Messages in FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club group.

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Page 23 of 70.

Peter Dangerfield3/7/2014

In 1973 I loved what I was doing in Avionics and that we stayed in business. Cash was short those first three years and we used to get red letters from Fred asking us to hold our check, but still he gave folks a Christmas turkey the first year. The PSP and Purple Blood was alive and well from day one.

Gary Phillips3/7/2014

Family Briefing combined with Christmas party, divisional Christmas parties, divional Spring Pic-nic type family outings with bbq contests, etc. None of these are sponsored by the company any longer.

Chris Apalodimas3/7/2014

We used to get discount gas if you drove down to the Hub to get it. I definitely liked the Family Briefings they were a great way to see the upper management team and hear what was going on as well as personally meet them.

George Moore3/7/2014

Chis is right, I used the hub gas station a lot. Also those Christmas parties at the Peabody ball room in '83 &'84 that Sr. Management also attended.

Gary Phillips3/7/2014

At least one of those parties at the Peabody had wine or champaigne fountains.

George Moore3/7/2014

I remember a white wine fountain on one end of the room and a red wine fountain on the other end as well as an open bar and you could bring your family members or anyone else you wanted to bring. Live dance music band. All that fizzled out later in the 80's.

Drew Perkins3/7/2014

I wasn't around then but I've heard that an employee could actually have a little wine or something like that during lunch and still come back to work. Anyone remember this?

Gary Phillips3/7/2014

Don't remember a lot after several glass of wine. Actually a lot of people went to Grasanti's at lunch an would have a glass of wine at lunch.

Drew Perkins3/7/2014

That's what I've been told. Must have made for an entertaining afternoon at work. Everyone in good "spirits" so to speak.

Subject: The FedEx Cup Becky Felts saw this in a Thrift Store today.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/11/2014

The FedEx Cup Becky Felts saw this in a Thrift Store today.I always enjoyed getting free FedEx cups, and wished I had saved more of them. They were good reminders of good times. Dick Winter was in my first group at FedEx. He had the foresight to save his cups and had over 30 in his office when I worked with him in 1980-81............and how many of you even knew what Maywood was?

Don Rose3/11/2014

I knew what it was and I was there. Coldest water in the world.

Subject: Did anyone save their FedEx buttons? I swear Marianne Sedlock had the biggest collection of buttons ...

Marsha Terry Rider3/11/2014

Did anyone save their FedEx buttons? I swear Marianne Sedlock had the biggest collection of buttons I have ever seen. She had them up on her cube wall. I suspect when we got the 'short' walls in our 'pods' she had to exclude quite a few.

Dan Elliot3/11/2014

I have a few old ones...

Melissa Leech Ziemer3/11/2014

Saved them all. Especially like the "Don't Panic" one

Marsha Terry Rider3/11/2014

I think I kept that one too, Melissa Leech Ziemer. I needed it a lot! I bought a companion one to that one that said: "Ask me about my Lobotomy"

Waddell David3/11/2014

I have about 40 of them I think....

Melissa Leech Ziemer3/11/2014

Marsha Terry Rider I need the lobotomy one now more than ever with all the changes going on. Soldier on, after 30 years, right?

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question 3/11/14: The following question was asked earlier when there were only a few m ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/11/2014

FedEx Trivia Question 3/11/14: The following question was asked earlier when there were only a few members of this forum so thought I would ask again.What was your favorite restaurant for lunch/dinner while working at FedEx?

Kay Brown Moody3/11/2014

Dale's!

Subject: Jimmy Glenn Burk shared David Parsels's video to the group: FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014



Charlie Derrick3/12/2014

I can almost smell the jet exhaust.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/12/14: Sometime around the early 2000's an MD11 or DC10 ended up titled and sitt ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/12/14: Sometime around the early 2000's an MD11 or DC10 ended up titled and sitting on it's tail. Cranes were brought in to make it horizontal again? What caused the jet to be tilted?

David Hunt3/12/2014

The loaders put a ULD in the back without the blast ULDs up front.

