SHIP CENTER CLOSES LAST SAT OF JUNE (06/27/26) dateline Flagstaff...News from NAZ 2nite, from…read moreDerek, Vian, Adrianna, Ashley, Melissa & Bradley, a last final salute to the best retail counter team ever. Howard Homer, Senior Manager, reports that the existing building at 2000 Woodlands Blvd in Flagstaff will be closing their doors permanently on Saturday June 27th. All local FedEx business after that date can be conducted nearby at FedEx Office, formerly Kinko's, at 1423 Plaza Way, in the Safeway Shopping Center.
A fixture of some of Flagstaff's west side expansions of the late 80's, the FedEx building and the land was actually not owned by FedEx, according to Mr. Homer, who stated he is not aware of what will become of the building, but the land is of course where the real value lies. It was one of the earliest structures in an area formerly reserved for forest, fields, and occasional wildlife...back when Kit Carson RV park was considered "way out on the west side of town".
Good news for residents of the Airport or Ponderosa Trails areas, however as Mr. Homer confirmed 10+ acres of land purchased for a NEW building to be ready in 11-12 months and will be located by the existing Ground facility at 5900 Pulliam Drive. Approximately 10 Express drivers will be moving into the existing Ground building on Monday, June 29th, and will share the approx. 20K square foot facility until the new building is ready to occupy. Mr. Homer stated that several veteran employees have either already, or will be taking, the options of: a generous severance package, early retirement, or transferring to a different FedEx location, or Ground.
This "Merge 2.0" as they refer to it (aka Ground + Express = the 'new' or "one" FedEx as it's referred to internally), has had numerous reports of creating increasingly poor tracking between the two divisions, making it an up close and personal, aggravating position for those customer service agents tasked with fixing merge-related issues for their respective customers. But, across the country, Wall Street still finds them to be, as they historically have been, stock darlings. One employee mentioned purchasing shares at $57 bucks when they first started and is ecstatic with the quasi-split of FDX stock re-evaluations after a new June 1st calendar year re-structure. Ugh, financials make my head spin. When the company announced the spin-off of FedEx Freight as a stand-alone LTL / Freight company, we saw the stock dip, for almost a whole week. Recovered, resumed, and closed about $412 per share on 05/29/26; not too shabby.
Although in this instance, according to some investors, they're Fed UP with the finger pointing between the two. At a recent station closure meeting with upper management, Flagstaff Ship Ctr employees voiced their concern they felt Global Corporate in Memphis had NOT learned / evolved enough with other station closures. Citing issues such as timing, poor communication to the local station level, and a corporate HR about as warm as an iceberg. Allegedly, corporate platitudes and paradigm-shifting double talk ensued, and at levels purely designed with no doubt nefarious intent to make a few dozen pairs of eyeballs glaze over
The best part about visiting this Ship center has always been the people; this local Flagstaff team rolled up their sleeves every day, exceeded expectations, putting on their proverbial Sherlock Holmes deer stalker caps and finding lost packages, slapping 10% more tape on those envelopes just in case, loaning you a dolly or steering you away from that gawd-awful 1-800 number, and generally putting 101% effort in EVERY day. And their best attribute? They like what they do and you can tell---GREAT attitudes and helpful, frank, down-to-earth folks. Each Ship Center employee we spoke with had plenty of great positive stories, but a similarly large number of nightmare stories of issues --- often referred to as "cardboard logistics" --- which have hampered station efficiency numbers, & the metrics used in the world of time-sensitive pickups and deliveries have become hot boardroom topics.
Meanwhile, back in the lives of the disrupted at this awesome "Lil Station That Could", they carry on, another day of planes and trucks, the movement, the constant buzz and shuffle of choreography displayed both with couriers, packages, and lots and lots of documents. Your intrepid reporter asks a question and a tall guy behind the counter with a distinctive flat top haircut encourages you to stop by and visit with them before they close for good and oh yeah, please bring brownies, cookies, brookies, or pie. And Sweet Tea. I tell him I'm not gonna write any of THAT. But secretly, I laughed so I'm keeping that part in anyway. Dang it. Personally, I had a lot of water-cooler talk over that counter with Derek, & those never ending tall tale Virginia fishing stories. They don't make 'em like this anymore; we're gonna miss y'all. XO