Messages in FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club group.

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Jimmy Glenn Burk9/23/2013

High Wycombe is correct for GB!

Gary Phillips9/23/2013

Don't remember Asia. Was it in the Philippines?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/23/2013

not phillipines

Gary Phillips9/23/2013

Singapore?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/23/2013

ops center was later moved to Signapore

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/23/2013

Answers: High Wycombe, Great Britain Brussels, Belgium Hong Kong, APAC (later moved to Signapore) and I think the managers were: Ted Crampton(or something like that) GB Denis Guerts Brussels Alfred Pun APAC

Gary Phillips9/23/2013

I was thinking the Asian location was the other way around. Darn.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz:Who was the Senior VP of IT when scanning of packages started(at the hubs & stations)?Who was the Senior VP of IT when scanning of packages started at customer locations?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/25/2013

Jim Barksdale was SVP when Cosmos IIa was implemented(scanning at stations & hubs). Then JimB was promoted to COO and Ron Ponder became SVP of IT. Ron was SVP thru the implementation of Cosmos IIb (scanning at customer locations & Hub & Stations)

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz: Which SVP convinced FWS that IT needed to be a little more Silicon Valley like, t ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz: Which SVP convinced FWS that IT needed to be a little more Silicon Valley like, to attract new staff, and that included dressing business casual instead of suits & ties and dresses all the time?

Deby Abbott Jolley9/24/2013

Dennis Jones? 1 ·

Gary Phillips9/24/2013

Dennis? I remember when it happened just don't remember the chain of command. I had just gone out and bought 3 new suits from Jos A Bank.

Buddy Johnson9/24/2013

Jim Barksdale

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

It was Dennis Jones. He took the corporate jet and about 15 of us on a tour thru silicon valley: SUN, HP, CISCO, BEA and others. Only Mktg and Sales wore ties. Everyone else wore jeans, and most wore shoes. 1 ·

Buddy Johnson9/24/2013

Didn't think DHJ was a SVP when that happened

Deby Abbott Jolley9/24/2013

Wasn't this around the time he brought in Microsoft to try to re-write PS2 in Windows? Epic Fail. But they were all wearing jeans - and they built that "lounge" area in 3063. To keep the FedEx-ers happy, they kinda did the biz-casual thing around that time.

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

The microsoft rewrite was after this,,,and it was an epic fail, as predicted by everyone. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

I've written about this before, but DHJ actually got permission for everyone to wear jeans and tennis shoes if they so desired. this lasted less than a week, when the chairman visited the CTC off airways. First person he saw was an Indian gentleman wearing bermuda shorts and sandals sans socks; second person was a lady in a leotard(she had just come from an exercise class); the next day we went from blue jeans up a notch to business casual...but far better than wearing suits and ties. 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

I think the Automation Microsoft rewrite was called MACH at one time. I may be wrong, but the bigger picture for doing anything with Microsoft was that DHJ wanted an icon for FedEx shipping in the Windows releases. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013

this was one of the first things dhj did as svp. ed white was to go on the trip but dennis told him to stay in memphis to make room for a new hitachi mainframe he was purchasing instead of ibms. he did privately meet with hitachi in calif on that trip

Subject: Hey jimmy

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/24/2013 From Brett Bonner

Hey jimmyI was there at the award ceremony.

Chris credited the FedEx team for many of these accomplishments. I thought the legends would want to know.

-----Original Message----- From: IS&S Communications [ISSCommunications@kroger.com] Received: Monday, 23 Sep 2013, 1:31pm

Subject: Chris Hjelm Honored For Lifetime Achievement in CIO Leadership

To: IS&S Associates

From: Corp. Kroger News/IS&S Communications

Subject: Chris Hjelm Awarded Prestigious Fisher-Hopper Prize by University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

CINCINNATI – September 23, 2013 – The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today congratulates Chris Hjelm, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Kroger, for receiving the Fisher-Hopper Prize for Lifetime Achievement in CIO Leadership from the Fisher CIO Leadership Program at the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.Hjelm was selected by a group of his peers for the enduring impact he has had on not only Kroger, but also FedEx, Orbitz, and the information technology industry at large.“I am honored to receive this award, and humbled to be recognized by such a distinguished and respected group of industry leaders,” said Mr. Hjelm. “This award is truly a testament to the entire IT and leadership team at Kroger, and all we have accomplished by using information technology to enhance the customer experience. Success is a team sport.”The Fisher CIO Leadership Program established the award to honor a currently active CIO for his or her lifetime achievements in CIO leadership. The award is named in memory of Don Fisher, co-founder of The Gap and supporter of the IT leadership program at the Haas School of Business, and Max Hopper, the visionary behind American Airlines’ SABRE Systems that computerized and revolutionized travel reservations.“Our bi-coastal panel of judges identified 25 distinguished candidates and four finalists. The Fisher-Hopper Prize Committee has honored Chris Hjelm for his extraordinarily perceptive innovations that have given his employer, The Kroger Co., a significant competitive advantage while demonstrating to the entire retail industry the hidden potential of technology when wisely managed,” says Jim Spitze, executive director of the Fisher CIO Leadership Program at Berkeley-Haas’ Fisher Center for Management and Technology.As Kroger’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Mr. Hjelm is responsible for managing the company’s nationwide network of information and technology systems, including systems used in retail stores, manufacturing plants, distribution centers and offices. He also oversees the company’s small format strategy.He played a central leadership role in the development of Kroger’s faster checkout initiative, QueVision, which employs infrared technology and predictive analytics to reduce the time customers wait in line to checkout from four minutes to less than 30 seconds, on average, today.Mr. Hjelm serves on the boards of dunnhumby USA and Kindred Healthcare Inc. Before joining Kroger in 2005, Chris was CIO of Cendant’s Travel Distribution Services. He has served as senior vice president for technology at eBay Inc., executive vice president at Excite@Home, and senior vice president and CIO at FedEx Corp.The award was announced Friday, September 20, at the Renaissance CIO Banquet in Berkeley, California.


Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/25/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz

Who was the first VP of IT for Europe?Who was the first VP of IT for Asia?


David Warren9/25/2013

Europe - Toby Redshaw?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/25/2013

not toby.

David Warren9/25/2013

dag nabbit!

Jill Bradbury Greer9/25/2013

Roy Beard or Denise Wood for Asia?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/25/2013

Answer: Denise Wood is correct for Asia, Roy Beard was 2nd in Asia followed by Linda Brigance.

Chris Apalodimas9/25/2013

Daryl Skoog?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/25/2013

Daryl Skoog is correct! You can see Daryl here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6hFmUvMtBI Nepal MFS Summit | Daryl Skoog, Executive Director - MicroPlanet Technologies youtube.com

FedEx Trivia Quiz

Gary Phillips9/26/2013

I never we ven saw this querstion until now. I knew one of 'em.

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/1/2013

My group was Daryl's last group before he left the company. What a nice guy!

Subject: from Jim LeMaster:

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

from Jim LeMaster:Hi, All!I just wanted to share my good news. I completed my Doctoral Program, wrote a 210 page Dissertation/Thesis, and have been award the Doctor of Computer Science (DCS) degree!On another note, I survived last year's Waldo Canyon fire, though it did come within about 50 yds of my front door.This year the fires were around, but not as near as last year. The floods have been in the North and to the West of me. My home is in the foothills to the NorthWest of town (and the old Data Center on Tech Center Dr). But, there seems to be an intermittent spring in my basement, so everyone else has the outside of their home sandbagged, I have the inside (in my basement)!Best Regards, -- James W. (Jim) LeMaster

Subject: Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Trivia QuizWho was the first Federal Express VP of Quality, dedicated to Quality and improvement of SQI?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Charles Morgan: Mary Alice Taylor

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Not Mary Alice.

Charles Morgan9/26/2013

oh, well - just a guess!

Subject: Nice Edith Kelly story:

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Nice Edith Kelly story:

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Edith Kelly Story

We were working with procurement to manufacture the Enhanced SuperTracker which would be the first device with a laser scanner. Bruce Lindow's group had reversed engineered all components and we were letting contracts to build keyboards, displays, lasers etc. In all over 200 purchases/contracts. A company in Huntsville was building the circuit boards and would assemble. We would save $20M doing it this way. We were constantly fighting with procurement who wanted a contract and 3 bids on each component. We didn't have time for this. Edith Kelly, her director, and several of her procurement managers met with me at my request. I stated we are saving this company $20M and have less than 3 months to complete this. An example was, I will have 3 different companies build us keyboards. These are small items, I don't really care what it costs, I just want prototypes and backups for each component. We don't have time for this bureacracy. One manager said well we could do a PO and write on the back the conditions. Then hell broke loose and her managers started bickering with each other and sniping that that couldn't be done. It took Edith about 2 minutes to recognize this wasn't good. She said, "Jimmy, could I have a few minutes alone with my team, and we will try and work this out?". I left, when I returned she had a solution, and it met my needs and requests and we proceeded to procur stuff. Her managers worked with us, instead against us from that point. Edith had good management skills....


Subject: Jimmy's Quality Story

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/26/2013

Jimmy's Quality Story

I was dir over Network Engineering with about 100 souls in the group. It was a wonderful group of people. Quality was big. Everyone had went thru 5 days of training to indoctrinate us in the lingo of Quality. When Survey Feedback was done months later...this question was added to the survey.'My Director Supports Quality'Somehow, I received a 90 on that question. After the survey we were told...any director that didn't get a 95 on sfa on that question...had to go thru 3 days of Remedial training in Quality.........so I was sent off to remedial training. I don't use bad language....but this would have been an opportune time as I suffered thru that course again.....Soon after, Assembling the flock for an sfa review I was determined to never go thru Remedial Quality training again. The group was honest. Only 2 people were required the way the survey was structured to send me off to the training.Human #1 - well someone ran a cable between two cubicles for a couple days. I didn't think that was quality or safe......Human #2 -had a worse excuse but he was the one that ran the cable between two cubes to test something for that Human#1 had requested.I explained the value of telling the manager or director anything that shed doubt on Jimmy's support of quality......pretty sternly.....they needed to work hard to keep me out of such remedial classes.That week we had our quarterly all staff meeting. We would give updates to each other 1/2 day and play 1/2 day.Nancy Hinds made up some buttons or labels for everyone to wear which said 'Jimmy Loves Quality'.It made my day.


Gary Phillips9/26/2013

I didn't run the cable or say anything about it on SFA. :-) 1 ·

George Moore9/27/2013

You were the best Jimmy!

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/28/2013

from Jim Moore: That’s our Nancy…. Love the story… TNX Jim Moore

Subject: Had lunch with Winn Stephenson, Larry Netter, Jimmy Sowell & Belinda Watkins today. All looking heal ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/27/2013

Had lunch with Winn Stephenson, Larry Netter, Jimmy Sowell & Belinda Watkins today. All looking healthy and happy.

Gary Phillips9/27/2013

But What-a-burger is closed? 1 ·

Angela Maynard9/27/2013

Angela Maynard Not in Destin! Life is good!

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/27/2013

I passed a What-a-burger in Jackson MS....

Gary Phillips9/27/2013

Did they go to Destin for lunch? There are a few in AL and FL for sure.....and Jackson, MS I guess.

Subject: from the FedEx REtiree Club: ferc1.org MEMPHIS AIRSHOW 2013 PRESENTED BY FEDEX EXPRESS September 27, ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/27/2013

from the FedEx REtiree Club: ferc1.org MEMPHIS AIRSHOW 2013 PRESENTED BY FEDEX EXPRESS September 27, 28, 29, 2013 Plan to attend the Memphis Airshow at Millington Regional Jetport featuring the Snowbirds. Visit the website at www.memphisairshow.org for more information about performers, ticket cost or volunteering

Subject: Trivia Question from Ben Moore: What happened on 10/4/82 and

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/28/2013

Trivia Question from Ben Moore: What happened on 10/4/82 andWhat happened on 4/1/84?

Jill Bradbury Greer9/28/2013

Zapmail launch?

Subject: I was the M@E (Maintenance and Engineering)representative for Air Operations on the Superhub Plannin ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/29/2013 From Paul Benbrook

I was the M@E (Maintenance and Engineering)representative for Air Operations on the Superhub Planning group. --------------

Just found your website, it is very interesting. I am Paul Benbrook, emp #302, retired after 32 yrs in 2005. I was in Air Operations for my entire career. Have not had a chance to view the entire website but I will as soon as I can. One quick correction: you have at least two pictures of FW Smith in front of a Falcon wearing a leather flying helmet. It was a picture taken the day he flew this a/c to Washington for display at the Smithsonian Aviation museum. I know because I was there when the photo was taken and have several of my own. It was not a picture taken in the beginning of Falcon operations but at the end. Looking forward to reliving the dream.Paul Benbrook


Charlie Derrick9/29/2013

Charlie Derrick Does Paul remember the tail number of the first Falcon?

Jimmy Glenn Burk9/30/2013

from Paul Benbrook:8FE. Fred wanted people to think we had more than one a/c back then. I remember Charlie, he worked in Ops I believe. My emp # was 302, I started in Little Rock in Jan '73.

Charlie Derrick10/1/2013

Charlie Derrick I remember Paul too! Good to hear from him.

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/1/2013

Paul must remember Pete Dangerfield emp #239. He took the VBO and retired June 1st as did 5 out of group of 7.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/1/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz

Which FedEx exec won a football scholarship to Ole Miss, but after 2 years and 3 surgeries athletics ended for him; he moved to Memphis to finish his education and started a part time job at the newly formed Federal Express?


Vicki Shirey Sanders10/1/2013

Mike Glenn or Jim Barksdale!

Gary Phillips10/1/2013

Jim Barksdale went to Ole Miss but don't think he played fb. Bronczek stated as a courier but don't think he was Ole Miss. Guessing T Michael Glenn.

Gary Phillips10/1/2013

I just don't remember MG playingfootball.
Jimmy Burk: Answer: Mike Decker

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/2/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhich senior executive at FedEx would write responses on the memos sent to him, but also correct your spelling errors on the returned memo?

Chris Apalodimas10/2/2013

Chris Apalodimas Fred Manske?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/2/2013

Not FredM. although he might have done this also.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/2/2013

Chris, what group are you working in now?

Paula Crum10/2/2013

I don't know because I did not have any spelling errors. LOL 3 ·

Chris Apalodimas10/2/2013

Chris Apalodimas Jimmy Glenn Burk I"m still in the old SIS working for Mark, doing my usual barcode stuff.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/2/2013

Answer: Jim Barksdale

After working out the problems with the Memphis Superhub, I worked on special projects for Jim Barksdale and would attend his meeting several times a month. He would circle mis-spelled words and correct syntax and send back to me with his replies. I was called to his office for a private meeting and given some direction on my career, and he told me that he was astounded on the number of his managers that couldn't write, spell or construct a good memo. He had a employee,,,,maybe Kathy Wilson,,, who was working on a Manager's guide to help his managers be professional and knowledgeable on how to act and write memos. Around 1984 I was in a meeting with about 30 people and I sat in a chair next to the wall around the conference table. JLB came in late and sat by me. I was in Satellite systems at the time, and had noticed that the people in ZapCentral had no documentation on the Broadcast Zapmail process. I put together a 30 page hand written document even though it wasn't my job, for Kathy Crockett's group. JLB must have been bored, he took my document, and corrected spelling, syntax and added some verbage across the whole document. At the end of the meeting he gave back to me and said 'Burk, you need to get a MacIntosh...' Two months later I had to give a presentation to FWS on a Sunday on another project. I had hand drawn overheads. After the presentation, FWS asked me a couple technical questions, then said, "jimmy...why don't you have a MacIntosh?' 4 ·


Deby Abbott Jolley10/3/2013

Did you get a Mac?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

I did, but the company didn't pay for it. I started doing professional technical course development and teaching on the side for CBU, Bellsouth & other companies and bought a Mac Plus out of those funds. 1 ·

Deby Abbott Jolley10/3/2013

I bought my own IBM PC in 1983. 64K Ram - All you'll ever need. (no hard drive - but two floppy drives) WooHoo!! 1 ·

Subject: Happy Birthday to Jim Bentley today! One of the all time characters at FedEx.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/2/2013

Happy Birthday to Jim Bentley today! One of the all time characters at FedEx.Photographer, gun collector, motorcycle rider, fisher of fish, lover of dogs, and many other things that can't be revealed.....

Jim Bentley10/2/2013

Thanks Jimmy! Haha 1 ·

David Hunt10/2/2013

David Hunt Jim ... 'David Hunt Speaking' ... Happy Birthday! 1 ·

Jim Bentley10/2/2013

LOL, miss those days

Buddy Johnson10/3/2013

That is an understatement!!! 1 ·

Subject: several of the people added to the group have disappeared, not sure why. If you are or were associat ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

several of the people added to the group have disappeared, not sure why. If you are or were associated with fedex, or are friends of those who were associated, and have asked to be a member but don't show up...please resubmit..

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

When DHJ assumed the role of CIO, he wanted a group of standards to be set for development and infrastructure. A committee was formed called the TAC(Technical Architecture Committee) to help guide these standards. What Director was put over this committee?

Dan Elliot10/3/2013

I remember when he came down to Orlando and told us what a terrible job we were doing.... Didn't make too many fans...

John Toscano10/3/2013

John Toscano Was that Chris Hjelm?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

I don't think it was Chris Hjelm although he may have worked on it.

Subject: Getting a lot of requests to join this group. If you are not affiliated with fedex in the past or as ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

Getting a lot of requests to join this group. If you are not affiliated with fedex in the past or as a retiree, or not friends or acquaintances with someone in the group, do not request to join the group. thanks, jimmy

Subject: Interesting article mentioning Daryl Skoog..from 2009

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

Interesting article mentioning Daryl Skoog..from 2009

Live: Daryl Skoog and his Motorbike #BOG09

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/3/2013

Daryl was VP of Colorado Springs after serving as VP of IT in Europe.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question(for you that were here in the 80's)

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

FedEx Trivia Question(for you that were here in the 80's)Who was the VP of Marketing for Zapmail?

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Carl williams

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

gary is correct. someone relayed to me that had Carl passed away.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question: Who was the first svp of IT for Federal Express?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

FedEx Trivia Question: Who was the first svp of IT for Federal Express?

Nancy Hinds10/4/2013

Winn?

Kerry Allen Clark10/4/2013

Kerry Allen Clark Chuck Winston

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Carl Williams

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Wasn't Winston over the whole thing?

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Sorry my answer was in response to the zapmail question.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

not winn or chuck w.

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

the late Charlie Brandon?

Roger Yannett Sr10/4/2013

Roger Yannett Sr Was it Jim Barksdale

Subject: FedEx Trivia Questions: WHo was the person in charge of building Federal Express first sorting Hub i ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

FedEx Trivia Questions: WHo was the person in charge of building Federal Express first sorting Hub in Memphis?Who was the person in charge of building the Memphis SuperHub?

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Super hub was Basch I think.

Gary Phillips10/4/2013

Guessing Wiese for first sort facilityin Memphis?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

gary is correct

Johnnie Edwards10/8/2013

Johnnie Edwards nope.........Ted wasn't at that time I don't believe.........Carroll Fitzgerald, when I started in 73, was over flight control group and the hub......he was a pilot at the time and after up and running well he left and went back to flight line where he finished his career........im not sure if Basch was there then or not in charge at top over hub.....shortly after in 74, Roger Larson came in from UPS and was over the hub .........he brought in Karl Birkholz in Jan 76......

Gary Phillips10/8/2013

Ground broke on the SH in '79. Basch left in '79 or '80. According to the timeline posted here, Weise was assigned the sort facility in '73. Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

I worked on the Superhub computer systems on startup around 1980. Mike Basch was over the project then.

Johnnie Edwards10/8/2013

Johnnie Edwards i was talking first sorting hub......i was there in 73........dont remember Ted or Mike around hub at that time........if talking Superhub, then Mike would be correct!!!!

Gary Phillips10/8/2013

You're the one that said 'nope'. Weise had the first sort facility and Basch had the SH.

Subject: Thanks to Buddy Johnson for forwarding this time lapse video of a FedEx Boeing 767 being built.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

Thanks to Buddy Johnson for forwarding this time lapse video of a FedEx Boeing 767 being built.

FedEx Boeing 767 time-lapse

Jack Brown10/4/2013

cool....

Linda Cook Thorn10/4/2013

Linda Cook Thorn Thanks Buddy. My Grandsons will love seeinig this. Pretty emotional for me. Miss FedEx!

Subject: Note: if you request to join this group and don't list fedex or aren't friends of anyone in the grou ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

Note: if you request to join this group and don't list fedex or aren't friends of anyone in the group, you will probably be rejected. Send a message if you do meet this criteria. we are getting requests that don't seem to have any relation to fedex, the ITD department and aren't friends of anyone in the group. Thanks.

John Czap10/5/2013

John Czap DEAR JIM, I THINK I MADE A MISTAKE BY REQUESTING TO JOIN YOUR RETIREE CLUB. I WORKED FOR FEDEX EIGHTEEN YEARS, AND WAS A FORMER FLYING TIGER. PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLGY, JOHN

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/5/2013

If you worked for FedEx and want to join our gorup, that is fine, I got about 60 requests this week and half didn't seem to have any connection to the company. thanks, jimmy

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

FedEx Trivia QuestionThis Facebook group is for the FedEx ITD group and friends to rehash FedEx & IT history and early history of FedEx.What was the ITD(Information & Telecommunications Division) group originally called?

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/4/2013

Vicki Shirey Sanders CSD corporate systems development.

Denis Charles Mattingly10/4/2013

Denis Charles Mattingly Advanced Systems

Jack Brown10/4/2013

Electronic Products

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

Answer: All of IT was called Federal Express Data Systems; COS was called the Advanced Systems Group

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

Electronic Products was the name given to Chuck Winston's group when he had Zapmail & Telcom. Chuck reported to Jim Barksdale. Ron Ponder had the IT and Ops Research organization at that time, and he also reported to JimB. After Chuck left the company hastily, Ron Ponder also assumed Chuck's organization responsibilities.

Marie McVay10/4/2013

Marie McVay The BEST darn group at FedEx!! 😃 4 ·

Jim Bentley10/5/2013

Jimmy, you forget, we were the retarded systems group!!

John Toscano10/5/2013

John Toscano COS started in 1978 as ASD. Advanced Systems Division. The title lasted for only a few months. 1 ·

Margaret Canon Bruch10/5/2013

Margaret Canon Bruch Telecommunications

Subject: NO coffee on carpet!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/4/2013

NO coffee on carpet!Jim Moore relayed the following story early in FedEx history.When Federal Express started in Memphis, staff were located in 3 old hangars at the airport next to the first sorting facility. FWS finally got some carpet installed in his office and conference room. Word went out: 'If you bring coffee into FWS's conference room...you better have a tray or saucer under that cup....'

Subject: The Payroll system was initially batch only. MSA. Who wrote the first IMS applications to give it on ...

David Warren10/5/2013

The Payroll system was initially batch only. MSA. Who wrote the first IMS applications to give it online visibility?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/5/2013

good question...was there an online system on the Burroughs before we got on the ibm...or was the ibm app the first one?

David Warren10/5/2013

Burroughs was before my time,,,,1985.....

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/5/2013

a wild guess: Steve Steiling?????

David Warren10/5/2013

LoL....No, me!!!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/5/2013

Congratulations on being a pioneer to the online world....who was your manager, and was it written in Cobol?

David Warren10/5/2013

Hubert Fisher was the manager. Jim Candler the Sr Manager. I believe the "checks" screen is still in use today.....IMS/Cobol Edited · 1 ·

Charlotte Bergmann10/6/2013

Charlotte Bergmann I remember Hubert Fisher. I worked with him briefly in Personnel. 1 ·

Melissa Leech Ziemer10/6/2013

Melissa Leech Ziemer David, I use checks every Wednesday to look at my upcoming paystub & have shown countless couriers & agents how to use it over the years. It's a big help to hourly workers whose paycheck varies week to week. 1 ·

David Warren10/6/2013

There were also some hourly preprocessor screens done like "hrsrpted", "hrspaid", etc... Edited ·

Buddy Johnson10/8/2013

Actually, the team that brought the MSA Payroll online as part of the CASPER (later PRISM) system include Warren Cooper, David W, another David (can't remember his last name) and me. Quite a few of the Payroll screens are still used as is the batch Personnel and Payroll apps. Candler was over the PICC area in Personnel department.

Subject: My perspective is from the end user. I've been a service agent (face to face customer interaction at ...

