Today's issue - Appointment Delivery

I started this blog today because I am aggravated over what he told me on the phone this morning. Over the past month, contractors have been dropping like flies. They get "temp" drivers who are really contractors who are in "training" to eventually take on routes. They are also walking away with apparent disgust without going through the whole program. They are SHORT on contractors and they won't hire temporary employees and rent trucks.

Understand that this venture is supposed to be for a "core zone" (which FHD gives you a payment for temporarily and then "phases it out - a whole other post") that each driver delivers. This amounts to certain zipcodes and is supposed to include enough packages to make it worthwhile for both the contractor and FHD . The contractor is supposed to operate for a reasonable amount of hours per day and deliver enough packages so FHD doesn't have to hire too many contractors to get the job done. FHD is supposed to give them enough deliveries to cover expenses AND earn a living.

FHD reserves rights, however, to "flex" things a bit. Flexing lately seems to mean --"if they become shorthanded, it isn't their problem, its the problem of all of the contractors". (Personally, I think the whole system is designed to benefit ONLY FHD in any circumstance.)

To add to it, in a burst of genius lately, there have been promotions, and some of the hard core, long term contractors have been "promoted" to being real employees. The funny part is, the promotions became effective without replacement contractors being assigned so now there are even more package/stops that need to happen and less people.

Result? Push even more packages on the contractors who are supposed to be setting their own standards of operations. If the contractor complains, they just shrug and say, its "part of the deal" which it legally "isn't" part of the deal since "flexing" means suddenly "adding areas to a core zone" something that is supposed to require amendments to the agreement in writing. (if they ever followed the agreement that is). Result #2? 10 hour days become 12 hour days (12 hours is the DOT legal limit that they can be conducting the services). Result #3? The contractors start to rush to get done and mistakes happen. Drivers literally don't have time to hang out and ask neighboors to sign for packages, wait for people to decide to come to the door (another whole post itself) or concoct hiding spots for things. And remember, if a package is reported missing after a contractor releases it and it's decided that it wasn't "released right" it is THEIR owness and its deducted from their earnings. So if one of these guys doesn't drop that $1200 flatscreen you couldn't get at Best Buy because you saved $10, its because he's concerned about loosing more than a weeks pay. And, no he really MAY NOT have the time to try the neighboor or make sure you aren't home and just not hearing the bell because you are taking a shit or something.

So, today, not only did they give him more than just his own route to cover, they decided to add the fun of giving him a "scheduled" delivery at a time where he'd be more than 1/2 hour away from the spot he'd be on the charted route. That looses him a full hour unless he sits down an manually recharts everything since they can't seem to figure out how to put "midpoints" into the planning software to accomodate this (and I'm sure that there must be a way to do such a thing). Could they replan the route? Nope, the guy who does that job can't be just rearranging things to suit the contractors at their whim (even though they pay a fee to have the routes charted). Can they drop some of the packages from the route? Nope, no one to take them.

With this apparent shortage, why don't they hire temps? Because it would cost money to rent trucks and pay temp wages. The whole point of this program, after all, is to wipe their hands of the nasty concept of having a fleet and employees.

So, he will run around and waste time today to make an extra $3 for the hour it takes out of the route to do the "appointment". Nice deal, huh?

[UPDATE]. The whole process of doing the appointment cost him 1 1/2 hours and an extra 50 miles tacked onto the route. All told he was paid a total of $6.17 (1.17 for the stop, $5 for the package) for the "appoinment delivery" but spent around $8.95 in gas to do it. A loss of $2.78. FedEx charges the customer $15 for the appoinment delivery but it doesn't cost them ANYTHING extra in the package cycle, WHY doesn't the contractor get the entire $15? Because its FedEx Home Delivery, that's why.