• Tue news: Where do Harris and Trump stand on health policy? Medtronic renal denervation coverage. Canada less likely to have drug shortages? Wall Street wants CVS execution plan. Nektar manufacturing facility sale. See more on our front page

new fleet vehicles

Quote
Anonymous said:
LOL, This way when you have two fender benders in the winter, Merck won't have to dish out the bonus. You'll be alive in your Fusion and Merck will be 29K richer for each rep that cannot figure out how to drive in the snow with a tiny light car.
Click to expand...

I started with Merck when we had smaller company cars. Some more tenured reps drove around with real-wheel drive cars too. You used snow tires, chains or whatever. You slow down. You don't brake quickly. Cars would slide around a little bit. You'll get used to the odd feeling that it would lose traction here and there. People have been in sales for many years with much more primitive cars in snow country.
 




Anonymous said:
Look asshole, our jobs REQUIRE us to be in the field everyday. We really do not get snowdays. Many of us drive 3000 to 4000 miles a month in ungodly weather conditions that in the WRONG vehicle put our lives at risk. How would you like to walk in business attire and two or three feet of snow and ice in subzero weather for 1/2 mile or longer to get to your home or to safety because this POS car could not get through a drift? Even bundled up in long underwear, this could be a very dangerous situation. Manhy of us are not young. We have arthritis, health issues and a lot of stress anyway to make call requirements and drive sales. I have been out there and sometimes there is not a damn thing for miles and miles of frozen nothingness. I could give a rat's ass if someone in Florida has to drive a Fusion. I would be fine with that. This is about safety. We miss a few days of work and we are out of a job. So, Fck OFF.
Click to expand...

Mommy, Daddy-Mr. Merck is making my life so difficult. I'm scared to go out when it snows or rains. This isn't fair! I'm going to hold my breath or curse you out because I can't have what I'm entitled to. I'm so important.


Grow up loser. This is a job. Free will allows you to leave if you don't like the benefit package they give. So, pack your blanket and toothbrush and move on. There are plenty of people, equally qualified, that will come and take your job.

No wonder the company is in such trouble.
 




I will wait to see if this rumor is true, and if it is:

1) Merck field employees already pay the vast majority of the expense for the cars we drive. The amount we pay for the privilege of "driving" the car amounts to the lion's share of the lease payment. While Chubb is the primary insurer, unless you are married to another representative, you have to pay for your own insurance anyway. And insurance insures the driver, not the vehicle. I'm certain that the difference in insurance amount is negligible...nearly every other sales role in other industries allow for the private ownership of a vehicle with a stipend and mileage payment.

2) The marginal difference in mileage between a focus and a fusion is 28/38 and 23/33, and I can tell you that my average mileage in the fusion is about 29 mpg. The difference in operating expense is negligible.

3) In summary, this move to a dumpy car is solely about perception and appearance. Our illustrious leader has clearly stated in several EBBs that success in our industry, our company, or anything, is inconsistent with the New World's Order goal of equalization, fairness, and neobolshevik socialization.

Ken Frasier does not know what he is doing. Our Band 1-3s do not know what they are doing. They don't even understand the role of medicine in the delivery of healthcare. With the total cost of healthcare allocated to medicines hovering around 10%, and assuming a 20% top line gross margin across the industry (way higher than actual...software has the highest margin. I picked 20% to make the math easy in this post), if the government were to implement wage and price controls on this industry, the amount saved would only account for about 2% of the total cost, A ROUNDING ERROR with numbers of this size.

When I heard Frasier state in the April EBB that our industry's cost model is not sustainable, I realized that he is a useful bolshevik fool with a Marxist agenda utterly devoid of understanding the factual cost basis of health care delivery.

To the Board of Directors, you need to clean house at the highest levels, ASAP. See Kodak, Digital Equipment, AMC, Compaq, Salomon Brothers, Circuit City, Best Products, etc.

I don't expect to be at Jerck much longer...I have seen enough insolence and arrogance, coupled with stupidity and have had enough. I have tried to fix what I could in my professional orbit and have come to realize that the biggest problem doesn't surround the rant above. It is that there is no honor, fortitude, maturity or ability to think critically within middle management. And absent that, there is no courage within middle management to challenge the false status quo.

I am not one willing to live on my knees...if I die on my feet before I can leave, so be it...at least I will leave with my honor intact.
 




Anonymous said:
Mommy, Daddy-Mr. Merck is making my life so difficult. I'm scared to go out when it snows or rains. This isn't fair! I'm going to hold my breath or curse you out because I can't have what I'm entitled to. I'm so important.


