Apply Now!

FedEx Ground may go union

K

KandS2

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
I am now a new contractor with FedEx Home Delivery, while my husband is still expediting.

I had to buy a truck. No suprise there, the company has its requirements on what kind of truck you need. I can have a supplemental (back up) truck that doesn't have to fit their standard specs, as long as it has a back up camera, and a few shelves.

I did *not* have to buy a route. It was given to me by the terminal/FedEx.

As per our contract, we have the right to sell our route, or give it back to FedEx if we no longer wish to do it. I got my route because one contractor owned 3 routes, and his two drivers quit. That left him with the responsibility of covering 3 routes. The end result was he gave one back, and sold the other.

Another way to get a route free is when FedEx adds a route due to growth in an area. Our terminal is looking at adding a route sometime this year.

I hope FedEx HD doesn't unionize: I'll be out of there quickly if it does. I am glad to be working there(mostly) as expediting has been a bit slower than usual this year so far.

It is definately a big change from expediting. There is a loss of freedom in that I have to work Tues-Sat, whereas with expediting, I worked if I felt like it. Of course, now I have a regular paycheck, and sleep in my own bed every night, which is also nice.

There are good points and bad points in most things we choose: we need to try to choose the option with the most good points. Before you sign any contract, make sure you understand it.

I was a temp driver for 6 months before the route became available. I'm glad I was, because I survived a peak season (Thanksgiving-Christmas), and have seen the highs and lows of this job. I think I went into this knowing what I was getting into, so I am content.

Stay safe out there!

KandS2 :D
 
R

ratwell71

Veteran Expediter
Big businesses forget that their most valuable resource is the employee or contractor. They are the driving force behind every corporation. So if they are still in business today it means they still are making their employees happy. When all or most of their employees become unhappy then they will fail.
 
ATeam

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
>If corporate greed is at such a low than would please
>someone explaine to me why there are so many lobbiest in
>D.C.?
>
>Could it be for the good of all US taxpayers or just a few?
>
>The new bankruptcy system is it really fair?

So many lobbyists are in Washington D.C. because professional lobbying is one of the best ways to get legislation passed. In other words, lobbying works. While corporations have lobbyests, corporate greed is not in itself responsible for the large number of lobbyists in Washington. Most any organization large enough to support one, sends a lobbyist to Washington or hires a Washington-based lobbying firm (the K-street crowd), to promote their interests.

OOIDA, the NRA, Red Cross, churches, a number of envrionmental organizations, government reform groups, and a host of non-profit organizations all have lobbyists.
 
W

woobergoober

Expert Expediter
Regarding "buying" a route from Fed Ex, in order to get in- I am only speaking for Ground, as that is who I worked for. But that term was thrown around a little, but I think it is inaccurate.

While I am sure it is different from terminal to terminal, the one in livonia, MI, which served Detroit and surrounding suburbs, probably had a route open once a month. They had about 50 routes when I left, back in 2003, and they must have more by now.

I saw people leave Fed Ex Ground for many different reasons. Mine was hoping to find a better opportunity with more income. I can tell you, that a majority of the route openings were due to "bad" situations. I remember some people having their contracts terminated due to theft, DUI's, not being able to service their route completely, etc.

My point is, when these routes would open, Fed Ex needed to cover it ASAP, and there would be no waiting around for somebody to "sell" the route. If Fed Ex could help the contractor sell their truck, to the person that was taking the route, they would, but sometimes the newcomer was bringing on a newly purchased truck, and so then the Ex-contractor would be on his own, to sell the truck.

When you hear somebody say that you have to buy a route, that usually means that they are getting out of the business, and need to sell their truck, so if you buy the truck, you can take over their route.

WG
 
ATeam

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
To update this thread and keep the time line complete for readers who may refer to this thread in the future, here is the latest development:

"MEMPHIS, Tenn. – April 21, 2009 – FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., (NYSE: FDX), won a United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision today that said FedEx Ground independent contractors are independent business owners – not employees -- and are outside the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This decision validates the company’s long-standing position that FedEx Ground contractors are small business owners."

Full text of the FedEx statement
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Phil,
Have you ever thought that posting the same thing in four different threads is like kind of sort of a dumb move.

All you need to do is post it in one thread and leave the others alone or are you working for FedEx Press Department?
 
DougTravels

DougTravels

Not a Member
Probably did it for the person that does a search to help them find it no matter which thread they click. Why don't you just leave him alone?

It is actually a nice thing to do. He took his time to put info out here, in a manner that makes it easy to find,even for someone who may not have alot of search skills.

But you wish to say it was dumb thing to do,

Why does it matter to you?
 
Last edited:
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
because doug there are several threads out there that are on the same subject and it seems to me (maybe a few others) that one should be enough on the same subject.... or maybe I am wrong altogether....
 
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
There was no need to re activate 3 year old threads...and so many at that...why? to what purpose? one would have sufficed.
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Thank you OVM.

Actually OVM,

one is from 2005

one from 2006

one from 2007 and

one from 2008.
 
Last edited:
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
He's made it impossible to have a concentrated conversation...people will be posting all over the place, any sense of the topic will be lost...Phil knows better....

I didn't get specific...but thanks...
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Well OVM I was trying to say something like that but it has been a long long day, sick cat and I am in a lot of pain....so not doing great today. Tomorrow however will be better, cooking the other cat and taking a lot of pain pills. :rolleyes:
 
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
greg334 said:
Well OVM I was trying to say something like that but it has been a long long day, sick cat and I am in a lot of pain....so not doing great today. Tomorrow however will be better, cooking the other cat and taking a lot of pain pills. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

guess we know what you'll be eating tomorrow.....;)
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Dredging up posts which are clearly dated (as in outdated) that talk about possible, pending outcomes, to infuse the most recent information to keep the old, outdated threads current with updated information, while seemingly logical on the surface, it is actually counterproductive to the very nature of the "timeline of conversation" that takes place in Web forums and places like Usenet.

It has been proven time and time again that such actions result in more confusion about a now-skewed timeline. It brings up outdated information that new readers must wade through in order to get at the current information, something that is naturally culled by the search results that sort the results in reverse order, putting older, outdated threads at the end.

That's the very reason that many forums have strict rules prohibiting members from replying to posts that are more than 30 days old (or from "bumping" them just prior to the 30 day clock running out in order to keep them alive). Do it once and you're warned, do it twice and get banned. It's that serious with informational and technical threads. Some forums employ software that automatically locks threads after a specific number of days since the last post.
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
If older threads here were locked, or if there were rules in place to prevent or restrict replying to old threads, it would have to be way longer than 30 days for a forum like this one. There are simply to many people who go out for 4-6 weeks, or longer, and then come home to the computer. Plus there are a lot of threads that are 3-6 months old that are still topical and current right now, and bringing them back to life doesn't hurt anything. But I'd say for here, at least 90, maybe 180 days.

Still, it doesn't happen that much here. It's not like 20 or 30 % of the current threads are resurrected old threads, as is what can happen on many forums. Except for the occasional member who posts to an old thread(s) for the purposes of disruption (as happened not too long ago, and even that was kept to a minimum), or by a member who's intentions are good but the reasoning is flawed (hiya Phil!), most who do it are newer people just reading old threads and suddenly have a reason to comment or ask a question. It never occurs to them that they should probably start a new thread, maybe referncing the old thread with a link or somethig. If it becomes a problem, then it should be addressed quickly, tho. I do think it should be mentioned in the Code of Conduct to refrain from replying to old posts without good reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top