Subject: Jimmy Glenn Burk > FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014



Ben Moore3/12/2014

They didn't do the Weights and Balances correctly AND didn't tie down the nose wheel. I use that example often in engagements that you need to have tertiary backups, e.g. run W&B, ballast in the forward position of the hold, AND tie down the nose wheel I think this was in LAX. Is that High Tiger in the background?

George Moore3/12/2014

It was LAX. I came in on a passenger plane that day to LAX and everybody on the plane was pointing out the window. I was upgrading one of the systems at the LAX hub. Took them a large part of the day to get the nose gear back on the ground.

Marsha Terry Rider3/12/2014

or the cartoon circulated in the work areas showed it from the other side with a pilot dropping his wallet out the 1st officer's window.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014

from Paul Benbrook: They forgot to install the nose tether at LAX. I rewrote the Ramp Handling Manual to include primary, secondary, and tertiary checks of the tether before unloading a/c.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014

from Winn Stephenson: It was loaded improperly. There is a specific sequence to loading a dc10/md11. The main deck must be loaded first, followed by the aft belly. A tether is attached to the nose to prevent the plane from tipping backwards, but maybe it was not strong enough. I don't know what the final resolution was - misload or parted nose tether. Once it sits on its tail, it cannot be unloaded and a crane is required to right the plane.

Brenda J. Brunner3/12/2014

Weight and Balance

David Butler3/12/2014

The picture being passed around had a caption that read "FedEx Pilot drops wallet"

Marcie Littles Moss3/12/2014

I have a copy of that picture!

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/12/2014

This type incident happened at least one or more times. In one case the jet was at the ramp, and the nose tied down(so that it could be loaded from the rear); a mechanic noticed that the tie down cable was frayed and not safe, so he took it off and went to get a new one. Those loading didn't know that it was removed and started loading containers at the rear of the plane, and plop. ...and has already been mentioned, there was a cartoon caption placed at the cockpit window 'what happens when a pilot drops his wallet out the window'

Subject: Two hedge fund investors buy blocks of FedEx stock in Nov 13;

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/13/2014

Two hedge fund investors buy blocks of FedEx stock in Nov 13;

Two hedge fund investors buy blocks of FedEx stock in Nov 13;

Don Rose3/13/2014

I just read this article about 15 minutes ago. Interesting.

Subject: What kind of contests did your MD areas have at Halloween (besides the famous all IT costume contest ...

Marsha Terry Rider3/14/2014

What kind of contests did your MD areas have at Halloween (besides the famous all IT costume contest)? Jane Thompson's org had a Pumpkin Carving-Decoration contest. Here is the Linda Rooks group entry in 1991. LeighAnn King helped me with my design...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/14/2014

Some photos of some of the events for the Telecom group ; photos of Halloween from 1995-97 taken by Gil Hennon: http://fedexlegends.info/photos/pmain.html

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/14/2014

LHSD would have a costume contest, and 40-50 would go all out to become other characters for the day....

Subject: The Telecom group annually held something called the Nonconnah Beach Party Festival..not sure of the ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/14/2014

The Telecom group annually held something called the Nonconnah Beach Party Festival..not sure of the real name; but Winn would have BBQ and events at the back of the building that faced NonConnah Creek. One year the director groups had a bake sale competition to raise money for charity. Innovative people in my group, added a beanie baby auction and doubled the amount of money....but we raised the most from the bake sale also.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/14/2014

Keith Mcgarr is hidden behind Belinda.

Nancy Hinds3/14/2014

they actually started from the first 10/4 - Official Radio Day party that we had at 2828...and grew and grew - i think we used the ultra sonic cleaner to clean the ladies jewelry back in the radio repair shop that day

Shirley Lovelace Williams3/14/2014

I remember those fun times.

Angela Maynard3/14/2014

Cecelia taught them all how to dance!

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/14/2014

Cecelia was good, she could teach armadillos to dance.

Kay Brown Moody3/14/2014

I was quite distraught that I barely fit into Winn's Navy uniform - sailor suit!

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

At least Cecelia didn't try to put any of the us in Winn's uniform...

