“First, if there is a "normal" contractor out there anywhere, I'd like to meet him or her. What exactly is a "normal" contractor? Every contractor has a unique background and skill set that makes one not normal but unique. Production-wise, one might be average, above or below. When you talk about "normal" are you talking about production? If not, there is nothing abnormal about Diane and me. Any team with ordinary ability and a clean record can make the same career moves we have. There is nothing special about us regarding the expediting opportunity. What is available to us is available to others.â€
Oh Phil, come on. You and I know it is the people who have been moving along buying a used truck and making ends meet while not doing anything special like White Glove or reefer or whatever. See Phil what I am saying does not discount the wealth of information you have or the help you provide to others but you have did not step into this just by buying a truck and signing up with FedEx. You have been lucky and to your credit and your professionalism, you have stayed the course with FedEx by doing the same thing that has given you that success in the past.
“Third, I have learned that unless I know the drivers personally and have met them more than once, it is best to take what they say about their earnings with a grain of salt. Some lie on the down side. Some lie on the up side. Some tell the truth. But if these are strangers, you never know which is which.â€
The people I met yesterday, only three were new people I have never met before but the others I know, know them well, but it don’t matter – the message is the same message I got when I was out west and seeing people I have talked to before and people I have met last year. They are not going to deviate from the facts saying either way; they want to see the improvements that were told to us by the top people in the division that this is an improvement for us.
“Fourth, the numbers may very well be down for the fleet. The economy is slowing down and a recession may begin in the near future. That is part of the reason why the Federal Reserve Bank lowered interest rates yesterday, to spark a slowing economy.â€
Oh come on, again. There are a lot of factors beyond a recession/depression or the feds messing with the rates. One is sales. When I walk into a place and see a competitor’s sale person standing there openly telling our customer that they can beat our prices as my truck is being loaded, I worry. I call and tell FedEx about it and nothing happens. I do the best I can to help the situation out but as one customer told me, it is very frustrating to see these people come in to his business and not hear from us to reinforce our brand. I hear this from other people who I worked with in the past at the auto companies and as one owner/operator put it, it is embarrassing to see this happen when we know that we (FedEx) can do better for the customer and ourselves.
“Fifth, you said, "...and they all say that FedEx is not leveraging the brand or sales force as they promised to everyone’s advantage and discounting freight too much at the expense of the common contractor –
not my words but theirs."
The word "promised" troubles me. Nowhere in any FedEx announcement or interview has FedEx promised anything regarding EFS. They talk about potential benefits and anticipated outcomes but no promises have been made.â€
It can trouble you all you want, it is somewhere that we were told that we would see an INCREASE of opportunities with EFS, we haven’t. We were also told that the combined sales staff would increase business for all of us. Coming from the company, that tells me that they are promising to help us by making these changes. AND beside it wasn’t my word “promise†– it was someone else’s. I knew then and know the same now that the company is looking out for their bottom line and don’t blame them a bit for it, I am and others are asking just to help them improve that bottom line which helps us too.
“Sixth, our numbers simply do not match up with the notion of discounted freight. As you know, the FedEx Custom Critical extranet web site allows contractors to see their revenue per loaded miles and revenue per all miles (approximate) for a give time period. Those numbers for us are up, not down. It's not all attributable to the fuel surcharge. Freight rates have gone up. Yes there are discounted shippers out there and loads that are not worth taking. When those loads are presented to us, we do not take them. No mystery there. No one at FedEx discounts freight at our expense because if the freight does not pay enough, it does not go on our truck.â€
Yea, I know that you are doing well, we can all tell and I for one am actually happy for you but you can not tell me that you know what others are going through. I can only pass on what I am told from those who I trust and what I know in my situation. But again I will reiterate that you have not deviated from what you know works for you and only know what works for you. It is unlikely that you will strip your truck of the things that will limit your opportunities, right?
“Seventh, it is the nature of a corporation to want to see the company do better than it has been. In that, the company and drivers share a common interest. If the drivers you talked to "see how FedEx can gain more market share within the Custom Critical part of the business," I hope you encouraged them to share the ideas with the people at FedEx that can act on them. Or maybe you can share the ideas here. FedEx corporate people are known to read this site.â€
Phil, yes I do promote the idea to ‘talk to’ FedEx and pass on ideas when I can but I know a few who went to Green to talk to them about ideas and it has died with their CC. I for one would like to see some liaison program with FedEx but an open one not some closed door meeting thing. I know a few in management read these posts and write things down but I would rather hear more from the company directly on channels we can use to help all of us.
