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I worked for FedEx early in my career but I don't know what they are trying to do here. Maybe leverage the FedEx Services workforce to squeeze some more revenue

I worked for FedEx early in my career but I don't know what they are trying to do here. Maybe leverage the FedEx Services workforce to squeeze some more revenue?

crazypyro 12y ago
To me, it looks like some hotshot business-type decided that their internal IT didn't have enough work or wasn't close to fully "utilized" in their view so they decided to basically contract their internal IT dept. out to consumers.... "Our technicians keep a vast global network of technology running smoothly. Let us do the same for you. Call us when you have a problem with your computer or system."
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- DrStalker 12y ago
  That's how Amazon Web Services got started; Amazon made something for internal use, figured they could market it to external clients and now AWS is massive. This is a different situation in the way it scales, but still the same core idea.
- johnward 12y ago
  I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they are doing. They recognized that their techs are not 100% utilized so they are going to "farm them out" so to speak. Based on other commentors UPS and FedEx have already been doing this for years. I was in the software side of FedEx Services (Ground and Smartpost) and I did no know this. They can probably also make a decent margin on those repairs. FedEx and UPS basically take a loss on some major shipping accounts just to get the volume. When I was at FedEx the strategy seemed to be swaying to not fight for non-revenue accounts and let UPS take them. UPS is so much bigger that they can play that game better than FedEx. The big retailers would just switch back and forth to however offered the lowest rate.
firasd 12y ago
I believe the strategy of FedEx (and indeed other major shipping companies) is to ‘get inside’ the companies they serve and help with various sorts of logistics and processes. They don’t just want to be on the outside carrying your packages to-and-fro. IT services would be a natural extension of such a strategy.
hedgehog 12y ago
They've been fixing computers for other companies for a while now, it sounds like they're expanding that business. It seems like a good idea, a lot of the time and expense involved in that process is moving around the parts and machine to be repaired. They're able to optimize that better than most other companies.

I worked for FedEx early in my career but I don't know what they are trying to do here. Maybe leverage the FedEx Services workforce to squeeze some more revenue?

crazypyro 12y ago

To me, it looks like some hotshot business-type decided that their internal IT didn't have enough work or wasn't close to fully "utilized" in their view so they decided to basically contract their internal IT dept. out to consumers.... "Our technicians keep a vast global network of technology running smoothly. Let us do the same for you. Call us when you have a problem with your computer or system."

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
DrStalker 12y ago
That's how Amazon Web Services got started; Amazon made something for internal use, figured they could market it to external clients and now AWS is massive. This is a different situation in the way it scales, but still the same core idea.
johnward 12y ago
I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they are doing. They recognized that their techs are not 100% utilized so they are going to "farm them out" so to speak. Based on other commentors UPS and FedEx have already been doing this for years. I was in the software side of FedEx Services (Ground and Smartpost) and I did no know this. They can probably also make a decent margin on those repairs. FedEx and UPS basically take a loss on some major shipping accounts just to get the volume. When I was at FedEx the strategy seemed to be swaying to not fight for non-revenue accounts and let UPS take them. UPS is so much bigger that they can play that game better than FedEx. The big retailers would just switch back and forth to however offered the lowest rate.

firasd 12y ago

I believe the strategy of FedEx (and indeed other major shipping companies) is to ‘get inside’ the companies they serve and help with various sorts of logistics and processes. They don’t just want to be on the outside carrying your packages to-and-fro. IT services would be a natural extension of such a strategy.

hedgehog 12y ago

They've been fixing computers for other companies for a while now, it sounds like they're expanding that business. It seems like a good idea, a lot of the time and expense involved in that process is moving around the parts and machine to be repaired. They're able to optimize that better than most other companies.