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz: In Feb 2009 FedEx closed the Subic Bay Hub in the Phillipines.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz: In Feb 2009 FedEx closed the Subic Bay Hub in the Phillipines.Where did they relocate that Hub?

Buddy Johnson3/17/2014

Guangzhou

Larry Tieman3/17/2014

Yes, Guangzhou.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

Buddy & Larry are correct and I am astounded that they both can spell Guangzhou the same way...

Buddy Johnson3/17/2014

That was one my last projects before I retired. Amazed myself I Could remember how to spell it

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/18/2014

I remember a meeting on automating that hub with 2d scanners and new applications. What came back from the Chinese was... 'you don't understand...we don't want automation here...we want jobs... if you want a mountain moved from point A to point B, just tell us when and where you want it...and we will bring in a million people with shovels....'

Buddy Johnson3/18/2014

Feedback from my IT teammates on that project mirrors your impression. Kinda different but, oh well...

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/17/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/17/14:In 1998 around November there was a threatened pilot action during contract negotiations. Then and suddenly, there was an agreement to not do anything to threaten package delivery, and negotiations began just before Thanksgiving day.What action did the company do to reverse the union to reverse course and to bring this about?

David Hunt3/17/2014

Fred Smith sent a letter to all of the pilots stating that company has a plan that will use non union pilots and use a massive truck network. So Fred said go ahead and walk. I believe it was know as the Red Letter.

Deby Abbott Jolley3/17/2014

In my early days with FedEx, management received letters from Fred on red paper. All of Fred's memos were called "Red Letters". Those suckers were hard to photocopy!! But the old zap mail machines could do it.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

David is correct. The company began plans to use alternative transportation, leasing planes with pilot crews for Europe flights, and planes and crews for flights to South America. The contracts with these other companies were binding, they were permanent for the duration of the contract. The company, as it always does, ran models on a Federal Express with limited aircraft and even no aircraft for a possible new Express using a mixed mode fleet. There were 3 scenarios worked out in great detail to position the company to move forward and provide for our customers, no matter what happened. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/19/business/tentative-accord-is-reached-with-federal-express-pilots.html

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/17/14:

Subject: Cute video; as soon as the Flying Tigers buyout/merger is done, employees stick a FedEx sticker on a ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

Cute video; as soon as the Flying Tigers buyout/merger is done, employees stick a FedEx sticker on a 747 ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTxtrxe3-dU

Subject: Cigna Just got a letter from Cigna that St Francis Hospital in Bartlett will not be In Network as of ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/17/2014

Cigna Just got a letter from Cigna that St Francis Hospital in Bartlett will not be In Network as of May 2014; there was a contract till the end of 2015, but it looks like St Francis wouldn't accept the rates that Cigna wanted to pay.

Peter Dangerfield3/18/2014

Tried to pick up some meds today for my son and was told he is not covered even though we have his Cigna card. After many calls by both Walgreens and ourselves we were told we would have to get FDX Benefits to call Cigna to do a manual update. This is after it took about fifteen calls between December and February to get my wife's and son's cards in the first place. To top this all off we arrive home and John (my son) has another Cigna card in the mail with another ID #. We called Walgreens and was able to get the meds???? Am I just the lucky one or is everyone getting jerked around? OH to top it off my wife is now not covered except for Dental! This is beyond belief has anyone got any magic/contacts to get pass the BS wall?

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/18/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/18/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/18/14:In what year did Federal Express officially adopt the "FedEx" name?

Phil Pickens3/18/2014

January 2000.

Molly Hale Moss3/18/2014

1994 ?

Subject: Trivia Quiz March 19, 2014

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/19/2014

Trivia Quiz March 19, 2014An early outsourcing experience.Around the mid 90's an IT Director & about 70 FedEx employees in Memphis were told they were being displaced. They were all offered jobs doing the same thing they were doing in an outside company that their jobs were outsourced to.a. What did these employees support? b. Why were they told they were being displaced? c. Where did their open positions go? d. How many employees took these outsourcing jobs?