Grow up loser. This is a job. Free will allows you to leave if you don't like the benefit package they give. So, pack your blanket and toothbrush and move on. There are plenty of people, equally qualified, that will come and take your job.

No wonder the company is in such trouble.
Click to expand...

You clearly have never EVER been stuck in a horrible storm in the middle of nowhere with no "off" ramp and no place to even pull into a hotel. Our cars are our offices. Safety should be this company's first concern. On what planet is it OK to slip and slide all day for 8 to 10 hours on and off the road when an SUV with snow tires and/or 4-wheel drive would eliminate the problem/hazard?

I have been in this business a long, long time and rarely if ever complain about anything because by in large these are good jobs. I have also never been without an SUV. To not have that in any snowbelt rural area is absolutely assinine. But to the PP, I think you've summed up our company perfectly. What you left is the KF's of the world do not care on bit about the company or their field force or a pipeline. They care about paying the ivy league tuitions for their kids and grandkids; they care about their car collection and vacation homes and they care about stroking themselves enough to sit on boards for the rest of their self-center existence.
 




Anonymous said:
Stop bitching. When all our products are generic you'll be driving one of those cars. May be even an AMC Gremlin.

Granted, our company cars are nothing to talk about. But with today's work environment this is what is bugging you the most?
Click to expand...

Look, dipshit, the car is not free. We pay out of every check to drive this POS and we deserve to get more for our money. If this is the route they want to take, then we should have an allowance and be granted the right to choose our own vehicle.
 




Anonymous said:
.... then we should have an allowance and be granted the right to choose our own vehicle.
Click to expand...


The 'right.' Where is it written that they give you a car as a 'right?' Grow up. This is a job that is 'at will.' If you don't like the options-leave. Open up a position for someone who isn't a whiner and is willing to do a the job.

Shesh, you're like the whining unions, teachers and liberals. Always asking for a handout on the back of the company or government.
 




Anonymous said:
What a bunch of whiners. Global economy is in the tank and you are complaining over this?
No wonder this company is in trouble, the complainers on this thread are nothing but self-absorbed, gimme, I want, life's not fair, entitlement, lazy dou@hes.
Click to expand...

Give it up; pointless to argue. The people who are really pissed are the ones who use it as a full-time vehicle and aren't going to be able to load up their spouse, 3.2 kids, luggage and family pet to head out for the family vacation. You may "pay" for the personal use, but it is nowhere near what you would have to shell out to purchase your own personal vehicle plus gas,insurance and maintenance. You are worse than union employees. Many people would love to earn the salary for nothing more than delivering samples and taking lunch orders.
 




Anonymous said:
The 'right.' Where is it written that they give you a car as a 'right?' Grow up. This is a job that is 'at will.' If you don't like the options-leave. Open up a position for someone who isn't a whiner and is willing to do a the job.

Shesh, you're like the whining unions, teachers and liberals. Always asking for a handout on the back of the company or government.
Click to expand...

You are right. Reps are stuck in the middle. The Fleet people want to appear to be cost conscious and opt for small cars. Probably keep job loss to a minimal in their department this way. The save my job and screw the reps mentality. They sit in an office and think we only snow badly a few times each year and then it is back to normal. They think on bad snowy days it may take an extra half an hour to get to work. The best way is to take one of them out and ride with a rep in the snow country. Hope they will appreciate how it is like driving around in a little car for 100-200 miles. Cut back on field visits by managers. Start a once a month field visit with the Fleet people in the snow country.

I doubt getting a car the next size up is going to break the bank. The Fleet people are posturing and acting their part to be a supporter of NCM and cost control. It's all symbolism.
 












Just shows what the elites think of us. Hard to carry 3 kids and samples in such rat traps. I have an idea: return to the old policy of letting us report the personal miles used so that I can buy my OWN car.
 




Anonymous said:
Just shows what the elites think of us. Hard to carry 3 kids and samples in such rat traps. I have an idea: return to the old policy of letting us report the personal miles used so that I can buy my OWN car.
Click to expand...

Having enough room to carry your kids is never the consideration. It is a company car and a tool for business. But then you can argue they should when you are forced to pay every month regardless of whether you use it or not.
 








Chevy Equinox or Subaru Forrester for snow belt---I believe qualification is over 40 inches a year--must be able to verify to CTL by fax of "official weather data"--hope this helps
 








Don't waist your money on the "upgrade" package, even if you "won" a safe driving award. You get exactly the same features as everyone else, except a sunroof. It is better to apply the award to an extension of the the satellite radio.
 




Top Bottom
Back
Quote