A regional manager told me that alone and off the record. Now do you consider that nonbinding piece of paper to be something Fat Freddy would actually comply with? Who has the power to order him to abide by the terms? After all they're all his to begin with.
Ground Folks: Reactions to Delivering Express
- Thread starter MassWineGuy
- Start date
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
FedEx's old slogan - PSP. FedEx's new slogan - Trust me bro.
. You’d be surprised. You’re right about the piss poor state of regular contracts these days. The real money is in contingency and short term dedicated contracts. Those are of course the things the company made a big show of getting rid of at the beginning of the year. And yet here we are a third of the way through and guess what’s creeping back in? But most of the time you do need to be holding on to one of those crappy contracts to be in position for the money makers.
So are the contracts binding to FedEx? Probably less than they should be but far more than they want them to be. And when you really push the envelope and station manager realizes they may have to figure out how to fill three contracts at the end of July (when they should be planning for peak), they can become far more reasonable.
So in other words the confusion of the moment has terminal management in a bit more conciliatory and less confrontational toward contractors? If so that's good but one can only expect it to be short term .
And yet here we are a third of the way through and guess what’s creeping back in? But most of the time you do need to be holding on to one of those crappy contracts to be in position for the money makers.
So are the contracts binding to FedEx? Probably less than they should be but far more than they want them to be. And when you really push the envelope and station manager realizes they may have to figure out how to fill three contracts at the end of July (when they should be planning for peak), they can become far more reasonable.
Not really. They were in that same position all year last year. Until they get the compensation right with the contracts, they will teeter on that edge.
And the Teamsters seeing that Fat Freddy is caught in a logistical no man's land are not going to be worried about the capabilities of the other carriers when putting their demands down in front of UPS.
This will be fun to watch.
And contractors don’t care what’s going on with UPS/Teamsters. FedEx would love to gain market share. Contractors know when they will be asked to do more for less. There is no profit motive to new accounts.
Comes back once again to today's workforce dilemma....Why work for nothing....when you can do nothing for nothing.
And with Fat Freddy it was always the same line....."More packages...It will mean more packages for you!"
Will it put more money it the pockets of the contractor and the contractor's workers? Their answer? "Oh gee, gosh I ya. That's not what's important What's important is that it means more packages"!
He said with what Fedex was going to pay him he wouldn’t even be able to hire another driver. He has 4 or 5 drivers that he pays by the day. They work hard and get done in 5-6 hours but now they’ll have to work more hours so he’s not sure they’ll stay. Sounds like Fedex is just not paying enough for the Express stuff to make it worth it. He said if the contractors hadn’t signed by Friday they would go to mediation to see if they can get Fedex to up the compensation but ultimately it is up to Fedex and the contractors will have to take it or leave it.
Yeah. That 5 or 6 hours a day will be a sticking point for the company. I found that most will stay. Came down to for what I was paying over an 8 hour day was still more than the other places. Of course they preferred making it in 6 hours but the math made their decision.
It comes back to Trucking 101 every single time.
1. Here's the load.
2. Here's where it's going
3. Here's what it pays.
4. Do you want it or don't you?
Final mile P&D contractors are at a considerable disadvantage. Still paying on rapidly depreciating vehicles pounded so hard that they're smelter bait in a couple of years and have limited alternative uses.
Once upon a time FDX Ground contracting offered by industry standards attractive returns
Those days however are gone and gone along with them are the premium prices offered by speculators and contract flippers
Will things work out to their benefit? Perhaps...but nowhere near as good as days gone by.
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
If they give you priority freight and pickups, it will be more than 8 every day. Good luck with that.
I’ve always said it’s all about the money. With the near elimination of Express, they’ll have the money.
It’s true, that feeling you’re getting. They’re just not that into you anymore.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
And just where do think that money is REALLY gonna go?
MAKAVELI
Well-Known Member
That depends on how badly they want this to succeed. If contractors continue as last year with a revolving door of failures, the entire plan is a disaster. If they put a third to half the savings back into the contractor model, it can thrive.
My guess is they’ll try to do it on the cheap, lose a bunch of business and eventually address the underlying low wage problems. At that point they’ll start regaining lost ground. This isn’t a company that seems to consider how badly their program rollouts are managed. I would have thought they’d get better at it but I haven’t seen a lot of progress on it.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
Same thing I've been saying since last summer when this was first announced.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
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