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FedEx Freight | The Union Debate Thread

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SwampRatt said:
But Red, everyone loves UPS. Investors,and especially CUSTOMERS use their services, quite willingly. They do have that "cancer" you speak of. :cool:
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I disagree, not "everyone" loves UPS.
Ordered a product online from the west coast, shipper shipped with UPS's ground service, took 7 days to get here.
I could've drove there and back myself in 7 days!
 
Redracer3136 said:
And that's your side's answer for everything....UPS.
UPS has been around for decades, they've spent years and billions buying their way out of contracts in order to get to where they are. FedEx has accomplished the same feat within a fraction of the time and money without the help of the union. Imagine how much bigger UPS would've been without the union...hell, FedEx might not have ever existed, who knows.
IMO, the union will just drag us down to the levels of YRC and ABF, not pump us up to the level of UPS.
FedEx will not join the ranks and have anything close to what UPS has...if that's what you believe, I'll have some of what you're smoking!
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Actually if you knew anything about UPS history you would know that their founder, James Casey, actually went to the Teamsters and personally asked them to organize his workers. You see a written contract is also good for the company.
 
Redracer3136 said:
I disagree, not "everyone" loves UPS.
Ordered a product online from the west coast, shipper shipped with UPS's ground service, took 7 days to get here.
I could've drove there and back myself in 7 days!
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Fedex would have taken 7 days to get it to your town and then handed it off to the post office taking another 2 days. Next time follow your advice and drive to get it or pay more for faster service.
 
yrc-atm said:
Again how would CUSTOMERS side with the company? What would they do? Your only answer is to buy stock???
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No...my answer was there are various ways for customers to side with the company, buying stock was just one example.
I believe EX396 gave a few more as well.
I believe if you sit back and think about it, even you can come up with a few ways!
 
joes bar and grill said:
The customers don't give a rats ass as long as they get their freight. If they think it's coming to be tied up they will just call the next carrier on the list,and will stay away until it is settled.
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Yea,I think very few customers use carriers based on union affiliation.Price and service are the deciding factors and probably in that order in most cases..
 
a9faninnc said:
Yea,I think very few customers use carriers based on union affiliation.Price and service are the deciding factors and probably in that order in most cases..
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I agree 100%...my statement was in a labor dispute, our customers would side with the employer...as in their opinion, that's it. These guys like to blow things out of proportion, I never implied that they would/wouldn't pull their freight.
 
SwampRatt said:
At this stage, I think you'd be absolutely right. The strength is not there... Yet.

I think the flaw in the Union busters scenario, involving a solely economic strike (which would allow the Company to "simply" replace striking workers), is in the fact that it would far from "simple" to replace 20,000+ striking CDL workers, and train them quickly. Finding qualified CDL drivers has been a challenge for all Companies, including FedEx, even on a relatively small scale.

I'm one who doesn't think a strike would happen, but I think it would be unwise to show your hand, as many have, stating they couldn't go weeks without a paycheck.
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I agree, however you have to play the hand your dealt which in this case is three terminals. So the way it seams now you will negotiate with what you have which gives you little leverage.
 
yrc-atm said:
We arent talking about a strike. The last major strike was over 20 years ago. Customers dont fall for that bs anymore and they dont care whether or not the driver picking up is a teamster or not. They want price and service.
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I didn't say we are talking about the current possibility/likelihood of a strike, I am speaking to the impact that strike had on many business owners and the weight that still carries in their decisions. Yes, they want price and service. However, service encompasses a bunch of things above and beyond average transit time.
 
SwampRatt said:
I'm one who doesn't think a strike would happen, but I think it would be unwise to show your hand, as many have, stating they couldn't go weeks without a paycheck.
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No hand to be shown. There are many statistics available that show just how much debt and how little savings the average american has. They (the employer) can pretty much guess that most of their employees will be no more than 1 or 2 standard deviations from average.
 
Redracer3136 said:
I disagree, not "everyone" loves UPS.
Ordered a product online from the west coast, shipper shipped with UPS's ground service, took 7 days to get here.
I could've drove there and back myself in 7 days!
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I received a package from fedex that came from The west coast took ten days to get here and was destroyed!!!!! Big hassel to get it all settled and sent back an then received my replacement part in less than a week with no damage!! I made sure my new shipper was UPS,
 
Redracer3136 said:
I agree 100%...my statement was in a labor dispute, our customers would side with the employer...as in their opinion, that's it. These guys like to blow things out of proportion, I never implied that they would/wouldn't pull their freight.
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You mention a labor dispute to your customers and watch how fast they start using someone else!!
 
Redracer3136 said:
...FedEx will not join the ranks and have anything close to what UPS has...if that's what you believe, I'll have some of what you're smoking!
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Why is it that you seem to enjoy stating that we'll not get "anything close to what UPS has"? Almost enthusiastic about that. Shouldn't we aim high in setting goals?

When offering a product or service, it's wise to know what the market is for the same quality product or service. Now, do you see any scenario where we could bring our quality level up to (or beyond) that of the competition, thereby being worth equal or better? Clearly some drivers are worth more than we are, since the value of anything is only what someone is willing to pay (we're not just talking wages).

Now, we hear that "good things are coming". We'd all agree, that is a good thing. Why should we not expect "anything close" to the prevailing wage/package. "Something close" seems to be a reasonable target, don't you think? There are "other factors" that can make up for lower compensation. If compensation won't be "anything close", then there must be some other factors that can be seen as an offsetting benefit, IMHO. Agree?
 
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