DPWN John Mullen on DHL problems, globalization

[ABXbooger]

In the US, I agree booger. The rest of the world? Not likely.

Why not? UPS and Fedex have been growing in their international product and very little in their domestic. DHL has not had to compete, that alone is the reason they are what they are. They found out the hard way that they can't compete against Fedex and UPS. What makes you think they will be able to compete against them in the international arena? DHL is done, like communism, once the people find out there is a better way, it doesn't take long.

 

[shooter]

DHL is done, like communism, once the people find out there is a better way, it doesn't take long.

Or maybe like the National Socialist German Workers Party?

 

[rotor&wing]

Why not? UPS and Fedex have been growing in their international product and very little in their domestic. DHL has not had to compete, that alone is the reason they are what they are. They found out the hard way that they can't compete against Fedex and UPS. What makes you think they will be able to compete against them in the international arena? DHL is done, like communism, once the people find out there is a better way, it doesn't take long.

This is where you don't understand DHL International.
When DHL started out in the days under Hillbloom they went to all these different countries and set up shop, and while doing so gave the locals a piece of the action. That's why you have DHL Nigeria, DHL South Africa, etc, etc. That's also the reason UPS and FedEx have been slow in developing their international operations (relative to DHL). When FedEx and UPS go into a country, it's their own shop (with a few exceptions). Remember back around 1990 when FedEx set up their Belgium hub? They failed miserably and DHL bought the sort from them.

It's very difficult to bring a Brown or Purple product into a country when the locals ask "Where's my piece?".

This is also the reason DHL products move so rapidly overseas. It's all in who you have in your pocket and payoff. DHL has 30+ years of experience in that department.

Also, this is why DHL failed in the US. Their international model doesn't work here.

For the record, I'm no fan of DHL and their practices, I've just been around long enough to understand their thinking. This latest fiasco is not DHL, but rather the idiot Germans that bought them.

 

[shooter]

I did not know that either R&W. Do the foreign companies/countries still own their share of DHL even after the Germans bought DHL?

 

[rotor&wing]

I did not know that either R&W. Do the foreign companies/countries still own their share of DHL even after the Germans bought DHL?

It's hard to keep up with. Basically what the Germans bought, in lack of better terms was a franchise. It would take a scholar to assemble all the pieces of DHL Worldwide. Just ask Hvydriver who did alot of research for the union pertaining to who actually owned DHL Airways, Inc.

 

[shooter]

It's hard to keep up with. Basically what the Germans bought, in lack of better terms was a franchise. It would take a scholar to assemble all the pieces of DHL Worldwide. Just ask Hvydriver who did alot of research for the union pertaining to who actually owned DHL Airways, Inc.

So, in your opinion as a long time DHL employee, has DPWN been running DHL like DHL was run, like they ran their monopoly postal product or something in between? I only ask because they bought a turn-key operation (shout out to the one who uses this term daily....you know who you are ) in Airborne and screwed all the customers away. Just wondering if that arrogance is from which product or just from Mullen himself.

EDIT: Got to go pick my boy up...Thanks for the info and I'll get back to this discussion later.

 

[rotor&wing]

So, in your opinion as a long time DHL employee, has DPWN been running DHL like DHL was run, like they ran their monopoly postal product or something in between? I only ask because they bought a turn-key operation (shout out to the one who uses this term daily....you know who you are ) in Airborne and screwed all the customers away. Just wondering if that arrogance is from which product or just from Mullen himself.

EDIT: Got to go pick my boy up...Thanks for the info and I'll get back to this discussion later.

Before the Germans bought DHL it was a good company, a bit quirky but a good company. Their focus was on international freight and "low volume/high yield" customers. They have always made money on the international market and in the US made money, just nothing earth shattering. They never really wanted to compete with Brown and Purple in the US, but focused using a term we always hated ,"niche market".

DPWN has hosed this operation big time.