Melissa Leech Ziemer10/5/2013

My perspective is from the end user. I've been a service agent (face to face customer interaction at the counter) for almost 30 years. I've really enjoyed reading the comments from the IT perspective, especially the ones from the 80's & 90's. I remember sending timecards & daily cash/checks (separately) to Memphis nightly for data entry & processing. The supertrackers were great since we didn't have to look up zip codes to route packages using those stinky black markers.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/5/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz:When Federal Express started in the mid 70's there was no data network. If you needed to contact someone or trace a package, you picked up the phone and called the station.Later, online systems were put in place and some data circuits were installed to the stations providing terminals or teletypes at the stations and customer service.Question #1: A very basic type of electronic mail was used at first, that airlines used, somewhat like texting today. What was this called?Question #2: When FedEx's data processing was switched to IBM, many were put on the IBM mail system? What was this called?Question #3: When there were capacity issues with the IBM email system, a third party email system, was used on the mainframe. What was the name of this email system?

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/5/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman 2 PROFS 2 ·

Charles Morgan10/5/2013

Charles Morgan Answer to #3 - Lotus Notes?

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/5/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman 3 EMC thanks to Ben Moore 2 ·

Subject: Thanks for the add

Terrell E Underwood10/6/2013

Thanks for the add

Subject: Please join us at the FedEx Retiree Club this Thursday. The upcoming MEMPHIS FERC LUNCHEON is Octobe ...

Charlotte Bergmann10/6/2013

Please join us at the FedEx Retiree Club this Thursday. The upcoming MEMPHIS FERC LUNCHEON is October 10, 2013. This club is chaired by former Memphis Hub VP, Karl Birkholz.

Subject: 'Got No Time for SuperHub ....'

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/6/2013

'Got No Time for SuperHub ....'Shortly after Zapmail was launched, Jim Barksdale transferred John Schwarzmann, Brad Simmons and me to the newly formed Satellite group headed by Alan McArtor. We were located at the Ridgeway location where Advanced Projects group had been located.We were to look at a new bus sized satellite where customers could utilize very small satellite dishes to send electronic documents cheaper than over the att/mci type land networks.A deposit was given to Hughes to start design of the satellite, a slot on a future shuttle launch was received. We continued to talk to companies and countries that could launch large payloads ie France, China etcThe Governor of some entity in China visited Memphis. His province launched satellites and FedEx gave him an overview of our goals and schedule. He had a translator throughout the presentation.After the meeting Gil Mook(the vp) told the Governor, thru the translator 'We have booked you a personally guided SuperHub tour tonight'The Governor then spoke for the first time in English.. 'Got No Time for SuperHub.........Go see Elvis House!'So a tour of Elvis Presley's mansion was booked for him...........

Don Rose10/6/2013

LOL! Now that is funny. 2 ·

Linda Cook Thorn10/6/2013

Linda Cook Thorn He's Don. That is hilarious !!

Linda Cook Thorn10/6/2013

Linda Cook Thorn Meant 'yes' Don!

Jack Brown10/6/2013

Priceless.

Subject: Wang History In the early 80's there were few computer/green screens. I you wanted to send a memo yo ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/7/2013

Wang History In the early 80's there were few computer/green screens. I you wanted to send a memo you found a typewriter. FedEx was testing this new thing called Word Processing with Wang & Jacquard. Jacquard didn't make the cut, and the expensive Wang terminals started showing up on admin's desks. These terminals were connected to a Wang minicomputer...also very expensive.One young programmer started writing applications on the Wang which interfaced to the mainframe. He got so good at it, that Wang offered him a job. Jim Barksdale had to decide if he wanted to match their offer. He decided that there were just too many senior programmers waiting for promotions and he didn't want to bypass them. He decided to let him go, and said something like 'when he gets more experience, I'll just hire him back'...and that is what he did. The young programmer returned to work in Data Systems several years later.Who was this person?

David Warren10/7/2013

Jim Candler?

Marie McVay10/7/2013

Marie McVay Those old dang Wang sheet feeders weighed a ton! 2 ·

Subject: Requirements to Join the ITD Retiree Breakfast Club

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/7/2013

Requirements to Join the ITD Retiree Breakfast ClubFrom this date, those requesting to join this group should have worked in ITD at FedEx or worked with ITD or are friends with someone in ITD to be approved for the group. If you meet these qualifications and it isn't related in your 'About' Profile, then message me.I received well over 200 requests to join this group in the past week, and I can't keep up with reviewing the requests.Intention of the group is to share history of FedEx with those that worked with fedex.The group will still be open for all to review, and if you have a story or comment you would like to have posted and aren't in ITD or the group, just message me and I'll review and post.I am thankful for all the interest, and I am retired, but stay very busy and can't devote the time to reviewing requests from everyone. Thanks for your understanding.Jimmy

Joe Priest10/7/2013

Joe Priest Hey Jimmy, I'm retired courier, dispatcher and Sal. Thought this was for all FedEx. Please disregard my request to join your group. Joe

Linda She10/14/2013

Linda She I Jimmy disregard My Request as well I was all over the hub....Then Operations Agent for Fleet Mgr....Thought is was for all Fedex....Linda

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

Linda no problem, it is for those interested in FedEx or friends with IT; I was just getting too many requests to handle in a short time. 1 ·

Linda She10/14/2013

Linda She spent 17 yrs...this would have been my 25th year...

Subject: FedEx History Trivia Quiz?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

FedEx History Trivia Quiz?In the mid 70's, for several years the Russian Wheat Harvest failed?How did this indirectly and dramatically change the direction of Federal Express' IT division?

Buddy Johnson10/8/2013

FedEx was able to buy Cook IndI IT which came with a good slot

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

Buddy is right! Cook Industries in Memphis sold much grain to Russia and was one of the top 3 grain commodity companies in the world. they hedged too heavily on the russians crop failing another year, and took heavy losses. For that reason, they offered Federal Express their computer staff, ibm system and a future slot on a larger IBM mainframe. That is how we changed from Burroughs mainframes to IBM and got a number of people with IBM expertise. 1 ·

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/8/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman ARA switched from rye to whole wheat?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

Followup question: Which exec from FedEx and which exec from Cook, were at church when the subject of Fedex taking over Cook's IT staff, first started the ball rolling on the buyout?

Don Rose10/8/2013

Jim Barksdale from Cook.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

Jim Barksdale is correct from Cook....

Buddy Johnson10/8/2013

Art bass was the other exec

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/8/2013

Answer, Person from FedEx: Pete Wilmott from Sharon (Smith) Lucius from www.fedexlegends.info site: "It was actually orchestrated by Pete Willmott and Mr. B. They went to church together and evidently discussed it during church because that Sunday he called me and asked if I’d meet him at the office…..and that began the sale. The main lawyer who worked so hard on the deal was named John Coralew (sp). He was really, really young looking but brilliant! He died less than a year later after the sale of pancreatic cancer. He died way too young! My favorite memory of the whole “sale” ordeal, was the FedEx and Cook people sitting in a room trying to decide over the number of office space that FedEx would assume…and the cost per foot. Mr. B was there, along with Howie Bedford, the lawyers. Anyway, everyone was trying to use their calculators to come up with the right numbers and it was Beford, using pencil and paper that calculated the whole thing before anyone could finish using their little machines. It blew me away!" FedEx Legends fedexlegends.info 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question for you techies with good memories:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

FedEx Trivia Question for you techies with good memories:What was this device?Who programmed it?

Ezra Fried10/9/2013

Ezra Fried Wow!!! It looks like an Epson Meter. I still have one of those mini-cassette tapes lying around somewhere.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Ezra is correct, Epson Meter, deployed as a customer automation device after the Apple Computer and Vector computers were used. It used small cassette tapes to record billing information. Cassettes were sent to FedEx, where I think Jimmy Sowells group collected and dumped the tapes. Who was the initial programmer who wrote the first program, and was later hired by Federal Express?

Chris Apalodimas10/9/2013

Chris Apalodimas That would be Steve Stewart. I wrote the original instructions for the couriers/station to take the tape cassette (basically unapplied cash transactions) and send it in to MEM for processing. This was the original manual PIPELINE process. We kicked off the program, without any system ready to read these cassette tapes. After a few months we had boxes of these cassette tapes still waiting to be processed sitting in a room at Clarke Tower. The original Epson meter program was under Sales, Craig Bell was the VP at the time. We did testing at Holiday Inn and Otis Elevator as I recall.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Chris = correct!

Subject: For you techies, match the computer language for the FedEx product:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

For you techies, match the computer language for the FedEx product:1. First Customer Automation device 2. DADS 3. COSMOS 4. First SuperHub sort controllers 5. FedEx SuperTracker 6. Ops Research Models in the '80s 7. First Billing Systema. 360 Assembler b. PL/1 c. RSX-11M assembler d. Z80/8080 Assembler e. BASIC f. FORTH g. COBOL

Chris Apalodimas10/9/2013

Chris Apalodimas 1e 2d 3a 4c 5f 6b 7g (I think I've got at least 4 out of 7!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Chris did get 4 out 7

Ben Moore10/9/2013

6f 3g 7a Is that the rest?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

correction: Chris got 1e, 3a, 5f, 6b & 7g

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Winn Stephenson got them all 1. e 2. c 3. a 4. d 5. f 6. b 7. g Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

1. First Customer Automation device BASIC by Mark Ramsey & Lydle Simpson on an Apple II 2. DADS RSX-11M Assembler on DEC 11/34 by Jimmy Burk & Jim Bentley 3. COSMOS Prototyped on a Burroughs 6700, but deployed in IBM 360 Assembler under ACP by COS 4. First SuperHub sort controllers Rapistan controllers 8080/Z80 Assembler 5. FedEx SuperTracker FORTH by Forth Inc, & COS development 6. Ops Research Models in the '80s Originally in IBM assembly, but in the 80's PL/1 7. First Billing System On a Burroughs 2700, card punch in COBOL

Deby Abbott Jolley10/9/2013

Question: What *was* the first customer automation device?

Nancy Hinds10/9/2013

And THAT is why Winn was the boss!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

Automation devices in order: Apple II, Vector, Epson Meter, then various PCs including the NEC APC 1 ·

Deby Abbott Jolley10/16/2013

I just found (re-found) your Origins of Customer Automation page at: http://www.fedexlegends.info/automation/automation.htm Cool!!

Subject: from Ben Moore: Everybody remembers FORTE - Flight Operations Routing ... but who remembers TORTE - ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

from Ben Moore: Everybody remembers FORTE - Flight Operations Routing ... but who remembers TORTE - Trucking Operations Routing ...?What was INSIDE a Zapmailer? NEC APC 286.Who got stuck with all the unused Zapmailers? Econocom

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

If not mistaken, the zapmailers were sold cheap for scrap, and whomever eventually purchased them made $2 or $3M on the memory chips inside the machines. There was a shortage on dynamic ram chips that year and they were in demand. The printers, I think were standard laser printers and were used in other printer copiers.

Subject: Trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Trivia Quiz:Sometime in late 80's or early 90's six hundred computer servers were purchased but never deployed in spite of the developers trying really hard to make them work. They were purchased by management before anyone looked at them, and they wouldn't communicate with COSMOS (ie SNA/SDLC links); they could only connect with an older Bisync protocol. They were warehoused for years until someone in the industry had a great need for that exact model, and they bought all 600.What was the name of these computer systems? What were these to be used for?

John Toscano10/10/2013

John Toscano We're those the OPTs for Zapmail?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

not opts

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

Answer: NCR Tower Computers Six hundred servers were purchased for use as a Business Service Center computer & cash register. A protocol converter was purchased to put it on the network, but for whatever reasons, that scenario didn't work out and they were warehoused.

Subject: Does anyone remember Vernitta Rogers?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/9/2013

Does anyone remember Vernitta Rogers?

Liz Ciulla Carrozza10/9/2013

Liz Ciulla Carrozza I remember the name.

Don Rose10/9/2013

I remember her well. She started at FedEx two weeks after I started.

Subject: Photo #1 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

Photo #1 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Subject: Photo #2 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

Photo #2 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Subject: Photo #3 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

Photo #3 Fred getting ready to fly our Falcon to the Smithsonian Museum. Paul Benbrook

Subject: How many remember Jimmy Sowell? Here is an interview with Jimmy, he came over with the original Cook ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/10/2013

How many remember Jimmy Sowell? Here is an interview with Jimmy, he came over with the original Cook IT staff.

Don Rose10/10/2013

I remember Jimmy very well too.

Ann Deloach Holman10/10/2013

Ann Deloach Holman Worked for him!!

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/10/2013

Vicki Shirey Sanders I do!

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus10/10/2013

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus Yep...I remember when Jimmy came over from Cook.

Connie Morgan10/10/2013

Connie Morgan He was a legend for sure. Enjoyed his friendship.

Diane Conner White10/10/2013

Diane Conner White Still see him. He was very good to me.

Buddy Johnson10/11/2013

Yes. Jimmy was one of the many "good guys" that came with Cook Industries IT. I also worked with his brother Harvey at Union Planters bank. Both great guys.

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/11/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman Jimmy was one of my most favorite colleagues! I worked with his brother Harvey in another life.

Subject: Does anyone remember Larry Stoltenberg? I did an interview with Tom Bullion, and Tom relayed that it ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/11/2013

Does anyone remember Larry Stoltenberg? I did an interview with Tom Bullion, and Tom relayed that it was Larry who came up with the idea to use barcodes on the airbills.

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus10/11/2013

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus Yes, Larry and Tom was instrumental in starting up the COS location.

Buddy Johnson10/11/2013

Yes. Larry hired me in Nov 77. He left FedEx around /before the acquisition of Cook Ind .

Don Rose10/11/2013

Yes, I reported to Larry.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/12/2013

Actually, Tom Bullion had mentioned that there was work done prior to Larry pushing for bar codes. Some staff had looked at bar code scanners prior to 1977 but the technology wasn't around to be useful to FedEx.

Subject: Photos from TDelCoro's Flickr pages:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/11/2013

Photos from TDelCoro's Flickr pages:

Flickriver: Photoset 'Fedex' by TDelCoro

Johnnie Edwards10/11/2013

Johnnie Edwards awesome.......

Charlie Derrick10/11/2013

Charlie Derrick Wow

Shaandaar Zabardast Zindabaad10/12/2013

Shaandaar Zabardast Zindabaad g8

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

219, great shots,,, even after all this time, the memories come back in an instant, and I’m there,,, In the early days, 1977-79… I sat on more Falcon jump seats, (somewhat padded boards), but you were right up there with the pilots. I was even requested to turn a fuel valve off once, to lower the fuel level so when we landed maintenance could more quickly fix a pump problem,, I must have asked “Are you sure this is the one,,,are you sure??” Thank you, Jim Moore 1 ·

Subject: Fun Times changing merits. And who remembers the ever changing merit system. When I came in 1980, yo ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/11/2013

Fun Times changing merits. And who remembers the ever changing merit system. When I came in 1980, you could get up to a 10% raise every 6 months if under mid point. If over midpoint you could get the merit once a year.A couple years later when housing interest rates were at 18%, a new system was put in place. If under midpoint you could get 5% merit every six months..plus every quarter you would get the inflation rate adjustment. Inflation went sky high in that same year and was 2 or 3% every quarter....so you could get up to 22% total if under midpoint...which I was.That system didn't last a year, and they changed it again....and again.But the FedEx guys there ,in the mid 70's were just happy to get their paychecks on time....

Don Rose10/11/2013

Early on, we were happy to get a paycheck...period. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/11/2013

I read in some of the fedex history books that you all were sometimes asked to Not Cash your checks for several days also.

Jere Bledsoe10/11/2013

Jere Bledsoe Our boss would keep us hanging around until the banks closed before he'd hand out the paychecks to make sure we couldn't cash them that day. That was generally okay except when payday was on Friday. It kind of made for a dull weekend sometimes.

Subject: Does anyone here know who initiated the STAR system, what it consisted of, and who all worked on it?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/11/2013

Does anyone here know who initiated the STAR system, what it consisted of, and who all worked on it?

Deby Abbott Jolley10/12/2013

Superhub Tactical Activity Reporting - to collect and analyze productivity data on hub management and hourly employees

Jere Bledsoe10/13/2013

Jere Bledsoe You have stirred up some dust in the dark corners of my memory, Jimmy. Been thinking about STAR. Still holds true what I said about the pre-COSMOS plans. But I think I do remember another STAR and I was closer to it than I remembered. I'll try to verify and get back with you.

Johnnie Edwards10/13/2013

Johnnie Edwards used the STAR report at the mem hub all the time back in the day........ Edited ·

Johnnie Edwards10/13/2013

Johnnie Edwards im sure Karl asked that it be developed from a mgmt perspective since nothing else existed to capture data other than typed reports..........

Buddy Johnson10/13/2013

STAR (Superhub Time and Attendance Reporting) was designed to collect payroll data and provide management reporting for Superhub employees, much like FAMIS did for Ground Ops employees. During my stint as a manager, my group supported both these systems. There was constant pressure from the Hub management to merge STAR into FAMIS. And, there was equal resistance from Ground Ops to NOT merge the two. STAR was an operational system when I became associated with it and it was still a separate system from FAMIS when I left management. Possibly some others who were around in the 1980's may recall the origin of STAR. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

from Jere Bledsoe: Okay, now I feel like an idiot. Or at least like an Alzheimer's patient gone AWOL. Of course I remember STAR. Soon after I implemented the M&E time card system, Ken Willoughby came to me and asked if we could do the same thing for the hub. I met with Ken and a couple of his people a few times and it didn't appear like too big a job. So I cloned the M&E system, tweaked a few things and wrote a couple of report programs just for the hub. That was in 1976 or 1977. Certainly before 1978 when we began converting everything to IBM. Soon after that implementation, I moved on to other new challenges and turned the support over to others, whose names I honestly don't remember. As the system expanded somebody realized it lacked a proper acronym, thus it became STAR. I'm not sure who or when the name was assigned, but it began as mainly a time card data capturing system. I was not associated with STAR for a few years but it came back into my life as a result of one of our mini-reorganizations in Systems Development (SD, SDE, CSD, etc.) When I was a Sr. Manager the Hub STAR system was in my domain. The manager over it was Buddy Johnson for a while, as he mentioned. Later, it was Jim Solomon and eventually back to me. This FB board sure has primed my memory. I haven't thought about these things in many years. Sorry I got stuck on the first planned STAR system which was never developed. My apologies to those who took the hub time card system and made it a STAR. 1 ·

Subject: Photo http://www.bchpics.com/Daily-Photos/Daily-Photos/4613827_fG9Dfk#!i=267987697&k=fnWLqH3&lb=1&s= ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/12/2013

Photo http://www.bchpics.com/Daily-Photos/Daily-Photos/4613827_fG9Dfk#!i=267987697&k=fnWLqH3&lb=1&s=A

Subject: Memphis SuperHub

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/12/2013

Memphis SuperHub

Johnnie Edwards10/12/2013

Johnnie Edwards when you still had to key zip codes......

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/12/2013

Before the superhub was operational and volumes were almost 100K per nite, 25K of those packages were routed to the superhub for practice sorting, then sent back to the manual hub. The mis-sort rate was running 90%. Jim Barksdale sent me over there to figure out why. Took about 4 nites to figure out the issues. And for the first time I met Mike Basch and Karl Birkholz.....two entirely different personalities.

Johnnie Edwards10/12/2013

Johnnie Edwards being in the middle of all of it......it wasnt pretty........but we got thru it.........like everything else.........determined to succeed......

Subject: Thanks Jimmy, when do you meet.

Peter Dangerfield10/12/2013

Thanks Jimmy, when do you meet.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/12/2013

We just meet online; like an online coffee club, although we may put together a meet & greet in the future. there are a lot of us retirees now, and more coming 1 ·

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/13/2013

Vicki Shirey Sanders There is a FedEx retiree club. I'll have to ask Martha Thomas when they meet.

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/13/2013

Vicki Shirey Sanders The answer is: Go to ferc1.org. All the info is there.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/13/2013

Yes there are two upcoming meetings for the FedEx Retiree Club Nov 14, Dec 12 http://ferc1.org/luncheon.html?reloaded=true

Subject: FedEx Trivia History Question

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

FedEx Trivia History QuestionAround 1991, Willie Herenton become the first African American elected as Mayor for the city of Memphis. His search committee needed to find someone to be the Director of IT for the City. They found a FedEx computer programmer who had helped set up computer systems for high schools & minority colleges. He was offered the job and he accepted contingent on FedEx giving him a leave of absence so he could return to the company later. His request was denied so he didn't take the Director job.Who was this FedEx computer programmer?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

Answer: Jim Bentley!

Buddy Johnson10/15/2013

WOW!!! Didn't know that about JB.....

Jim Bentley10/15/2013

Very true, I still have the offer letter!!

Subject: History Trivia Question(I don't have this answer)

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

History Trivia Question(I don't have this answer)Charlie Brandon was over IT when the Cook deal was done. What was the IT organization right after this happened? Was Bob Kramer over Operations before this deal, and did Cook Ops roll under him? and where did the Cook IT development staff report?

Buddy Johnson10/15/2013

Somewhere in that period, a guy named Lew Matthews was brought in as MD in Clark Tower. Don't remember if he was the first MD over the combined staffs or not. Also, Dale Brewington was made acting MD after Larry Stoltenberg left.

Jere Bledsoe10/15/2013

Jere Bledsoe Buddy, that's a little off. After the "merger" with Cook, one of the Cook guys stayed on just a little while as MD. I can't remember his name right now. Most all of the other Cook staff who had been mangers or senior people became managers over all the existing FedEx IT staff. Stotlenberg was the only manager just before all that and Mike Pfaff was the MD. I'm pretty sure Pfaff and Stoltenberg left about the same time.

Subject: Jimmy do you have Tom Bullion on the roster.

