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FedEx Freight | Went for my "red shirt" interview today,

Canadian Flyer said:
Who would ever be a red shirt on purpose, knowing what it means to be one?

If my old barn called me tomorrow and offered me a job as a red shirt, I would say thanks, but no thanks.
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Way back in the day we had a dockworker who got promoted to a "red shirt"....six months later he was back pounding the patio. When we asked why he said he could make a lot more money with a lot less responsibility breaking freight!!
 
Cali4nia said:
Lol, no...as in "in search for something more". I just happened to catch myself doing it, and stopped.
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Years ago I went through the whole program to become a red shirt. When it came down to decide which one I wanted I chose to remain a driver. I chose to remain a driver because being a red shirt meant more hours and less pay. The main reason was being a red shirt meant your basically on your own. The crap comes at you in all directions and you have to have the temperament to deal with it (which I don't have). Being a driver all you have to do is show up and do a good job and nobody will mess with you. Good luck to you. Btw. I have seen red shirts work their way up the ladder and become SCM.
 
I would like to learn the dock
Sex pistol said:
Years ago I went through the whole program to become a red shirt. When it came down to decide which one I wanted I chose to remain a driver. I chose to remain a driver because being a red shirt meant more hours and less pay. The main reason was being a red shirt meant your basically on your own. The crap comes at you in all directions and you have to have the temperament to deal with it (which I don't have). Being a driver all you have to do is show up and do a good job and nobody will mess with you. Good luck to you. Btw. I have seen red shirts work their way up the ladder and become SCM.
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Thank for the well wishes...

At my facility, I can see improvements that I can make as a "red shirt"- compared to that as a dockworker. Now having said that, I also get that these improvements will come second to an Operation Supervisors role, so I will have to work in them on my own time. Our facility is small-174 doors. The land is big enough for a maintenance shop, ddc driver training area, and empty long trailer storage, but the overall employee base opinion is that the dock itself could use some more space. If there were just some minor tweaks to the grounds, we could improve our productivity by 10%..just off the top. But I'm just a dockworker right now.
 
Don't do it.Leadership at fedex is trained to be corrupt. This is why most members of management get fired before they can retire. They bend numbers and break policy to look good on a spreadsheet and get caught.
 
CRAZYTRAIN said:
Don't do it.Leadership at fedex is trained to be corrupt. This is why most members of management get fired before they can retire. They bend numbers and break policy to look good on a spreadsheet and get caught.
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At one point a red shirt had to have so many coaching and write ups given to employee or they got dinged on their review. Then they added in that they had to also work to get good employees to chose to become leadership as a part of their review as well.
 
Sex pistol said:
Years ago I went through the whole program to become a red shirt. When it came down to decide which one I wanted I chose to remain a driver. I chose to remain a driver because being a red shirt meant more hours and less pay. The main reason was being a red shirt meant your basically on your own. The crap comes at you in all directions and you have to have the temperament to deal with it (which I don't have). Being a driver all you have to do is show up and do a good job and nobody will mess with you. Good luck to you. Btw. I have seen red shirts work their way up the ladder and become SCM.
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I did the LDC and then was told I needed to pick which I was going to be. They were not happy when I picked to stay a driver and I paid for that decision for a while. Chris Kelon the old CEO of Freight or whatever his position was started as a part time dock while in college. He came through IND on his way up the ladder.
 
HILLBILLY said:
I did the LDC and then was told I needed to pick which I was going to be. They were not happy when I picked to stay a driver and I paid for that decision for a while. Chris Kelon the old CEO of Freight or whatever his position was started as a part time dock while in college. He came through IND on his way up the ladder.
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Hell, I remember back when Grant Crawford started as a part time dockworker in CLT right outta college...talk about climbing the ladder fast, one min he's a part time dockworker, the next he was CEO of FXFE Canada!!!
Had to be the fastest climb up the corporate ladder in all of history!!
 
Redracer3136 said:
Hell, I remember back when Grant Crawford started as a part time dockworker in CLT right outta college...talk about climbing the ladder fast, one min he's a part time dockworker, the next he was CEO of FXFE Canada!!!
Had to be the fastest climb up the corporate ladder in all of history!!
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Grant was a good man. I had the pleasure of dealing with him a couple of times, and FXFC did well under him. He was a big thinker and the biggest reason we were anything more than a FedEx-owned contract carrier for crossborder freight.

The company wasn't the same after he departed for Roadrunner.
 
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