FedEx lost a $500k case of equipment for the service techs who maintain the instruments we use at work. They work nationwide and have two of these cases for the entire country, they keep thousands of labs running. FedEx just… lost it. Eventually it was found a few weeks later or something. The cost is not really a big deal, it is basically just instrument components they use to verify the running components, but they’re the components that all instruments are compared to, so they can’t just put together another case as it suits them. There’s extra testing that goes in to make sure these components are exactly to spec.
This. FedEx drivers get wrung, squeezed and micromanaged every second of every day. Pay someone a living wage, set reasonable expectations, and stand back. The job will get done right the first time.
UPS - Union, drivers are the MOST senior positions and get about $150k a year (I think they’re hourly? With really really really good holiday and OT) with great benefits (afaik). Everything is insured, and drivers are generally held to incredibly high standards.
FedEx - ground delivery drivers are not union. They aren’t even employees. They’re independent contractors so that FedEx can save money with MINIMAL liability. Drivers own their own route and trucks, and have to pay for everything. It’s basically a mini franchise and you do not make very much, there are no benefits.
There was a woman in her late 30s in one of my college classes back in 1999. She was a driver for UPS, and had nearly 20 years worth stock options. UPS went public that year, and her stock options were converted to Class A common stock. She decided to hang onto her shares. I found out a couple of years ago that she signed up for a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan), and will retire a millionaire.
Yep know a guy at FedEx and they leave those notes when the package never made it to the truck but they have a contract to deliver in a certain time frame. So they put the blame on the customer as a strategy of cooking the metrics.
I’ve lived in several different areas of my city, and even moved to a different county and lived in three different places in the new county. Unless I have beat the odds and gotten the same driver each time I’ve been unlucky to use fedex (usually not by choice), I’d lean more toward it’s a company problem and the drivers are merely a symptom (or victim).
Anecdotally, I’ve never heard horror stories about FedEx like I’ve heard about Amazon, and yet Amazon still does a decent job with deliveries; not perfect, but orders of magnitude better than FedEx. That tells me how much worse it must be to work at FedEx.
I cannot impress upon you all how much I loathe FedEx. I feel like they go out of their way to mess things up.
FedEx lost a $500k case of equipment for the service techs who maintain the instruments we use at work. They work nationwide and have two of these cases for the entire country, they keep thousands of labs running. FedEx just… lost it. Eventually it was found a few weeks later or something. The cost is not really a big deal, it is basically just instrument components they use to verify the running components, but they’re the components that all instruments are compared to, so they can’t just put together another case as it suits them. There’s extra testing that goes in to make sure these components are exactly to spec.
It’s amazing the difference a union makes for customer satisfaction isn’t it?
Note: USPS & UPS are both unionized.
This. FedEx drivers get wrung, squeezed and micromanaged every second of every day. Pay someone a living wage, set reasonable expectations, and stand back. The job will get done right the first time.
UPS - Union, drivers are the MOST senior positions and get about $150k a year (I think they’re hourly? With really really really good holiday and OT) with great benefits (afaik). Everything is insured, and drivers are generally held to incredibly high standards.
FedEx - ground delivery drivers are not union. They aren’t even employees. They’re independent contractors so that FedEx can save money with MINIMAL liability. Drivers own their own route and trucks, and have to pay for everything. It’s basically a mini franchise and you do not make very much, there are no benefits.
These companies are NOT the same at all.
There was a woman in her late 30s in one of my college classes back in 1999. She was a driver for UPS, and had nearly 20 years worth stock options. UPS went public that year, and her stock options were converted to Class A common stock. She decided to hang onto her shares. I found out a couple of years ago that she signed up for a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan), and will retire a millionaire.
It is usually a driver who has too many packages or doesn’t care, both cases are an issue with the company itself.
Yep know a guy at FedEx and they leave those notes when the package never made it to the truck but they have a contract to deliver in a certain time frame. So they put the blame on the customer as a strategy of cooking the metrics.
I’ve lived in several different areas of my city, and even moved to a different county and lived in three different places in the new county. Unless I have beat the odds and gotten the same driver each time I’ve been unlucky to use fedex (usually not by choice), I’d lean more toward it’s a company problem and the drivers are merely a symptom (or victim).
Anecdotally, I’ve never heard horror stories about FedEx like I’ve heard about Amazon, and yet Amazon still does a decent job with deliveries; not perfect, but orders of magnitude better than FedEx. That tells me how much worse it must be to work at FedEx.