Peter Dangerfield10/14/2013

Jimmy do you have Tom Bullion on the roster.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

I have Tom's email, and interviewed him just after I retired, and Chuck Graham also. http://fedexlegends.info/earlyit/opsresearch.html#bullion Tom isn't on facebook, and doesn't spend much time on the internet. He is a wealth of knowledge.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/14/2013

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FedExLegends/conversations/topics/398

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

TOM BULLION, A MAN IN FLIGHT A Series by Jean Ward-Jones Tom Bullion spent 14 months in-Southeast Asia on Long Range Re-connaissance Patrol with the 101st Air-borne. Once back home, Tom made a vow to enjoy life to its fullest. Did he keep his vow? In 1973 he came to FedEx to fly, but didn`t have the money required for the requisite Falcon pilot training. When Art Bass offered him a chance to join the company in a different capacity, ¯I jumped at the chance to join FedEx just âcause it looked like the start of something, he recalls. ¯Way back then, times weren`t so good. You not only needed an entrepreneurial spirit, you couldn`t succeed without it. Tom explains, ¯Long hours and low pay are not everybody`s cup of tea, but the reward is building some-thingand we built the finest transportation company in the world. But back thenFred Smith was looking for a home for FedEx. When he approached an ex-ecutive in Lit-tle Rock to borrow money, he was told, ¯FedEx will never be anything. Unknown to this executive, 13 Falcon Fan Jets were in hid-ing on the airport property while being modified. They were ¯in hiding to avoid a ten-percent-of value Arkansas improvement tax. Ned Cook told Smith to come to Memphis. Here an abandoned WWII facility was waiting. The linoleum was coming off the floor and the asbestos tile was falling out of the roof. With borrowed money, Smith built a Hub with sort facilities at one end and all the offices at the other end. ¯And everybody sorted packages, Tom says with a chuckle. ¯You worked during the day and you went out at night and sorted packages. ¯The sales guys were shipping their laundry home and here we were counting their laundry as revenue packages, Tom confided. Upon receipt of the letter saying don`t cash your paycheck if you can possibly afford not to, ¯I ran to the bank as fast as I could and got in line be-hind Art Bass and Mike Fitzgerald, he admits. ¯I prayed they would give me my money. Tom was at the forefront of many of the FedEx cutting-edge, high-tech innovations. Among them was the delivery information and dispatch system. When Smith saw it in action, he said, ¯This will change the face of the transportation industry. Smith wrote ¯COSMOS on a napkin and handed it to Tom. ¯Call it this, he said. When Tom asked him what COSMOS stood for, Smith said, ¯I don`t know; make up something. The Customer Oriented Service Management Operating System was born and FedEx took another big step forward. When IBM contracted with FedEx to write the airline control program, the team of program-mers refused to be based in Memphis. Smith sent Tom to Colorado Springs to lease a build-ing and set up a computer center. When Tom was told that air bill information would be key punched in the stations, he went immediately to Pete Wilmott to explain why nothing good would come from expecting our people in the stations to become key punch op-erators. Pete asked, ¯What do you think is the right thing to do? With no budget, no prior ap-provals, considerable ingenuity and print wheels from Germany, FedEx began using air bills with 3 bar codes and a hand-held scannerin 1979. FedEx could now track packages in a way none of its competitors could match. Then came expansion to Canada, and after Canada, the rest of the worldand ZapMail. Tom traveled around the world negotiating tele-phone and telegraph communication capabili-ties with a man who knew everything about 57 kilobit servicewhich foreign countries don`t give away. ¯An enlightening experience, he calls it. In China, for instance, FedEx didn`t get a radio frequency until the mid-90`s. After 30 years at FedEx, Tom enthusiastically says, ¯I hated going to bed and loved getting up. I don`t regret one second at FedEx. Today, Tom and three other FedEx`ers own a 1964 S35 Bonanza. It has a ¯brand-spanking new continental engine which we in-stalled, new interior, all new avionicsand it`s very fastabout 165 knots per hour, compared to a Cessna at 130 knots per hour. He reports that after his honeymoon he flew back from Banff, Lake Louise, Canada, in 11 hours with only one fuel stop. He has been married seven years to Laura Lovett Bul-lion, who has been with FedEx 20 years. In another hangar at the airport in Olive Branch, sits a 1937 Beech-craft Staggerwing, the Lear Jet of the 30`s. He has eleven years of rebuilding invested in this airplane. He just brought it back from a small place in Iowa where he camped out under its wings. Over a 3-day pe-riod about 500 airplanes were there, 150 of them 1940`s or ear-lier. ¯They`re re-enacting the start of the original airmail service, he says. He`s going back to Lee Bottom Airport near Cin-cinnati to watch them come in and land. In the picture above, Tom is visiting a Civil War battle-field on the Tennessee River. (He says there`s nothing civil about war.)His mode of transporta-tion is a BMW1150 GS. Behind the Staggerwing, sits the shell of an air-planeit`s being built from scratch. This one belongs to his partner. ¯This is why I come down here, says Tom. ¯This is the real deal; this is aviation. They quit supporting my air-plane in the 50`s. If you need work, you have to invent it yourself. I love that. I`ve done all the mechanical electrical avionics work myself. ¯ He goes on proudly, ¯If you show up in an air-port in that Bonanza, they don`t even look; but if you show up in this Staggerwing, the airport empties. Tom and Laura have been to the Yangtze River, on a backpacking trip through the Himalayas, to the Dhali Lama`s Pal-ace in Tibet, and to Shanghai. He wants Laura to see Angkor Wat, a temple complex in Cambo-dia, the foundation of the Buddhist Empire. He also has a consultant business; he was re-cently asked to offer his opinion on an aircraft maintenance facility. He told them they didn`t know how to run it and should sell it. They did. 4 To another FedEx`er. The Army taught him to skydive. He has owned nine planes pri-marily for his skydiving busi-ness and that`s what helped finance his current airplanes. After 40 years and 2,000 jumps, he`s given it up. In retirement, he`s as busy as he`s ever been in his life, ¯Happy as a clam, health is good, mental attitude good, hair on fire. Just going out and doing it. He tries to ski at least fifteen days a year. But he`s concerned about his wife; she works ten to twelve hours a day. ¯I`m trying to teach her to play, he says. ¯When she calls and gives me the code ¯211, I know to pack up and get ready for New Orleans. She meets me at the airport and off we go. In two hours and eleven minutes, we`re there. 1 ·

Subject: Do you remember the IVR system that Data Protection developed to reset passwords? I was concerned th ...

Ben Moore10/15/2013

Do you remember the IVR system that Data Protection developed to reset passwords? I was concerned that the bar was not high enough to confirm that the person making the call was in fact the person whose password was being reset. One day I was discussing this with Rick Morgan, Sr. Manager of Data Protection. I told him that I wanted to demonstrate my concern and told him to tell me when to stop.The system would ask for the caller to enter their employee number and then asked one additional question before resetting the password. As I recall the questions were trivial such as your last performance review score, your home zip code, your birth date, etc. There was no check that someone was trying to validate over and over.With Rick sitting in my office I began. Everybody knew that Fred Smith's employee number was "1." I thought it would be easy to find Fred's birth date. I called FedEx's Public Relations and asked for Fred's birth date. They said that they didn't release that information. So I called the Memphis Public Library Information Line who immediately gave me 8/11/44.So I began dialing into the system entering "1" as the employee number. If the challenge wasn't for the birth date, I'd just hang us and dial again.Finally the challenge question was birth date. I entered "081144" and it reset Fred Smith's password.If you recall the scene from "Back to the Future" where the DeLorean reached 88 MPH and left scorch marks on the street, Rick Morgan left scorch marks on the carpet leaving my office!

Melissa Leech Ziemer10/15/2013

Melissa Leech Ziemer Great story! Thank you.

Subject: Did anyone see Joe Hinson's obit in the paper today? So sad.

Diane Conner White10/15/2013

Did anyone see Joe Hinson's obit in the paper today? So sad.

Don Rose10/15/2013

I did. I was shocked and saddened by Joe's passing.

Subject: Buddy Johnson forwarded link to CA: Joe D. Hinson, 70, of Germantown, passed away October 11, 2013, ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

forwarded link to CA: Joe D. Hinson, 70, of Germantown, passed away October 11, 2013, at his home. The family will gather with family and friends on Thursday, October 17, beginning at 9 a.m., until the celebration of life service begins at 10 a.m., at Memphis Funeral Home, 3700 North Germantown Road in Bartlett. Interment will be in Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Born on February 11, 1943 in England, AR, Joe graduated from Dexter High School in Dexter, MO and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He later earned his Master’s Degree from Memphis State University. Mr. Hinson retired as the Vice President of Strategic Operations Planning with FedEx after more than 30 years of service. He had a passion for numbers and knowledge, and he was an avid thoroughbred racing handicapper who won numerous tournaments in Nevada and California. Most of all, Joe was a loving husband, father, brother and son. He was preceded in death by his wife, Valerie S. Hinson. Mr. Hinson is survived by three daughters, Kelly Phillips of Germantown, TN, Jennifer Hinson of Collierville, TN, and Julia Hinson of Omaha, NE; his son, Dennis D. Hinson, II of Hastings, NE; and two sisters, Jane Hinson Cole of Dyersburg, TN and Denise Hinson of Marietta, GA. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Joe D. Hinson Scholarship at the University of Memphis. Make check payable to U of M Foundation and mail to: Department 238, The U of M Foundation, P.O. Box 1000, Memphis, TN 38148-0001 or call 901-678-3953. Online condolences may be made at www.MemphisFuneralHome.net Memphis Funeral Home And Memorial Gardens 3700 N. Germantown Road (901)725-0100Published in The Commercial Appeal from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17, 2013

Peter Dangerfield10/15/2013

Peter Dangerfield Joe was a great guy, I spent many hours with him developing the Product Cost System for Air Operations, which lead to the AIRS system to feed it. Jere Bledsoe was responsible for building Aircraft Maintenance, Engineering, Material Management, Rotable Tracking and Time Keeping.

Jere Bledsoe10/15/2013

Jere Bledsoe I met Joe in the early 70's when Ops Research was across the hall from us. Brandon wanted somebody from Systems Development to build some interfaces from our various systems to feed some of their modeling programs and I got the assignment. Came to find out Joe had worked with my cousin at Lake Tahoe while in college. But that's another story. Joe was one of the easiest going guys you could ever meet. A genuinely nice fellow.

Judy Kay Fetters Hill10/15/2013

Judy Kay Fetters Hill Joe Hinson was my first boss and we spend many weekend running the fleet planning model to determine the right aircraft to present at the fleet planning meetings.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

I worked with Joe only several times in my career, and he was always nice, dedicated and easy to work with. Ron Ponder was teaching at the University of Memphis. Joe Hinson was one of his graduate students. Ron came to FedEx to work on putting together and Operations Research and Modelling group. Joe worked part time at FedEx until he got his degree, then he joined FedEx full time. They built one of the strongest Operations Research groups working on everything from routes for Aircraft, which types of aircraft to purchase, pilot contract modelling, courier routing, future product types, where to place hubs/metroplexes and many more.

Johnnie Edwards10/15/2013

Johnnie Edwards a good man and partner in the business.....

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

From FedExLegends Yahoo Group Page: I worked with Joe on the courier routing Dispatch Management System project in the mid 80’s. Tremendous mind and great guy to work with, he wanted to digitize city maps for the dispatch system. Scott Harris

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Joe Hinson Story For about 2 years in the late 80's I developed courses and taught for the CBU Telecommunications Institute. The coordinator was Judy Rowsey. She was friends with Joe Hinson, and frequently went on racing trips with Joe and others. One Monday, I had a meeting with her, and she was wearing a new mink coat. She wanted to explain her big purchase. She said Joe would take a group of friends to Las Vegas and they would put money into a pool. Joe had developed a model to forecast how to win these pony racing competitions. After the races were over, Joe would regulary win, and they would divide up the winnings....thus the mink coat purchase. She said on this trip, they won big. Joe's model didn't try to pick the winners, it would forecast the ponies best chance to place. The overall competion was won not by picking winners but by picking the most horses to place. At the end of the competition, while going to collect their winnings, they were huddled together and taken to the top floor of the building and sat down in front of a mobster type guy. Joe had won there before, and it was getting to be too regular. After staring them down, the head honcho said very seriously to Joe, 'Do You Have a System???' Joe responded, 'Doesn't everybody?....' Anyway they were allowed to leave with their lives and winnings, but were told they weren't welcome there anymore.... 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Joe positively impacted Federal Express in so many ways as the tributes pouring in demonstrate. Joe was just out and out extremely smart. He formed and led a world class department that is still a world class department. I believe Joe was key to the formation of numerous OR teams including one at Kroger. For me personally, he taught me the value of Operations Research, and influenced me to learn both PL/I and LP. Of all the leaders I meet and the leadership styles I see, I have come to truly appreciate Joe's as one of the most effective. I often think about Joe and will miss him greatly. Brett Bonner 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Martha Ditto: I am sorry to hear about Joe, also. He is the one that hired me, first as a consultant, and then as an employee. He was a very good boss and good man.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Webpage with more Photos of Joe: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Joe-Hinson&lc=4924&pid=167498167&mid=5697088 Joe Hinson Obituary: View Obituary for Joe Hinson by Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens,... obits.dignitymemorial.com

Buddy Johnson forwarded link to CA:
Joe D. Hinson, 70, of Germantown, passed away October 11, 2013, at his home. The family will gather with family and friends on Thursday, October 17, beginning at 9 a.m., until the celebration of life service begins at 10 a.m., at Memphis Funeral Home, 3700 North Germantown Road in Bartlett. Interment will be in Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Born on February 11, 1943 in England, AR, Joe graduated from Dexter High School in Dexter, MO and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He later earned his Master’s Degree from Memphis State University. Mr. Hinson retired as the Vice President of Strategic Operations Planning with FedEx after more than 30 years of service. He had a passion for numbers and knowledge, and he was an avid thoroughbred racing handicapper who won numerous tournaments in Nevada and California. Most of all, Joe was a loving husband, father, brother and son. He was preceded in death by his wife, Valerie S. Hinson. Mr. Hinson is survived by three daughters, Kelly Phillips of Germantown, TN, Jennifer Hinson of Collierville, TN, and Julia Hinson of Omaha, NE; his son, Dennis D. Hinson, II of Hastings, NE; and two sisters, Jane Hinson Cole of Dyersburg, TN and Denise Hinson of Marietta, GA. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Joe D. Hinson Scholarship at the University of Memphis. Make check payable to U of M Foundation and mail to: Department 238, The U of M Foundation, P.O. Box 1000, Memphis, TN 38148-0001 or call 901-678-3953. Online condolences may be made at www.MemphisFuneralHome.net Memphis Funeral Home And Memorial Gardens 3700 N. Germantown Road (901)725-0100

Subject: Who is this? and what did he do in FedEx IT?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Who is this? and what did he do in FedEx IT?

Don Rose10/15/2013

Chuck Graham, programmer/analyst. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Correct. Chuck was about the 7th programmer hired at Federal Express.

Buddy Johnson10/15/2013

Chuck Graham. Sys Dev Programmer and System Analyst

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/15/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman Chuck Graham

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

A few memories from Chuck: http://fedexlegends.info/earlyit/earlyithistory.html FedEx: Early IT History fedexlegends.info

Subject: Who are these two?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Who are these two?

Don Rose10/15/2013

Harry Dalton & Tom Bullion. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Don is up early, and correct again.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Video Interview with Harry Dalton: http://www.fedexlegends.info/allvideos.html#dalton Untitled Document fedexlegends.info

Buddy Johnson10/15/2013

Harry Dalton and Tom 'Bullet' Bullion

Subject: Dr. Ron Ponder sent a note that he heard that Dennis Spina died a couple weeks ago.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

Dr. Ron Ponder sent a note that he heard that Dennis Spina died a couple weeks ago.

Marcie Littles Moss10/15/2013

http://www.saulsfh.com/new_view.php?id=4949197

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

story from Bob Gavin about Dennis Spina from www.fedexlegends.info : http://fedexlegends.info/stories.html#spina FedEx Legends fedexlegends.info

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/15/2013

Another in paper last day or two name escapes me now.

Charlie Derrick10/16/2013

Wow. Dennis was a great guy. Got to know him on the TigerClaws task force.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/27/2013

from Dennis Memorial Wall: I am so sorry for your loss. I worked for Dennis in the 80's in NYC. He promoted me to Managing Director and was supportive in difficult situations for a female from the South in a very male oriented company. I owe him a lot and learned a lot from him. On a funny note, to this day I tell stories about two of his sayings: "Excuses are like assholes, everybody's got one" and "I'll ride with you". The last, evoked extreme fear from all of his direct reports because you could be sure the trip was going to be painful. Overall he was a good and supportive boss and I am very grateful to have worked for him. Lucy Conley 1 ·

Subject: 2014 Retiree Health Insurance

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/15/2013

2014 Retiree Health InsuranceI haven't received a packet yet for the 2014 FedEx Retiree Insurance plan.I did take a quick look at the 2014 employee plan. Some things for wellness, physicals etc are covered without cost. Visits to primary physician costs you 20% or 30% of whatever the visit costs. Other things you pay for it all, yourself, until you reach the deductible, I think $2400 per person, on one plan option; then the plan pays 70% or 80% or whatever it costs.

Dan Elliot10/15/2013

Yeah, I can't figure out if it's good or bad...

Connie Morgan10/15/2013

Thanks been wondering myself.

Don Rose10/16/2013

I didn't know we had retiree Health Insurance available.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

you have option up till the age of 65 when you have to go to medicare. cost is about $450/month per person or $900 for a couple

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

there is an example in the 2014 packet for employees who have a baby. it's something like for a $7500 delivery cost you pay about $4000 where it used to be about $400

Deby Abbott Jolley10/16/2013

The coverage keeps getting worse/less each year - but this sounds like a bigger drop in coverage than any I've seen.

Phil Pickens10/16/2013

Phil Pickens The enrollment dates for Fedex Retiree's healthcare is November 6th - 19th. The enrollment guides will be mailed out shortly before that date per the Fedex Benefits Center.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

Thanks Phil.

Subject: Just for clarification:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

Just for clarification:This facebook group page is not associated with the Official FedEx Retiree Club. Everyone is encouraged to join and support that club, I am a member.The official FedEx Retiree club is at www.ferc1.organd they have a facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/FedEx-Retiree-Club/279436328767374Jimmy

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

FedEx Trivia QuestionDuring Zapmail a statistical team was put together by Don Wallace reporting to Jim Colson. They got to be pretty good at modelling & analysis. Their nickname was 'the Killer Bees'Name the 3 Killer Bees.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/17/2013

Answer, the Killer Bee's: Billy Gee Butch Stroupe Barry Poole 2 ·

Subject: FedEx trivia: Who was the SVP of Marketing in the 1980's and part of the early 90's?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

FedEx trivia: Who was the SVP of Marketing in the 1980's and part of the early 90's?

John Toscano10/16/2013

John Toscano Carol Presley?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/16/2013

Carole Presley was the person I was thinking of. Winn mentioned Tom Oliver and he was svp of mktg in early 80's but moved to svp of intl, and later exec vp to fws after Mr. Barksdale left.

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

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/17/2013

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

Johnnie Edwards10/17/2013

Johnnie Edwards kinda looks like Bob May for some reason.......

Subject: from Facebook: Chuck Masters is engaged to Ann Glisan. Congratulations to them both!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/18/2013

from Facebook: Chuck Masters is engaged to Ann Glisan. Congratulations to them both!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz?What is this photo? Where is this? When is this?

Rebecca Schrimper Jones10/21/2013

Rebecca Schrimper Jones Hmmmm - was going to guess call center either at CTC or the old Holiday City, but I don't see headsets.

Leigh Pritchett Sawicki10/21/2013

Leigh Pritchett Sawicki Call center but no headsets, the hair-do's, and the chunky terminals tells me 1980's and those Keyboards! Maybe mid to late 70's Edited · 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

close enough: Call Center, Memphis, 1979!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz The gentleman on the left is famous and legendary at FedEx? He was not in IT. Phot ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz The gentleman on the left is famous and legendary at FedEx? He was not in IT. Photo taken in 1979, and I actually met him in the mid 80'sWho is he and what is he famous for?

Jim Bentley10/21/2013

Hmmmm, was that Jim Riedemyer?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

Jim,,,it is Jim....and he did what?

Jim Bentley10/21/2013

It was aircraft related, but I just dont remembe exactly

Jim Bentley10/21/2013

Aircraft maintenance??

Don Rose10/21/2013

Jim Reidmier (sp). Aircraft Maintenance. 1 ·

Jere Bledsoe10/21/2013

Jere Bledsoe Riedmeyer (also sp?) was Sr. VP over M&E. The other guy is Brian Pecan. I worked with both of them in the 70s getting the first M&E systems up and running.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

He was the SVP of Mx & Engr for the aircraft. He is known for making sure that FedEx did the highest level maintenance possible to have the best safety record possible. When times were hard, it would have been easy to cut corners, but cheapest parts, cut the schedule, but he wanted to ensure that aircraft and crew would be safe and available. The first MD-11 was name after him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCRCwVw3JMI McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Prototype In Action youtube.com

FedEx Trivia Quiz
The gentleman on the left is famous and legendary at FedEx? He was not in IT. Photo taken in 1979, and I actually met him in the mid 80's

Peter Dangerfield10/21/2013

Peter Dangerfield Yep Jim was the man who wanted the Product Cost system and it was up to Jere and I to build it. Jim was famous for telling the FAA we screwed up installing the wrong boost pump on the Falcons so when FAA fined us we all took a hit pay wise for the transgression! I'm talking management, engineers and mechanics got fined.

Subject: Trivia Quiz: Who are these two gentlemen and when was photo taken?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

Trivia Quiz: Who are these two gentlemen and when was photo taken?

Don Rose10/21/2013

Charlie Brandon & Jim Barksdale. Late '79 or early '80. ??? 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/21/2013

Don is right, photo taken for the 1979 Financial Report. I guess this was a transition phase since Jim was Charlies replacement.

Subject: FedEX Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/22/2013

FedEX Trivia QuizWhat is this Photo of? Where is it? When was it taken? Who was in charge of building it

David Hunt10/22/2013

David Hunt It is the 5 way sort in the Super Hub. I do not know when and who.

Buddy Johnson10/22/2013

Looks to be one of the offload positions that feed the SuperHub. At some point, Karl Birkholz was in charge of that building.

Johnnie Edwards10/22/2013

Johnnie Edwards i dont remember ever bringng cans into the building......but its definitely the 5 way primary sort..........would be once we had 737s and 727s..........the picture was take from the Sort Tower over the primary.........

Buddy Johnson10/23/2013

Judging from the company logos, this picture pre-dates change to the FedEx "Arrow: logo.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

This was a photo of the hub/offload around 1978-9 before the Superhub was operational.

Johnnie Edwards10/23/2013

Johnnie Edwards all in the old Hub building............

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

Correct! and building the original hub was assigned to Ted Weise 1 ·

Johnnie Edwards10/23/2013

Johnnie Edwards built in 73.......operated sort out of hangar 7 prior to opening.........

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizIn the late 80's FedEx had deployed about 42,000 DADS wireless terminals in the Vans providing communications for Dispatch to the couriers & upload of scans from the SuperTrackers. These terminals were manufactured by MDI(Mobile Data Intl) out of Canada. We were purchasing about 2,000 a year for growth.We replaced this terminal with one designed internally by FedEx engineers and built around 45,000 new ones eventually.Why did we do this, versus just buying from a vendor?

Jim Gonka10/23/2013

Jim Gonka I don't know but I sure remember swapping them out with endless overnight hours of work.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

Answer: We were paying about $2000 per DADS terminal from MDI and purchasing about 2,000 per year. Actual cost to manufacture these for MDI was about $600, they were manufactured in Asia. Motorola bought MDI, and allowed FedEx to keep purchasing the terminals for a couple years. Motorola, then decided, that FedEx should buy their new Motorola designed wireless terminal. It costs in quantities $3,500 and the minimum order was 20,000 units. And it didn't have the interface to the SuperTracker, didn't have software that would work on our current network, and had less capabilities than the MDI terminal. I was doing the negotiations, and they wouldn't budge. They decided that FedEx would buy their new terminal, and we couldn't buy any of the older terminals. Essentially they thought they had us backed into a corner. Even if we bought their terminals, we would have to change out most of the private radio network and rewrite the software. We made the decision to build our own. Bruce Lindow's group had already designed a case, and had engineered new circuit boards. We did prototypes and then had the terminals built by SCI in Huntsville, I think at the cost of $800 each. So we saved about $1200 each from that day forward. 1 ·

Nancy Hinds10/24/2013

And swapped out every one of those pups...Even the Nan was swapping FMTS. Somebody get Mike McNeer a clipboard.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question: COSMOS

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

FedEx Trivia Question: COSMOSWhy in the early 80's was the executive decision made to rewrite COSMOS in IMS/COBOL versus continuing with ACP/Assembler which was much faster and took less memory?

Dan Elliot10/23/2013

easier to find programmers :) Edited · 2 ·

Ben Moore10/23/2013

Cheaper programmers 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

from Winn Stephenson: Basically Barksdale made the decision. The original reason to use ACP was to take advantage of the ACP apps relating to passenger service and airline operations. Originally, Fred's vision was to move freight at night and people in the daytime. We bought airplanes that had a designation of QC (quick change), meaning they could quickly be reconfigured from freight to passenger mode. This plan did not work out. We started doing day turns. A plane that is being used as a freighter does not easily convert to a passenger jet that people would want to fly in. And probably many other reasons. Once we dropped the passenger requirement, ACP became a problem as it is very difficult to write traditional apps in IBM Assembler under the ACP (TPF) OS. 3270 screens were especially a pain as ACP does not support large screens very well. ACP does not have an database function like DL1 or VSAM. Also, ACP programmers were an expensive commodity and hard to find. One of the reasons COS was selected was to try to help attract ACP programmers. So, Barksdale asked IBM for a recommendation and IBM said IMS. Cobol programmers were easier to find. IMS was very robust in data base handling, recovery and support. Built in routines handled large screens and many companies used IMS. More back story here, but this is the essence of why the decision was made. Winn 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

ACP vs IMS All the comments so far have been correct. What I was told as primary reason was that the company was growing fast, data processing changes and functions were growing more complex as the company was branching into new products, not just overnight and delivery by noon. It was taking 6 months for small changes to COSMOS, and up to a year for something complex. When COSMOS under the Airline Control Program blew up, it came up very fast, but with little data integrity. ACP was written to do fast transactions, and the data base was very limited and very structured. One of the objectives was to have a system that could be flexible and meet constant changes. ACP or it's follow on ,TPF couldn't meet the need. Plus there were more COBOL programmers available and probably less expensive than assembly programmers.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

...and followup question...who wrote the 3270 interface for ACP?

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/23/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman I was an ACP programmer for American Express in 1970 and later did 3270 native programming for Dunavant Enterprises. A few years back FedEx found it had just two of us old JOVIAL programmers which the crew scheduling system was written in.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

I've written software in over a dozen assemblers & languages...but never JOVIAL.........does that also mean you were Happy /Jovial Programmers?

John Toscano10/23/2013

John Toscano The initial reason to select ACP was pretty academic. Certainly the inherent reservation system was a big plus but most importantly was the ability to support the anticipated high volume transaction processing requirements. Fast recovery from systems failure was also a big plus. IMS under MVS wasn't quite there yet in1978. One of the key advancements in IMS was the evolution of DL/I Fast Path databases. That coupled with the bigger, faster and cheaper IBM (or IBM look alike) processors and storage units permitted the consideration of IMS. Eventually, Ed White provided the convincing stats and arguments that full function IMS/DLI would work given our requirements. It did.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Ann Glisan: And me and my awesome team are still supporting COSMOS today. But we are finally moving it to Java and Linux. 2 ·

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/25/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman JOVIAL Was Jules' Own Version of the International Algebraic Language. It was a precursor to PL/1. Used on 3 computers all owned by USAF SAC and SDC Corp. Did this in 67-69. Also the assembler language on them called MAP.

