long term stability. The clock is ticking and Raj and the board have some major decisions to make.

The matter is now in the hands of the major shareholders and the independent board members. Right now Fats is the largest shareholder at 7.3% but there's a couple other institutional investors that are not far behind. Couple of them join up then you could see the mother of all proxy fights..

 

[bbsam]

The matter is now in the hands of the major shareholders and the independent board members. Right now Fats is the largest shareholder at 7.3% but there's a couple other institutional investors that are not far behind. Couple of them join up then you could see the mother of all proxy fights..

The battle to be King of the Ashes

 

[bacha29]

“Temps in rentals”. You really have been gone a long, long time.

One more time bacha.

Why would anyone care if FedEx yanks the contracts? Bankrupt is bankrupt. No fuel and no drivers doesn’t get packages delivered.

If FedEx believes they can do it better with temps in rentals, I don’t believe there is a contractor that will get in their way. They’ll fail miserably and it’ll cost them far more to do it, but that is their prerogative.

You talk like you have control when the reality is that you have NO control. You talk like you and contractors in general have a coordinated plan to return prosperity to contractors when the reality is that you have NO plan.

So what will be the outcome? Patton and his boys will put on a show for the media in Vegas with Patton the headline act. Why? Because he's an attention hog. But, 3 months from now, the show's over, the media have long since moved on to the next story , powerless contractors will continue to be totally beholding to Fat Freddy, Black Friday will be like every other Black Friday and peak will be just another peak .

You contractors are in the worst possible position. Stayed too long, over extended and overly committed to a flawed and potentially failing business model. One whose future direction you have no control over whatsoever but one that you cannot walk away from without being economically ruined.

So what are going to do? There's nothing you can do but to try and ride it out hoping and praying that you don't run out of of cash before the economics of the matter swings back into your favor. But, what are the odds of that happening?

 

[bbsam]

You talk like you have control when the reality is that you have NO control. You talk like you and contractors in general have a coordinated plan to return prosperity to contractors when the reality is that you have NO plan.

So what will be the outcome? Patton and his boys will put on a show for the media in Vegas with Patton the headline act. Why? Because he's an attention hog. But, 3 months from now, the show's over, the media have long since moved on to the next story , powerless contractors will continue to be totally beholding to Fat Freddy, Black Friday will be like every other Black Friday and peak will be just another peak .

You contractors are in the worst possible position. Stayed too long, over extended and overly committed to a flawed and potentially failing business model. One whose future direction you have no control over whatsoever but one that you cannot walk away from without being economically ruined.

So what are going to do? There's nothing you can do but to try and ride it out hoping and praying that you don't run out of of cash before the economics of the matter swings back into your favor. But, what are the odds of that happening?

You mean I can’t just walk away and declare bankruptcy? Why not? They can force me to lose money?

I can’t run the profitable in town routes and leave the crappy rural routes to someone else? Why not? Amazon does.

You mean FedEx can force me to take out a second mortgage on my house to supplement their multibillion dollar corporation?

Is that what you truly believe? How exactly do you believe they will enforce anything like that? OTCs? Threats? “Contractual remedies”?

Do you really believe that any contractor is in any fear of any of that anymore?

 

[Fred's Myth]

This is coming from the outfield bleachers, but what's to keep Ground from matching UPS freight rates, then adequately compensating IC's and their crews, and requiring they match UPS productivity?

Are they afraid to compete on a level playing field?

 

[bbsam]

This is coming from the outfield bleachers, but what's to keep Ground from matching UPS freight rates, then adequately compensating IC's and their crews, and requiring they match UPS productivity?

Are they afraid to compete on a level playing field?

Ground isn’t necessarily that much cheaper.

The reason they won’t is because it’ll cut into profit.

 

[It will be fine]

This is coming from the outfield bleachers, but what's to keep Ground from matching UPS freight rates, then adequately compensating IC's and their crews, and requiring they match UPS productivity?

Are they afraid to compete on a level playing field?

They already match the freight rates, retail customers will pay the same for either service, big accounts get discounts which is where the sales teams compete.

The productivity expectations are already beyond what’s reasonable.

They won’t compensate contractors well enough because garbage service is more profitable apparently.

 

[burrheadd]

requiring they match UPS productivity?

Like that’s gonna happen

 

[bacha29]

You mean I can’t just walk away and declare bankruptcy? Why not? They can force me to lose money?

I can’t run the profitable in town routes and leave the crappy rural routes to someone else? Why not? Amazon does.

You mean FedEx can force me to take out a second mortgage on my house to supplement their multibillion dollar corporation?

Is that what you truly believe? How exactly do you believe they will enforce anything like that? OTCs? Threats? “Contractual remedies”?

Do you really believe that any contractor is in any fear of any of that anymore?

Exactly. You've resigned yourself to your fate. You've allowed your greed to cloud your vision of an obviously deteriorating situation economic situation until it was too late to do anything about it. I'm sorry to see it happen to you man but I told you several years ago that I believed that the Ground model had reached it's pinnacle and I thought that the best time had come for you guys to get out. Instead all I got was ridiculed and laughed at. So cherish the experience and enjoy the moment.

 

[bbsam]

Exactly. You've resigned yourself to your fate. You've allowed your greed to cloud your vision of an obviously deteriorating situation economic situation until it was too late to do anything about it. I'm sorry to see it happen to you man but I told you several years ago that I believed that the Ground model had reached it's pinnacle and I thought that the best time had come for you guys to get out. Instead all I got was ridiculed and laughed at. So cherish the experience and enjoy the moment.

I’m not sorry at all. I find it to be fascinating and I made sure to marry into a very large inheritance when my mother-in-law dies.

 

[It will be fine]

Exactly. You've resigned yourself to your fate. You've allowed your greed to cloud your vision of an obviously deteriorating situation economic situation until it was too late to do anything about it. I'm sorry to see it happen to you man but I told you several years ago that I believed that the Ground model had reached it's pinnacle and I thought that the best time had come for you guys to get out. Instead all I got was ridiculed and laughed at. So cherish the experience and enjoy the moment.

You are underestimating the amount of government money that was thrown at businesses over the pandemic. Anyone that got out years ago would have lost out on a lot of cash. Yet another idea of yours that is dead wrong.

 

[bacha29]

You are underestimating the amount of government money that was thrown at businesses over the pandemic. Anyone that got out years ago would have lost out on a lot of cash. Yet another idea of yours that is dead wrong.

If it took government cash to keep you going and and now that it's ending and as a result you're going below the Mendoza Line what does that say about you superior management skills? Obviously, not what you try to make us believe they are.

 

[bacha29]

I’m not sorry at all. I find it to be fascinating and I made sure to marry into a very large inheritance when my mother-in-law dies.

Living off your mother in law says a lot about your character. But, as they say it's better to be lucky than good. That's if she hasn't cut you out of her will. Not many men would stand to be beholding to their MIL but if you don't mind it , that's fine.

 

[bbsam]

Living off your mother in law says a lot about your character. But, as they say it's better to be lucky than good. That's if she hasn't cut you out of her will. Not many men would stand to be beholding to their MIL but if you don't mind it , that's fine.

Marriage has a financial component. To deny that is to be stupid. Or poor.