DISQUS

dad · 11 months ago

for-profit recession

Michael from Tacoma · 11 months ago

Actually if you look at this it is across the board -- even the CEO is taking a cut -- pretty cool compared to other companies. The reason is that the econmy is going down and they are projecting that they will see less business. By doing this they are trying to maintain financial performance. Look, I wish everyone could keep their jobs and yes it is not 'nice' but when is business 'nice'.

UncleGlenny · 11 months ago

a 5 percent salary reeducation

Ah, a new corporate euphemism is born!

tofubo · 11 months ago

have never used fedex and stopped going to kinko's since they were bought out by them, really don't care what the company does

coltergeist · 11 months ago

Are you being sarcastic. With the economy in the dumper, they are planning ahead to deal with drastically reduced demand. They are doing across the board cuts it would appear. Maybe Smith could take a bigger haircut, but the company seems to be acting responsibly. Stark contrast to the banks.

political_correctness · 11 months ago

Welcome to Bush's America folks.

Bob Brouhaha · 11 months ago

Coleman's lead down to 2 votes in Minnesota

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28303780

Deacon_Blues · 11 months ago

I gotta say Chris, I think you're missing the boat on this one. They're not hiring new people, they're cutting hours and expenses, cutting salaries, including the CEO's (by 20 percent) and other executives by 7.5 to 10 percent. Excluding the typo, a 5 percent salary "reduction" for other "salaried" exempt personnel (not hourly workers); sure the workers will take a hit, since they're cutting hours, but they're not losing their jobs. At my job we get a small raise every year, but I'd forgo it if it made the difference between keeping and not keeping my job. I'm not a businessman or an economist, but I think what they're doing sounds very responsible.

hn^3 · 11 months ago

You mean Chris is wrong about something he knows nothing about? This is becoming SOP for him (look up univ endowment threads, and anything dealing with genetically modified organisms on here).

pat · 11 months ago

i look at the earnings bit and see Fedex as cooking the books.

Business is awful, and they just came off the worst fuel price spike in 80 years and they still hit earnings guidance?

No way, Fred Smith raided the cookie jar to smooth earnings and now the jar is empty and he is selling shares like crazy
while he battens down the hatches.

Look, Fedex is selling for 50% of revenue, that tells you the market is pricing Fedex revenues next year as cut in half.

Trust me, this is the bad news hidden in a earnings BS grab.

Indigo · 11 months ago

What is a "salary reeducation"?

bl · 11 months ago

theyre not idiots, theyre planning for the worst that is yet to come. its called being proactive. its what you do when you run a business if you want to stay in business.

Fridajones · 11 months ago

Hmmm I would have to say that Fed Ex is thinking ahead and planning the moves it needs to in order to remain in business employing thousands of people. Heck, even the CEO is taking a 20% pay cut! Maybe if GM and Chrysler had made similar moves a year or two ago they wouldn't be looking for emergency loans (aka bailouts) right now. A job with a pay cut is much better than losing a job because you wouldn't budge on your pay demands!

Bubbles · 11 months ago

This is precisely a composite of the cause of the great recession.

Median wages have been flat since 1978. GNP has more than doubled. Wages have failed to keep up with productivity. Fundamentally this is because the balance of bargaining power is skewed too greatly against the median worker.

With the economy in a free fall workers today have less power than ever. Employers can chisel away at wages with immunity. In an economy in near free fall their bargaining power is nearly absolute.

K Ols · 11 months ago

Every time I hear of another company going down like this it just makes me livid that Congress is getting a pay raise of $4,700. Where's the productivity other than in corruption and government of, by and for the corporation? Congress needs a salary freeze or maybe a salary REDUCTION. Why is the rest of the country taking a hit but not them?
They already make $169,300 a year with the leadership of each house making even more. This is before the $4,700 increase.
I just wrote my senator to complain loudly. I may call him tomorrow too.

PissedSissy · 11 months ago

This is not the half of it. My partner just quit his job of seven years at one of FedEx's Home Delivery offices because, among other things, they put profit above ALL else, including safety. Because this is "peak" (their busiest time of the year), my partner was, once again working 12-14 hour days as a mid-level manager at this facility. He started having CHEST PAINS that, after a period of time, it was obvious that it could be something serious. When he told his boss about it, the boss, rather than do what most of us caring human beings would do and CALL AN AMBULANCE or at least offer to drive him to seek proper medical care, just let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Did you get the van service audit done? - the implication being that "I don't CARE what's going on with you - your work BETTER be done." Only after my partner assured him that, yes, FedEx's precious report was finished, did he "allow" him to leave. My partner DROVE HIMSELF to the emergency room, arriving in what the medical staff stated was "a confused state". While it turned out to just be "stress induced syncope", not a heart attack, this is bad enough - if you look this up, this means "fainting." MY PARTNER COULD HAVE PASSED OUT AND CAUSED AN ACCIDENT THAT INJURED NOT ONLY HIMSELF BUT OTHERS BECAUSE HIS BOSS IGNORED THIS OBVIOUS SAFETY INCIDENT. Just the week before, another employee was "written up" because, due to "high pressure" working conditions, he injured his head by running into a piece of equipment - ultimately requiring FIVE STITCHES - and this SAME BOSS REFUSED to let the man go seek proper medical treatment until his work shift was over. However, there seemed to be no "safety violation" in the boss letting his DOG RUN LOOSE on the production floor during work hours!

Both my partner and I have raised so much hell over this that they're at least giving the appearance of "looking into" this incident - but this man is STILL on the job while my partner had to resign. FedEx is scared enough that tried really hard to talk my partner into staying, and they ultimately classified his resignation as a "two week notice" and told him he could come back if he wanted to. He's told them time and time again that he doesn't feel safe there - and those words are scaring the hell out of them. Luckily for them, we have no extra income with which to pursue a law suit - but we DO have hard evidence that we warned these bastards that they have a SERIOUS problem with this manager. If they keep him, and something else happens, we will be MORE than happy to turn over this documentation to someone that has the resources to SUE the pants off these people.

Anyone out there that has any good ideas about spreading the word about this - please let me know.

Kewalo · 11 months ago

My grown son spoke with an old friend in HI yesterday and he told him his brother that works for Fed Ex, was told that the hourly wage earners have been told that their wage is being cut 30%. Every article I've read has said that the hourly wage earners are not being cut.

Has anyone heard anything about this?