Subject: Question for those who have been retired for longer than five months: How long does it take to stop ...

Deby Abbott Jolley10/23/2013

Question for those who have been retired for longer than five months: How long does it take to stop dreaming about FedEx? Does that ever happen?

Deby Abbott Jolley10/23/2013

...or do I need therapy?

Connie Morgan10/23/2013

Connie Morgan It's been just past a year and I haven't had a dream or nightmare yet. It was like a vacation for a bit and then it was like those 30 years just went. Loving retirement everyday. 2 ·

Linda Cook Thorn10/23/2013

I doubt it, Deby. I think I always will miss it and get goose bumps every time I see one of our beautiful planes, our sort facilities or an interview with Fred or one of the executives, etc... 5 ·

Carolyn Fiveash Perkins10/23/2013

s I still occasionally dream I'm at work. Or would that be a nightmare. 2 ·

Patricia Ross10/23/2013

It's been 4 yrs and I still dream occasionally about work. No therapy needed. Just difficult to release all those years we spent there. 5 ·

Jere Bledsoe10/23/2013

It's been 14 years for me and I still have dreams about some event, some place or person from my FedEx days. I guess once purple, always purple. 3 ·

Gary Phillips10/23/2013

The nightmares go away quickly. The dreams that you are just at work will last a while. :-) 1 ·

Karen Pfeffer10/23/2013

I miss my friends at work, and my friends on my route... but I don't miss the "hurry and hurry some more"!!!!!! 2 ·

Subject: There is a nice 2 page article on Pete Dangerfield by Jean Ward-Jones in the 'FedEx Retiree News' ma ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

There is a nice 2 page article on Pete Dangerfield by Jean Ward-Jones in the 'FedEx Retiree News' mailout for Oct & Nov

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/23/2013

How do I get it?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/23/2013

I think you have to be a member of the retiree club to get the newsletter; they will post on ferc1.org but you may have to have a password to access. There is a contact address and you might send an email and ask for a copy: newsletter@ferc1.org

Linda Cook Thorn10/23/2013

I keep forgetting to join. On my list to do TODAY!!

Peter Dangerfield10/23/2013

Thanks Jimmy, Jean was very kind to do it.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizAround 1998 FDX was formed when Federal Express purchased a Corporation which included RPS, Viking Freight, Roberts Express & some other companies.What was this Corporation called that Federal Express purchased?

Angela Maynard10/24/2013

Caliber?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Angie is the winner of the day! Caliber System, Inc

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question:

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

FedEx Trivia Question:From my memory, the first Telecom Mgr of Administration(ie Telecom billing, accounting etc) was Susan Wright. Larry Lake was the first Director of Telecom, and Winn Stephenson the second.Who was the first Telecom MD of Administration?

Jim Bentley10/24/2013

Was it John Schwarzman??

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Not John, he was Sr. Mgr of Telecom, then became an MD of Network for Zapmail

Nancy Hinds10/24/2013

Randy?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

not randy roy.

Nancy Hinds10/24/2013

Susan>

Nancy Hinds10/24/2013

The last was Angie - went to heck after that.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

First MD of Admin was actually Dianne Tuttle. My memory is hazy, but I think she was followed by Denise Wood(with Lan Engr)who went to Asia, followed by Belinda Watkins, followed by Angie.....but my memory fades each year..... 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

I may have left one person out. It seems like Belinda Watkins left FedEx to become the CIO of Jimmy Dean; Roy Beard who had been Sr. Mgr of Network Engineering had left the company to be a Director at Promus; He returned to FedEx and took the MD of Planning & Admin job. About 6 months later Roy & Laura left for Asia where he eventually became the IT VP of APAC

Shirley Lovelace Williams10/24/2013

Oh My, I am trying to figure out the order of these Mds because I worked for all of them except Angie. First it was Dianne Tuttle, then Denise Wood, Roy Beard and Belinda Watkins. It got to the point that people was scared for me to work for them because they either went over seas or left the company. My last ten years I supported Kay Moody and we both retired within a month of each other. FedEx was a blessing to me and even though I enjoy retirement I am proud to say I spent 22 years there. 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

FedEx TriviaWho is this? Where is this? When is this?

Rebecca Schrimper Jones10/24/2013

Is the guy on the left Gary Phillips?

Rebecca Schrimper Jones10/24/2013

Is the guy on the left Gary Phillips?

Subject: Dennis Smith quote, Annual Report, 1980

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Dennis Smith quote, Annual Report, 1980

Subject: Note in the October Retiree Newsletter: (www.fedexlegends.info)

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Note in the October Retiree Newsletter: (www.fedexlegends.info)

Subject: Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Trivia QuizThe first Sr. Mgr of Telecom Engineering(that I know of) was John Schwarzmann who had worked at Bell Labs and AT&T. Larry Lake was MD. John left the department to do special projects when Winn Stephenson became the MD of TelecomWinn then reorganized everything.Who became the Sr. Mgr of Engineering?Who became the Sr. Mgr of Operations?

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

Roy Beard was Sr Mgr if Net Eng.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Gary be right again!

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

Operations being Net Control?

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

I guess NC fell under Ed White.

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

Operations? Was Dick (something). The guy that drove the Vette and lived close to Winn?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Not him. were you thinking of Dick Collard?

Subject: Today is my anniversary with FedEx - 36 years! I retire on November 30th! I am not sure what to expe ...

Jane Meredith Robbins10/24/2013

Today is my anniversary with FedEx - 36 years! I retire on November 30th! I am not sure what to expect!

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

That is a lot of years, congrats! 2 ·

Karen Pfeffer10/24/2013

I retired last year after 35 years of being in the delivery business as a driver... the past 15 years with fed ex..... at first I was all excited , but as the time got closer, I started to think about all the people I would miss..... but I LOVE retirement.... 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz Around 1991 Ron Ponder was the CIO of Federal Express. He left to become the CIO o ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz Around 1991 Ron Ponder was the CIO of Federal Express. He left to become the CIO of Sprint and later COO. Dennis Jones, who primarily had a finance/revenue background became the new CIO.Who were the VP's reporting to Dennis, when he took this job, that had reported to Dr. Ponder?

Jill Bradbury Greer10/24/2013

Ed White was one?

Charlotte Bergmann10/24/2013

Was Winn Stephenson one?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Ed White, VP of Operations was one! correct

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Winn Stephenson, VP of Telecom was one. Correct! 1 ·

Charlotte Bergmann10/24/2013

Charlotte Bergmann Was Laurie Tucker one?

Subject: Trivia Quiz Who were these two gentlemen?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Trivia Quiz Who were these two gentlemen?

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

Jimmy Burke and ?

Sammie Helton Butts10/24/2013

Sammie Helton Butts Johnny Wong?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Jimmy Burk(30 lbs heavier then) & Johnny Wong. I was developing software on the Tandem in Algol and developing spec for M/A-Com for new satellite system; Johnny was a mgr developing models for deploying satellite system and costs.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

Year 1985

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

Didn't recognize Johnny. Threw me off on both when you said 'gentlemen'. :-) Edited · 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

should have said gentle men

Gary Phillips10/24/2013

lol

Marie McVay10/24/2013

Marie McVay I recognized you but Johnny looks 12 yrs. old :).

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/24/2013

He does look young. Got an email from Johnny who also was taking the buyout. Not sure if he has left company yet.

Nancy Hinds10/24/2013

I spotted you both..

Subject: Who is this? What did she do at Federal Express?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/25/2013

Who is this? What did she do at Federal Express?

Chris Jones10/25/2013

Carole Presley. Head of mktg

Gary Phillips10/25/2013

Yes, Carol P.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/25/2013

Carole Presley, is correct and she was the SVP of Marketing in in the 90's 1 ·

Subject: Who is this? What group did she originally work in? What does she do now?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/25/2013

Who is this? What group did she originally work in? What does she do now?

David Hunt10/25/2013

David Hunt Denise Wood ... Network Engineering ... CVP Info Sec 1 ·

Gary Phillips10/25/2013

Yep. Started in Net Eng.working for Roy Beard. Became mgr. And later MD. Worked in China, came back and became VP. Now CVP like David said. David and I worked in the trailer at 2955 Rep with Denise and others.

Gary Phillips10/25/2013

Looks classic Denise circa 1988-92

Shirley Lovelace Williams10/25/2013

Shirley Lovelace Williams Yep that is DDW ok. I worked for her before she went to Hong Kong. Roy Beard hired me in 1986 and she was a Manager under Roy. David and Gary, I believe both of you were in that group also. Later when she became a MD Winn assigned me to work for her and she was very good to me.

Nancy Hinds10/25/2013

A lovely photo of DW

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/25/2013

This is Denise Wood; she started work at FedEx in Telecom; and she came from AT&T; photo was taken of her holding a minature satellite for one of the Annual Reports in the mid 80's. She is currently Corp VP for Data Security.

Subject: Note: The following tribute to Joe Hinson is by Ted Weise, from Joe's guestbook; I didn't see a plac ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/25/2013

Note: The following tribute to Joe Hinson is by Ted Weise, from Joe's guestbook; I didn't see a place to ask permission to repost from that page, but if it is a problem posting here, let me know. It is a very nice memory: ----------------------------- To the Family of Joe - Joe provided FedEx with one of the best minds and guidance of anyone that I had the privilege of working with. A comment he made to me very early in our working relationship was: "I would rather hire the best OVERALL baseball athlete than the best first baseman if I want to have a WINNING team". He was right! Joe was always able to think ahead and reason with the potential results of various decisions. FedEx was fortunate to have a man of his work ethic and capabilities to help guide us in the early days and later as the "problems" of world wide service became more complex. Best to all. ~ Ted and Sharon Weise, Jupiter, Florida

Don Rose10/25/2013

It IS a very nice memory. A wonderful tribute statement to Joe. We will all miss you. Well done Ted. 1 ·

Subject: Like most of you, I just retired. My Medicare coverage starts December1, 2013. When I talked with th ...

Jack Brown10/26/2013

Like most of you, I just retired. My Medicare coverage starts December1, 2013. When I talked with the representative at the Social Security Administration, I was told that my Medicare premium will be $104 per month. My questions is this, why have we paid into Medicare for all these years and still have to pay an insurance premium? I reviewed my Medicare info in my Social Security account. Based upon the amount that was paid into the system, the funds will pay my $104 per month for 54 years. I really don't believe I will live another 54 years.

Karen Pfeffer10/26/2013

Karen Pfeffer sad to say, you paid for it all yuour working life... now you still get to pay for it!!!!!!!

Connie Morgan10/26/2013

Connie Morgan Amazing rip off by our govmint...It puzzles me and I have to question this when we are told we will run on of Social Security in a few years. You are just 1 of how many... If we could have privatized our own monies for Medicare and applied just 2 or 3% of that money to a mutual fund, imagine how much we would have at retirement. The interest earned alone would be more than the monthly $104 they are charging you. I retired at 56 (2012) and not ready for any of this for some 10 years. Not sure it will be there for me. It's just sad. 3 ·

Jack Brown10/26/2013

I just sent the same question to my US Representative. If and when I get an answer, I will post it here. 3 ·

Subject: Nigel Bowen sent an email that the Retiree Insurance plan for 2014 was just put online at https://fe ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/27/2013

Nigel Bowen sent an email that the Retiree Insurance plan for 2014 was just put online at https://fedex.ehr.com/Ess/custom/Educate/educatepdfs/exnret_heg.2014.v1013.pdf

Patricia Ross10/27/2013

Great. Thx!!

Connie Morgan10/27/2013

Connie Morgan Thanks for sharing.

Gary Phillips10/28/2013

Afraid to look.

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/29/2013

Gary, it's pretty steep for premier retiree and spouse $1,083 for medical, dental and vision

Gary Phillips10/29/2013

Yes it is for two. It's about $500 for 1 isn't it?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

The way I glanced at it for Premier: $ 528 for retiree only(you get a $400 credit) $1083 for retiree & spouse(also get a $400 credit) Primary care & some wellness care(not specialist visits) are covered with you paying 20% of whatever the total cost. What you pay for primary visits doesn't count in the deductible you have to reach. The plan covers 80%. I don't think this covers medical tests. Everything else, you pay all the costs up to the first $1200/person; where I guess you can use the credit for $400 of this. Then instead of all the cost, you pay 20% of whatever the costs are, the plan picks up 80%. When you have paid out $3200/individual or $9600 for a family, it looks like the plan pays the rest. I haven't figured out if everyone in the family has to reach the deductible individually or not. Still more to learn. --------------- from document: Primary care providers include Primary Care Physicians (Family Practice, General Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN and GYN) as well as Mental Health/ Substance Abuse providers (Individual or Group Office Visit), Convenience Care Clinics and Urgent Care Facilities.

Gary Phillips10/29/2013

That's the way I understand it Jimmy. The big thing for me is that they don't pay for specialist visits until the deductible has been met.

Vicki Shirey Sanders10/29/2013

That's just great because I have about 7 specialist.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/28/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizIn the late 70's there was a direction/philosophy to keep stations & call centers small.Anytime a station got close to 100 couriers, it would be divided into two stations. Anytime a call center got to a certain point, another one would be opened.What was this direction called? Why was it done? Why did it stop?

Carl Wayne Hardeman10/28/2013

Carl Wayne Hardeman And 5 more programmers were hired. Lol 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/28/2013

from winn stephenson:Quiz As for the station splits, I think the name was atomization. As to the call center size. I remember the magic number was 135 agents. Then a new call center was established. Reasons that I remember. Manageability of agents. 135 agents seemed to be a good number that could be managed under one director. Outage management. If a call center became unavailable due to a natural disaster, weather, fire, ACD failure, etc, there would be sufficient capacity in the rest of the call center network to adsorb the calls. All call centers were interconnected to all other call centers. Local presence. A southerner would talk to a southern agent, yankee to yankee, etc. Unionization. Although I don't remember this being discussed, I'm sure it was an issue. Interestingly, after hours, all calls were routed to the Memphis call center. I know there are other dynamics here and I hope someone adds to or corrects my 40 year old memories. Winn

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/28/2013

In the very early stages it was called “centralization”/ decentralization” 100 vehicles were the max we could put on one Dispatch radio channel. So it broke away.. However, in Newark and NYC we had 4 such dispatch systems in one location. If a gas leak or flood (both of which did happen), it was problematic. The % revenue coming from one location was then significant. For the call centers, it was, I believe a combination of things, one being “organization effort” as well as the ability to attract enough personnel of the quality and type desired for a given area. I’m interested to hear what else it might be. Jim Moore

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/28/2013

It limited our exposure to unionization by not having a large number of employees of one class and craft at just a few locations. scott harris 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

from sw25162(Steve Walton): I could have answered that one. I did enough of them. The radio side was sometimes tough to do in the major markets. I believe either Mason Kauffman or Elizabeth Ward-Blaylock invented atomization and Ronnie Downs jumped on it. Can anyone answer this: Were was the first centralized dispatch. (Hint...It was close to Jim Moore’s old stompin’ grounds. Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

From Jim Moore: Now there’s three names I haven’t heard in a while, all fond memories… Ronnie, Elizabeth, and Mason.. Newark would come to mind, followed by Long Island,, between these two dispatch facilities something like 11-13% of the company’s revenue came through here, thus causing some concern on redundancy. The call center experiment in Newark. The local folks took the change hard, it was the blood of the dispatch, it was high pitched energy, smokers in the making. You could just look at those folks hollering about this or that, going through the Magnadex card file system looking for customer names and info. Then sent to dispatch and phones, etc. When the calls all came to Memphis for the first time, they actually noticed a customer at the window to drop off a package. There was a switch ready to put the phones back local should things go wrong, unlike Obama care, it didn’t go wrong and a whole new way of handling calls was born. Then the focus was on dispatch,, and that is another story… 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

All good answers & memories. Another reason for the atomization of stations, was that as FedEx grew, the new stations could be moved into new areas and continually have the couriers and vans closer to the customers, making more efficient deliveries. 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizFedEx used SQI measurements to judge how well the system was working each day by assigning points for about 10 failures in the operational system.Name any of these components and what it measured.

Marie McVay10/29/2013

Wrong day late, right day late

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

Marie has name two....

Marie McVay10/29/2013

Lost package?

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/29/2013

I don't remember that one,,,could be...I think that is a package very late.... 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/30/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizThere were two prototypes built of the first SuperTracker. Harry Dalton planned to deploy 20,000 of each device, but tight finances caused only one vendor to be chosen.Who was the first company asked to build the SuperTracker?Who were the two computer companies that built the first two prototypes?

Sandra Allen Palmer10/30/2013

IBM?

Charles Morgan10/30/2013

Hand held products (HHP) 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/31/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizPut the following technologies/systems in the order you think they were implemented at FedEX. Answer on Friday.FXTV PowerPad SuperTracker Plus(add flash memory to the SuperTracker) HHP SuperTracker 1st Automation device-Apple II SuperHub Norand HHT Zapmail COSMOS DADS -radio dispatch to terminal in vans EST-Enhanced SuperTracker (new design of Supertracker w/Laser & infrared)

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/1/2013

Approx Dates Technology Timeline 1979 -COSMOS 1980 - DADS 1981 -Norand HHT 1981 - SuperHub 1981 -1st Cust. Automation (Apple II) 1984- Zapmail 1986 - HHP SuperTracker 1986 - FXTV 1990 - SuperTracker Plus 1995 - EST-Enhanced SuperTracker 2006 - PowerPad

Subject: Blast from the Past, many that I had the privilege of working with at Federal Express.

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/31/2013

Blast from the Past, many that I had the privilege of working with at Federal Express.

Margaret Canon Bruch11/1/2013

Wow what year was this 1986-7? Everyone looks so young!!!

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/1/2013

I'm thinking 88-89 1 ·

Subject: A place for FedEx retirees & friends from the Info & Telecommunications Division of FedEx to drop a ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk10/31/2013

A place for FedEx retirees & friends from the Info & Telecommunications Division of FedEx to drop a note about where they are and what's going on. http://www.fedexlegends.info/

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/1/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizAround 1986 Cosmos IIb(scanning at the customer locations with SuperTrackers) started.SIS (Strategic Integrated Systems) was the program manager for the rollout.Two SIS people, who reported to Harry Dalton, were assigned as the coordination points, one for all COSMOS software changes, the other for all SuperTracker software/hardware & rollout changes.Name these two people?

Ray Lipham11/1/2013

Judy Painter and Jay Radakner (sp). I think I pretty much slaughtered the spelling of Jay's last name.

Ray Lipham11/1/2013

Oops, they were the IIa coordination points, not the IIb.

Buddy Johnson11/1/2013

Carl Nehls and Dave Dietzel

Subject: Hint: the two people who coordinated COSMOS & SuperTracker changes

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/1/2013

Hint: the two people who coordinated COSMOS & SuperTracker changes

Ray Lipham11/1/2013

Ray Lipham Carl Nehls and David Dietzel 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/1/2013

correct!

Subject: FDX announcement - 1978

Peter Dangerfield11/2/2013

FDX announcement - 1978

Subject: Paul Benbrook: You get Cobra for Vision and Dental Insurance for 18 months after you become 65.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/2/2013

Paul Benbrook: You get Cobra for Vision and Dental Insurance for 18 months after you become 65.

Subject: 2014 Fedex Retiree Healthcare info is available at fedex.ehr.com.

Phil Pickens11/4/2013

2014 Fedex Retiree Healthcare info is available at fedex.ehr.com.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizIn the late 80's Customer Service started having 1000's more Abandoned Calls each day everywhere. This went on, for over a month. I believe an Abandoned Call was any call to FedEx that wasn't answered in 20 seconds. There were over 4,000 call agents at the time.The Call Center Planning group analyzed this, and determined that Telecom group was to blame. They wanted more in coming phone circuits installed to every call center ASAP.Telecom analyzed and determined we had plenty of phone lines to every call center.A Telecom QAT(Quality Action Team) was formed led by David Pike to analyze.What was the root cause of all of these call failures???

Jill Bradbury Greer11/4/2013

Too much off-phone time due to agents in training/meetings was the diagnosis by Antony Kong's group 3 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

correct! in a typical call center with about 400 agents, less than 40 were actually answering phones. every call center was routing excess calls to another call center, so they were just rotating to nowhere 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

I always enjoyed working with Antony, and all his group. Edited · 2 ·

Jill Bradbury Greer11/5/2013

And I'm sure multiple teams performed research, we were asked to analyze because someone thought the abandoned calls were due to IMS outages!

Subject: Sad news. Just received word that Patty Regenold passed away.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

Sad news. Just received word that Patty Regenold passed away.

Linda Cook Thorn11/4/2013

So shocking. Prayers for all her family and friends!

Vicki Shirey Sanders11/4/2013

Any idea what happened? She was always in the fitness center working out. 1 ·

Wade Waldrup11/4/2013

OMG. What happened?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

no details yet.

Angela Maynard11/4/2013

Please keep Tim and the boys in your thoughts and prayers. 3 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

Subject: Seth's Mom All – It’s with a heavy heart that I inform you that I received a call yesterday from Seth Regenold informing me that his mom Patty passed away yesterday. I don’t know any details about arrangements but I did see that it appears Memorial Park Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. You can follow the specifics here: http://www.memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com/obituaries/Patty-Regenold/ Please keep Seth and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Tim(Ames) Patty Regenold Obituary: Visitation & Funeral Information memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com

Sad news. Just received word that Patty Regenold passed away.

Shirley Lovelace Williams11/4/2013

So sorry to hear this. Will pray for the family.

Gary Phillips11/4/2013

No way! So energetic.

Jean Evans Kirksey11/4/2013

Oh my gosh...I can't believe it! What in this world?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

Information about cause has come out in several emails, but shouldn't be posted here or until it comes from some official or family source.

Subject: At the end of April, Patty Regenold sent me a business card, showing the type of Pastry business she ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/4/2013

At the end of April, Patty Regenold sent me a business card, showing the type of Pastry business she planned on opening, after she took the buyout.

Linda Shelley Morton11/4/2013

So sad. 2 ·

Peter Dangerfield11/4/2013

So sad, Darrel Benbrook died a week after her retired, he was in aircraft maintenance.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/5/2013

My brother Ray talked with Patty in April, where she gave him this card to give to me. He said she was very happy to be starting this new bakery and couldn't wait to start it. I think it may have been in Colorado. They joked about making a cookie with marijuani in it for her business.

Subject: A pretty good day in my office. How was yours? My 6th time on the summit of Bierstadt.

Wade Waldrup11/5/2013

A pretty good day in my office. How was yours? My 6th time on the summit of Bierstadt.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/5/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhat programming language was the SuperTracker programmed in?What was the company that provided programming support for the SuperTracker?

Charles Morgan11/5/2013

Forth was the language , and I think they got Forth, Inc. to help out. I was an avid Forth developer but did not work on Supertracker.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/5/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizFor most of the first decade, Customer Automation was programmed in BASIC. Mike Struminger was one of the programmers on this team.Eventually it was decided to go to C Programming, and Chuck Deiotte(former Manager for FedEx) was contracted to teach C programming to the team.What was the company name of this compiler for Automation/Powership?

Phil Pickens11/5/2013

The first was Lattice, later going with Borland.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/5/2013

correct!

