Originally Posted by cub pilot
FedEx Corporation said 7 years ago, "We will do it with you or without you".
I'm beginning to get a feel for who you are, or at least your type. Your agenda is becoming clearer now.
The trouble with the above is that many people, pilots included, believed the threat. Anyone familiar with the system form knows it's nothing more than a thinly-veiled threat. The fact of the matter is, it cannot be done without us. First, you must certainly know that what sets FedEx aside from UPS and the other guys is the "Absolutely, Positively Overnight" promise - - not the Purple Promise. What allows FedEx to charge FedEx rates is the concept of
Guaranteed Reliability. Absent this quality, we are nothing more than an overpriced Airborne, and the UPS Teamsters strike of 1997 showed in a dramatic fashion how quickly customers will change their loyalties when their packages don't get where they want them when they want them to.
We also saw that customers that switched away from UPS stayed with FedEx in large numbers. We know that the first night that Guaranteed Reliability is compromised will signal the end of the Cinderella story - - the clock will strike twelve, the carriage will become a pumpkin, and, like virginity, it will be gone forever. Don't believe it? Count the number of airplanes that are prepared across the globe to rescue freight that is stranded by a broken airplane. Count the crews on reserve or standby to handle last-second contingencies. Count the number of packages that are sent by the first available passenger belly-freight space to their destinations after missorts. Count the value of resources devoted to the guarantee every day of "Absolutely, Positively." Everyone knows that our reputation is firmly planted in that concept, and will not jeapordize it over trivial matters.
Frank Fato and the non-union union (and while we're castigating people, we might as well mention the man who sent Frank to the parking lot, namely Byron Cobb) did not have the proper focus or determination to advance the goals of the membership. I believe that Dave Webb and the organization that represents us today have the knowledge, resources, and determination to see this process through to a successful conclusion. Comparing now with then is about like comparing apples with turtles.
Originally Posted by cub pilot
Also, in days after September 11th, 2001; all the domestic freight got to it's destination via truck (some of it was late but the freight rolled on trucks).
If you think that FedEx can do it with or without us, then it's no surprise that you would cite Sept of 2001 as a demonstration of how FedEx Express can survive with nothing but trucks. I'm sorry if you find this insulting, but that parallel is simply ludicrous. Not a soul in the United States expected FedEx to honor its guarantee under those unique conditions, and not a soul would expect it under a similar scenario. A work action is not such a scenario.
How many packages crossed the US borders to/from China, Japan, France ... well, you're familiar with the system form, you know the list goes on and on ... how many packages, how many airplanes? On a similar topic, how many of the airplanes flying outside of the US were grounded? Surely you're aware that FedEx did not resort to trucking freight from Subic Bay to the Pacific rim, and it did not service London to Paris through the Chunnel.
No, September 2001 was an extraordinary time, and it has no bearing on the day-to-day operation of the system now.
Originally Posted by cub pilot
Do you know that P2 freight is trucked in many instances say even from the West Coast.
Quick quiz, cub: Standard Overnight, P1 or P2?
Hurry, the jet's waiting.
Yes, in some instances, P2 is trucked. In fact, I would say that wherever possible, it makes sense to truck P2. But, guess what, a large percentage of P2 can't be trucked either, or the delivery guarantee would not be met.
Standard Overnight, the product that is guaranteed to be there Absolutely, Positively tomorrow afternoon, is P2. Let's say you and I are in Shreveport, LA, and we both want to ship a package to the same destination in Knoxville, TN. I want it there tomorrow afternoon, and you want it there tomorrow morning. (That would make your package P1, and mine P2.) We both call the 800 number and scehdule a pickup. The same courier collects both of our packages, the same courier finishes his pickup route and returns to the same station at the same time. The boxes are loaded into the same ULD, delivered by the same CTV to the same ramp. There's only one cutoff time for the station, whether it's First Overnight or 2-Day. From the ramp, the packages (in the ULD) are loaded onto the same airplane, flown to the same hub, and sorted in the same system. They both arrive in ULDs that are loaded in the same airplane bound for Knoxville. They both arrive at the same ramp (TYS) at the same time, are loaded onto the same CTV, and arrive at the same station at the same time.
Now, since we're shipping to the same destination, both packages will be offloaded from the CTV onto a conveyor belt from where they will both be retrieved by the same courier and placed into the same delivery van. Yours will be given the first attention, since you selected Priority Overnight, and your delivery deadline precedes mine. However, when the astute carrier sees that he has P1 and P2 destined for the same address, he will place mine with yours, and he will deliver them at the exact same time. (Since we conducted this experiment without our employee discounts, you paid more.
)
Now, had we chosen to send the packages to different addresses in Knoxville, and mine was destined for an address for which he had no P1 packages, mine would be delivered seperately at some point in time after 1030. However, what remains the same is the time the package leaves the origin station, and the time the package arrives at the destination station. These two times give us a fixed time during which a package must travel from point A to point B. Park a truck at every station in the US that is destined for every other station in the US. Well, OK, line them up for miles - - our stations don't have parking for hundreds of trucks. Let them leave the origin stations in the evening, and head straight for the destination stations where they will join hundreds of other trucks from other origins, and let's see how much next-day freight we can deliver. How about Shreveport to Knoxville, can we do that? Nope. OK, try something easier, how about Little Rock to Knoxville? Sorry, can't make it.
As it turns out, we can serve any city with P1 to any other city that is within about a 350 miles road distance. Until we get those 600 mph trucks, we're fairly limited in what we can do with trucks. Don't try Paris or Narita with the 600 mph trucks, either.
The bottom line is this: Anyone familiar with the system form, and I'm not talking about just the airline schedule, can attest that FedEx cannot be run with trucks alone. Anyone with a sliver of common sense should know that if it could be done with trucks alone, it would be done that way already.
"With or without you?" It was a fantastic Madison Avenue marketing scheme for which FedEx won a Silver Anvil Award. (Google it if you like. By the way, IPA won a lesser award the same year for its handling of UPS.) If you believed it, you are one of those to which P.T. Barnum referred that are born every minute. Be not dismayed, however, as you were in good company. Many of our fellow pilots fell for it, too. Be of good cheer - - today is another day, and we are smarter and stronger and more determined. We have a leadership that is more concerned with its membership and our goals than with cozying up with the Company in hopes of landing some sweet post-retirement deal. This is not FPA, and it's not October of `98.
- The truth only hurts if it should -