SFA Meeting Aftermath

[59 Dano]

At our meeting, the question of 'My managers actions matches his/her words' came up. One courier mentioned there's no money for uniforms. How the hell does that comment have anything to do with that question?

It's like a freak show sometimes.

 

[Maui]

Lots of stations with a large number of topped out employees. A topped out swing in a base market makes almost $29/hr. For those that are willing to work it is definitely doable to make 90K. Much more in the higher markets. Topped out couriers making 60k-65k is achievable too. You just have to be willing to work, especially taking on things like DG or with a willingness to get in cans. Newer swings can pretty easily make 45k-50k and FT couriers 40k-45k in base markets.

It is also true that 5-15 year (maybe even longer) employees got a raw deal in comparison. Most are not topped out and some are VERY far from it. People with over 10 years at step 3 or 4. When old-timers topped out in 2-4 years and most new people will top out in 9. Nothing will change how screwed over those mid-range people are. People before AND after are getting better conditions. A topped out swing on 1.5X costs more than a 10 year courier on 2X. That is ridiculous and never should have happened.

 

[Oldfart]

That's kind of a confusing statement.

Meant to say I WILL be kicking back and drawing a mailbox income. Typo.

 

[Oldfart]

Just like all of his statements.

Yep. People like you are easily confused by statements from a content and satisfied person. They go right over your head.

 

[Oldfart]

It's not volume alone that dictates hours. When you don't have anyone on vacation, day off, etc you are 'overstaffed'. We had a 2-3 week stretch where the swings were getting 15-17 hours of minimum pay.

How do you have weeks when NOBODY is off? The only weeks we have like that are the blacked out weeks for Christmas and Mother's and Valentines. By the time we bid personals and floaters, just about every day of the available calendar is full. Kinda sucks when you need a spur of the moment day off.

 

[59 Dano]

We all know where upper management will focu$ on. If they could $ee the whole $cope of thing$, it may be different. They are blinded by the $weet reward$ of ea$y work.

Oh, the irony...

Some stations need to be fatter than others to be able to handle the challenges their station area creates. That's for local management to figure out, not some bean counter in MEM. To challange that, however, means having a backbone, and most managers lost their backbone as soon as we went public.... maybe sooner, I don't know. I wasn't around for that time.

MEM doesn't determine that. Your ops manager and senior are responsible for proper staffing levels. MEM doesn't care how many people work in a station. There is no mandate to eliminate bodies. There is an expectation that a station's hours of labor stay consistent with the amount of volume that passes through it. The challenges of a station's service area are figured into that. It is ridiculously expensive to keep spare bodies on hand.

The company went public in 1978.

 

[59 Dano]

I wouldn't count on that volume if I were you. Amazon will go away in your area, just a matter of time. Dell is no longer the huge shipper they once were( too much competition ). DirecTV will also be dying down as AT&T is moving towards online streaming.

Our largest shipper only accounts for three to four percent of our volume.

 

[Oldfart]

Oh, the irony...




The company went public in 1978.

I pointed that out to him. He "walks the belt everyday" with couriers that were here in 1978. I would have to look at my seniority list but I bet there are less than 150 couriers that started in early 1978 or before. I guess his station has 147 of them. My station has the other 3.

 

[OrioN]

A la carte subscriptions will become a reality for cable service within the next 5-10 years.

I pay about $135/month for my cable and Internet, which does not include any of the premium channels. I watch 5-10 channels on a regular basis and would love to have the ability to pick and choose which ones I want to watch and which ones I don't.

Our local NBC affiliate has been in a contract dispute with Dish for the past two months and the number of Dish returns has increased exponentially.

Yikes, that's too much for just using 5-10 channels... just pay for internet only and use an amplified antenna for your free local news channels. My xfinity / Comcast service is only $73 a month.

Get an iptv box, like an Amazon firestick, roku, or similar.

I have a few kodi standalone units for on demand movies and shows, then free air local stations.

And streaming video on tablets and my phone.

 

[Oldfart]

Yikes, that's too much for just using 5-10 channels... just pay for internet only and use an amplified antenna for your free local news channels. My xfinity / Comcast service is only $73 a month.

Get an iptv box, like an Amazon firestick, roku, or similar.

I have a few kodi standalone units for on demand movies and shows, then free air local stations.

And streaming video on tablets and my phone.

Sounds like a person will need 3 or 4 pieces of equipment to watch TV. I have Direct with 4 HD DVR and pay about $125 a month. More than I want but a fair price for the enjoyment I get. I have a Firestick and have only watched it twice in 2 yrs.

 

[Maui]

Oh, the irony...