Subject: announcement from fedex: It is indeed bittersweet to announce that David Zanca, SVP IT, Customer Acc ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/5/2013

announcement from fedex: It is indeed bittersweet to announce that David Zanca, SVP IT, Customer Access Services, has chosen to retire effective December 31, 2013. David is a higly respected leader in IT and within FedEx Services who has delivered a valued brand of leadership and results throughout his 21 years with FedEx and within the industry. He will leave a profound legacy professionally, personally and throughout the community.Professionally, David has had major impact on key FedEx solutions including: · Project ARISE · Establishment of the Orlando Tech Center · First Chief Information Security Officer · SenseAware Launch · Delivery Manager and FedEx One Rate · FedEx Automation Platforms such as FSM@fedex.com, WebServices, FedEx ShipManager (FSM) and FedEx ShipManager Server (FSMS) · Print Online · The Columbus, OH Market CouncilAnd many other initiatives. He has earned two FedEx Five Stars and numerous external recognitions. He is in high demand as a keynote speaker, sharing the FedEx story on innovation, IT and corporate leadership.Personally, David is widely regarded as an accessible and trusted leader in IT. He genuinely lives PSP, motivating and mentoring countless team members over the years, and placing the needs of his team and business partners above his own. David’s handwritten notes of thanks and appreciation adorn many cubicles and offices throughout FedEx. David has demonstrated a passion for listening to, communicating and connecting with his team members. In 2004, David launched the innovative Z-Tube videos to share important updates and to recognize team members and key accomplishments.Beyond FedEx, David is a servant leader in the truest sense. In 2007, he founded the FedEx 5K to benefit the United Way. This family-friendly event has grown to over 600 participants each year. He has served on the Digital Advisory Board of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and on the Board of Directors for Interline Brands.It’s been my privilege to work with David and I know many of you feel the same way. We wish him well in his life's next chapter and take this opportunity to thank him for all he has contributed to FedEx throughout his career. David's replacement will be determined before the end of the calendar year. Look for an opportunity to wish him well over the next few weeks. We will certainly have an opportunity to gather and formally wish him well before the end of the year.Rob Carter Executive Vice President and Co-CEO FedEx Corporate Services

FedEx: Shipping, Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management

Subject: I have not received the packet for the 2014 Retiree Insurance plan. Does anyone know if they've been ...

Patricia Ross11/6/2013

I have not received the packet for the 2014 Retiree Insurance plan. Does anyone know if they've been mailed? The enrollment starts tomorrow. Thanks...

Deby Abbott Jolley11/6/2013

I haven't received it yet, either.

Patricia Ross11/6/2013

Thx. Hopefully it'll arrive in a day or two. 1 ·

Carolyn Fiveash Perkins11/6/2013

I haven't received mine either but I did look at the online link that was posted a few days ago. Didn't like what I saw either! lol 3 ·

Subject: Interesting statement from Jim Derras who was one of two people at HHP that designed the SuperTracke ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

Interesting statement from Jim Derras who was one of two people at HHP that designed the SuperTracker: How we got the contract is interesting. HP whom we had been working with, did not want to respond to the RFP, and gave us their place. The company in the best position to get the contract (I'll remember the name) sent their response in by Burlington Northern, a Fedex competitor at the time. Harry Dalton (I believe) took the unopened envelope and dropped it into a FedEx envelope and returned it. We were anxious and flexible, so we won. :)

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

I'm thinking the company that sent their bid via Burlington may have been Norand, since they were in competition with HHP for the business.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhat role did Cetacea Sound play in the history of FedEx? Which FedEx manager/director was the impetus to form Cetacea Sound? Which FedEx manager went on to be the COO of Cetacea Sound?

Angela Maynard11/6/2013

Clark Hines

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

Clark Hinds is correct for 'mgr who became COO of Cetacea Sound?'

Jere Bledsoe11/6/2013

So what did Cetacea Sound have to do with FedEx?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

When DADS(radio terminals for dispatch in Vans) was first developed it was envisioned to go to the top 10-30 cities as volumes grew. The first 3 cites were installed by the Radio Engineering group under Jim Moore & Richard Dunn. Jim Bentley installed the DEC PDP 11/34's and the Radio group installed the radio terminals at night. They couldn't install while vans were on the road during the day. As more cities were installed Jim Moore looked at having Motorola or some other installation companies do this job. Those companies were way too expensive. Bill Fleskes'(worked @ FedEx) son and some of his friends had nothing to do, and Jim Moore set them up as contract installers going city to city doing the installations, working at night, sleeping during the day. So the group of kids were making good money, and I believe it was costing FedEx something like 1/2 the cost to do it this way. It also freed up the radio engineers to focus on expanding the Radio Network. When Zapmail was announced, DADS terminals had to be in every city, so couriers could be dispatched to pick up documents to scan. So, the young installers had plenty of business installing probably almost 400 systems. Story goes, Jim Moore talked the kids into forming their own company and doing something they enjoyed, for when the install business slowed down. They enjoyed concerts and setting up audio for concerts, so they started their company called Cetacea Sound to do audio systems. Cetacea Sound, not only did the DADS installations, but also built a repair shop where radios and terminals could be repaired. Later they started nationwide support for companies like Qualcomm. The company is based in Memphis. When Zapmail was shut down, the repair work was put under Jim Colson, and he chose another company to do repairs on equipment. By that time Cetacea had diversified their business. There is probably more to the story, but these are my memories.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

from Jim Moore: Seeing the replies, they all are correct…. The way it started was truly a FedEx example of “hell let’s try it.” Ground Ops informed us that the new vehicles were to be fitted in Woonsocket, RI. If we wanted to do radio equipment installs that would be a good single point to do it and get it done right. Up until then, every radio shop in the country would do our installs when new trucks arrived, and the installs were not good, inconsistent and all over the place, terrible. So we had to act quickly… Bill Fleskes, as mentioned headed up our “depot” in hangar 7 (I think 7), any way we had a small area on the south side. Bill mentioned that his son, John could be available along with his guitar playing buddy, John McDowell. So we fixed em up with an attorney to form a company, insurance company for all that stuff, and handed them I think $5,000 to two genuine hippy types complete with a daisy clad VW bus, and off they went to setup shop in Woonsocket, RI… As they drove into the sunrise, I turned to Richard Dunn and said, “Well this could go one of two ways”. The rest is a fabulous example of hard work, a teaming relationship and a business that is still going on… some 30 years. A side benefit of having this relationship also provided a solution for when Fred would call asking if we had a entry level position for some investors son or vet returning home, we’d send them to Cetecea, and to State Tech, as a proving ground… good for them good for us. Congratulations to JOHN AND JOHN.. now John and Ray…

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

from George Moore: Installed radios and DADS terminals in trucks. Bill Fleskes was manager in radio repair. His son John was one of the founders. Richard Dunn and Jim Moore got them into nthe business Clark Hinds, COO, retired

Nancy Hinds11/6/2013

And Nan was the secretary who had the first contract to be delivered to the new vendors and looked up from her cube in Clark Tower and saw 2 long haired - flip flop, shorts wearing guys and I said - in my VERY BEST PART TIME SECRETARY VOICE - "I am SURE you have the wrong floor - this is Federal Express" and new friends were made.. 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

from Jim Moore: Haven’t changed much have they???? J Great memories, eh Nan, what a team,, what a blast…

Subject: A Time of Celebrating Patty's Life

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/6/2013

A Time of Celebrating Patty's LifeWe are getting a group together to celebrate her life after the services at: Salsa's, in the Regalia Center, Poplar at Ridgeway, immediately following the services - probably around 7:30. If anyone would like to join us to celebrate their memories of Patty, please let me know so I can make sure the restaurant is set up accordingly. Thanks and God bless you!Marie McVay(if you plan to attend, please confirm to Marie McVay or on this site)

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhat was BERT?What did it do for FedEX?Who started BERT?Who would be considered the Mother Hen of BERT?

Gary Phillips11/7/2013

Sesame Street character. Edited · 2 ·

Gary Phillips11/7/2013

I'm sure you as an 'old' analog network guy remember the bit error rate tester. I know that's not what you're referring to but that's what I think about when I see BERT. 2 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhich FedEx IT VP was a car dealer? His employees drove around expensive used cars to keep them running, so he didn't have to store them.

Peter Dangerfield11/7/2013

Peter Dangerfield He used to keep a Fortune in the closet also! :)

Jill Bradbury Greer11/7/2013

John Ricker?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

Jill's the winner: http://www.columbusmag.com/section-finalword-article.php?id=884 C Magazine / columbusmag.com columbusmag.com 1 ·

FedEx Trivia Quiz

Peter Dangerfield11/7/2013

Peter Dangerfield Too obscure? John had Sheila Fortune admin working for him, but because of lack of office or cube space, he put her in one of the storage room! Sheila Dotson now happens to be retiring today so say goodby if you get a chance.

Vicki Shirey Sanders11/7/2013

Vicki Shirey Sanders Pete, she's not old enough to retire! I think I remember the closet story.

Buddy Johnson11/7/2013

Jon Ricker....

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

Jon Story: I think Jon was a director at the time in SIS. I had a meeting on something over there, and was looking to trade my nissan maxima in. I walked by his office, then walked back to ask him a question. 'Jon, what is a 1989 maxima worth?' without asking how many miles...jon reached into his pocket pulled out an edmunds like book, and in 10 seconds gave me the price range for a trade-in; then without waiting for me to respond, went into sell mode....'I've got 5 new chevrolet blazers,,,,list for $23K, can sell you one for $16.9K????' ...I was lucky to get out of there before he closed the deal..... but he either sold FWS a car, or sold one for him.

Peter Dangerfield11/7/2013

Jimmy I wasn't as quick as you he sold me a raised roof van. I enjoyed it for a few years taking the family to Florida, then I got cough in a micro flood and drowned it!

Charlie Derrick11/8/2013

Charlie Derrick After going to The Limited, Jon was finding cars and executive planes for Les Wexner, the founder. Jon was working on a pretty sizable personal collection of '60s muscle cars when we last spoke.

Subject: Steve Swanberg: Who was the first ALBERT hired by a dispatch center to service radio/DADS in a multi ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/7/2013

Steve Swanberg: Who was the first ALBERT hired by a dispatch center to service radio/DADS in a multi-station area and in his case the whole state?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/17/2013

answer is?

Jim Bentley11/18/2013

Fred Morgan?

Subject: Patty's obit is on website:

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/8/2013

Patty's obit is on website:

Patricia Regenold Obituary: View Obituary for Patricia Regenold by Memphis Funeral Home and...

Subject: Found this pic of Patty. Thought I would share.

Diane Conner White11/8/2013

Found this pic of Patty. Thought I would share.

Kandi Tippit11/8/2013

apparently the pic were removed, I would love to see them,. I still can't believe she is gone.

Don Rose11/8/2013

Great photo. I remember that party very well.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/9/2013

Telecom always had happy people at their parties...........

Subject: Out of Town

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/8/2013

Out of TownI will be leaving Saturday for 7 days of Mickey Mouse fun with our 2 & 4 year old grandkids and their parents. May or may not have internet access, so may be fewer posts by me.Anyone who wants to post memories, quizzes, trivia questions, feel free to do so. I usually transfer to the yahoo fedexlegends group to/from facebook, and will do those copies when I return.You all have a great week, and enjoy reading your Retiree Insurance manuals.................jimmy

Don Rose11/8/2013

Enjoy your week with the kids Jimmy.

Kandi Tippit11/8/2013

Kandi Tippit Have a great time

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz, some of these are ancient memories.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/8/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz, some of these are ancient memories.Answer any of these you can (answers on Saturday before I go to House of Mouse):1. One of the first centralized imaging systems to display airbills and enter data for billing. Done on an IBM RS60002. SuperHub imaging system developed in 1983, to send overnite letters and courier packs down an inclined track, a camera captured the image and sent to keyers in another area, who entered the zip code,,,,and paks were diverted into bags. Prototype was completed, but project cancelled when main Integrator went bankrupt.3. A 1990's followup system in Memphis and another city which scanned and weighed tens of thousands of letters/paks and sorted into bags, still in use.4. A mid 80's imaging system in the superhub where a camera captured the airbill at the primaries, and ocr'd the zip code and package was sorted. No Keyers needed.5. A late 90's system where image scanners were put into the stations, all airbills were scanned to a central system, to make all the information available for planning by midnight.6. A late 90's system that scanned and dimensionalized non conveyable freight for overweight packages. Generated $500M revenue a year.

David Hunt11/8/2013

3. SPSS in MEM and AFW 6. MSDS

John Wilkinson11/8/2013

5. GENESIS 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/9/2013

Above answers correct: Answers: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1. One of the first centralized imaging systems to display airbills and enter data for billing. Done on an IBM RS600... POLARIS 2. SuperHub imaging system developed in 1983, to send overnite letters and courier packs down an inclined track, a camera captured the image and sent to keyers in another area, who entered the zip code,,,,and paks were diverted into bags. Prototype was completed, but project cancelled when main Integrator went bankrupt. D01 (D zero 1) Joe Williams wrote the Sort controllers, I programmed the System Director. A third party engineer wrote the imaging system on Perkin Elmer minicomputers and custom micro boards. 3. A 1990's followup system in Memphis and another city which scanned and weighed tens of thousands of letters/paks and sorted into bags, still in use. SPSS (Small Package Sort System); After the successful implementation of 2 cities, it was decided to supplement other cities with Purple Lights sortations for a smaller & cost effective system. 4. A mid 80's imaging system in the superhub where a camera captured the airbill at the primaries, and ocr'd the zip code and package was sorted. No Keyers needed. ZODIAC (An SIS Harry Dalton Project); Technology wasn't quite ready at the time, but would have worked, just a little slow 5. A late 90's system where image scanners were put into the stations, all airbills were scanned to a central system, to make all the information available for planning by midnight. GENESIS (spearheaded by Todd Hollenbeck and crew in Orlando) 6. A late 90's system that scanned and dimensionalized non conveyable freight for overweight packages. Generated $500M revenue a year. MSDS-Mass Scanning & Dimensioning System(Initiated in SIS, but transfered to me to finish and implement as I was made MD Scanning Systems; spearheaded by Brett Bonner & Mark Thomas). A follow on system by Gary Holmes, FutureOps) generated another $30M+ per year.

Subject: Jimmy Glenn Burk > FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/8/2013



Carl Wayne Hardeman11/8/2013

How do I jine up?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/8/2013

Sounds like you just go to it; i'll be in orlando for the week, otherwise, I would like to find out more details.

Jean Evans Kirksey11/8/2013

Thanks for sharing this info...I will be there!

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/9/2013

Since I can't make this meeting, would appreciate if one of you would ask the following question there, if you are able to attend: For Primary care you pay 20% or 30% of the doctor charges, but you pay all the lab work, till you meet the individual deductible. Is the 20% or 30% from what the doctor's list bill is, or the bill after the discount that shows on the cigna claims bills? and for the lab work is that list price or after some discount also? thanks, jimmy

Ray Lipham11/9/2013

Ray Lipham Jimmy, I'll ask but I'm pretty darn sure we pay CIGNA negotiated rates regardless. I believe that is true even for services that CIGNA doesn't pay a nickel on. My wife once had a procedure done which CIGNA did not cover but CIGNA had a negotiated rate for the procedure. The doctor's office did not include that procedure on the claim they submitted to CIGNA for other covered services because they knew that if they submitted the procedure on the claim, CIGNA would reduce the procedure to the negotiated rate even though CIGNA did not pay a penny for the procedure. Instead, the doctor's office billed us directly for the procedure at the non-negotiated rate. I thought that was a bit unscrupulous and I wanted to call them on it but my wife was concerned that if we did, that might affect the quality of follow up care. We just ate the additional charge but I did follow-up with CIGNA and confirmed the rate that we should have been charged. That was the last time we did business with that doctor and we don't recommend them even though they have a pretty good reputation locally.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/9/2013

thanks for the info; I am just adding up all the bills I had last year, to see which plan I should try

Marsha Terry Rider11/10/2013

Marsha Terry Rider

Ray Lipham11/16/2013

Ray Lipham @Jimmy, during the presentation, they stated that all medical claims are first processed by CIGNA at which point the negotiated rates are applied. The employee can't pay at the time of service because CIGNA first has to apply the negotiated rate, determine if funds are available for the expense in the employee's HRA, and determine if employee has met the deductible or exceeded the maximum out of pocket. Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/16/2013

Thanks, appreciate info

Subject: Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow vets, past and present! A time for us to remember why we served.

Wade Waldrup11/11/2013

Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow vets, past and present! A time for us to remember why we served.

Walter Hicks III11/11/2013

III Thank you!!! ;) 1 ·

Charles Morgan11/11/2013

Charles Morgan Wade, we salute you and all the veterans today! 1 ·

Wade Waldrup11/11/2013

Thanks, Chuck!

Thanks !! 1 ·

Adam Conzet11/12/2013

Adam Conzet Thanks! Desert Storm Navy Vet, here! 1 ·

Subject: Why I Like Retirement!!

Jack Brown11/14/2013

Why I Like Retirement!!Question: How many days in a week? Answer: 6 Saturdays, 1 SundayQuestion: When is a retiree's bedtime? Answer: Three hours after he falls asleep in the reclinerQuestion: How many retirees to change a light bulb? Answer: Only one, but it might take all day...Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees? Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors? Answer: The term comes with a 10% discount. Sometimes 15%Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire? Answer: Tied shoes.Question: Why do retirees count pennies? Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire? Answer: NUTS!Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage? Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.Question: What do retirees call a long lunch? Answer: NormalQuestion: What is the best way to describe retirement? Answer: The never ending Coffee Break.Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree? Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.Question: Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with? Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.

Ben Moore11/14/2013

My father used to say he knew when to put on his Sunday clothes and go to church by the size of the newspaper. 4 ·

Karen Pfeffer11/14/2013

I was told everyday is saturday 1 ·

Jean Evans Kirksey11/14/2013

Love it & all are so true! 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/15/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizAfter the Supertracker was deployed it was found that the trackers were not keeping a charge for a courier shift. Tens of thousands of batteries were being discarded for new batteries which also didn't keep a charge. In cases the batteries were melting.Ron Ponder asked Winn Stephenson to find out why? Winn told me to find out why, and I asked Bruce Lindow and his engineering group to find out why.Over 30 enhancements to the Suoertracker were made from that effort.What was the main problem why the Supertracker wouldn't stay charged?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/17/2013

The batteries used in the SuperTracker weren't being charged, even though the Quadracks were continuously charging them. Timing on the batteries needed to be changed and the Smartbase & PCBase programmers made the changes suggested. The batteries had to be periodically drained and a charge slowly built up to recondition the batteries. A battery 'hospital' was designed to get the batteries into a chargeable condition. The tens of thousands of batteries thrown away, were good; and a recycling problem to send to Memphis was started, until the battery hospitals could be deployed. Edited ·

Margaret Canon Bruch11/18/2013

Great pic of Jim. Loved him 💗 I heard he passed away a few years ago

Subject: day 7 Disney....home tomorrow...if we can get grandkids to agree to leave Orlando.....

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/15/2013

day 7 Disney....home tomorrow...if we can get grandkids to agree to leave Orlando.....

Buddy Johnson11/15/2013

Great looking bunch"

Peter Dangerfield11/15/2013

What's the rush you're retired, stay! :)

Subject: People without kids think they know, but they have NO IDEA. Ex. Leaving the house. .. .LOL

Chris Apalodimas11/15/2013

People without kids think they know, but they have NO IDEA. Ex. Leaving the house. .. .LOL

People with no kids don't know

Debora Williams Waller11/16/2013

Reminds me of Bill Cosby skits. :-)

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhich FedEx exec was flying jets over North Vietnam when he was shot down by a missile; parachuted and got stuck in a tree overnight in N. Vietnam?Which FedEx exec was flying a new jet fighter at the Paris air show, when 1/2 his wing just broke off while doing a low pass over the airfield?

Martha Lanier Moore11/18/2013

Ted Weise?

Gary Pantlik11/18/2013

McKinney?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

Jim McKinney is correct answer for the chief test pilot for Grumman who flew at the Paris airshow.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

and Ted wasn't one of answers.

Bruce Lindow11/18/2013

Gil Mook was the one shot down

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

Bruce is correct. Gil spent the night in N.Vietnam; later he flew in the Thunderbirds, after Alan McArtor flew in that acrobatic group.

Jim Bentley11/18/2013

Was it Jim McKinney?

Gary Phillips11/18/2013

Was it Gil Mook and Jim McKinney?

Nancy Hinds11/19/2013

WOW

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz1. Who was CIO when COSMOS IIa was deployed?2. Who was CIO when COSMOS IIb was deployed?3. Who was CIO when Powership 3 was deployed?4. Who was CIO when FUSION was deployed?

Rebecca Schrimper Jones11/18/2013

Rebecca Schrimper Jones PS3 was Dennis Jones

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

correct

Buddy Johnson11/18/2013

2A was Barksdale's. 2b

Buddy Johnson11/18/2013

2B was Ponder

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013

Buddy is right for 2A & 2B

Buddy Johnson11/19/2013

FUSION - Rob Carter

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013

Buddy is correct!

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013

Answers 1. Who was CIO when COSMOS IIa was deployed? Jim Barksdale 2. Who was CIO when COSMOS IIb was deployed? Ron Ponder(Jim Barksdale was COO) 3. Who was CIO when Powership 3 was deployed? Dennis Jones 4. Who was CIO when Fusion was deployed? Rob Carter

Subject: Photo of Jim McKinney(on right) http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15109&p=190554&hilit=j ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/18/2013

Photo of Jim McKinney(on right) http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15109&p=190554&hilit=jim+mckinney&sid=25c7c23bbbd936247d85bce607f24ef4#p190554

Jack Brown11/19/2013

One thing I remember about Jim is he was instrumental in me getting my first management position at FedEx. Edited ·

Roge Rogers11/19/2013

Wow.. I remember working under Jim McKinney when I started with the company back in '86.. He could tell some stories!! 1 ·

Charlie Derrick11/24/2013

Charlie Derrick Saw this photo on Pawn Stars. Someone was trying to sell the blue flight suits. 1 ·

Subject: Throw-back Monday!

Marsha Terry Rider11/19/2013

Throw-back Monday!

Subject: Laurie A. Tucker was added to FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club by Jimmy Glenn Burk.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013



Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhat type of transportation system does UPS & FedEx Ground utilize that FedEx Express typically does not use?

Marsha Terry Rider11/19/2013

Ring, sling and run: ring, sling it on the porch and run? 1 ·

David Hunt11/19/2013

David Hunt There is sling into the container also .... It is trucking

Gerald Herring11/19/2013

shipping.

Carl Wayne Hardeman11/19/2013

Dog sleds in Alaska

Dan Elliot11/19/2013

Gondola in Venice!

Melissa Leech Ziemer11/19/2013

Melissa Leech Ziemer Railroad cars. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/19/2013

Railroad is the answer! Trailers are put on railway cars, shipped across the country, taken off railroad and reconnected to tractor.

Marsha Terry Rider11/20/2013

I was going to guess RR but thought NAH. Of course that is part of the container world. I should have known.

Melissa Leech Ziemer11/20/2013

I was surprised the first time I saw a lot of UPS trailers on flatbed train cars.

Subject: I think everyone will get a good laugh from this. I just "borrowed" it from a friend:

Jack Brown11/20/2013

I think everyone will get a good laugh from this. I just "borrowed" it from a friend:=======Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown in the economy, Congress has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 50 years of age and above on early, mandatory retirement, thus creating jobs and reducing unemployment.This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early).Persons selected to be RAPED can apply to Congress to be considered for the SHAFT program (Special Help After Forced Termination).Persons who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW program (System Covering Retired-Early Workers).A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as Congress deems appropriate.Persons who have been RAPED could get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependents & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance).Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by Congress.Persons who are not RAPED and are staying on will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Congress has always prided themselves on the amount of SHIT they give our citizens.Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please bring this to the attention of your Congressman, who has been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle.Sincerely,The Committee for Economic Value of Individual Lives (E.V.I.L.)PS - Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off

Linda Shelley Morton11/20/2013

So very funny.

Dan Elliot11/20/2013

Good stuff! :)

Wade Waldrup11/20/2013

Eventually the retired males will metamorphosis into ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) who can be spotted at most local feeding sites. Edited · 2 ·

Nancy Hinds11/21/2013

And I know a retired gentleman who met a lady his age at the Krystal..Everyone called her the Krystal Chick..It was cute. 1 ·

Linda Shelley Morton11/21/2013

And the Krystal story is the truth....he is the best ever. Life is so good. 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizSee if you have answers to any of the following: Real situations, early on at FedEx, when individuals could take risks to meet customer's needs.

1. A Dads repeater was on a mountain on a high tower in California. It stopped working. The mountain was snowed in. All dispatch was down. What did the tech do?

2. A courier had a Christmas delivery to a home on a mountain top just before Christmas Eve that looked like a Christmas present. His truck couldn't make it up the mountain...what did he do?

3. A call center agent got a call from a customer in Memphis who was distraught. He had shipped his aged mother who was in a care home in Florida some BBQ...but it didn't get delivered by FedEx...it was her birthday.....what did the call center agent do?

4. It was late at night and a courier was making rounds picking up letters/packages at drop boxes. He couldn't open a drop box with his key and didn't have time to go get another one before the flight left the city.....what did the courier do?


Jack Brown11/20/2013

#4, he put the drop box into his truck and took it to the station. 1 ·

Charlie Derrick11/20/2013

Charlie Derrick #1 Hired a helicopter. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

Charlie & Jack are correct for #1 & #4

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

Answers

1. A Dads repeater was on a mountain on a high tower in California. It stopped working. The mountain was snowed in. All dispatch was down. What did the tech do? He rented a helicopter and had it fly him to the mountain top. The pilot couldn't set down, so tech told him to just hover as low as he could, he then jumped out, climbed the ladder to the top of the tower, and reset the repeater.