Marsha Terry Rider3/19/2014

A) LOGOS

Phil Pickens3/19/2014

A. Mainframe B. Client server technology replacing mainframe C. positions moved to Dallas D.affected around 200 jobs

Buddy Johnson3/19/2014

A. These people were in LHSD, supporting Air Ops primarily. B. The company wanted to move to client server and outsource the mainframe support (inaccurately positioned to the Air Ops customer mgmt.).

Buddy Johnson3/19/2014

C. The positions were moved to Dallas D. This affected approx 85 Memphis-based employees Although I was not affected, I still have the crappy book the IT management team (Jones-Humphries) prepared for these folks. All were told their positions had been eliminated and they would have to re-apply, either to the outsourcing company or to the new Dallas Mgmt team.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/19/2014

Almost all the answers above are correct: a. What did these employees support? LineHaul Apps especially AOD, on the mainframe, written in COBOL; as was about 90% of the applications running in the company at that time b. Why were they told they were being displaced? they were COBOL programmers, and hadn't updated their skills to Unix/C; all new appls were to be written on open systems ie Sun, HP unix systems in C c. Where did their open positions go? The 70+ positions were all posted in a new group formed in Dallas which mostly supported AGFS(trucking); and at least another 80 new positions were posted there. d. How many employees took these outsourcing jobs? only about 2 employees took the outsourcing positions; because almost all the applications in the company ran COBOL at the time, it was easy for them to bid on jobs elsewhere. Notes: in about 3-4 years the outsourced applications were all moved back into the company. The Director who was also displaced was Steve Steilling, a great person who had come in with the Cook IT acquisition.

Carl Wayne Hardeman3/19/2014

The access to new hires from Dallas was mainly H1B's who got their one year in and left or so I heard. The proof is in the pudding. This was part of the plan to make DHJ Exec CIO with several CIO's under him such as Humphries in Dallas. Each was to have their own computer ops area and standards setting authority.

Buddy Johnson3/20/2014

Another of the reasons was to get techies to cross the street and come work for FDX, They forgot that it was a 2-way street. Most of the planning for this was Jones-Post, very little Kevin.

