Just Politics

[dukeb]

As I understand it, FedEx Ground changed their model about 10 years ago. My business gets FedEx deliveries pretty much every day. For several years we had a FedEx driver who was a sole operator. He owned his truck and he worked his ass off. He was pleasant and reliable...and I tipped him nicely every holiday season.

But...if he didn't feel well it was his responsibility to find someone to do the route for him. Same if he wanted to take a vacation. And while his truck was set up with shelving to securely hold packages, at one point someone crashed into his truck and he was responsible for renting a Ryder to use while his was truck being repaired. The Ryder had no shelves so shit just bounced around on the floor. It was comical and sad at the same time.

One day FedEx told him they would no longer use one-man-bands. They wanted contractors with spare vehicles and on-call drivers so a breakdown, driver sickness, etc. wouldn't disrupt operations. I don't know what ever happened to our driver. I felt terrible for him.

Good on your son for findI don't. When I was in my teens, I was looking forward to going far away to college, and then explore living in at least a few different places. Most of my friends--especially college friends--felt the same way.

BTW, I'm also chummy with our UPS driver. With OT, he grosses almost $200k. But he works his ass off in all kinds of weather. And while he's a scrawny guy, I've seen him put a 60 pound package under each arm and carry them like they were nothing.