2. A courier had a Christmas delivery to a home on a mountain top just before Christmas Eve that looked like a Christmas present. His van couldn't make it up the mountain...what did he do? He drove his fedex van to his home, got his 4 wheel drive vehicle and delivered the Christmas present.

3. A call center agent got a call from a customer in Memphis who was distraught. He had shipped his aged mother who was in a care home in Florida some BBQ...but it didn't get delivered by FedEx...it was her birthday.....what did the call center agent do? The Customer agent called a local BBQ place and had a catered dinner sent to the shipper's Mom.

4. It was late at night and a courier was making rounds picking up letters/packages at drop boxes. He couldn't open a drop box with his key and didn't have time to go get another one before the flight left the city.....what did the courier do? He backed his van up to the drop box, tilted it over and pushed it into his van and took it to the station.


Nancy Hinds11/21/2013

Yep - hired a chopper - jumped into several feet of snow. Then - ATTABOY....Today - called to the principals office at minimum...EEK 2 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizA FedEx executive was getting phone calls thru the night, but when he answered no one would talk. This happened several times thru the night. He called Telecom to come check his phone system.What did the voice engr find was the problem? Who was the person getting the annoying phone calls?

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

Answer: The voice tech went to the exec's house and checked the PBX that had been installed there. He couldn't find anything wrong with the phone. Sometime during the visit, the phone went off hook with a buzzing sound and checking the phone, it was a call from the intercom system. There was a phone extension in the pool house so he went outside to check that. As he came to the pool house, thru a window he saw a squirrel jumping up and down, banging into the window to get out. When he got tired, he rested, and continued to jump......the phone was right under this window....so the squirrel was making the calls. @ FWS home 1 ·

Subject: SQUAWK CEO Interview/FWS:

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/20/2013

SQUAWK CEO Interview/FWS:

Eminence CEO: FedEx's Smith doing 'the right things'

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizITD Project Names:In ITD many project names were taken astronomical or galactic type names: COSMOS, Saturn, Star, POLARIS and other projects just used acronyms etcWhat two categories of names were not used (or used only once); with ITD exec management restricting their use??

David Hunt11/21/2013

 

Saturn - never, POLARIS - Once


Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

All listed above were ITD projects

Deby Abbott Jolley11/21/2013

VAMPIRE had to change its name toward the end.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

Yes, I don't remember many names in the 'undead' acronym category... 1 ·

Deby Abbott Jolley11/21/2013

It did make the project more fun, though!

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

I remember two things related to project name assignments... Someone in IT named a project after some animal...what came back from Ron Ponder was....FWS doesn't like ANIMAL NAMES.... And there was one mid 1980's project called REDS which was to scan airbills, transmit to satellite locations, and have people key in the airbills that night to speed up billing. It was on schedule supposedly till about a month or two before launch,,,then for some reason it was a year behind schedule....what came from above...Let's not have any more projects named after COLORS.... 1 ·

Subject: Video Tribute for Jim Barksdale Created right after the AOL Acquisition of Netscape https://www.yout ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

Video Tribute for Jim Barksdale Created right after the AOL Acquisition of Netscape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pwg-nxA2kY

Barksdale Tribute

Deby Abbott Jolley11/21/2013

Organizations take on the character of the leaders.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/21/2013

from George Moore(Yahoo Legends Group): That was good. I remember when Jim used to come around and want to shake every-body's hand back when we were developing the dads network, and when he called me personally to congratulate me on the golden falcon award. I got to tour the Donna and Jim Barksdale Gallery in the Jackson, MS museum last year when we went to a wedding down there. Very impressive what he had donated. 1 ·

Peter Dangerfield11/22/2013

Peter Dangerfield That's our Jim, what a great guy! 1 ·

Buddy Johnson11/22/2013

Fantastic video!!! Loved the 'snake' story...

Marsha Terry Rider11/27/2013

r If you can't run with the big dogs, don't get off the porch.

Subject: FedEx ITD Retiree Club Poll: Directory at: http://fedexlegends.info/facebooklist.html Year you were ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/22/2013

FedEx ITD Retiree Club Poll: Directory at: http://fedexlegends.info/facebooklist.html Year you were hired first job/group you hired into who hired you no. years at FedEx

Don Rose11/22/2013

1973, Systems Development, Wes Terry, 31 years 2 ·

Don Rose11/22/2013

Retired 10+ years ago 1 ·

Peter Dangerfield11/22/2013

Peter Dangerfield 1973. Avionics Supervisor, Jerry Young 40 years. 2 ·

Debora Williams Waller11/25/2013

1978, Vehicle Maintenance & Engineering, Toni Woods, 35 years. VBO, leaving May 2014. Worked many years with COS IT giving system requirements and testing COSMOS systems. Edited ·

Subject: I have a question, when is Fed Ex going to have the employee discount for retired people for Verizon ...

Karen Pfeffer11/22/2013

I have a question, when is Fed Ex going to have the employee discount for retired people for Verizon put back on??????

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus11/22/2013

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus Good question!

Karen Pfeffer11/22/2013

does anyone have a phone number to call??? I did but lost mine

Sandra Allen Palmer11/22/2013

I'm getting an answer

Karen Pfeffer11/22/2013

please let me know, I called and fed ex blamed Verizon and Verizon blamed fed ex

Sandra Allen Palmer11/23/2013

FedEx Sourcing rep advised me today that they are currently working with Verizon to add this discount coverage to the contract- no later than May is timeframe.

Debora Williams Waller11/23/2013

I know one of the members of the FedEx Retiree Club is staying in touch with FedEx on this discount issue with the cell phone carriers. I feel certain the Retiree Club will communicate this when/if it happens.

Subject: 1980 Systems Programmer in ACP coverage group Winn Stephenson 29 years

Patricia Ross11/22/2013

1980 Systems Programmer in ACP coverage group Winn Stephenson 29 years

Subject: Who all worked at FedEx & went to Frayser High? I know David Everett, myself, Ray Burk, Randy Burk a ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/23/2013

Who all worked at FedEx & went to Frayser High? I know David Everett, myself, Ray Burk, Randy Burk and many others did.

Marsha Terry Rider11/23/2013

FHS class of 1971. We kept a low profile.

Subject: I consolidated list from ITD club poll & the FedexLegends Yahoo group, if you want something changed ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/24/2013

I consolidated list from ITD club poll & the FedexLegends Yahoo group, if you want something changed or added post here or send message

Jack Brown11/24/2013

Please add: Hired-1984, 15 yrs; hired by Chuck Colter, ZapMail

Subject: A place for FedEx retirees & friends from the Info & Telecommunications Division of FedEx to drop a ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/24/2013

A place for FedEx retirees & friends from the Info & Telecommunications Division of FedEx to drop a note about where they are and what's going on. http://www.fedexlegends.info/ http://fedexlegends.info/facebooklist.html

Subject: Jimmy Glenn Burk updated FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club's topics to FedEx Express.

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/24/2013



Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/25/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz1. What FedEx CIO had a PHd?2. What was FedEx's internal trucking division called?3. Who was the first SVP of the trucking division?4. What was the division called than managed all the stations & couriers?

Don Rose11/25/2013

1. Charlie Brandon?

Denis Charles Mattingly11/25/2013

1. Dr Ron Ponder

Don Rose11/25/2013

Damn Denis, I forgot about Ron.

Denis Charles Mattingly11/25/2013

Denis Charles Mattingly Good morning, Don... you just weren't awake yet.

Liz Ciulla Carrozza11/25/2013

2 Surface Movement Systems? Asking the name of a division really isn't fair, Jimmy. You know they could change at the drop of a hat or every June reorg! 2 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/26/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz1. Frederick W. Smith, What is Mr. Smith's middle name?2. James L. Barksdale, What is Mr. Barksdale's middle name?

Jack Brown11/26/2013

Wallace, Love

Kandi Tippit11/26/2013

Kandi Tippit I know Mr. Smith is Wallace, not sure about Mr. Barksdale..

Jack Brown11/26/2013

Kandi, Jim Barksdale's middle name is "Love".

Kandi Tippit11/26/2013

Thanks Jack, I saw your post, but that one I would have missed....:-)

Buddy Johnson11/26/2013

James Love Barksdale's

Judy Davidson11/27/2013

...LOVE Mr. Barksdale's middle name..very cool!

Subject: Farewell from Chris Apalodimas :

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/27/2013

Farewell from Chris Apalodimas :

FedEx Legends Comments & Stories

Don Rose11/27/2013

You will be missed Chris. Enjoy retirement.\ 1 ·

Chris Apalodimas11/27/2013

Don..thanks. it was a great ride, as they say.

Buddy Johnson11/27/2013

Hats off to all who took the VBO. I was fortunate to work with many of you, all top notch folks. It was a sweet ride for us all. Enjoy the next chapters of your life!!! God Bless. 2 ·

Subject: Farewell from Mark Thomas:

Jimmy Glenn Burk11/27/2013

Farewell from Mark Thomas:

FedEx Legends Comments & Stories

Subject: Sharing my official certificate with those who have gone before me and those in Wave 2. I have been ...

Leigh Pritchett Sawicki11/27/2013

Sharing my official certificate with those who have gone before me and those in Wave 2. I have been blessed beyond measure to have worked for a wonderful company. Cheers and May God Bless!

Sherry Little11/27/2013

Love it!

Don Rose11/27/2013

Awesome!

Subject: Greetings fellow retirees :-)

Chris Apalodimas11/29/2013

Greetings fellow retirees :-)

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz (Leftovers): 1. After Zapmail there were 20-30 Tandem systems. I believe Tandem pa ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/2/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz (Leftovers): 1. After Zapmail there were 20-30 Tandem systems. I believe Tandem paid FedEx a lump sum($millions) to not dump these computers on the open market.What things were these computers used for at FedEx?2. There was a Hub project called D01 (D zero 1) that took all packs/letters with airbills(there were no powership labels at that time) down a tilted conveyor belt, took a picture and sent the picture to a bunch of keyers to type in zip code. This was used to sort packs into bags. Proj was cancelled when main contractor went bankrupt. FedEx inheirited two large Perkin Elmer computers.What were these computers then used for?3. FedEx purchased 600 NCR Tower computers for business service centers. They didn't have correct ports to communicate with COSMOS(SDLC/SNA).What did FedEx do with these computers?

Marsha Terry Rider12/2/2013

#! - Customer Automation - pipeline ??? 1 ·

Jill Bradbury Greer12/2/2013

#1 fax machines 1 ·

Carl Wayne Hardeman12/2/2013

Super system 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

ANSWERS FedEx Trivia Quiz (Leftovers):

1. Tandems - Cust Automation is correct. Connected 100K+ dial up PS2 powerships to system and PS3 - Super is correct. - Broker/Select Customs Clearance systems

2. Perkin Elmer - Used as the System Director for the Sort Controllers;

3. 600 NCR Tower computers - these went into a warehouse for several years then sold to someone who needed a bunch of them 2 ·


Subject: FedEx Trivia Question

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

FedEx Trivia QuestionAround 1992 Dennis Jones replaced Dr. Ron Ponder as CIO of FedEx. Dr. Ponder became CIO of Sprint and later COO of Sprint.One of the first things DHJ decided to do was provide some competition for FedEx IBM mainframes. DHJ took about 15 people on a technology trip to the West coast, but told the VP of Computer Ops to remain behind. The VP assignment was to find a place in the computer center.... for the new mainframe that DHJ was going to order on that trip.From which company did DHJ order an IBM mainframe replacement? ...and what happened to that project?

Ben Moore12/3/2013

Hitachi. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

Ben is right!

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

...and what happened to the Hitachi project? Edited ·

Leigh Pritchett Sawicki12/3/2013

i I'm gonna guess it failed :-) 1 ·

Linda Cook Thorn12/3/2013

Just guessing it Probably couldn't support the volume. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

Answers are correct; the Hitachi cost performance wasn't as they stated; it couldn't in reality handle the volume that Hitachi projected. 1 ·

Marsha Terry Rider12/3/2013

Marsha Terry Rider is that how we ended up with all those Hitachi cart drives???

Ben Moore12/4/2013

Before the deal was done, Jim Covington used to go into the computer room and mark out the outline of the Hitachi mainframe to worry IBM. Nobody could get in there but the IBM service reps but you know they ran right back to the IBM sales team and told them. 1 ·

Subject: Nice note from Ted Sartoian:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/3/2013

Nice note from Ted Sartoian:Thank you for mentioning my father in your archive. I have a lot of info on him and the FedEx story. He passed away a couple of months ago and, in fact, so did Dennis Spina who was a major VP in the east for FedEx. I was there from 1984-1987, 1987-1989 and 1991-1997.... I'll try and find a good photo of my dad "mr GFT" but I do have many many funny and crazy stories of the early FedEx days! In fact, my ex brother in law has been a courier there since 1977! He won two golden falcons and I can't tell you how many BZs!

Kandi Tippit12/3/2013

Wow I remember Ted and Dennis Spina.....

Kandi Tippit12/3/2013

Wow I remember Ted and Dennis Spina.....

Don Rose12/4/2013

Good info. I did not know they had passed away.

Peter Dangerfield12/4/2013

Thanks for the info, I knew them both. Sorry to hear of their passing.

Martha Lanier Moore12/4/2013

Martha Lanier Moore Ted interviewed me in 1982 for a temp secretarial position for four months. GFT had started six months earlier. All the cases were in a two drawer file cabinet. What fun I had working with him! One crazy, funny, smart, sweet man. I never knew what would happen next.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/4/2013

from yahoo legends Bobby Gavin:Ted Sartoian may be the person they had in mind when the expression about selling snow to eskimos was first coined. And he made work fun. He always wore a Federal Express watch and Teddy Bear cufflinks. He took the toilet paper from hotel rooms? We met in LA for a meeting scheduled for the next day so Ted spent the afternoon showing me the local sights. After that we jumped on a Western Air flight to Las Vegas. Ted lost all his money and borrowed what I had left then lost that. He played nickel slots in the Vegas airport prior to our flight back to LA and we roared laughing on the plane when we realized that between us we had literally two cents and no money for the taxi to our hotel. He loved to make people crazy. Once we were on an elevator with a group of passengers in NYC and out of the blue he loudly tells me to be sure to tell President Carter his thoughts when I see him tomorrow. And he was so sincere that people bought it. He loved Federal Express and did everything he could to promote the company. Once when we were in the O'Hare airport he demanded that the United agent page the Federal Express representative to come to our location. When I asked him who he expected to meet us he told me there was no one coming...but thousands of people just heard the name Federal Express over the page and that was what he really wanted. Ted was a joy! 1 ·

Charlotte Benton Hieronymus12/5/2013

Ted was the best! I remember him and his "rubber chicken"!

Don Rose12/5/2013

Damn Char, I forgot about the "rubber chicken". 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/5/2013

at one or two Ron Ponder meetings 'Ponderama' there was a rubber chicken that was tossed to anyone who said something stupid Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/5/2013

Excerpt from Roger Frock's book on the FedEx startup mentioning Ted Sartoian: http://books.google.com/books?id=ASXou2TUwe0C&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=ted+sartoian&source=bl&ots=Bh-hLZUizI&sig=KpZpV5D-TFdH76oTx7gQs8vMmhc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AaagUvKsCMKSkQf0mYC4BQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=ted%20sartoian&f=false Changing How the World Does Business books.google.com

Nice note from Ted Sartoian:

Subject: Ted Sartoian https://www.facebook.com/FedEx/posts/621554354556184

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/4/2013

Ted Sartoian https://www.facebook.com/FedEx/posts/621554354556184book excerpt/Ted Sartoian 'Origin & Evolution of Business'http://books.google.com/books?id=RovLGDtrjcEC&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=ted+sartoian+fedex&source=bl&ots=PakmTpjGpQ&sig=w1ZFLja7s7aHYB8hyX4GirdQEv8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9CKfUquND4fK2wXV6YFo&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=ted%20sartoian%20fedex&f=falsenice comment from Ted(the son) facebook page Sandra Nencetti The time i spent working with your dad at FedEx made an impression on me that has lasted over 25 years. His indomitable spirit, the mischievous twinkle he always seemed to have in his eye, his knowledge and consummate professionalism, his kindness and consideration, and how much damn fun he was. I thought of him often over the years. So sorry to learn of his passing, and sending much love.

Subject: FWS 2012 video on economy; a little long but good http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fred+smith&qs= ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/4/2013

FWS 2012 video on economy; a little long but good http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fred+smith&qs=ds&form=QBVR&qft=%2Bfilterui%3Avideoage-lt525600#view=detail&mid=64C77CE53C85E35F692764C77CE53C85E35F6927

Subject: Jimmy Sowell Story

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/6/2013

Jimmy Sowell StoryProbably everyone who knows Jimmy Sowell has a jimmy story.JimmyS was VP of Computer Ops. One of the computer suppliers wanted to present to FedEx it's new products. FedEx had difficulty with it's hardware availability for over a year and none us wanted to hear about their new stuff. But word came down..they were also a FedEx customer and we needed to grant them an audience.We sat in a room for 2 hours as they went over their new and super duper new disk drives, that would fix all the past problems in an instant. We just needed to start purchasing new disk drives from them.JimmyS had listened for 2 hours and then spoke...'so what you are saying is...after over a year of FedEx telling you that you have major problems with your disk drives(which turned out to be firmware issues), and you admit this,,, that the answer is for us to get rid of all your disk drives and buy your new disc drives...which have no track record........ to fix the problem????'Computer vendor: 'Yes!'JimmyS(in a Bugs Bunny tone) said: 'Well....that... is... just plain silly........' with emphasis on the silly....the meeting was then over.

Don Rose12/6/2013

Gotta love Jimmy! 1 ·

Rebecca Felts12/6/2013

Rebecca Felts I like that, shoot straight,it's missing now. 1 ·

Leigh Pritchett Sawicki12/7/2013

I missed the good JimmyS era :-( but came behind his legacy and heard many great stories. He's a classic for sure and very well respected! A great man! Edited · 1 ·

Brenda J. Brunner12/9/2013

Yes, gotta love Jimmy!!

Subject: One and only Jimmy Sowell

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/6/2013

One and only Jimmy Sowell

Peter Dangerfield12/6/2013

There is Chuck Sertich in the background, another great guy! 2 ·

Buddy Johnson12/8/2013

Totally agree with Pete's comments!!!!!

Diane Conner White12/10/2013

I will always love Jimmy. He was very good to me. So glad that I still get to see him a couple of times a year.

Subject: Thxs Jimmy. Fedex was a great place to work all those year.

James Warnick12/7/2013

Thxs Jimmy. Fedex was a great place to work all those year.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz: FedEx began using Burroughs mainframe computers. What is Burroughs called now?

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/9/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz: FedEx began using Burroughs mainframe computers. What is Burroughs called now?

Wade Waldrup12/9/2013

Unisys?

Jere Bledsoe12/9/2013

Jere Bledsoe People may wonder why FedEx went with Burroughs at first. As I recall, IBM was too expensive. Burroughs was wanting to increase their presence in MEM and practically gave us a small mainframe. From a financial and developers point of view, it was a wise and necessary choice.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/9/2013

Unisys is correct which was formed around 1986 when Burroughs purchased Sperry. in the mid 70's First Tennessee Bank, Data Communications Corp & FedEx had some of the largest Burroughs Mainframes available. Edited ·

Gary Phillips12/10/2013

I was thinking donkey. Sperry makes some nice boat shoes.

Subject: FedEx Retiree Club Site (www.ferc1.org) UPCOMING MEMPHIS FERC LUNCHEON December 12, 2013 - Holiday C ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/9/2013

FedEx Retiree Club Site (www.ferc1.org) UPCOMING MEMPHIS FERC LUNCHEON December 12, 2013 - Holiday Celebration and Luncheon. Come enjoy the festivity and fun. Make your reservation by noon Monday, December 9th, 2013

Peter Dangerfield12/9/2013

Sorry I will miss it Jimmy, my son is graduating from UT in Knoxville Friday.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

i also will be out of town for a wedding

Subject: I went to Central Church Collierville Sunday night to see my DIL's great Christmas program, then to ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/9/2013

I went to Central Church Collierville Sunday night to see my DIL's great Christmas program, then to dinner at Bonefish. Happened to meet Rita & Kurt Kunzel who both worked at FedEx. They are now Realtors for Crye Leike if you need a realtor.

Connie Morgan12/10/2013

Kurt was my manager in ZapMail. Nice to know.

Subject: Chuck Sertich

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/9/2013

Chuck SertichOne of my early meetings with Chuck Sertich, his staff wanted to purchase an expensive monitoring/performance tool to better optimize some of the 500 linehaul applications. Mike Struminger's group had developed a publish subscribe system that took data feeds from the Mainframes and then distributed data to all the downstream apps for hub,air ops, trucking, weather, messaging etc) and they were able to put many of the apps on common unix Sun platforms.Chuck brought one of his tech guys in, as they pitched a proposal to me and Johnny Wong. I was sold about 5 minutes into the pitch and just told them to go do it........but the tech guy was hyped and continued to pitch and sell the system to us.......... Chuck shook his head, and stopped his guy and calmly said something like '.....we don't need to keep selling after we've sold Jimmy on something...stop and enjoy the moment...and let's get out of here....'......Chuck was always quiet but focused and he was in a teaching moment to his staff.He was a great Director, teacher, mentor and friend to all who knew him at FedEx.

Margaret Canon Bruch12/9/2013

Margaret Canon Bruch Dearly missed

Peter Dangerfield12/9/2013

I'm proud to say Linda Rooks and I hired Chuck from Holiday Inns for AOIS. As they say cream rises to the surface, it didn't take long for chuck to move up the management ranks. Edited ·

Buddy Johnson12/9/2013

There are a lot of great 'Chuck' stories - could easily fill several books. Suffice to say, he was one of the 'good guys'. He helped me tremendously. RIP, Chuck!! 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

Julie Chow: "Chuck Sertich was my director at FedEx many years ago. He was the last of a dying breed at FedEx -- without a doubt, he was one of the "Good Guys." As Jimmy states below, Chuck was a great Director, and a great friend to all... Even though I no longer worked at FedEx when Chuck died, my heart hurt for his wife and boys because I knew what kind of man he was. I am honored to have known him, and privileged to have worked for him." Edited · 3 ·

Connie Morgan12/10/2013

I met Chuck when he first started at FedEx. He was a such a nice man. Purple dedication for sure.

David Warren12/10/2013

I worked with Chuck at Holiday Inn and he has and always was a nice guy, we shared many private moments. True gentleman...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

Sadly, Chuck's wife passed away suddenly in April.

Subject: Here's a picture of Chuck Morgan, Jay Gibbs, and Miley Ainsworth from 1997... I took this picture in ...

Charles Morgan12/10/2013

Here's a picture of Chuck Morgan, Jay Gibbs, and Miley Ainsworth from 1997... I took this picture in Boston, just now found it again after 16 years!

Charles Morgan12/10/2013

Miley and I worked in Zapmail, for Antony Kong, back at the offices on Ridgeway in 1985, on the Tandem systems... he was my director at the time of this picture in 1997. Jay was later a director in the .Com area, over the first Internet-based FedEx shipping solutions that FedEx offered. It was called FedEx InternetShip in those days... Edited ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz Who worked at MLGW before coming to FedEx in voice systems, hobby was climbing mou ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz Who worked at MLGW before coming to FedEx in voice systems, hobby was climbing mountains, and later became the VP of Networking/Security?

Angela Maynard12/10/2013

Randy Roy

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

Angie is correct! Randy, now Professor William Randy Roy from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Charles Morgan12/10/2013

Dr. Roy, I presume! Nice going, Randy! Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/10/2013

I don't think Randy is a Dr, but he has the experience to teach as one at the university.

Charles Morgan12/10/2013

well, in any case, I am glad that he's found a new calling - that's great to hear the he's become a professor!

Gary Phillips12/10/2013

Maybe he should go back and straighten out MLG&W. 1 ·

Shirley Lovelace Williams12/10/2013

I worked for Randy when he was a Director.

Subject: does anyone have the number to call about the fed ex discount for Verizon?

Karen Pfeffer12/10/2013

does anyone have the number to call about the fed ex discount for Verizon?

Debora Williams Waller12/10/2013

I made an inquiry, there is no phone number and retirees do not get discounts at this time. Edited ·

Karen Pfeffer12/11/2013

there is a number, I had it and now can't find it....

Sandra Allen Palmer12/11/2013

r Start with the # listed on your bill/account

Karen Pfeffer12/11/2013

no, I meant for fed ex, Verizon says it is fed ex fault for not offering the discount..

