After Earnings · Nov 5, 2026 · 30m · 22m saved
With Brie Carere, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at FedEx
The global economy has shown no demand destruction over the last two quarters, despite tariffs and rising fuel prices. Brie Carere, executive vice president and chief customer officer of FedEx, told Ann Berry on After Earnings that companies are not pulling back from global trade but spreading it across more countries, and that no pause in tariffs will change their plans.
"Even if there is a moment of stability from a tariff perspective, I do not think that boardrooms will trust that moment." — Brie Carere
Brie has spent 25 years at FedEx and worked directly with founder Fred Smith. She now runs marketing, strategy, sales and retail as one group, and sees the shipping data of a $90 billion company that moves goods for 1.2 million small businesses.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 30 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 9 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
FedEx still thinks of itself as the underdog against a rival that held almost 85% of US ground parcels in 2000
Free cash flow is guided at $4B for the first time, with $6B in view as capital needs fall
Companies are adding factories outside China, not leaving China, and India is FedEx's fastest-growing country
No demand destruction in two quarters, despite tariffs and higher fuel prices
FedEx has to wait on the government before it can refund tariffs to about 1.2 million small businesses
FedEx cannot give all 450,000 employees a frontier AI model, so it picks the model for each job
1. FedEx Still Plays Underdog
Ann Berry, who hosts After Earnings, opened by calling FedEx one of her favorite companies and stocks, because its size gives a read on so much of the world economy. Brie traced the company's culture back to how far behind it started.
FedEx began decades behind a rival that dominated US ground shipping
"Our primary competitor had more than a 70-year head start on us, and if you went back to sort of 2000, they had almost 85% market share of the US ground market, which is the biggest parcel market." — Brie Carere
That gap still shapes how FedEx sees itself. Fred Smith was in the business until last year, and Brie learned from him and his executives to stay humble and to spend time in operations.
Brie Carere was taught early to learn the operations firsthand
"One of his first things that he taught me was burn shoe leather, which means get out in the field, know the operations." — Brie Carere
