Pros
If you work at a "compact car" or "business center" like I do then you will definitely have your responsibilities cut in half by about 50% or more depending on your location, and In my opinion you might as well take less responsibility for the same pay as if you were to work for a larger, much more busier store. You will be amazed at how much more resposibilities larger stores have to put up with on a daily basis. At my center we don't have a sony picture station which means less interruption while your trying to complete store orders, we don't do oversize lamination, we don't produce any signs and graphics at all( banners, decals, mount and lams), we don't have a self service keyosk, the only binding we do is "coil", and we dont have a drill nor a folding machine. Any of the services that we can't provide in our center normally end up being shared at another center and taken in as an order, and because we are a smaller "business center" we get 100% of the revenue. Working at a business center also means we have quicker turn around times and more one on one time with the customer because we don't see very many orders in a day, maybe 3-5 orders max per day. So our customer base is generally much happier than those who go to a larger center. My schedule is also a set schedule for the most part with Fri. Sat. off. I mostly work the mid shift and closing shift, also another excellent reason for working at a business center is the hours. I average about 38 hours a week, and some of my friends at the larger stores only work 32 hours a week because the larger store generally have more employees which means tighter payroll. At my center there are only 3 of us. Whereas most larger stores are open until 11pm we are only open until 9pm Mon -Fri, and 6 pm Sat and Sun the larger stores are also open until 9pm on the weekend : (. I have been layed before so being able to get up every morning and not have that hang over your head is a good feeling. I enjoy the stability that this job offers and enjoy my co workers and management. Everyone is friendly and easy to get along with. Also It's so slow at times that we can have our store meeting during our regular work shift rather than waking up early on a saturday morning. Overall I enjoy what I do and I'm using this job as a stepping stone to reach other goals I have set forth in my life. I am using my income from this job and will be making moves to put it elswhere and grow my investment. Wish me luck as I will be taking on the Forex Market : ).
Cons
There are times where customers get lower quality for the same or increased price. The new bonus program that was launched this summer is a complete joke, not only are sales plans unobtainable but now the whole cluster has to plan in order for each center to see a bonus. This makes us as team members have to nickle and dime the hell of customers which is really what corporate wants. Heres the stats so far for the new bonus plan, New bonus plan 0 paychecks with a bonus of $75 or more, Old bonus plan 3 paychecks with a bonus of $75 or more. I was actually a huge fan of the average transaction bonus, which held centers accountable for their actions rather than the cluster. In my opinion the new bonus plan was only implemented as a way to once again cut cost and get rid of the old average transaction bonus which I was a huge fan of because we actually saw it. The staffing at all the stores is completely terrible, One man can't run the shipping counter and the production counter, this really only applies to smaller locations such as business centers. Once one person goes to lunch everyone and their mama decides to walk in, and before you know it you are completely slammed. Sometimes closing by yourself is no fun either, a rush can hit you any time and before you know it you are slammed again. Ground Hal Is a complete mess, It amazes me how our responsibilities keep getting incrementally increased but nowhere do I ever see an increase in pay. You will also quickly hate the phones within your first week of working here, Not only do we get spyed on by corporate through secret callers and mystery shops we are expected to answer within five rings or less, even with staffing the way it is. The pay is decent if your in your twenties and single like me. This economy has really gotten to some of the bread winners, most if not all of them took a huge pay cut to work for Fedex Office and are only working here to make ends meet and not be on unemployment. I have heard the frustration of not making enough when your trying to support a family, either your on unemployment and barely making it or your working and not making enough. I believe that this is the core frustration for most americans that are feeling the pinch of the shriking economy. This definitely classifies as a J.O.B. in my opinion ( Just Over Broke). The corporations know the job market is on their side so they pay you whatever and unfortunately thats what you have to live with until you can find better but the reality is that better is being shipped overseas and is becoming more rare every day. Even with us sending projects to office tiger, those are jobs that can be here in the U.S. or better yet in store. There are too many inconsistencies from center to center. Especially with digital enhancement and document creation. Bottom line is that I don't know if anyone paid any attention to FedEx FY 10 earnings this summer, to me if we made 34 Billion dollars I would like to see some of that money going to to team members who made that possible rather than a Thank you e-mail from Brian Philips our CEO.