Debora Williams Waller12/12/2013

FedEx Retiree Club is working with FedEx to include retirees in discount program but this hasn't happened yet.

Karen Pfeffer12/12/2013

Okay... thanks

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz Who made the majority of label printers for Powership?

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz Who made the majority of label printers for Powership?

Charles Morgan12/11/2013

Eltron? 2 ·

Gary Phillips12/11/2013

That would be my guess as well .

Bruce Lindow12/11/2013

I think it was TEC

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

Bruce is correct! TEC of Japan

Charles Morgan12/11/2013

Gary Phillips. There were a lot of the Eltrons too, but now that I think about it, TEC probably had the larger number.. Great answer Bruce!

David Hunt12/11/2013

TEC was the first printer used on Purple Lights since it was the standard in 97 and 98.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz Zapmail reached it's highest volume somewhere around 55,000 documents per day. Abo ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz Zapmail reached it's highest volume somewhere around 55,000 documents per day. About 10 percent of all daily Zapmail documents stayed in this one city?Name this city ______________

Gary Phillips12/11/2013

Wild guess because of the size....Los Angeles

Dan Elliot12/11/2013

New york city...

Melissa Leech Ziemer12/11/2013

Washington DC 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

Melissa is correct!

Debora Williams Waller12/12/2013

Dallas? Is that where Val-Pak was?

Subject: David White: Anybody recognize these folks from 1987 photo? Not sure of the exact timeframe, but I'm ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

David White: Anybody recognize these folks from 1987 photo? Not sure of the exact timeframe, but I'm thinking it may have been around Christmas time as there is a ribbon draped across the PBX cabinet (see Carla's head).The "Telecom Experiment" was to test whether or not we could do a "self-Install" of a Nortel PBX without involving a vendor. We did it collectively, programming, and cross-connecting with the guidance provided by voice engineering. Several of us had attended Nortel PBX Installation training classes in California to prepare to test the concept.To the best of my memory from 1987 the FedEx employees in picture were:Back Row L to R: Greg Nemec, Sharon Roberts, Carol Williams (now deceased), and Carla S. Moore.Front Row L to R: Marsha Wallace, Jonnie Carrion, Marie McVay, J. David White, & Jon Peacock.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/11/2013

Marie McVay: All my gosh, we were babies! This was the era of long curly hair for ladies. So miss our sweet Carol Ann...... Thanks David for the walk down memory lane! MM 1 ·

Subject: Ancel Hankins story: http://fedexlegends.info/stories.html#dcc

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/12/2013

Ancel Hankins story: http://fedexlegends.info/stories.html#dcc

Subject: Some DCC history. Many of FedEx employess came from DCC.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/12/2013

Some DCC history. Many of FedEx employess came from DCC.This photo is at DCC around 1976-77.DCC was the first company to automate advertising & billing to computers.Before DCC, TV stations sold and placed advertising slots using index cards. As they sold advertisements they would build a daily list of commercials using the index cards and then take them and cut a tape of all the commercials.A Burroughs programmer named Jim Ziegler(ex of Cynthia Spangler) wrote a program which would allow a TV or Radio station to input the advertisements into a local computer, and communicate to a central mainframe. The mainframe program would build the advertising spots, send that info to a tape machine to build the master tape, automate all the billing, and even place national spots across multiple TV stations.He got with Norfleet Turner in Memphis and DCC was formed. WMCTV was the first station to automate. In several years there were over 500 TV and Radio stations around the country using the Memphis based DCC computers and a corresponding network and telecom system was designed by Ancel Hankins. DCC ended up with 2 of the largest Burroughs 6700 systems, a large Honeywell Multics System, hundreds of Burroughs and Data General minicomputers spread across the country.When Ancel was hired by FedEX, it's telecom system was under the computer floor. Ancel brought the circuits out and built a monitoring and backup system for the company, and redesigned the multi-drop network to optimize it.

Don Rose12/12/2013

And several FedEx employees went to DCC when we converted to IBM.

Charles Morgan12/13/2013

Charles Morgan I was a DCC employee from 1980 to 1981... Systems-Programmer Analyst in the Mini-Computer Division.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/13/2013

i worked at DCC from 1976 till Jan 1980

Subject: FedEx Tivia: Who at FedEx was called Captain Video? He handled setting up video conferencing systems ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/13/2013

FedEx Tivia: Who at FedEx was called Captain Video? He handled setting up video conferencing systems in the 80's, then worked at A cruise line, and then Walmart as VP Telecom.

Gary Pantlik12/13/2013

David Flanagan? (sp)

Gary Phillips12/13/2013

Flanigan Edited ·

Gary Phillips12/13/2013

Sorry GP, beat be to It.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/13/2013

correct!

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/13/2013

David is currently a director at General Motors Edited ·

Marie McVay12/14/2013

Marie McVay David F. and his wife got married at the finish line of a Triathlon.

Subject: Dec 14/Tom Glasgow wrote:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/15/2013

Dec 14/Tom Glasgow wrote:I may remember some of these events as I was the Project Director for the Superhub. What an amazing experience.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/16/2013

From www.fedexlegends.info (Superhub pages) Management Tidbits In one of the (Mike Basch Staff)meetings I got a management tidbit I would always remember. As action items were checked off or assigned, they would ask who was responsible for a particular item. When no one accepted it, Mike would ask a young Director named Tom Glasgow if he would take the item. Tom always said, "Sure". He never wrote anything down, and at the end of the meeting he might have 5-10 items to do. "One day I asked him, how do you do all this, and don't write it down?" He said, "Well, first, Mike always has someone taking meeting minutes, so I don't have to write it down. I get a copy of those minutes and look for action items with my name. And having the action item doesn't mean I need to fix the issue, I am responsible for finding the right person or group to fix it, whether in my group or not. I then tell them that it's their issue and they need to find the solution and report back to Mike or him". (Tom would also have the minutes reflect who he assigned the item to) So, an important lesson. Taking an action item, means taking the responsibility of finding the correct person to do it, and following thru that it is addressed.

Subject: Jimmy, I remember first meeting you and Jim Barksdale around 1980-81 while working as an application ...

Wade Waldrup12/16/2013

Jimmy, I remember first meeting you and Jim Barksdale around 1980-81 while working as an application engineer with Market Data Systems, under Buford Smith. Formerly of Cook Industries, I believe. We developed the prototype for an intelligent talking drop box for Federal Express. One of those projects that slipped away!

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/16/2013

I remember the project, one of many we were working on. We did two prototypes. One with MDS and one with Diversified Technology out of Ridgeland Ms. If I remember correctly some of you had to work all night, right before the demo, to get it finished, but the demo turned out fine. Barksdale deferred the project due to 1) we had over 30 R&D projects in motion, so too many to do right, and 2) focus groups showed that customers were just dropping off packages on their way home...they really didn't want anything to slow them down like an ATM inputs. Did you know Reece Dike or Jim Glass who might have worked there?

Wade Waldrup12/18/2013

Wade Waldrup I was indeed one of the ones who worked all night to finish the demo. I remember Reece very well. Edited ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/16/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWhat are FedEx aircraft named after?How are these names chosen?What was the first FedEx Falcon named?Where is that jet today?

Marsha Terry Rider12/16/2013

(1) employee's children (just 1st?) (2) can't remember - by some type of drawing submitted by employees? (3) don't know (4) Smithsonian Air & Space Museum 1 ·

Ben Moore12/16/2013

3) Wendy - FWS' daughter 2 ·

Jane Meredith Robbins12/16/2013

My daughter had a plane named after her! It was great! 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/16/2013

Answers above are correct; names drawn by lottery; and my second son Jonathan was born 3 months after I started w/FedEx and the company sent him a silver spoon.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/16/2013

http://blog.van.fedex.com/blog/meet-hannah?page=1 Meet Hannah, Namesake of the First FedEx Express 767F | FedEx Blog blog.van.fedex.com

FedEx Trivia Quiz

David Hunt12/16/2013

We got a spoon for Sheryl and flowers for Sheila in 81. In 84 with Brian, Sheila got flowers that is it.

Sherry Little12/16/2013

1. Children of employees 2. Drawn from submissions 3. Wendi, FWS daughter 4. Museum in Washington?

Subject: If you are going to purchase toys and games online, I would like you to visit my new site,

Jack Brown12/16/2013

If you are going to purchase toys and games online, I would like you to visit my new site,

Debora Williams Waller12/17/2013

Jack, sent you a friend request. Remember Marsha Taylor and I working in ZapMail doing activations. I think I was Debora Williams back then. :-)

Jack Brown12/17/2013

Debora ,Great to hear from you.

Subject: FedEx trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/17/2013

FedEx trivia Quiz:Who was this person, and what did he do?Hint: TCB

Ray Lipham12/17/2013

Ray Lipham It is a very grainy photo but is it Milo High? He was a FedEx corporate jet pilot and earlier was a pilot for Elvis. 1 ·

Ray Lipham12/17/2013

He was often the pilot on the FedEx corporate jet runs from COS to MEM which I flew on frequently prior to 2000. Edited ·

Jack Brown12/17/2013

Yes, I believe it is Milo High. I was a passenger of his on the corporate jet several times. A great pilot.

Buddy Johnson12/17/2013

I always enjoyed his stories on the MEM-COS runs.

Lucille Crowder Morris12/17/2013

It sure looks like Milo and he definitely had the TCB that he wore around his neck. From 1977 to 1980, he was our neighbor in Bartlett. He started working for FedEx after Elvis died. His wife, Paola, also worked for FedEx. They were both a lot of fun.

Don Rose12/17/2013

I miss seeing Milo. Great pilot and great fun to be around. I could not begin to count the number of times I flew with him MEM-COS and back.

Marsha Terry Rider12/17/2013

I remember running across his name in the PRISM test system and thinking "oh, what a clever test employee name for a pilot"...then I found out it was a real name.

Subject: Milo Burns High

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/18/2013

Milo Burns High

Jack Brown12/18/2013

Thanks for sharing this.

Don Rose12/18/2013

This makes me sad Jimmy. I did not know Milo had passed. It also makes me sad that I did not know he was from Pontotoc MS. My Mom was born and grew up there and I am sure we could have had some great conversations about Pontotoc. Another great one gone.

Charlie Derrick12/19/2013

T.C.B., Milo! You were a gentleman.

Carl Wayne Hardeman12/19/2013

We from Pontotoc too as is Jimmy Gafford and Dick Davis.

Don Rose12/19/2013

Did any of you know any Harmons?

Carl Wayne Hardeman12/19/2013

We are Grahams and Hayse. I know where Harmontown is. We from Hurricane-Thaxton area.

Don Rose12/19/2013

My Mother was a Harmon and had 3 sisters and 3 brothers. My uncle, Carl Harmon, owned Harmon's concrete products in Pontotoc.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/19/2013

FedEx Trivia Quiz:Who is this person, what did he do for FedEx? (photo is grainy, but only one I have of him)

Gary Phillips12/19/2013

Kurt Wulff 1 ·

Gary Phillips12/19/2013

Started in Communication Software in mid 80s.

Mike Acord12/19/2013

Best boss I ever had, anywhere/anytime, and one of the finest human beings I have ever had the privilege of knowing...he is greatly missed...

Dan Goss12/19/2013

Kurt Wulff was hired by Elaine Turner into the Communications Software group in Computer Operations in July 1983. When we expanded the Comm Software group into three sections, promoted Kurt to manage the Distributed Communications section. Thus I had Elaine Turner's group for the mainframe, Kurt Wulff for Distributed Systems, and Bill Strange for the Tandem systems group.

Subject: Rob Carter Video on some of the history of FedEx technologies:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/21/2013

Rob Carter Video on some of the history of FedEx technologies:

Subject: Online FedEx Company Store: http://www.bdasites.com/FedExCollection/Main/Splash

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/21/2013

Online FedEx Company Store: http://www.bdasites.com/FedExCollection/Main/Splash

Subject: One of my favorite JLBarksdale comments:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/21/2013

One of my favorite JLBarksdale comments:I was at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando with 6000 of my friends. On each day a different speaker did question and answers with a host. JLB was at Netscape then.First day was Bill Gates. When asked about the competition from Netscape which had over 60% of the browser market at the time, Bill paused and said,'Microsoft believes that Browsers should be free....'The next day, Mr Barksdale spoke. He was immediately asked about Bill Gates pushy comments the day before. He then said," Yes, I heard what the youngin said...........and you know I've thought about this alot... Netscape believes that Operating Systems should be free.....'It brought the house down, too funny to everyone, plus he was such a more polished speaker that Bill Gates was.Michael Dell spoke the next day, but Mr. Barksdale had made his point to 6000 people, and later to Congress about Microsoft tactics.

Penny Hitchcock Hopper12/21/2013

Penny Hitchcock Hopper Enjoy most any anecdote about JLB and wish him well. 1 ·

Rajeev Sk12/21/2013

Rajeev Sk X'Mas wishes

Dan Elliot12/22/2013

And the free browser still reigns...

Subject: Merry Christmas to all my friends.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/22/2013

Merry Christmas to all my friends.Things are going to start getting hectic this week, so I thought I would go ahead and Wish you all a very Merry Christmas. If you celebrate the holidays another way, I pray for you to have a wonderful time and hope you can spend quality time with your families.We are having 45-50 of our immediate Burk family at our house Monday night, Tuesday will be at Stephanie's sisters' home Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day will get to spend some time with Josh & Cathy & the grandkids and let them show us their Christmas gifts.Thursday, maybe recovery or go see the things we haven't yet, that we love: Enchanted Forest, Zoo Lights, and Starry Nights.Merry Christmas & A Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year to you All!

Connie Morgan12/22/2013

Merry Christmas to you and yours Jimmy Glenn Burk!

Don Rose12/22/2013

And a very Merry Christmas to all the Burk family!

Deby Abbott Jolley12/22/2013

Fa La La La La - La La La La 1 ·

Marsha Terry Rider12/23/2013

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Gary Phillips12/23/2013

Merry Christmas to you and the family Jimmy.

Melissa Leech Ziemer12/23/2013

Merry Christmas and thank you for hosting this site. As a non-IT employee I've had some whoo-hoo moments getting a couple of answers right. I have enjoyed the insider background on so many things that have impacted me in the field--Ground Operations. 1 ·

Subject: Is that you, Nanna???? (lovin' that new FedEx commercial) Hope they ship with us!

Marsha Terry Rider12/23/2013

Is that you, Nanna???? (lovin' that new FedEx commercial) Hope they ship with us!

Chicken sweater, hen sweater, chickens, hens, Christmas, crochet, pets, pet clothing

Subject: David Nieto > FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club

David Nieto12/25/2013



Subject: Got a note this morning from Brent Ross, who is taking VBO and leaving 5/21/14; Congrats to Brent. K ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/26/2013

Got a note this morning from Brent Ross, who is taking VBO and leaving 5/21/14; Congrats to Brent. Known him since the early 1980's.

Rajeev Sk12/26/2013

X'mas wishes

Don Rose12/26/2013

I've known Brent many years myself. Congrats on the VBO Brent.

Peter Dangerfield12/26/2013

Congrats Brent, all the best for retirement.

Nancy Hinds12/26/2013

He is a good guy - he was the ole' Wang fixer back then 2 ·

Buddy Johnson12/27/2013

Congrats, Brent. Great ride for you!! Enjoy your retirement.

Brent Ross12/27/2013

Thanks guys... It's definitely going to be strange at first after being with FedEx my entire life (except for 3 years at Wang Labs). My VBO is on May 31st and my retirement starts June 1st.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/27/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizWho was the first CEO of a Tech company to ask that his salary be set to $1 per year?

Angela Maynard12/27/2013

Barksdale? 2 ·

Charles Morgan12/27/2013

Fred Smith?

Johnnie Edwards12/27/2013

Mr Barksdale, of course........... 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/27/2013

Angie & Johnnie are correct! Mr. Jim Barksdale: http://www.complex.com/tech/2013/05/15-tech-ceos-who-have-earned-1-salaries/jim-barksdale Jim Barksdale (Netscape) — 15 Tech CEOs With $1 Salaries | Complex complex.com

FedEx Trivia Quiz

Sammie Helton Butts12/27/2013

Jimmy, don't be fooled that Angie got this right because she knew the answer. She just likes any excuse to say "Barksdale". PS Love you, Ang. :-) Edited ·

Angela Maynard12/27/2013

The truth is the truth! 2 ·

Terrie Hoerning12/27/2013

Of course it was Mr Barksdale. He was such a positive force at FedEx. 1 ·

Sherry Little12/28/2013

Dennis jones

Subject: Cross Posted from Ron Ponder: Rob Carter videos:

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/27/2013

Cross Posted from Ron Ponder: Rob Carter videos:

Subject: FWS has always been research minded, looking at things that aren't available now.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/27/2013

FWS has always been research minded, looking at things that aren't available now.One such thing is an economical way to transport goods between continents. You can go by air or by cargo ship & there is a wide price difference between the two, and a new market waiting for someone to harness a new vehicle. In an interview with Tom Bullion, he was assigned to look at very fast ships, slow moving airplanes that could lift ship like cargo, and dirigibles. A fast moving ship was discussed with the Navy's leading Admiral; Dick Rutan looked at a design for the heavy lifting airplane. The dirigible option was actually presented to FWS, but finance didn't like the numbers and investment required.Aeros is a new breed of airship that might do what FWS intended.http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/feb/19/a-fedex-dirigible-a-london-company-hopes-so/?partner=RSS

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/29/2013

FedEx Trivia QuizThese 4 FedEx executives all did the same type job, at the same time.1. What were their jobs? 2. Who are they? 3. What was it that FWS wanted to do, they did not want to do...and were eventually organized out of their jobs?

Dickie Dunn12/30/2013

Regional VPs in Express, THe one standing was Fred Manske - Eastern and the others were from left, Southern, Central and Western

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/30/2013

Dickie is correct: SVP's of the Regions Larry McMahan: Southern Region Fred Manske: Central Tucker Taylor: Eastern Wes Terry: Western

Don Rose12/30/2013

I knew they were regional VPs, but I have no idea what Fred wanted to do that they did not want to do. ?????

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/30/2013

History: This photo was in 1979. An issue that year was whether Federal Express was going to start centralizing operational control, or continue to let svp's run their own regions somewhat independently. Stations included couriers & personnel to answer customers' calls which was getting overloaded as growth continued rapidly. A couple regional call centers had been tested with a Burroughs mainframe application which allowed customer calls to be routed to a call center located anywhere, the call agent could then book a dispatch back to the station and a courier sent to pick up the package. When FedEx purchased Cook's IBM Jim Tollefson & Kathy Crockett coordinated to get the application on that mainframe and the system was named COSMOS. The regional svp's did not want to lose control and fought FWS on this direction(per Roger Frock's Book 'Changing How the World Does Business').

Nancy Hinds12/31/2013

That Dickie Dunn knows his stuff - yep.

Subject: One of FedEx's first patents (Bill Cummings, Mike Taube, Tom Bullion, Jack Poole, Robert Estes) for ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/31/2013

One of FedEx's first patents (Bill Cummings, Mike Taube, Tom Bullion, Jack Poole, Robert Estes) for organizing Containers for air/truck transport

Subject: Tom Bullion article: http://www.pageturnpro.com/Publications/201301/2176/47490/zoom-swf/10.swf

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/31/2013

Tom Bullion article: http://www.pageturnpro.com/Publications/201301/2176/47490/zoom-swf/10.swf

Don Rose12/31/2013

Nice article. I miss seeing Tom.

Subject: Who is this? 2011 photo at ttivanguard conference

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/31/2013

Who is this? 2011 photo at ttivanguard conference

Gary Phillips12/31/2013

Logue?

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/31/2013

not bill Logue.

Gary Phillips12/31/2013

From Freight? Logue has more and darker hair.

Deby Abbott Jolley12/31/2013

Frank Abagnale?

Gary Phillips12/31/2013

Wasn't Abagnale a criminal and impersonator?

Deby Abbott Jolley1/1/2014

Yes. It was actually InfoSec that brought Abagnale in.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/1/2014

This is the Brett Bonner, now at Kroger working for Chris Hjelm who also worked at FedEx. Working for Brett some is Dick Braley who retired from FedEx. 1 ·

Gary Phillips1/1/2014

I should have known that but I thought it was somebody important :-) . I see it now....his mouth is moving. Kidding, Brett's a good guy.

Gary Phillips1/1/2014

I knew Dick was working with Brett now.

Subject: Happy New Year retiree's. Avoid the lampshades and swinging from the chandelier tonight! Continued b ...

David Warren12/31/2013

Happy New Year retiree's. Avoid the lampshades and swinging from the chandelier tonight! Continued blessings in 2014............

Subject: Wishing a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy and interesting New Year to you and your families.

Jimmy Glenn Burk12/31/2013

Wishing a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy and interesting New Year to you and your families.To those that are retired: May you continue to be amused why you took so long to retire. Continue to keep your health, your insurance, and to help others. There is joy in helping others.To those not retired: May you continue happily in your careers, and survive new things. Don't get discouraged by all the changes; historically things change again, & come back around again, and you too will happily be among the retirees someday

Nancy Hinds1/1/2014

Very well said Jimmy - and yes to our buddies who are stressed - hang on - things will change again 3 ·

Terrie Hoerning1/1/2014

Jimmy, this statement rings with truth. Retirement is wonderful and I hope all our friends can enjoy their time whenever it comes their way. 1 ·

Brenda J. Brunner1/1/2014

Well said Jimmy...Happy New Year to all!! 1 ·

Subject: I will be in Punta Cana for next 7 days, so probably won't post much. Post any of your memories or j ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/1/2014

I will be in Punta Cana for next 7 days, so probably won't post much. Post any of your memories or just rest and recover from all the holidays, take care.........Jimmy

Gary Phillips1/1/2014

Tough life.

Linda Shelley Morton1/1/2014

Linda Shelley Morton Have fun.

Marsha Terry Rider1/6/2014

It would be a shame if his return flight got cancelled.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/7/2014

there are quite a few here who are getting to the airport to find their flight is cancelled. they have to find a hotel somewhere that will take them in at their cost. most are from northern states and canada....but the weather is very nice here....i could stay.... 3 ·

Chris Apalodimas1/7/2014

Have a safe trip.

Subject: Here's a great picture of Gil Hennon, who took the VBO at the end of November 2013. Gil stopped by t ...

Charles Morgan1/4/2014

Here's a great picture of Gil Hennon, who took the VBO at the end of November 2013. Gil stopped by today to say hi to all of us at the office!

Jill Bradbury Greer1/4/2014

Please tell Gil I said hello!

Sammie Helton Butts1/4/2014

Sammie Helton Butts I miss my calendar, Gil!! Happy retirement to you! :-) 2 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/4/2014

Congrats to Gil!

Subject: Is anyone else having trouble with prescriptions? Evidently there is some kind of mix-up with Cigna ...

Deby Abbott Jolley1/6/2014

Is anyone else having trouble with prescriptions? Evidently there is some kind of mix-up with Cigna and/or ExpressScripts and/or FedEx - so we're not covered for prescriptions now...

Sandy Butler Stone1/6/2014

I went through that same issue. As a retiree you don't get the Express Scripts now but instead Cigna has a new ID# that your pharmacy needs to file prescripts thru.

Subject: from Steve Swanberg: Alan Mcartor article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/us-airbus-usa-i ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/7/2014

from Steve Swanberg: Alan Mcartor article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/us-airbus-usa-idUSBREA060U020140107?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Marsha Terry Rider1/7/2014

should we tell the author of the article that it would be "Tee" Alan? :-)

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/9/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/9/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/9/14:Answer any of the following:a. What was the company that FWS operated before Federal Express?b. What was FedEx Custom Critical called when FedEx bought it?c. What was FedEx Ground called when FedEx bought it.d. What was one of the first services offered by FedEx Logistics in Memphis?e. What was FedEx Office named when FedEx bought it?f. In the late 70's and early 80's name FedEx's competitors... before UPS entered the market?

David Warren1/9/2014

a. A restaurant

Don Rose1/9/2014

a. Little Rock Airmotive

Don Rose1/9/2014

d. Parts Bank

Don Rose1/9/2014

e. Kinkos

David Warren1/9/2014

c. RPS

Carl Wayne Hardeman1/9/2014

Roberts Express

Carl Wayne Hardeman1/9/2014

DHL and BN

Subject: Jim Barksdale Videos:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/9/2014

Jim Barksdale Videos:@HobNob http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4-0t-LIiy0@UofM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i6ts9MdpEA

Jim Barksdale

Subject: Retiree Health Insurance question:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/9/2014

Retiree Health Insurance question:Are we supposed to get an Health card for our Health spending account? went to a clinic today and they asked me this question, or whether the cigna pays the clinic directly from that account?

