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XPO | XPO People and Culture compared to Con-way Inc. People and Culture

icuicp

icuicp

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It's been a few weeks since the completion of the sale of Con-way Inc. to XPO Logistics.

Have you seen anyone from XPO Logistics? ( the parent company )

If so , how do they compare to the Con-way counterparts?

Do they drive company cars?

Are they older or younger?

Have they tried to interact with you or fellow drivers , CSR's , customers , or supervisors?

Do they come across as smart and thoughtful?

I ask because all of us are each others eyes and ears and at this point I get the feeling ( my opinion only ) that XPO executives are going through that moment were you first see a woman without the makeup , jewelry , nice clothes , hair done - you get the point.

They see what they bought , warts and all and it might just take some getting used to. It also may have scared them a little bit.
 
icuicp said:
It's been a few weeks since the completion of the sale of Con-way Inc. to XPO Logistics.

Have you seen anyone from XPO Logistics? ( the parent company )

If so , how do they compare to the Con-way counterparts?

Do they drive company cars?

Are they older or younger?

Have they tried to interact with you or fellow drivers , CSR's , customers , or supervisors?

Do they come across as smart and thoughtful?

I ask because all of us are each others eyes and ears and at this point I get the feeling ( my opinion only ) that XPO executives are going through that moment were you first see a woman without the makeup , jewelry , nice clothes , hair done - you get the point.

They see what they bought , warts and all and it might just take some getting used to. It also may have scared them a little bit.
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My thoughts on the matter??? The only thing that has changed up to this point in time is that there has been an acquisition of Conway by XPO, a change of brand name if you like, but it's still Conway. If you've seen one LTL, you've pretty much seen them all. Why do I say that?... cause XPO hasn't had an LTL, (in North America), before this buy out and they think that Conway's way of running the show is just fine and dandy as long as it's making a good profit. Apparently XPO's philosophy is a very popular one which is..."If it ain't broke, don't fix it." And that is the reason that Mr. Jacobs bought us. Remember that he said in an interview..."I don't buy fixer upper." XPO has adopted just about every thing that Con-way was doing right, questionable, or whatever...the whole ball of wax so to speak i.e. star cards, score cards, annual job selection process, tractor rotation, etc. etc. etc. Having said that however, I think that there just might be some slight shift in the operational course of the company in the not to distant future, nothing drastic I would imagine. I was told by my SCM recently that he and all SC Managers are being ordered to attend a SCM Orientation Seminar, Just like the XPO sales staff did, in St. Louis to be trained and enlightened, and informed as to how XPO wants them to run their terminals. Who knows, maybe after XPO gets our SCM's brainwashed away from Conway's way of thinking and tuned in to XPO's way of thinkling... then maybe we'll see a few of the new XPO guys visiting terminals to check on how we're coming around. Maybe I'll get to see an original real XPO guy one day before I'm done. Time will tell I guess!!!
 
I was talking to the driver I slip seat with and he was telling me about what his AE told him about their meeting with XPO. The AE met the new president of LTL and he got to talk to him for a bit. The AE said that our new president is a straight up operations guy, all about moving freight and making money with no nonsense. The AE thinks things are going to take off next year and was very upbeat about what is coming.
 
I wonder will there be a clash or a backlash? If there's a big difference in pay for an XPO manager vs. a SCM , ( Con-way managment gets payed more for example )I doubt that the Con-way managers will keep the higher pay.

If the Con-way managers get more vacation than XPO managers , company cars , phones , bigger bonuses , and better benefits , this would cause tension in my opinion and lead XPO to give cutbacks to Con-way Inc. management just to even things out.

P.S. Saw one of the XPO management recently - seemed young , modestly dressed , humble car. Made me start this thread.
 
radman said:
I was talking to the driver I slip seat with and he was telling me about what his AE told him about their meeting with XPO. The AE met the new president of LTL and he got to talk to him for a bit. The AE said that our new president is a straight up operations guy, all about moving freight and making money with no nonsense. The AE thinks things are going to take off next year and was very upbeat about what is coming.
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Yeah, I got to chat w/ our regional sales guy the other day after he had just returned from his big 4 day XPO sales seminar in St. Louis. He told me that he was informed by one of his sales colleagues that Mr. Jacobs is a real good listener. Apparently Mr.Jacobs is taking all of his former Conway guys' input and ideas on how things were done and now has gone home to Greenwich, Ct. to come up w/ a best practice plan for sales going forward. I heard that it will take one to two years to get 'economy LTL' up to speed. I think things will get busy way before the 'economy LTL' plan gets firing on all cylinders. I think that only after they sort things out and finish w/ all the other things that are going on ,i.e. consolidation, synergies, layoffs, etc.... that we'll really start humming around here. As always... time will tell.
 
On my route a couple weeks ago, I encountered a team of hot shot drivers at one of my stops. They seemed to be of about average skill level and intellegience. A week before that, at the same place, I encountered a team pulling a brand new XPO van. The tractor, also brand new, a twin screw Volvo condo, was contractor owned and the team driving it worked for the contractor. They were a little gnarly looking, a man and woman team. They had to back to an inside dock right off the street. It took the man on the ground guiding the woman in the cab 7 pullups and 15 minutes to get the trailer in place. Equipment was nice looking, I was not nearly as impressed with the skill level of the drivers.
 
Most of the LTL carriers are huge, and it takes a long time to analyze what changes and fine tuning adjustments are needed. I wouldn't expect any major changes if I were you guys, at least not until after the first of the year.
 