Subject: Interview with Tom Bullion from www.fedexlegends.info

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

Interview with Tom Bullion from www.fedexlegends.infoTom began his career at FedEx in 1973 and was employee 920.Federal Express Initial ConceptFWS's initial plan was to start FedEx service by flying Federal Reserve checks from major cities to check clearing locations, then fly the sorted checks back to the original banks. For this reason the company was named Federal Express.A problem with the plan was the many of the banks had long term contracts with many contract air carriers to transport their checks and couldn't break those contracts, to sign on with Federal Express.It wasn't till FWS engaged Art Bass and Vince Fagan that the idea of making Federal Express the package transportation system like UPS was flushed out. Vince came up with the idea that we were a trucking company whose trucks travelled at 550 miles per hour.FedEx Corporate ColorsThe Falcon jets were initially painted Red, White and Blue but the Post Office sued the company saying that those were the colors of USPS. So, Federal Express changed colors to Purple, Orange and White.The General ( I asked Tom about the General who was brought in as a CEO to run the company in the mid 70's; ie story from Roger Frocks book on FedEx history:)General McNeally was known for edicting that he have his own personal bathroom and personal parking space and other perks. He tried to get together his own investment group to take over FedEx stock, but this failed and FWS eventually fired him.Rating, Scanning, Customer Service, DispatchingTom worked on most of the original concepts that made FedEx great.He wrote one of the original rating Cobol programs, so that we could give customers rates on services and help locate exception packages.He also worked with Memphis programmers like Chuck Graham and they worked the original scenario to move Customer calls for pickups from the stations to a centralized call center, because calls were overloading manpower at each station. The original prototype was called DIC-Aids (Delivery Information Center – Automated Information and Dispatch System and ran on the Burroughs 6700. Mr. Smith loved the demonstration but paled at DIC-AIDS and wrote COSMOS on a napkin at the Sawmill. This became COSMOS SYSTEM. Tom worked with Bob Higgins and others in Colorado Springs to plan COSMOS transfer to ACP on IBM mainframes, and to begin working on a system to track the packages.Federal Express wanted to give proof of delivery and attach to the customer's invoice. One part of the signed airbill from the delivery was keyed when returned from the courier.One of the early concepts to track packages was an airbill with colored rings on it, where the courier would tear off and put on a belt, the rings would be returned and info on them keyed.In initial discussions, Tom knew that this would be a burden on the couriers. Larry Stoltenburg (who had been hired in Memphis & transferred to Colorado Springs) came up with the idea to put bar codes on the airbills and use scanners to verify delivery. Larry's manager though, was a proponent of the ring solution, and Larry was fired. Eventually though, this manager was fired, and the bar code scenario went forward.One of the initial problems was how to get bar codes and make numbers for every airbill different. Janice McNeal found a German company who produced print wheels that could index the number and figure the mod-7 check digit fast enough to print these new airbills. That is the initial solution the company went with.Tom then worked with Intermec, Norand and others to see what technology was out there and they came up with a 12 city test scenario. Some of the locations would test full functionality (ie end to end scanning) and others would use basic scans to start the process.Norand HHTHand Held TerminalThere wasn't a lot of scanner technology in the late 70's, and Tom selected Norand to start the initial tests.Knowing that the labor of scanning these airbills would be onerous to the couriers, and just something else they had to do; Tom discussed this issue with Mr. Pete Willmont and said we really need someone from the field, who can interface to the field and push the tests and for the field to do the tests.The person selected was a District Director named Harry Dalton. Harry was well respected by the field and he relocated to Colorado Springs to work with the software development team, and eventually moved to Memphis.Tom remembers the early testing. In a skydiving incident, his parachute failed to open, but when he landed, he fortunately landed on his back, on his parachute backpack. He did break his back in 6 places but survived. As he was recovering Harry visited him and wanted to know if or when he could travel. Tom was the only one who knew how to execute the test plan. The 12 city test had been scheduled and since Tom was the project lead, and had all the info, Harry needed him to travel.Tom relayed that he indeed did travel, and helped Harry, and Harry helped him by carrying his bags giving him some of his pain medicine…After testing it was decided that the full blown software (IIA) was too onerous so COSMOS IIB project was funded and deployed. FedEx would scan packages in and out of Stations, delivery and exception. Container scans and scans and in and out of the Memphis Hub were put on hold.After Tom deployed the scanners, when a customer called about a package, Customer Service could tell them what city it was actually in.After IIa, Tom transitioned the tracker inventory and management to Jimmy Sowell (see Jimmy Sowell video).InternationalAfter COSMOS IIB Tom transferred to International working with Jim Dunkel. FedEx was starting to expand into Canada. FedEx would fly packages to a Cleveland, OH, transfer packages to Air Canada. Air Canada would fly to Canadian cities and hand off to a delivery company called Canseca.One of the initial problems was how to use zip codes for the destination address. The US zip code used 5 numeric digits. Canada used 6 digits which could be alpha or numeric.Tom worked with the billing staff to come up with a translation table using dummy zip codes.Eventually Air Canada decided they didn't want to be in the package business, and FedEx started flying the Falcons into Canada. Business just went vertical and growth was at a fast pace.Tom was working with Customs, but no one at FedEx was an expert in customs.He posted a job nationwide and received about 27 resumes.As he was going thru the stacks