MEM doesn't determine that. Your ops manager and senior are responsible for proper staffing levels. MEM doesn't care how many people work in a station. There is no mandate to eliminate bodies. There is an expectation that a station's hours of labor stay consistent with the amount of volume that passes through it. The challenges of a station's service area are figured into that. It is ridiculously expensive to keep spare bodies on hand.

The company went public in 1978.

MEM doesn't directly determine that, but indirectly when they allow virtually no T&E, eliminate NHC training and fail to approve postings at the VP level it leaves station management hostage and understaffed. Courier and Ops Manager positions go unfilled for months when FedEx isn't making Wall Street estimates, even if the Company is very profitable. Ops and Seniors have almost no control of staffing appropriately in that environment.

 

[Oldfart]

MEM doesn't directly determine that, but indirectly when they allow virtually no T&E, eliminate NHC training and fail to approve postings at the VP level it leaves station management hostage and understaffed. Courier and Ops Manager positions go unfilled for months when FedEx isn't making Wall Street estimates, even if the Company is very profitable. Ops and Seniors have almost no control of staffing appropriately in that environment.

Career ops have page after page of open courier positions. Now that more are retiring, hiring should increase in some areas. Even our station has hired new swings. We had about 5 come on right after Christmas.

 

[l22]

Just watched our workgroup raise hell with our relatively new manager (few months). It all came back to the cutting of hours, as we are the PM shift. They tried to organize this SFA meeting in groups, so each group could answer two questions that were given to them. These questions are the ones that were of focus, pertaining to our manager. Since our manager bombed the SFA, we had eight questions. After answering one question, the whole work group went on a rant about how no one can afford to feed their child, and with the little notice we had (a day), their families were not prepared for this major income decrease. We are being told that hours are being reduced to save the company money and keep the business afloat as domestic numbers are down, while international shipping is at an all time high. Thoughts on this Brown Cafe folks?

It is not up to the Operations Managers. They're just doing what they're told to do regarding the change in hours/scheduling.

 

[Maui]

Career ops have page after page of open courier positions. Now that more are retiring, hiring should increase in some areas. Even our station has hired new swings. We had about 5 come on right after Christmas.

While all of that may be true, rest assured that the Western Region at least placed a hiring freeze. I know of a location that is short 15 people. After 5 months they were able to post 3 FT positions. I know of a location that is short multiple managers and the Region has sat on the approval for 2 months.

It is my understanding that locations with fewer than 25 employees were exempt, but larger locations have had to absorb the losses. The region has not allowed NHC classes all year. I fail to understand why you argue against this. What do you get out of it?

 

[Oldfart]

While all of that may be true, rest assured that the Western Region at least placed a hiring freeze. I know of a location that is short 15 people. After 5 months they were able to post 3 FT positions. I know of a location that is short multiple managers and the Region has sat on the approval for 2 months.

It is my understanding that locations with fewer than 25 employees were exempt, but larger locations have had to absorb the losses. The region has not allowed NHC classes all year. I fail to understand why you argue against this. What do you get out of it?

Not arguing, just stating facts. I read the career ops while waiting to clock in. Must be 3 or 4 pages of courier openings. I don't notice the region or district. Just killing time.

You expect me to believe an ENTIRE region has not had a new hire in 11 months? An entire region? Doesn't a region cover 6 or 8 states? I find that hard to believe.

The fact that we have hired 5 swings that I know of since peak proves some of your argument as incorrect. We have more than 25 employees and we didn't have to obsorb the people. We have done that in the past but we had several people retire and 1 passed away and we got 5 new swings.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Am I correct in assuming that there is one national seniority list?

 

[Oldfart]

Am I correct in assuming that there is one national seniority list?

The one I have is for all of Fedex Express. Just 1 of the operating companies. You can isolate it down by first name, last name, job title, director, Vice President.

 

[outtatime]

Basically yes. A courier with 20+ years can transfer to any station in the US and will be able to choose next years vacation based on years of service just like at the station they came from.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The one I have is for all of Fedex Express. Just 1 of the operating companies. You can isolate it down by first name, last name, job title, director, Vice President.

Express couriers are the only "employees".

 

[Oldfart]

Basically yes. A courier with 20+ years can transfer to any station in the US and will be able to choose next years vacation based on years of service just like at the station they came from.

What does 20 years have to do with transferring? Depending on when they arrive at a station depends on their vacation bidding. If next years vacation has already been bid, they get the leftovers. I thought most people that transfer get their seniority frozen for a set amount of months. People that have transfered into my station have told me they had to bid last the first year, then moved into the process wherever their seniority put them after that. Not sure if that is our station's rule or company wide.