Are there times when your business must have something by tomorrow, no matter what? What if part of your mission is getting shipments to insistent customers within 24 hours?

Now might be a good time to consider working on a back-up plan or budgeting a little more money for these functions.

If you rely on FedEx Ground for overnight deliveries, there could be some changes in how you do business — like higher prices, to start with.

If FedEx loses a critical, nationwide lawsuit currently being decided, it could mean an overhaul of the company’s entire business model. That’s because FedEx’s policy of treating ground-service drivers as contractors, instead of company employees, has been called into question — and into court.

It “does not look good for FedEx,” says one legal eagle.

Drivers are seeking $1 billion in damages; more than $2.5 billion in taxes and liability are also at stake. Even more significantly, losing the case would deny FedEx the estimated 30% financial advantage it enjoys over other ground-service carriers.

Treating drivers as a full-time employees rather than contractors will erase significant cost savings – costs you can expect to see passed directly onto customers’ procurement and shipping functions.

Why wait for this one to play itself out? Now’s a good time to assess your current ground-service carrier(s). Can any of your regular functions be consolidated or scaled back?

If you are a FedEx customer, now could even be a good time to check out the competition, like UPS. You never know if other carriers might be planning a little something special designed to appeal to nervous FedEx customers.

Tags: FedEx, procurement, shipment, shipping