of resumes, one kept falling on the floor and he kept picking it back up and putting it into the large stack. He finally picked it off the floor again, and looked at it closely. He liked what he saw, and called this guy named Al Basemore who had just retired from Customs. Tom said something like " I'm Tom Bullion from Federal Express and I just got your resume….is anything in it true?......"Tom hired Al on the spot.ClearanceIn 1982 FedEx was transmitting facsimile manifests to Customs, but clearance was slow. Tom talked to one the Customs officials up north about how they can speed this up. The Customs guy relayed well there was one computer system they were using in Miami that pre-cleared packages from Latin America. Information about trusted shippers was sent before the packages were transported and Customs would pre clear some of the packages and select other packages that they wanted to open.Tom's department started working on this concept to pre-clear packages and discovered they could even get paid by customers to do this work.These systems were eventually called Broker and Select and allowed FedEx to clear packages faster than other companies, around the world.ZAPMAIL & International TelecommunicationsEventually Tom was transferred to work on a special project to make way for International Zapmail and another company to be called FITC (Federal Express International Transmission Corporation) internationally. FedEx could buy telecom services in bulk and sell to other companies or interface with International Networks as a Public carrier.To establish the links into these foreign PTT's (Public Telephone & Telegraph); FWS contracted with the former head of ITT for all of Europe.His name was Tom Greenish. (Eventually his son Pat Greenish would be hired to run the FITC entity at FedEX).Tom G. had been based in Geneva or Zurich Switzerland, knew 5 languages and was networked to every PTT in Europe and most of the world. Tom Bullion was selected to travel with him, as the FedEx rep and to take care of transmitting contracts and agreements.FedEx AeronauticsAfter Zapmail Tom was transferred to an Advanced Projects group under Alan McArtor.The group was called FedEx Aeronautics and Tom worked with Noan Samples, Julie Ellis and Bill Cummings. They worked on several concept projects such as the following:Trans-Oceanic Transports ConceptsA Later Prototype of Lockheed's Air ShipsAir Ships: they designed a new dirigible with Lockheed Skunk Works to ply the oceans as cargo freighters. The plans included operating scenarios, fueling stations, new docking maneuvers etc. This project was presented to the Board as a new potential venture. Tom worked with Lockheed on the concepts and designs for this new era of air ship. The Lockheed team that had designed the stealth fighter/bomber had completed their work and Lockheed assigned all of them to FedEx's Air Ship project.Reference: FedEx & Airships Wiki ArticleFederal Express (FedEx) was reportedly "negotiating the possible purchase of a non-rigid training airship" in early 1981, with the possibility of an order for "75-tonne payload R.150 cargo airships" to follow, and Redcoat—through which FedEx had approached AI—switched its order to the R150, ordering four airships with options on another 10. FedEx was motivated by fuel-efficiency concerns and considered airships suitable for lower-priority 48-hour package deliveries.However, FedEx stated in late 1981 that its airship plans had been "put aside for the time being" and Redcoat went into voluntary liquidation in mid-1982 The R150 design was inherited by Wren Skyships when AI's rigid division was split off (see below), and Wren went on to propose new metal-clads of varying sizes.Supersonic FedEx Model of the ConcordeConcorde: Tom had earlier in his career worked a concept team to utilize Concorde supersonic jets to fly packages internationally. One problem was that the emergency manual system for lowering the landing gear was amidship of the jet. The floor would have to be taken up, and pole inserted into a cranking type device to manually lower the gear. With freight on the aircraft this wasn't accessible to the pilots. The team came up with a gear concept that would allow the pilots to take up the floor and manually deploy the gear from the cockpit. A major issue was that to put a cargo door in the Concorde, 3 more bulkheads had to be installed. These jets were going to be leased for 10 years. A requirement by the French was that FedEx had to return the jets in original condition. We would have to remove the cargo door, remove the bulkheads, and relocate the emergency gear extension system back amidships.Aircraft Carrier Freighter: Another design was a fast ocean going large freighter called Fastship. This ocean going freighter would be 1000 feet long. Mr. Smith hired a naval architect named Reuven Leopold and Tom was assigned to be his FedEx rep. They actually had a 40 foot model of the ship designed for testing. To test the design and obtain a hull classification for insurance purposes, they shipped the model to Das Veritas, Norway. It passed all of the sea keeping tests but one, breaking into two pieces when a humongous quartering wave hit it.Tom looked at extremely fast submarines, sea planes, wing-in-ground effect aircraft and many other concepts that FedEx could consider for new businesses.I asked Tom Bullion and Chuck Graham the following questions:What were the most enjoyable times working at FedEx?Chuck: I enjoyed up until the last five years I was there. I especially got satisfaction when we had to work 20 hours straight to fix something but got immediate satisfaction in our success and in meeting the customer's expectations.Tom: I also enjoyed almost all my career except maybe the last 5 years. I really enjoyed my director in Operations Research but, the executive management culture had changed from taking care of the customer to reporting to the stockholder – the new corporate world is not conducive to entrepreneurs. I especially enjoyed working in FedEx Aeronautics, and working for Allan McArtor.Who are the people you most appreciated at FedEx?Chuck: Pete Wilmott, he provided stable financing and a level head and pushed for a high service level. It provided stability for us. And Jim Barksdale. He put the People element back into the company.Tom: Pete Wilmott, Art Bass, Vince Fagan, Jim Barksdale and of course Mr. Smith. Art Bass and Jim Barksdale kept the company and upper management on an even keel.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