ScotchNeat said:
On my route a couple weeks ago, I encountered a team of hot shot drivers at one of my stops. They seemed to be of about average skill level and intellegience. A week before that, at the same place, I encountered a team pulling a brand new XPO van. The tractor, also brand new, a twin screw Volvo condo, was contractor owned and the team driving it worked for the contractor. They were a little gnarly looking, a man and woman team. They had to back to an inside dock right off the street. It took the man on the ground guiding the woman in the cab 7 pullups and 15 minutes to get the trailer in place. Equipment was nice looking, I was not nearly as impressed with the skill level of the drivers.
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I'll say the same thing my old man (40 year trucking veteran) told me shortly after I started driving. If you get it in the hole and don't hit anything, who cares how it looks in the process.
 
radman said:
I was talking to the driver I slip seat with and he was telling me about what his AE told him about their meeting with XPO. The AE met the new president of LTL and he got to talk to him for a bit. The AE said that our new president is a straight up operations guy, all about moving freight and making money with no nonsense. The AE thinks things are going to take off next year and was very upbeat about what is coming.
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well if he's all no nonsense then these sub-standard trailers should be going to the wayside right? almost every night our sub-standard from hagerstown md is late! 20 guys sitting around on lifts plus at our barn in the mourning we have 3 who get to enjoy their coffee&donuts so tell me again how we're saving money! did i mention we also unload headers and put them in the sub-standards
 
catchTHErabbit said:
well if he's all no nonsense then these sub-standard trailers should be going to the wayside right? almost every night our sub-standard from hagerstown md is late! 20 guys sitting around on lifts plus at our barn in the mourning we have 3 who get to enjoy their coffee&donuts so tell me again how we're saving money! did i mention we also unload headers and put them in the sub-standards
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Well, the only thing that I can say to this is this...Mr. Jacobs and his staff are probably burning the midnight oil, so to speak, looking at all of the inefficiencies, wasteful spending, unfilled lanes, unproductive OT expenditures, etc. etc. etc....and drafting up a game changing strategy to get this company to be the kind of highly efficient, precisely engineered and well oiled freight moving and money making machine that he wants it to be. Why hasn't this reality happened yet??? It will take a little bit of time. Hopefully Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Brooks are sitting down together right now and figuring it all out. Only thing for them to do next is to roll out their strategy and for us to execute it. Let's hope and pray that it the best strategy and that any and all the bugs get worked out of it quickly so that he can make a lot of money and we can too.
 
Has anyone besides account executives and management had a chance to meet with and talk to XPO management?

Just curious if anyone has had an encounter with or talk to any XPO Logistics people that weren't from Con-way. You would think by now someone would have a story to tell.

Happy Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much.
 
vetran peddleman said:
Well, the only thing that I can say to this is this...Mr. Jacobs and his staff are probably burning the midnight oil, so to speak, looking at all of the inefficiencies, wasteful spending, unfilled lanes, unproductive OT expenditures, etc. etc. etc....and drafting up a game changing strategy to get this company to be the kind of highly efficient, precisely engineered and well oiled freight moving and money making machine that he wants it to be. Why hasn't this reality happened yet??? It will take a little bit of time. Hopefully Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Brooks are sitting down together right now and figuring it all out. Only thing for them to do next is to roll out their strategy and for us to execute it. Let's hope and pray that it the best strategy and that any and all the bugs get worked out of it quickly so that he can make a lot of money and we can too.
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You should get an award for being the most optimistic poster on the topic I have ever read. Or the biggest sucker, I hope for your sake it is the first.
 
the5tolls said:
You should get an award for being the most optimistic poster on the topic I have ever read. Or the biggest sucker, I hope for your sake it is the first.
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Why do you have to crack on the guy for being positive? You don't hope he is right, you hope he is wrong and thats why your trolling our forum. You guys on the Holland and YRC forums are so negative all the time and you want to spread as much of that as you can everywhere you go. You suck.
 
The rebranding of a company happening fast would be the perfect scenario for employees, but why bother to worry about how fast it happens? They have a plan and it will happen soon enough, and since your paycheck hasn't bounced, you should sleep well at night. Don't let the small stuff get to you.
:1036316054:
 
Northern Flash said:
The rebranding of a company happening fast would be the perfect scenario for employees, but why bother to worry about how fast it happens? They have a plan and it will happen soon enough, and since your paycheck hasn't bounced, you should sleep well at night. Don't let the small stuff get to you.
:1036316054:
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Honestly, rebranding is not even on my radar. Been pulling CCX trailers the whole time. Some days we roll out with a CFI to do volumes. No one cares. Neither do I.
 
icuicp said:
It's been a few weeks since the completion of the sale of Con-way Inc. to XPO Logistics.

Have you seen anyone from XPO Logistics? ( the parent company )

If so , how do they compare to the Con-way counterparts?

Do they drive company cars?

Are they older or younger?

Have they tried to interact with you or fellow drivers , CSR's , customers , or supervisors?

Do they come across as smart and thoughtful?

I ask because all of us are each others eyes and ears and at this point I get the feeling ( my opinion only ) that XPO executives are going through that moment were you first see a woman without the makeup , jewelry , nice clothes , hair done - you get the point.

They see what they bought , warts and all and it might just take some getting used to. It also may have scared them a little bit.
Click to expand...
All the former Con/Way needs to do is get back to servicing its customers and loose all the B/S that they started and we will all be just fine!
 
If xpo doesn't get a handle on the culture of tearing the holy **** out of freight, nothing else is going to matter , just be the same b/s different name with the same poor results.
 
dallasj said:
If xpo doesn't get a handle on the culture of tearing the holy **** out of freight, nothing else is going to matter , just be the same b/s different name with the same poor results.
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This is a big fear. What if he does nothing but milk this monster for it's money ? He is gonna sell it anyway, why overhaul it when you can take advantage of it ?
 
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