Deby Abbott Jolley1/9/2014

I'm expecting that we will get a card - but haven't received one, yet...

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/10/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/10/14:Which FedEx executive once said,"Let's spend another $1M on advertising and get rid of all the sales people."

Deby Abbott Jolley1/10/2014

Was it Fred?

Gary Phillips1/10/2014

Barksdale. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

Answer: Vince Fagan 'One important person was Vince Fagan, whom Smith hired in 1974. Fagan was in charge of marketing and advertising, and was one of the few senior executives willing to challenge Smith and fight for his own ideas. Fagan wanted to target ads at secretaries and executives, not just the people in companies who ran mailrooms and shipping departments. He also wanted to stop using the old-fashioned method of having salesmen call on companies to ask for their business. Instead, Fagan announced, FedEx should advertise, especially on television. That decision led to the famous FedEx TV ads. Some of the humorous ads showed clerks and secretaries who were afraid they would lose their jobs if a package did not arrive on time. The most well-known FedEx ads featured actor John Moschitta playing a fast-talking executive working in a fast-paced office. The company's slogan became, "Federal Express. When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." ' 2 ·

Don Rose1/10/2014

I thought when you first posted the question that it sounded like something Vince would say. 2 ·

Subject: 1998 FWS Interview:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

1998 FWS Interview:

Subject: New Year Drugs:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

New Year Drugs:This morning I went to re-order some drugs on mycigna.com home delivery, and behold, the Teledrug tab does not show up. At the bottom of the pages are some links to re-order, but none of those links work. After 3 calls, I finally got a human, and they said some customers aren't seeing tabs. They gave me a ticket number and said it might take 7-10 days to get back to me. I asked can you order directly thru Teledrugs, and you can, and they gave me that number.Our new plans are not going to be fun working with.

Gary Phillips1/10/2014

You really need to stop using drugs. :-) 1 ·

Subject: from www.fedexlegends.info Hi, It is good to see familiar faces on the web page. It was an honor to ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

from www.fedexlegends.info Hi, It is good to see familiar faces on the web page. It was an honor to be a part of FedEx. Best wishes to all. Gary Ragsdale

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/10/2014

FYI, Gary was the Manager of Voice Systems(PBX, ACD & call center stuff) when I started at FedEx; Ancel Hankins was Mgr over Data, and Jim Moore, Mgr over Radio Systems. Eventually Gary worked in Zapmail, then onto FITC(a subsidiary of FedEx selling networks) where he later became Pres. of that entity. He left FedEx to get his PHD in engineering. 2 ·

Marsha Terry Rider1/12/2014

Hello, Rags!

Subject: Some good biographical info on Fred Smith; begins on page 4 of this PDF: http://www.anbhf.org/pdf/re ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/12/2014

Some good biographical info on Fred Smith; begins on page 4 of this PDF: http://www.anbhf.org/pdf/reichert.pdf

Don Rose1/12/2014

Good article, and I remember most of it well. However, "Art Brass"? The writer of this article could have done some better research concerning mgmt names. 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/13/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/13/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/13/14:What was Project Torso?

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/13/2014

In the late 70's, early 80's, Project or Operation TORSO was the FWS plan to find a way to utilize aircraft that sat idle during the day. The project was to evaluate passenger service using QC(Quick Change) aircraft. FedEx applied for licenses to fly passengers from Midway/Chicago to 24 other cities. It also looked at a private airport across from Manhattan where a hydrofoil would deliver passengers from Manhattan. It took a year to get the license out of Midway, and by that time, coupled with oil embargos, the passenger airlines weren't doing too well, and FedEx was growing at a fast pace. Project Torso was shelved.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/13/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/13/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/13/14:a. In what year did FedEx reach $1B in revenue...the first U.S. business to achieve this without a merger or acquisition.b. Immediately after reaching $1B, Mr. Smith established the next revenue goal...what was the amount?

Don Rose1/13/2014

a. 1983 b, $5B I believe

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/13/2014

Don was correct, 1983 was the year FedEx attained $1B in revenues. FWS commented to management, don't get complacent..... our long term corporate goal is $25B in annual revenues.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/14/14

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/14/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/14/14Around the early 1980's what were the holidays or special days off(other than vacation) given to employees in DataSystems?

Margie Poston Rhodes1/14/2014

Birthdays!!!!!!!

Kandi Tippit1/14/2014

Kandi Tippit Birthdays and Personal Days

Kerry Allen Clark1/14/2014

Kerry Allen Clark I don't know about Data Systems, but we got two floating holidays along with two personal days.

Buddy Johnson1/14/2014

These were days given quarterly for IT maintaining computer availability at the target level for the wuarter 1 ·

Dan Elliot1/14/2014

Besides the floaters and personal days, we got our birthday, good friday and the day after thankgiving... 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/14/2014

All answers above correct. FedEx gets the same number of designated holidays today(6) as in 1980: New Years, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving & Christmas; other days were just given off or converted to 2 floating days that you chose. In Data Systems, the only measurement(pre scanning) was reports printed on time. If that goal was met, everyone got a day off of their choosing the next quarter. That went away when JLB was promoted to COO. You also got to take off your birthday. 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question 1/15/14: Answer any of the following:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/15/2014

FedEx Trivia Question 1/15/14: Answer any of the following:What was 6x6 (6 by 6)? Who was CIO? What was it originally called? What was it supposed to do?

Buddy Johnson1/15/2014

CIO - Dennis Jones . Was supposed to reduce defects in software.

Denise Pate Spencer1/15/2014

Denise Pate Spencer I think it was originally called Consistency and Convergence?

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

Was called initially something like 026x6x2006 (Zero to 6 by 6 by 2006) CIO was Rob Carter There were 2 categories of 6 things, but the basic premise was: Common Infrastructure: Have a standard for future hardware & software platform & networking, so programmers & architects knew what system they were targeting Common Programming Environment: Have Programmers using the same tools and development environments so they could be moved between projects based on current corporate priorities. Common Proj Mgmt and change procedures: Have everyone using same tools for developing and managing projects, initiating projects and making changes to the system, so personnel can support key priority projects.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/15/2014

FedEx Trivia QuizName the top 3 holders of FedEx stock (individual or company).

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

Fred Smith 19,627,999 shares (6.3%) Primecap 19,033,679 shares (6.1%) Dodge&Cox 18,549,478 shares (5.9%) 1 ·

Brenda J. Brunner1/16/2014

Brenda J. Brunner You forgot my 19,626,999 shares.... :) 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

you can say what my 2 year old grandson said..after i gave him a dollar...."I be rich" 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/15/2014

FedEx Trivia QuizFrom 1994-2004 FedEx sponsored Space Mountain at DisneyWorld.What was the perk employees received from this sponsorship?Did any of you ever use that perk?

Ann Deloach Holman1/15/2014

Ann Deloach Holman going in the back door and going to the of the line

Don Rose1/15/2014

Like Ann said, front of line, back door. 2 ·

Patricia Ross1/15/2014

Yes, I used it!! It was wonderful.

David Hunt1/15/2014

We used the perk 3 times on one trip. That was special since the perk was one time only. 1 ·

Dan Elliot1/15/2014

The best part was the lounge! free drinks and A/C!! which is really important when it's 95 and 95% humidity! 2 ·

Larry Tieman1/15/2014

Larry Tieman There was another perk away from Space Mountain. Anyone know what it was?

Marie McVay1/16/2014

Used it, got to go to the front of the line and enjoy the lounge with drinks and a/c!

Subject: For those of you who are on Pinterest, there is a page of funny FedEx commercials: http://www.pinter ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

For those of you who are on Pinterest, there is a page of funny FedEx commercials: http://www.pinterest.com/FedEx/fedex-ads-commercials/

Subject: Has anyone heard rumors of another possible buyout after May?

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

Has anyone heard rumors of another possible buyout after May?

George Moore1/16/2014

I heard the rumor before I left Nov. 29, 2013

Penny Hitchcock Hopper1/16/2014

r I used to START those rumors. One finally "took" and I was able to retire, I wonder who's starting them now? 1 ·

Vicki Shirey Sanders1/17/2014

Interesting!

Debora Williams Waller1/17/2014

r I haven't heard anything.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/17/2014

It may just be wishful thinking for some. 3 ·

David Warren1/19/2014

Especially for those wanting to take it and were not allowed.

Subject: Commercial:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/16/2014

Commercial:

George Moore1/16/2014

Very funny!!!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/17/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/17/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/17/14:November 9, 1977 is considered to be one of the major successes of Fred Smith enabling Federal Express the ability to succeed.What happened on this date, and what did it allow FedEx to do?

Don Rose1/17/2014

Larger planes?

Buddy Johnson1/17/2014

Airline Deregulation passed by Congress allowing FedEx to carry cargo in excess of 7500 lbs. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/17/2014

Nov 9, 1977 All above are correct. On this date PL 95-163 was signed into law by President Carter. The Airline industry was the first to be deregulated by Congress. It allowed FedEx to choose it's own aircraft, fly larger aircraft and choose it's own routes without federal bureaucracy. About a month later, FedEx purchased it's first Boeing 727-100's with effective payload of 42,000 lbs. Without this bill, FedEx couldn't have continued to grow.

Johnnie Edwards1/17/2014

all of the above and my 23rd birthday and working at the Hub...... :)

Buddy Johnson1/17/2014

First 727 arrived on a cold Saturday morning in January 1978, the 28th as I recall. Escorted to the Admin building by a bagpipe.

Don Rose1/17/2014

You are so right Buddy...Man it was cold and windy. But we were all there to welcome our first "Big Bird".

Buddy Johnson1/17/2014

yea, Don. Believe the high that day was 32.

Jere Bledsoe1/17/2014

Some folks chickened out and watched the festivities from inside the Admin building. I remember seeing their reflection in the glass. Oh wait. One reflection was me. 1 ·

Don Rose1/17/2014

I did both Jere, and it was a lot more comfortable in the Admin building. Bob Lester and I were out in it for a while though. That wind was tough.

Subject: Facebook Listing http://fedexlegends.info/facebooklist.html

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/17/2014

Facebook Listing http://fedexlegends.info/facebooklist.htmladded: Don Rose Sandy Butler Thomas Dee Hickerson George Moore

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Penny Hitchcock Hopper1/17/2014

Can you please add me? Penny Hopper, 1978, 35 years, hired by Bill Daniel into Customer Service 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/17/2014

Penny is added.

Dany Hsch1/18/2014

Thanks! I was just added . 1978 to 2013

Dany Hsch1/18/2014

Suggested by George Moore

Penny Hitchcock Hopper1/18/2014

Thank you, Jimmy.

Subject: Hannah: http://blog.van.fedex.com/blog/meet-hannah

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/19/2014

Hannah: http://blog.van.fedex.com/blog/meet-hannah

Jack Brown1/19/2014

What an honor.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/20/14: 1981: The Bear and the Alligator

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/20/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/20/14: 1981: The Bear and the Alligator"If there is going to be a fight between a bear and an alligator... the outcome is going to be determined more by the terrain than by the individual skill of the combatants. Much of the competition has jumped into the water with us alligators and they are totally reacting to what we are doing. And in marketing, there is nothing I would rather see than a predictable competitor. You can make him do things you wouldn't do yourself."Who said this and who was he referring to?

Bob Higgins1/20/2014

The quote is from Barksdale. I think it had to do with UPS moving into the overnight business. 1 ·

Buddy Johnson1/20/2014

Knew that was a Barksdale quote...did not remember the situation. Thanks, Bob, for that history lesson.

Nancy Hinds1/20/2014

Sometime later there was the comment (regarding the Radio Network I believe) that he did not ever want to hear that they leapfrogged us. I believe JBM asked for an explanation - he said - you know =- when one frog jumps over the other one. But Dickie Dunn could most likely clarify that. 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/21/2014

The above quote sounds exactly what Jim Barksdale would think up, and he might have been the originator, and all the executives quoted it in meetings...but marketing usually took credit for such sayings. The competion at the time was Emery, since UPS didn't think the market was big enough to offer a service. UPS did enter a year later.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question 1/21/14: When the Overnite letter was launched, a good many people opposed it, ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/21/2014

FedEx Trivia Question 1/21/14: When the Overnite letter was launched, a good many people opposed it, why did they oppose FedEx offering the overnite letter? ...and does anyone remember what HotelPak was?

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Dany Hsch1/21/2014

Not sure why opposed letter , only zap mail . Hotel pak was a failure 1 ·

Dany Hsch1/21/2014

Not many peeps in hotels used it

Dany Hsch1/21/2014

Maybe opposed due to price and certain weight only?

Ray Lipham1/21/2014

I kept one of the original Hotel Pak kits for years. I think I passed it on to one of my co-workers before I left FedEx last May. I picked it up back in the early 80's when I was doing station audits (in Des Moines, I think). Hotel Pak was largely a failure because it took more participation from the hotels than they were willing to provide.

Debora Williams Waller1/22/2014

r Overnight letter was opposed because it went up against the USPS. Guessing.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/22/2014

Some thought it was a bad idea due to the low cost versus the cost of picking up the overnite letter. Actually, I think if we picked up the OL with packages at a customer site, there was no extra pickup charge, otherwise there was. And with discounts to larger customers, the net on the letter was low. I asked JLB about this once and he mentioned that analysis showed that the larger customers primarily would sent the OL's to their own branches and usually more than 1 letter would be involved on delivery, thus cutting costs.

Debora Williams Waller1/22/2014

Hotel employees didn't always give the courier the Hotel Pak. Many excuses were given. The hotel employee didn't know they had one dropped off or they didn't know where the pak was placed for courier pickup, comes to mind.

Subject: Tom Tompkins, who has worked at FedEx since the early 1980's sent me a newsletter and brochure on hi ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/21/2014

Tom Tompkins, who has worked at FedEx since the early 1980's sent me a newsletter and brochure on his new home business, his wife Cheryl's sewing business and his daughter's new career as a realtor.

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Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/22/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/22/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/22/14:Jim Barksdale was the Chief Operating Officer for Federal Express from around 1983-1992.a. Which Company did he go to in 1992?b. Why did he leave?c. What were the 3 companies he worked for after leaving FedEx?

Ben Moore1/22/2014

a) McCaw Cellular b) Fred wouldn't make him President c) McCaw Cellular, Netscape, Barksdale Group Edited · 1 ·

Buddy Johnson1/22/2014

c. McCaw Communications, Netscape, The Barksdale Group

Gary Phillips1/22/2014

Iw was thinking he went to MCI at one point I remember the others above but thought he worked with MCI at somtime. Might be thinking of someone else. .

Ben Moore1/22/2014

Gary Phillips Didn't McCaw own MCI? Edited ·

Dickie Dunn1/22/2014

a. McCaw Cellular b."Obscene offer he couldn't refuse" c. McCaw cellular, bought by AT&T Wireless, and Netscape

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/22/2014

Richard got all three questions correct. JLB went to McCaw Cellular. FWS was young and Jim Barksdale wasn't going to be CEO of Federal Express anytime in the near future. He was offered President of McCaw Cellular. He mentioned when he left, that the job offer not only insured he could take care of him and wife, but all of his family. AT&T bought out McCaw and offered him the President of AT&T wireless. He agreed as long as he didn't have to move to New Jersey headquarters. At that time, Ron Ponder was also at AT&T as the president of their Information Systems group. He left AT&T to become the CEO of Netscape. AOL then bought out Netscape, and he formed the Barksdale Mgmt Group initially as a venture capital group for technology.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

...and Ben and Buddy also got mccaw

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question 1/22/14

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/22/2014

FedEx Trivia Question 1/22/14As Nancy(Hinds) mentioned below, JLB told JamesBMoore that he didn't want to hear that UPS had leapfrogged FedEx in wireless communications. The Radio Network was rolled out by Jim Moore, Richard Dunn and the radio group starting in the late 70's and in 1980 the first of DADS rolled out providing wireless data dispatch. The supertracker rolled out in the mid 80's providing scanning and tracking of customer packages with scans at the customer site.Sometime after 1992, UPS rolled out tracking at the customer site. (I was volunteered to write the letter to the FedEx Board explaining how this rollout by UPS affected FedEx and whether they leapfrogged us).How did UPS roll out their first successful tracking application and who was their wireless partner? (they had tried twice before)

Dany Hsch1/22/2014

And I work for UPS now lol 1 ·

Dickie Dunn1/22/2014

UPS partnered with AT&T Wireless using their CDPD technology. CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) was the first attempt to provide wireless data on the public networks. It utilized the “Dead Air Time” between tearing down and initializing phone calls, to send data packets. The cost was greatly underestimated and UPS eventually limited their “Real Time Tracking” to twice a day. However, perception is reality…

Dickie Dunn1/22/2014

Dickie Dunn Correction - McCaw Cellular actually was the partner and AT&T inherited it and discontinued it in July, 2005.

Dickie Dunn1/22/2014

{Twice before} 1987 UPS acquires II Morrow (Loran C based tracking system} and Roadnet Technologies {mapping and vehicle routing systems}. 1991 UPS applied for nationwide 220Mhz frequencies – New limited band and no existing products

Dany Hsch1/22/2014

Btw- the new pension website middle NOT carry over your beneficiaries !!

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/22/2014

Richard's 2nd answer is correct. UPS partnered, for their 3rd attempt at wireless, with McCaw Cellular. This effort had already started before Jim Barksdale took the CEO of McCaw position. AT&T soon bought out McCaw and offered Jim the President of the AT&T Wireless group. One thing JLB did was separate himself from the UPS-McCaw project, because of his knowledge of FedEx systems. He would meet with their execs, but not attend any technical or implementation meetings. The implementation connected UPS's DIAD terminals to a cellular dock. The UPS courier would scan bar code of delivered packages. Every 30 minutes the dock would dial into UPS's servers and transfer barcodes and timestamp of the delivery. Because Cell phone coverage wasn't that good in many areas, UPS engineers would drive around the city, marking good coverage spots on a map. If the courier was out of a coverage area, he would drive to another location.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

from Jim Moore: Good summary Nancy,, you the one,,, What caused JLB to ask that question was UPS’s move to purchase a company called II Morrow, they had VHF narrow band channels, which are more difficult to engineer coverage patterns and had a high noise floor meaning communications would be somewhat intermittent… while we, FedEX had premier 800 MHZ wide band channels, virtually no noise I industrial, computer, etc) and much easier to predict coverage and install sites. UPS never utilized what they purchased but instead struck a deal with a Carrier with dial up in-band data on voice channels. Thanks Nancy,, good to hear from you. “JIMMY” (as in Jim)

Subject: Trivia Questions from Ben Moore:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

Trivia Questions from Ben Moore:a) What was SUN? Why was it unique? b) Who championed it? c) Why was it cancelled? d) What job the champion take after that? e) Where is he now?

John Toscano1/23/2014

Satellite Universal Network Allan McArtor The demise of Zapmail Airbus US

John Toscano1/23/2014

John Toscano Unique? It would have been the largest privately owned satellite network on the planet. Most ambitious was the launch of Express Star. Our own satellite. Actually the Challenger was the prime consideration for the launch vehicle.

John Toscano1/23/2014

Other contributing factors to canceling SUN were the availability of excess transponder space and the improving economics for terrestrial solutions

John Toscano1/23/2014

I think Allan went off to start an airline. Legend? His tenure with Federal Express was interrupted while heading up the FAA. Edited ·

Ray Lipham1/23/2014

Other than the demise of Zapmail, another reason cited was the lost satellite lift during the suspension of the space shuttle program after the Challenger disaster.

John Toscano1/23/2014

I was in a NOCC design meeting in COS with Macom Telecommunications when the Challenger went down. Alfred Weiniger called me out of the meeting to give me the news. The meeting adjourned so that we could contact our management to assess the impact on the project. We were totally stunned.

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

from Ben Moore: ------------ Answers ------------ a) Satellite Universal Network - a proposed solution to the crippling low bandwidth of the ZapMail network. It was to use 1 meter dishes rather than the then typical 3 meter dishes. And in the normal FedEx modus operandi it was to have 2 satellites in close geosynchronous orbit. In the event 1 failed the second could assume the workload without re-homing the dishes. b) T. Allan McArtor c) Challenger exploded in January 1986 and all the launch slots were cancelled. This doomed ZapMail. d) McArtor was appointed to be Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by Ronald Reagan in 1987. e) McArtor is currently theChairman of Airbus America.

Subject: FedEx Trivia Question 1/23/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

FedEx Trivia Question 1/23/14:a) What is a QAT? b) Name a QAT you were a member of. c) What is a Pareto diagram? d) Did you ever use one?

Dan Elliot1/23/2014

AH, why do you ruin my day with bad memories! :) 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

....hoping...maybe ....good memories for some.....I do hope you have a nice day! 1 ·

Dany Hsch1/23/2014

Quality action team Too many to list Part of the qat process Yes Company never allowed time to have the meetings for the past 15 years Not in the field anyway I think In mem it was allowed Edited ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

....of course a worst memory was when 2 of my staff answered a Survey feedback, that they were unsure that I supported quality......and I was sent to Remedial Quality training with a large group of inferior quality humanoids...for 3 days.... 7 ·

Dany Hsch1/23/2014

Yep, what a joke!

Dan Elliot1/23/2014

Ah you gotta love it!

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz:Which sport did FWS & T. Allan McArtor engage in together?

Gary Phillips1/23/2014

Tennis?

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/23/2014

Gary = Correct 2 ·

Gary Phillips1/23/2014

Knew FWS was a tennis guy. Saw him play at the club during the Orange Bowl in '96. I hit some with Pepper Rodgers wife then. There was a FedEx Orange Bowl tournament for employees and customers.

Ben Moore1/23/2014

Shooting down MiGs? 1 ·

Gary Phillips1/23/2014

The FedEx folks and customers stayed at the Doral resort for the Orange Bowl. I was on the way down to play a match. I got on the elevator and a little girl (couldn't have been but about 7 or 8) saw my tennis bag and asked me if I played tennis.I said 'yeah'. She said 'my dad plays tennis'. I said really, who's your dad? She said 'Fred Smith, do you know him?' The Smith group had an entire floor reserved for their family, friends and security. One of the Fedex security guards was escorting the kids everywhere they went

Subject: FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/24/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/24/2014

FedEx Trivia Quiz 1/24/14:Who was the person responsible for proposing that there be a dedicated group of Revenue agents to answer Customer billing questions, versus the Call Center agent tracking down the answers?He was a Manager at the time, and wanted to be the Director of that new group, but was made Director over a department that had major personnel & morale problems.

Peter Dangerfield1/24/2014

Tom McNeil ?

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/24/2014

Charlie Germano. I'm sure others also worked on getting a new group started, but I met Charlie around 1980 while developing DADS. He was best friends with John Schwarzmann, my sr mgr. He told me what he had been working on: setting up a specialized group of agents to handle billing and revenue calls. He had worked to convince Jim Barksdale this was needed and he hoped to be the new director. There was a bad problem in the data entry group and the MD and all but one mgr were terminated. JLB made Charlie the MD over that group and told to fix it and increase the morale of the department, which he did. Edited · 1 ·

Don Rose1/24/2014

Loved Charlie. He was one of the best bosses I ever had the pleasure to work with. A true leader! 1 ·

Subject: FedEx Trivia 1/26/14:

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/27/2014

FedEx Trivia 1/26/14:Who said this to new managers at FedEx?"Your goal as a manager should be to do what is best for the Company and your employees, not what makes you look good. If you only do things that get you visibility, and you have to take credit for everything ,,,then you shouldn't be a manager at Fedex"

Jack Brown1/27/2014

I want to say FWS at the end of each training class at the Leadership Institute.

Jim Bentley1/27/2014

That philosophy sure did not last long!! 3 ·

Dany Hsch1/27/2014

No kidding!

Dany Hsch1/27/2014

I said it! Lol

Dany Hsch1/27/2014

Yes and the ones who were smart enough to go with looking good got promoted ! Edited ·

Gary Phillips1/27/2014

Me, I said it a lot. Edited · 1 ·

Jimmy Glenn Burk1/27/2014

I'm sure other execs used this quote, but first time I heard it was at an all management meeting(when I was forced back into management) about 1985 or 1986. Jim Barksdale talked to a couple hundred of us and emphasized our roles. He also emphasized that we were to spend each dollar of the company's money as our own(ie don't spend it frivously). At that meeting they also announced whatever 5 star awards were called then, and Bob Higgins got one for Cosmos IIb design. Edited ·

Rebecca Felts2/4/2014

This philosophy is nothing new. I had it in a course while obtaining my Bachelor's in Management. Its basic premise is "to do things for the greater good of the company and the majority of employees". Not to be self centered or egotistical. 1 ·

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