More Comments from Tom: I also worked on a couple other things that might be of interest to the older guys. I was hired as the Director of Training opening new stations around the country. Too much travel and I volunteered to help Carl William and Mike Basch to introduce The Star System (Systemwide tracking and recording system). This was an OCR capable airbill generated by a gas credit card type machine made by Addressograph & Multigraph. I then helped Wes Terry break the revenue functions out of data processing and started the Billing System. This is where I met my lifelong friend Tom McNeal. He was hired as the Credit & Collections manager. We fought like tigers and became best of friends. After ZapMail, Ted Weise ask me to start a container program for the B-727 program and I was the first “Can King” or Container Control or ULD manager – many coats same lousy job!

Peter Dangerfield3/20/2014

Tom is one of my closest friends and I admire all the great work he did to make FDX a success.

Ann Hoff Crum3/29/2014

I started in July '73! Emp #731!!!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/20/14: Answer any of these history questions:

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/20/14: Answer any of these history questions:a. Who was the ZapCzar? b. Who was the first CIO of FedEx Express? c. Who was the first CIO of FedEx Ground? d. Who was the first Director of Communications Software? e. Who was the VP of Zapmail Marketing? f. Who was the VP of Zapmail Sales? g. Who was the first VP of Telecommunications? h. Who was the first CTO of FDX?

Charlie Derrick3/20/2014

a. Tom Oliver b. Ron Ponder

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/21/2014

Answers a. Who was the ZapCzar? Bob May, his license plate was ZAPCZAR b. Who was the first CIO of FedEx Express? Chris Hjelm c. Who was the first CIO of FedEx Ground? Mike Hmel d. Who was the first Director of Communications Software? I think it was Les Wilcox e. Who was the VP of Zapmail Marketing? Carl Williams f. Who was the VP of Zapmail Sales? Bill Razzouk g. Who was the first VP of Telecommunications? Winn Stephenson h. Who was the first CTO of FDX? Rob Carter

Dan Goss5/15/2014

Jimmy, item D is wrong. The first Director of Comm Soft was Dan Hinsley. Dan H. asked me to move to Mem and be the Sr. Manager of Comm Software group. Les later replaced Dan H.

Jimmy Glenn Burk5/15/2014

You are right Dan, what MD position did Ed White have?

Dan Goss5/15/2014

Ed White was MD over the MVS, Program Products, and IMS groups. When Bob Kramer was booted, Ed became VP Computer Operations.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/20/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/20/14:FedEx's 1st scanning device was a Norand HHT scanner (similar to grocery store scanners with a wand) .a. How did the scan data get from the scanner to the mainframe(ie Cosmos)? b. What was the project called, and who was in charge of the rollout?FedEx's 2nd scanning device was the HHP SuperTracker.c. How did scan data get from the SuperTracker into Cosmos? d. What was the project called and who was in charge of the rollout?

