FedEx May Cut Jobs Amid Slumping Economy
FedEx Corp. may cut jobs to trim labor costs, and speed retirement of older jets and halt expansion of its FedEx Office printing shops, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
FedEx, which will report its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Thursday, may say that its domestic express and freight volumes fell by 10% in a slumping economy, Bloomberg reported, citing Dan Ortwerth, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co.
Both FedEx and competitor UPS Inc. broke with tradition this year by not projecting peak holiday shipping volumes, saying the soft economy made forecasts too difficult, Bloomberg reported.
Higher fuel surcharges and pressure to trim costs have prompted some customers to switch to less-expensive delivery options, FedEx has said.
Express air shipments account for about 64% of FedEx’s total revenue, or $24.4 billion, and many of those items are sent on short notice, curbing the company’s ability to forecast demand, Bloomberg said.
FedEx, ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, last week cut its fiscal year 2009 earnings forecast due to “significantly weaker economic conditions.”
