FedEx closing CGN, LAX, and ANC MD11. New system bid for all of the changes.

derg said:
I haven't gotten a "Dear Dough" email for a few weeks, maybe my carrier changed tiers? :) Is there a tier sheet like a horse race or the NYSE?
Click to expand...

I asked ChatGPT to make one for you and then I had it make it more scammy and desperate, because bored on a Saturday... I love the future... enjoy:
Dear Dough,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is (redacted), and I am writing to you with an urgent request. I am in desperate need of your help and I am hoping that you can assist me.

As a fellow pilot, I know that you understand the importance of having a job and a steady income. Unfortunately, I have fallen on hard times, and I am in danger of losing everything that I have worked so hard to achieve.

I am a man of means, and I am willing to offer you a substantial sum of money in exchange for your assistance. I understand that you are a pilot with Widget Airlines, and I am hoping that you can provide me with a recommendation for a pilot position at the airline.

Please understand that the stakes are high for me, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to secure a job with Widget Airlines. If you can help me secure a position, I am willing to offer you a commission of 75% of my first year's salary.

To show you that I am serious about this offer, I am willing to reward you with an additional 10% commission if you can send me $5,000 to help cover some of my expenses. This is a small amount compared to what I am willing to pay you if you can help me secure a job with Widget Airlines.

I know that this may seem like a lot, but I am a man of my word, and I am willing to pay whatever it takes to secure a job and get back on my feet. I have a family to support, and I cannot afford to fail.

If you are willing to help me, I am willing to provide you with any information or documentation that you need to make a recommendation on my behalf. I am also willing to travel to meet with you in person if that is what it takes to secure your assistance.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope that you can find it in your heart to help me and my family in our time of need.

Sincerely,
Click to expand...
 
One thing we can all agree on- our new CEO, upper management, and their consultants are going to systematically dismantle the old FedEx for as long as they stay in command. That’s the scary part. There is no more purple promise. There is no more PSP. There are no more “bravo Zulu boys and girls” for our sacrifice through COVID and beyond.

It’s incredibly important that we all vote how we see fit- be it a strike vote, a TA vote, etc. Only you can decide what’s right for you and your situation, but leaving FDX after 5+ years seems very short sited. Things will turn around eventually just like they always do.
 
MikeD said:
Now, if guys start leaving FedEx for ACMI….then hell will have frozen over. ;)
Click to expand...

I haven’t even been close in predicting what’s even on the bingo card of crazy circumstances, let alone what’s going to get actually pulled out of the basket and called. A world where having a ‘dream career’ at an ACMI might be in our future for all we know.

To the OP, I will give the advice given to me by numerous of FE’s and other dudes when I was a LM at Southern: “Once you get to a destination airline, stick with it. You never know what’s going to happen in this business. The grass is never greener and seniority is irreplaceable.”

(Disclaimer: my chance to go anywhere came and gone years ago. I’m entrenched at my shop. I thought about it hard and didn’t do anything except update apps. I also didn’t follow up when potentially given an inside track with Purple right after I got my 4th stripe at my current shop. My advise is exactly worth the price paid for it,)
 
MikeD said:
Now, if guys start leaving FedEx for ACMI….then hell will have frozen over. ;)
Click to expand...
i follow several purple pilots on other social media sites. for the last # of classes there were numerous pilots from every single major. never know the seniority but was always a surprise giving up that seniority. one never knows what happens in the what-if game and when you do find out it can be too late..

saw a post today about hiring being paused through 2024.
 
Last edited:
mikecweb said:
Interesting times.
Random 2am insomnia induced thoughts:

I've learned that pilots will act like friends when your company is hiring and total •heads when not hiring.
Trying to avoid the express train to doom that so many want to hop on board while also trying to be realistic is difficult but not impossible.
Anyone using someone's upcoming challenges as a "told you so" can get •ed.
Choose your circle carefully and ninja delete those that aren't conducive to your mental well-being, not everyone needs to be in the circle.
No one can predict the future, make whatever move your feel it's necessary and live with it. Anyone else's opinion on that move is worth slightly less than what you paid for it.
Click to expand...
First, I "liked" your post.

I appreciate your empathy and humanity. I feel like we're on the same page here.

Still, the older I get, the more predictable the future becomes... NOT in micro fashion, but clearly in macro fashion.

Your humanity disregarded -which it clearly must be in our current social state - your economic analysis should be based ENTIRELY on how neo-post monkeys actually, realistically act against 1. each other in the herd, and 2. the herd's generally accepted reliance on the "fact" that one of its members discerned -shaken and wide-eyed- that a crunching noise over yonder in the woods was actually a tiger and not, say, just the wind cracking a twig.
 
mikecweb said:
I've learned that pilots will act like friends when your company is hiring and total •heads when not hiring.
Click to expand...
I kept a whopping 5 or 6 close aviation friends after I got sick and couldn’t fly for a living anymore.

5. Out of dozens of people I felt that I was fairly close with. Some of them for decades, and the majority of my adult life.

