New branding!

[bbsam]

Boeing does this quite often. it's a part of manufacturing. the tpp trade deal will only make things worse for the manufacturing sector. it will be good for delivery companies though.

My point exactly.

 

[ManInBrown]

What is the difference of Express work? Do you guys have 50-75 oversized packages weighing between 80-180 lbs going to 3,4,5+ story apartments with no elevators? Most of my guys had anywhere between 100-120 deliveries a day (outside of peak) that spanned multiple express routes anywhere between 14-25 pickups.
We are very used to worthless management. Pricks busting your balls for any code, even if you are over 99.6. Firing your employees for unjust reasons. Fines for unjust reasons. I think we are much more similar than you think but we get to deal with it while they micromanage our business.

LOL. Don't try to sit here and pretend that Ground drivers bring Overweight packages up to a 5th floor residence or business. Most places are lucky if the driver doesn't just kick the box out the side door while he's driving by. I had a customer tell me the other day, when she asked the Ground driver why he didn't bring the box up to their second floor business, his response was because the shipper didn't pay for that. It's an extra charge. Pregnant secretary and the Ground driver basically told her to kick rocks. Too bad. I LOL at some of the stuff I see from Ground on a daily basis. Ground Drivers are a funny breed

 

[Code 82 Approved]

Pretty nice huh. If you work as a manager for a contractor enjoy the peace you are currently experiencing because there is a train load of misery coming your way and I hope that you enjoy driving a route because I have this feeling that you are going to be doing a lot of that it the future . Why? Because when you start getting more time of day and day of week stuff to haul those guys who are doing the physical work of getting it there are going to want a lot more money or you will never be able to keep up with the turnover.

Well since you know jack squat about my group, I'll fill you in. Our design isn't typical. My CSP isn't typical either. We've taken the "what-if's" out of the equation. Truck failure? Covered. Bulk stop blowout? Covered. Multiple call ins? Covered. Driver crapped his pants? Covered.

A finely tuned organization runs smooth. And even though I left at 8am doesn't mean I wasn't in a truck at 15:00 because of a truck failure. Let there be no doubt that I have been around the block with a few disorganized helter skelters in my day, when I took my current position I made sure the CSP and me were on the same page. The amount of trust we have in each other is enormous.

But back to your trainload of misery: It's not going to be us.

 

[Code 82 Approved]

LOL. Don't try to sit here and pretend that Ground drivers bring Overweight packages up to a 5th floor residence or business. Most places are lucky if the driver doesn't just kick the box out the side door while he's driving by. I had a customer tell me the other day, when she asked the Ground driver why he didn't bring the box up to their second floor business, his response was because the shipper didn't pay for that. It's an extra charge. Pregnant secretary and the Ground driver basically told her to kick rocks. Too bad. I LOL at some of the stuff I see from Ground on a daily basis. Ground Drivers are a funny breed

Funny like a clown?

 

[MAKAVELI]

Funny like a clown?

Yes, like a clown.

 

[ManInBrown]

Funny like a clown?

Ha Ha Funny

 

[bacha29]

Well since you know jack squat about my group, I'll fill you in. Our design isn't typical. My CSP isn't typical either. We've taken the "what-if's" out of the equation. Truck failure? Covered. Bulk stop blowout? Covered. Multiple call ins? Covered. Driver crapped his pants? Covered.

A finely tuned organization runs smooth. And even though I left at 8am doesn't mean I wasn't in a truck at 15:00 because of a truck failure. Let there be no doubt that I have been around the block with a few disorganized helter skelters in my day, when I took my current position I made sure the CSP and me were on the same page. The amount of trust we have in each other is enormous.

But back to your trainload of misery: It's not going to be us.

So you and your CSP '" are on the same page".. Translation: You're doing exactly what he tells you to do when he tells you to do it. A "finely tuned organization" Sure. As long as the tires of every truck never come in contact with an unpaved surface. Let's see what your finely tuned organization can do out in the rural areas where the contractor has routes over a hundred miles apart from each other, where a route is measured not in neighborhoods but rather in multiple counties as in 34 zip codes stretched across 4 counties including 1500 miles of r.d. carrier miles most unpaved poorly maintained township roads and that's is just one route. Would have loved to see how that " finely tuned organization" would have performed back in the early days of RPS.

 

[bacha29]

I look at it through glasses that see John Deere, the largest local employer, laying off thousands of employees in the last year. You know, the kind of job that used to be a career and are now are just numbers on a balance sheet. Sure, union jobs but with a weak union contract that makes them easily expendable. This is what middle class Americans can expect. Little compensation and even less security.