John Toscano3/20/2014

In COSMOS IIa, the Smartbase by Norand was used to Xmit the scan data to COSMOS. For COSMOS IIb, the PC Base was used as well as DADs for xmission. Rollouts were mostly managed by the folks in Harry Dalton's group.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

Answers: FedEx's 1st scanning device was a Norand HHT scanner (similar to grocery store scanners with a wand) . a. How did the scan data get from the scanner to the mainframe(ie Cosmos)? Norand provided a rack, and the HHT's were placed in the rack to charge and it dialed a 3705 front end processor to transmit the scan information. Calls were long distance. Les Wilcox and Winn Stephenson wrote the assembly code for the mainframe collection program. b. What was the project called, and who was in charge of the rollout? Project was COSMOS IIa, and rolled out by Tom Bullion. Jimmy Sowell was later tagged with task to process the equipment. Only packages in the stations and in the hub were scanned. FedEx's 2nd scanning device was the HHP SuperTracker. c. How did scan data get from the SuperTracker into Cosmos? Norand provided a PC called the SmartBase. Software for the IBM side of the device was from SSI and modifed by the Comm Soft group. SuperTrackers were placed in QuadRacks to charge and upload in station scans. A shoe rack was placed on the DADS device so the courier could insert the SuperTracker. Pickup and Delivery scans were then transmitted wirelessly from the Van to the Dads Processor(Digital Equipment PDP-11), and then up the SNA link to COSMOS. d. What was the project called and who was in charge of the rollout? Project was called COSMOS IIB and was led by Harry Dalton. Jim Tollefson's group in COS did the scan processing. Jim Turpin and David Dietzel under Harry were the leads for the rollout. Packages were scanned in station and at the customers location.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

Later, when the Norand Smartbase was probably at end of life, the CommSoft Group under Les Wilcox integrated the PCBase, which was a PC plus an SNA comm card and a link to the quadracks; These were rolled out to replace the thousands of Norand Smartbases.

John Toscano3/20/2014

Interesting.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/20/2014

...and history gets convoluted a little bit as my memory fades with time After the PCBase was put together in Bill Stranges group..I think; further development for the Smartbase & PCBase was transferred to Jimmie Willis in COS..who I think reported to John Toscano. Kurt Wulff took Bill's mgr slot after his passing. There was another reorg, as there always were, and Kurt Wullf, Jimmie Willis, & Miley Ainsworth were put under my org, and I reported to Les Wilcox for a month. I was the only report to Les. I was promoted to MD Network Engr, and left the group, and don't remember the history after that much. But there was a spinoff of the PCbase and a device that Jim Turpin's group had put together, and that device became PSCAN and the first manager of that group was Kevin Lindholm in COS.

Subject: Who is this person, and what did he do at Federal Express?

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/21/2014

Who is this person, and what did he do at Federal Express?

Johnnie Edwards3/21/2014

McGuire????.........

Chuck Siegfried3/21/2014

Frank somebody.

Martha Lanier Moore3/21/2014

Frank McGuire - SVP corp communications, I believe. Waaaaay back I believe Wanda Martin (married to Tom Martin) may have been his admin.

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/21/2014

Frank(Francis) McGuire is the correct answer: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/employee-roi.shtml

Who is this person, and what did he do at Federal Express?

Buddy Johnson3/21/2014

Frank was a great guy. He played Santa at the FedEx kids Christmas parties back in 70' s and early 80's.

Carl Wayne Hardeman3/22/2014

Botiese Anguillard who sorted the F's and G's in the original manual letter sort?

Ann Hoff Crum3/29/2014

I worked for Tucker Taylor when Wanda worked for McGuire!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/24/14 Answer any of these that you can...... a. which manger at FedEx was a prof ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk3/24/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 3/24/14 Answer any of these that you can...... a. which manger at FedEx was a professional hockey player? b. which two svp's at FedEx flew the Air Force Thunderbirds c. which director at FedEx worked for AT&T, Bell Labs and did communications for Presidential overseas visits d. which SVP pushed the modelling effort called the Optimizer, later renamed the Union-izer by the pilots e. what round thing sits on the bookcase in the Corporate Jet lounge

Ben Moore3/24/2014

b. Allan McArtor was one of them.

Eddie Garrison3/24/2014

Gill mook thunderbird and Alan mcartor

Gary Phillips3/24/2014

A. Brailey

Deby Abbott Jolley3/24/2014

e. Wilson

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