It really hardened my heart a bit, but I think it's a bit of a defense mechanism - some sort of sympathetic magic where "if you hang out with people having a bad time maybe it will rub off on me!" sort of thing.
 
If you're in your 40s ride it out where you are. UA has hired a ton of 20 year olds lately.

It's tough to see through base closures and fleet reductions, but this too shall pass. Hang in there!

I tried to go to a Big 3 since 2011 and when the call finally came, I was in the left seat at the PNWs favorite credit card company with a few Guppies. Hustle while you can in whatever seat you're in, retire early and dont make this job part of your identity.
 
My opinion on FedEx is that we will be stagnant for the next 7-10 years as we shrink our fleet and pilot list down to something that resembles UPS. Our number 1 competitor that consistently blows our financials out of the water.

The business model of the air network is drastically changing and it won’t be going back to the fly-fly-fly hub and spoke-centric model for which it was known for the past 50 years. International outsourcing of flights will increase shrinking our international intra-Asia, intra-Europe, etc flights and our domestic flying, although not as much, will as well. The international scope language allows this and will be taken advantage of in the cost-cutting age of business. I can’t say that I blame them, I’d probably do the same. But my god our Ground service is atrocious and the plan to outsource more of it will NOT be good for our reputation and ultimately bottom line. People already go out of their way to avoid using FedEx when at all possible. Turbulent waters ahead I’m afraid.
 
Last edited:
AMH said:
My opinion on FedEx is that we will be stagnant for the next 7-10 years as we shrink our fleet and pilot list down to something that resembles UPS. Our number 1 competitor that consistently blows our financials out of the water.

The business model of the air network is drastically changing and it won’t be going back to the fly-fly-fly hub and spoke-centric model for which it was known for the past 50 years. International outsourcing of flights will increase shrinking our international intra-Asia, intra-Europe, etc flights and our domestic flying, although not as much, will as well. The international scope language allows this and will be taken advantage of in the cost-cutting age of business. I can’t say that I blame them, I’d probably do the same. But my god our Ground service is atrocious and the plan to outsource more of it will NOT be good for our reputation and ultimately bottom line. People already go out of their way to avoid using FedEx when at all possible. Turbulent waters ahead I’m afraid.
Click to expand...

The north forty at VCV going to become a busier place?
 
MikeD said:
The north forty at VCV going to become a busier place?
Click to expand...
There’s no new aircraft orders beyond 2028 and the 757-200s and A300s aren’t getting any younger.

Once the EUR 757s return back stateside I’d expect them to be joining the MD11s in VCV for good.
 
AMH said:
There’s no new aircraft orders beyond 2028 and the 757-200s and A300s aren’t getting any younger.

Once the EUR 757s return back stateside I’d expect them to be joining the MD11s in VCV for good.
Click to expand...

Very interesting, and unfortunate too. I only ask because I’m at VCV for a few days a month, and it’s easy to notice what’s new and what’s gone, of the flyable aircraft there. And even what’s been now scrapped that was formerly in storage as parts. Sad place, just like my home field of MZJ.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AMH
I’d stick it out if you truly enjoy it at FDX. The dust will settle eventually and FDX will still be around. A lot of companies today are not the same companies they were 20yrs ago and FDX is in the middle of that transition right now.

Now if you don’t enjoy it or think it’s not the place for you then I’m all for doing whatever makes you happy. Not too many things top being miserable going to a job you loathe then being on the road with said job.
 
If the grass has always been greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it’s time to look inward and really question the motives for another seniority reset. I know you’re a solid person and have made good decisions in your career, you’ve paid your dues and made it to a place that many see as a green pasture relative to their current job. You’ve been an inspiration to me I know that much.

You have a long time left in the career friend, ride it out and have fun because when you’re 64 it will seem like it went by entirely too fast (That’s what I’ve heard anyway).


I’ve been growing painfully discontent with my employer, actively seeking an exit and walking away from the plane dragging serious a$$ lately. But I always try to keep in mind the mentality I had way back when, to just stay happy and know I’m just one bad day, one bad medical or a serious downturn away from being a ground and pounder. It helps…. Sometimes.
 
Last edited:
JDean3204 said:
If the grass has always been greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it’s time to look inward and really question the motives for another seniority reset. I know you’re a solid person and have made good decisions in your career, you’ve paid your dues and made it to a place that many see as a green pasture relative to their current job. You’ve been an inspiration to me I know that much.

You have a long time left in the career friend, ride it out and have fun because when you’re 64 it will seem like it went by entirely too fast (That’s what I’ve heard anyway).


I’ve been growing painfully discontent with my employer, actively seeking an exit and walking away from the plane dragging serious a$$ lately. But I always try to keep in mind the mentality I had way back when, to just stay happy and know I’m just one bad day, one bad medical or a serious downturn away from being a ground and pounder. It helps…. Sometimes.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! Good advice and I appreciate the kind words.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top