As a side note I see where Deere has announced the elimination of 120 management group positions and in it's forward looking guidance says that it had identified an additional 500 million dollars in savings that they have yet to implement. I understand what you're saying thirty five years ago if you took a production job in a manufacturing facility you were kind of looked down on because doing so was considered the last and final option after failing at everything else. Today if you have a similar job especially one that pays descent has steady work and decent working conditions you are the envy of your peers.

 

[Code 82 Approved]

So you and your CSP '" are on the same page".. Translation: You're doing exactly what he tells you to do when he tells you to do it. A "finely tuned organization" Sure. As long as the tires of every truck never come in contact with an unpaved surface. Let's see what your finely tuned organization can do out in the rural areas where the contractor has routes over a hundred miles apart from each other, where a route is measured not in neighborhoods but rather in multiple counties as in 34 zip codes stretched across 4 counties including 1500 miles of r.d. carrier miles most unpaved poorly maintained township roads and that's is just one route. Would have loved to see how that " finely tuned organization" would have performed back in the early days of RPS.

WTF is up your ass? I ran the two most desolate routes with 250+miles a day on the shattiast unplowed and unsalted roads in trucks with no heat in the worst of northern winters for 2 yrs. You act like I know zero. Here's what I do know, how to move forward, just like the arrow on the truck.

My CSP may tell me what to do, but frequently I tell him my view, the driver view. 99.9% of the time it's the same view. And if you haven't condensed your areas since RPS, I guess the only explanation is you contract out in BFE. Not everyone is the $500 driver I started as, I earned what I have. So don't piss on my sandbox.

 

[overflowed]

Orange and green,,,,,,make,,,,,,,BROWN?

Probably the most intelligent post on this insane thread. If the contractors other than you get what think they want? Yes, I can say with confidence that within a month I think ups would control the overnight market. You guys pushing this idea are in fantasy land. I won't be around to see one way or the other, so I have no biased opinion of this argument. You forget or don't realize all your freight is the lowest deferred freight possible. In most instances it's free from the shipper. Nobody really cares when they get ground freight except businesses. So when your 12 dollar an hour driver releases a medical transplant body part at the loading dock and no one can find it? Or a hundred thousand dollar piece of medical equipment? You boys are smoking the serious tte" No one in both of these insane dual threads have even broached these ideas. Fedex doesn't care when it gets delivered by ground because nobody else does. It's why the the other things with ground are somewhat overlooked.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I understand what you're saying thirty five years ago if you took a production job in a manufacturing facility you were kind of looked down on because doing so was considered the last and final option after failing at everything else.

I'm pretty sure that is not what he said.

My interpretation was that if you went to work for a major manufacturer 30-35 years ago you knew that you were set for life.

 

[bacha29]

WTF is up your ass? I ran the two most desolate routes with 250+miles a day on the shattiast unplowed and unsalted roads in trucks with no heat in the worst of northern winters for 2 yrs. You act like I know zero. Here's what I do know, how to move forward, just like the arrow on the truck.

My CSP may tell me what to do, but frequently I tell him my view, the driver view. 99.9% of the time it's the same view. And if you haven't condensed your areas since RPS, I guess the only explanation is you contract out in BFE. Not everyone is the $500 driver I started as, I earned what I have. So don't piss on my sandbox.

The reason it hasn't condensed it due to the lack of volume growth. X decides who many routes it will contract you as a contractor do not make that decision. Furthermore the X ground you are dealing with today is a far more mature model where as in my case I was a Day I contractor in a terminal hat was designated for closing twice in it's first 3 years of operation 250 miles a day that was a short day. We went in at 5 AM to load . Nobody got back before 9 PM About 11PM toward midnight often much later we would start getting back in looking like the 15th Air Force coming back from Ploesti. Nobody could get a day off for more than 2 years. Don't even try to compare today to what it was like back then. By the way we were told that we would be the " Trailblazers" but we 3 Day 1 's are all in agreement when we say that if we had known that we would be followed into the place by some of the most ungrateful SOB's you ever had the displeasure of meeting we would most definitely have recommended closing.

 

[Exec32]

Ground drivers aren't held to the same strict, professional standards dictated by Memphis, that Express drivers are. Applying that standard alone would disqualify a majority of Ground drivers, ergo the disdain.

