You guys go round and round but isn't it the bottom line that contractors went into this thinking it was a good opportunity(how it was portrayed) but all it really is is FedEx using you to satisfy the courts and thus be able to keep labor costs minimal without fear of unionization? Your investment insures that you will scramble to keep it as profitable as possible for yourself thus making it productive which makes FedEx happy. And FedEx has the control necessary to weed out the contractors who won't play ball. I originally started with FedEx in 1986 and, having transferred more than most, have seen some pretty diabolical things from both local and upper management. But Ground is their diabolical masterpiece. When I found out that Fred's family owned Greyhound Bus Lines years ago it all fell into place why things were going the way they were. Greyhound for decades was pure crap. I had that insight so was able to just laugh when Ground contractors, single route owners, tried to talk me into investing in one. You on the other hand saw a major Fortune 100 company with a great reputation. Now you know better.
New branding!
- Thread starter STFXG
- Start date
$100k+ per year...3 hours a day...tax write offs...
Yeah, X management is a bunch of Memphis/Pittsburgh brown-nosing yes men, who annoy the crap out of me, but still profitable. Not sure any other route business would be as lucrative.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
Some contractors are too worried about what Express is doing to even think of that.
I pointed out the other day that you appeared to be doing well and they said you had other businesses going too. They seem to be claiming they aren't making much themselves.
sandwich
The resident gearhead
this right here. I mentioned in an earlier post where contractors make 3 times what express drivers do. contractors is what they want to eliminate. I'm sure they will just keep screwing you guys more each contract until you start selling and leaving. they probably want you guys to have 15-25 drivers each. 3 hours of work a day making over 100 a year. kudos to you, that's awesome.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
I doubt any of them lose a moment's sleep worrying about what's happening at Express.
Cactus
Just telling it like it is
Maybe you make $100k, maybe not. But if you are making $400 a day, unless you have about 20 full time drivers, then you are grossly underpaying your workers and sucking your life from their sweat. However, as stated elsewhere, a lot of ground contractors/ISP are weasels with few morals or empathy for their fellow human beings.
Oh. Thanks for your expert analysis.
In the end the contractor has to have those routes manned by someone. Therefore in the end they will have to put enough money out there to get someone to bite on it. However the contractor history of cheaper labor procurement is no doubt something X clearly sees and believes that it's a condition that will continue thereby giving it the leeway to bring heavy downward pressure on settlements without consequence.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
I bet he and his cohorts submit mock NFL drafts on their favorite teams' message boards. The sillier premise and the less information there is behind it, the more they'll argue in favor of it.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
Management has really been pushing the ELDP lately. They have been encouraging us to steal the best package handlers and train them to drive. This is basically how it worked 10 years ago but now we have to run our own schools instead of sending them to one run by Fedex.
I agree, they have perfected it. I am well aware my contract with X controls my business.
I never thought otherwise.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
His family never owned Greyhound Bus Lines. They owned a small regional line in which Greyhound purchased a majority interest in 1931. Greyhound purchased the remaining interest of the Smith family in 1949. Greyhound may have been crap, but the Smith family's involvement was limited to a small area and ended with the death of Earl (Fred's uncle) in 1955.
By 'perfected' I mean almost unchallengable in court.
And since they have nearly perfected the scam, when the time comes, all they need to do is "ask" drivers at renewal time to take more packages in the areas they already serve.
It won't be an instantaneous change to ground handling almost all express packages, but once the transition to ISP is complete in a couple years, the next phase of cutting delivery costs will follow. I think fedex will be able to pay the ISP more for express stops than the ISP makes for normal ground deliveries, and still be a whole lot cheaper than what an express driver is paid when total cost are included. The smart capable ISP should be able to come out ahead. Look at the duplicate costs alone that will be eliminated- terminal space, fleet, multiple drivers in same area, and management costs. Then you have insurance costs, payroll and personnel/HR. So even if the ISP is reimbursed for the slight added costs,AND pays his express drivers the same as the express drivers currently make, including benefits, fedex still comes out ahead.
Even if fedex hires totally separate ISP contractors with special training to handle express, but use the ground terminals, fedex comes out way ahead.
Don't know where to start?
How about not validating my ENTIRE argument by stating,
"And you can do anything you want when you aren't working for fedex".
That is the essence of the problem, in reality we do not work for X, therefore there should be no interference with how I accomplish the objective for them or any other company I contract with.
But they interfere, saying I can't deliver other contracted accounts on my truck while i am delivering their packages. You don't see the problem their. That is my truck, and my employee.
Again you prove your lack of reading comprehension. You do work 'in reality' for fedex- they are who you contracted to work for. Your contract didn't put you into a partnership, no matter the language. And does fedex control you at 2 am?????? Or even 8 am???? Buy another truck to serve another customer, hire another driver instead of this continual whining about how bad you have it. Hire a manager or assistant manager. Ask fedex for more money.
When I signed the contract, I did everything required to get the job done. Only when they went outside the contract did I decline their orders. If you don't like it, quit, or wait to be fired if you think they are demanding too much. From what you post, you obviously aren't acting like an independent business, and that's your fault.
That's a very surprising policy change. Not many years ago contractors at my terminal were not permitted to take package handlers and put them in trucks after the sort and go and deliver. Likewise X was at the time training drivers but we had a multi route with a turnover so extreme that he kept robbing x of the temps they had trained. Finally reached the point where X told him to get his own drivers. Now with the temps being eliminated X has no reason to train anymore. I don't know what some contractors are going to do come peak. Many will no doubt be completely unprepared. If you have to train your own while other's in your terminal don't no question they will be trying to steal them because they won't spend the money,instead expecting you to bear the cost .
That's a good thing.
