Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by scottyah on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @01:52PM
(#31991447)
Fun Fact: They don't technically own their planes, since it would have made them an nice target for a hostile takeover if someone wanted them
Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by nightpool on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @10:50AM
(#32001843)
This seems... incorrect? http://www.fedex.com/us/about/overview/companies/express/Exp... indicates that they own 696 aircraft, and https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airline-fedex-orders/fede... says that they just bought 50 more in 2015. No mentions of a lease agreement here. In fact, according to Wikipedia, for smaller aircraft FedEx operates a dry lease business where they lease their fleet out to contractors to deliver certain routes:
In the United States (along with Morningstar Air Express in Canada), FedEx Express operates FedEx Feeder (and for Morningstar, mainline FedEx service) on a dry lease program where the contractor will lease the aircraft from the FedEx fleet and provide a crew to operate the aircraft solely for FedEx
Your metaphor is a little bit off. This is more comparable to FedEx renting vs owning their fleet vehicles.
Obviously they aren't going to be setting up foundries to to scratch-build engines and network switches. But it probably makes as much sense for them to own the buildings & computers running their logistics software as it does for them to own the buildings and vehicles running their logistics hardware.
As an aside, I'm sure FedEx would LOVE to get customers locked in to private FedEx roads with private FedEx addresses that no one else is allowed to deliver too. Thankfully, our system of public infrastructure is robust enough to make this infeasible.