HAMPTON, Va. — FedEx Ground in Hampton is facing backlash from the public, and now from one of its drivers.
The facility is in hot water, after a Facebook video showed packages left outside and stacked on top of each other.
13News Now spoke with a FedEx driver Friday. He didn't want to be identified, but said there are not enough drivers, there isn't any space for packages and the company recently switched contractors.
He believes the issues may last until Christmas.
“There’s no space, no nothing outside, inside, in trucks, there's no game plan, it's crazy,” he said. “It's bad to wear the uniform knowing you're representing a company that doesn't have it all together.”
A FedEx Ground spokesman said:
With respect to local operations in the Hampton area, contingency plans are being implemented, including the deployment of additional delivery resources, to address temporary service delays as quickly as possible. There have been no furloughs at FedEx Ground and, in fact, we are hiring at the local station to help continue to power commerce through the current environment.
On Friday, several people were at the facility, trying to find their packages, including Tammera Missel.
Missel waited a week for one of her packages to show up. After she couldn't get through to FedEx, she made the trip from Smithfield to Hampton.
“It’s stressful,” Missel said. “The money doesn't matter; it's our property.”
On Thursday, a FedEx spokesman said in a statement:
FedEx Ground is experiencing a surge of package volume due to e-commerce growth during the current pandemic, while navigating associated business closures and other constraints that have impacted operations in the Hampton, Virginia, area. We offer our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused by recent service delays and appreciate our customers’ patience as we work with our service providers to implement contingency plans designed to restore service levels. We encourage customers who have concerns about their shipments to visit fedex.com for information or call FedEx Customer Service at 1.800.GoFedEx.
The driver said the company needs a better plan of action.
“If we need to eliminate delivering trampolines and things not important, to make sure we prioritize medicines to help people live then that needs to happen,” he said.