That disdain is misplaced.
X is only able to support its wages and benefit package, as meagre to some as it may seem, by milking as much profit from its ground operations as possible. How? They Nicole and dime the contractor and expect us to operate just like express. I know some may not see the perils in that, however a corporation that a operated like that should be expected to #hit on every employee.
X is to blame for your disappointment in ground, and the funny part is they want you guys to have disdain towards ground contractors,,,it's an effective deflection.

 

[MrFedEx]

T

So you and your CSP '" are on the same page".. Translation: You're doing exactly what he tells you to do when he tells you to do it. A "finely tuned organization" Sure. As long as the tires of every truck never come in contact with an unpaved surface. Let's see what your finely tuned organization can do out in the rural areas where the contractor has routes over a hundred miles apart from each other, where a route is measured not in neighborhoods but rather in multiple counties as in 34 zip codes stretched across 4 counties including 1500 miles of r.d. carrier miles most unpaved poorly maintained township roads and that's is just one route. Would have loved to see how that " finely tuned organization" would have performed back in the early days of RPS.

The Code 82 operation is an outlier in that they appear to run operations professionally, unlike the vast majority of Ground contractors that populate the meat of the Bell Curve.

 

[bacha29]

Many of you guys who have such low opinions of Ground are clearly ignoring Ground's ability to adapt to change. It has been doing it since day1. All we hear out of you X jocks is ,"Ground can't do this and it can't do that and it can't do something else." The biggest disservice you can do to yourself is to ignore it's ability to adapt and it will adapt. The only question among contractors going forward is will they all meaning those who operate in attractive areas as well as those who don't get enough money from XGround to implement the new directives and mandates coming their way? If the money and logistics are they there will leave you Xjocks standing there with you thumbs ina certain bodily oriface wondering why the security you for too long believed you had suddenly appears threatened.

 

[vantexan]

That disdain is misplaced.
X is only able to support its wages and benefit package, as meagre to some as it may seem, by milking as much profit from its ground operations as possible. How? They Nicole and dime the contractor and expect us to operate just like express. I know some may not see the perils in that, however a corporation that a operated like that should be expected to #hit on every employee.
X is to blame for your disappointment in ground, and the funny part is they want you guys to have disdain towards ground contractors,,,it's an effective deflection.

It's not all Ground profit. Fuel costs have dramatically dropped. That's pure profit on the Express side.

 

[vantexan]

Many of you guys who have such low opinions of Ground are clearly ignoring Ground's ability to adapt to change. It has been doing it since day1. All we hear out of you X jocks is ,"Ground can't do this and it can't do that and it can't do something else." The biggest disservice you can do to yourself is to ignore it's ability to adapt and it will adapt. The only question among contractors going forward is will they all meaning those who operate in attractive areas as well as those who don't get enough money from XGround to implement the new directives and mandates coming their way? If the money and logistics are they there will leave you Xjocks standing there with you thumbs ina certain bodily oriface wondering why the security you for too long believed you had suddenly appears threatened.

Still hoping we'll go down in flames, eh? Group's reputation was built by Ground drivers, not Express couriers. I don't go around saying anything about Ground drivers, but over the years I've had plenty of customers complain to me about Ground. Fix your own house before pointing fingers at us.

 

[Route 66]

That disdain is misplaced.
X is only able to support its wages and benefit package, as meagre to some as it may seem, by milking as much profit from its ground operations as possible. How? They Nicole and dime the contractor and expect us to operate just like express..

Leave Nicole outta this! She has nothing to do with any of it.

 

[bacha29]

Still hoping we'll go down in flames, eh? Group's reputation was built by Ground drivers, not Express couriers. I don't go around saying anything about Ground drivers, but over the years I've had plenty of customers complain to me about Ground. Fix your own house before pointing fingers at us.

I'm not saying that you'll go down in flames. I'm saying stop deceiving yourselves with the belief that you are in a secure employment given ground's proven ability to quickly adapt to a changing delivery market and environment. All I hear out of your guys is that Ground can't do this that and something else.All I'm saying is that from day 1 it has and continues to respond to a changing delivery landscape because contractors are given no choice but to find a way to adapt. And if given enough money and a functional set of logistics you can bet your bottom dollar they will continue to adapt to that new set of directives and therein lies the threat to your livelihood.

 

[12yearsaslave]

They say it's just branding and has nothing to do with operations. I find that hard to believe. As soon as they shot the HD dog they started pushing overlap and owning both services. We'll see where this goes.

Hey that dog went to a farm upstate!!!