I have little doubt you were elated the day FedEx proposed. After all, you left your old partner (Delta) for the purple tail. I’m sorry the honeymoon is over. And even though you’re still married to the exact same contract that once attracted you, your eye has noticed there are 2 or 3 tails amongst the hundreds that are slowly starting to look better. You almost (not quite) implied that you’re not going to feel satisfaction unless you switch partners or change this one. Fair enough. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps that’s why Fortune JUST ranked FedEx #12th (#1 in the industry) for the World’s Most Admired Companies in 2015.

The reality is this: FedEx has not made any proposals (interviewed) pilots for well over two years. Consequently, I have difficulty drawing the conclusion that FedEx isn’t as desirable as it once was. Pilots generally flow to where they can land a job. On that note, I bet you a dollar to a donut that FedEx will not endure any empty classroom seats for new-hires once they start asking pilots to join the team. Moreover, I bet the qualifications will not be lowered.

In all fairness, I understand much of what you say. I certainly do not aim to sound as though I’m picking on you, so if it does I apologies in advance.

Some hypothetical questions to ask oneself which do not need to be answered:

If FedEx dropped its pension (like Delta), in exchange for pay rates and work rules that exceeded all the others, would that make this relationship feel more appealing? If FedEx bought more 777’s and established more routes, specifically so pilots could improve their seniority, do you think the purple tail would start looking better? If every time a competitive airline (Delta, UPS, UAL, et al) agreed to a ‘better’ contract with ALPA, Boeing, USPS, and etc, would you like to see FedEx amend its old contract ASAP and ‘trump’ the competitor’s contract (so as to improve the agreement for the other side)? Would you like to see every FedEx employee (CEO, Presidents VP’s, CP’s, pilots, truck drivers, sort workers, forklift operators, load masters, dispatchers, Print Center employees, and et al) get paid the “most” and work the “least” in the industry - - or would you prefer that FedEx rob from Peter to pay Paul so that only the Pilots were at the top of this measure? If this last question is answered in the ‘affirmative’, then we desire for FedEx’s business to be centered upon making pilots rich while keeping them home. Sadly, that would kill purple and we’d be left looking for another tail.

As Galileo put it, we are not the center of the universe.

Lastly, I understand we will be cut into pieces if we rollover. That’s how the world works, but that’s not going to happen. History is on our side. Patients grasshopper.