Hey! (New UPS Employee)

[rod]

My advice to you, from a full time supervisor is this. Come to work everyday and on time. Management likes employees that work with a sense of urgency, do not use the "I'm doing the best I can" line. Also, understand that UPS is a place for advancement, we can always use pkg car drivers and P/T supervisors and TSG employees. And make sure you are going to school. Take advantage of earn and learn. After a week ask your supervisor how you are doing. Supervisors like employees that show that they care. This web site likes to bash UPS, but UPS is really what you make of it. Good luck!

I guarantee you that you won't have to wait a week for your sup to tell you how you are doing.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Remember, your back is going to hurt for awhile. You are using muscles you haven't used in years. Ibuprofin (sp?) should be your best friend. And ice your back. Don't complain to anyone about your back unless it really is more than muscle pain. That's a sure way not to get your seniority. It will get easier each day.
I don't envy you and the pain you be in when you get up tomorrow morning. Good luck!!

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Remember, your back is going to hurt for awhile. You are using muscles you haven't used in years. Ibuprofin (sp?) should be your best friend. And ice your back. Don't complain to anyone about your back unless it really is more than muscle pain. That's a sure way not to get your seniority. It will get easier each day.
I don't envy you and the pain you will be in when you get up tomorrow morning. Good luck!!

 

[rushfan]

all I have to say is HEY!

 

[jccuch]

hay i put 30+ years with UPS,it was hard work but your pension pays off

 

[stoavio]

Stoavio, IMHO if it is just hurting from lack of use, and as you say you have led a pretty sedentary life, suck it up, there is a difference between aching and injured. Although with a back from what I surmise, sometimes you cant tell the difference. It will get stronger, but it will always hurt. The chiro on my route said the human back is only made to lift 50 pds...so you use your legs, and your power zone to reduce the stress on the back.
As far as a back brace, it does nothing but reinforce your back, and can actually cause you to get hurt far worse when say at home you need to move the couch and you dont have your brace on and your back is used to having it on, and SNAP.
Like I said before, do nothing else if you want this job the first couple weeks, except rest for the next day, and avoid anything else strenuous like.........well you know.
And this is JMHO

You're right, there is a difference in pains between the muscles simply becoming acclimated and having strained or injured something. In this case, it's really hard for me to tell what it is. I get this pain in my lower back when lifting and even sometimes when bowling. It hurts so bad sometimes that I don't even want to bend over or twist (which obviously is NOT an option on the job). For now, I'm going to chalk it up to never using the muscles and stretch more often. I've rubbed icy/hot on and will try doing some more stretch exercises before work. I'm almost 19 by the way so I think any serious back injuries are probably unlikely. Wouldn't you say?

Thanks for the help everyone

 

[moreluck]

FYI....sometimes back pain has nothing to do with age. A lot of folks out there walk around with degenerative genetic conditions that they are totally unaware of....'til they aggravate something. Spondilolysthesis....I probably spelled it wrong....is what my hubby had and needed back surgery, spinal fusion. The doctor told him that the good habits at UPS, ie; lifting with the legs actually helped to delay the onset of any symptoms 'til much later in life than most folks.

It's been many years and he's just fine now and the fusion made his backswing better. (golf)

 

[teamsterdan]

brothers and sisters let me remind you especially (20_smoke) of article 37 section 1 of our contract which clearly states "The EMPLOYER shall not in any way intimidate,harass, coerce or OVERLY SUPERVISE any employee in the performance of his/her duties.The EMPLOYER will treat employees with DIGNITY AND RESPECT @ ALL times, which shall include, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, GIVING DUE CONSIDERATION to the AGE AND PHYSICAL CONDITION of the employee." It goes on...... copies of the master agreement are available on line @ Teamsters for a Democratic Union pm me if your interested in a kick ass protien recipe.....

 

[cheryl]

A copy of the NMA is available here too.

http://www.browncafe.com/community/threads/ups-teamsters-national-master-agreement.335360/

 

[stoavio]

Thanks for the help guys/girls.

Today was my second day and it was definitely a hell of a lot worse than my first. No movies today - just lifting. Luckily, they let me leave after break. I honestly thought I was in decent shape before I started loading. I used to work out 3 days a week (about a month ago I stopped) and would run somtimes 20 miles a week. It wasn't a real stringent workout program but it was physical nonetheless.

It gets so hot and stagnent in the feeders that breathing gets more difficult for me (asmatic). Also, the constant bending, turning and lifting is very strenuous. I'm really impressed at what some of those guys can do. I feel bad because it's obvious I'm holding up the show and not stacking as efficiently as some of the other guys. I know I'll improve over time but it's demoralizing when you try your best and really your best is no where near good enough. I'll keep my head high, continue stretching, resting, and improving and hope that I'll eventually be working up to their standards.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[tieguy]

Hey 20_smoke...your advice was fine,I just took offence to your comment ...this web site likes to bash ups...that is not true at all.
People come here for advice,to share opinions or to just relate.If someone is treated unfairly by management they have nowhere else to turn except the union,and unfortunately they are for the most part,useless..

Change the wording to include "if someone thinks they have been treated unfairly", they may feel they have no place to go but the union".

Believe it or not there are people at UPS who have never filed a grievance and who are not company kiss buts. I recently did a thirty years of service recognition event for one who has never filed and feels he can always talk to managment if he has a problem. In the process I'm sure he has turned the other cheek a few times but the point still needs to be made. Sometimes individuals in management go out of their way to trod over their people, some of our people go out of their way to come in , do their job and not look for reasons to cry and whine. We also have our people who tend to blame management for everything including the timeliness of their bowel movements. Those folks are the usually the loudest and the most miserable. Ultimately I think it comes down to how unhappy you want to be. If you want to be miserable you can always find something to complain about.

 

[stoavio]

I mentioned in my last post that I felt like I was lagging behind some of the other guys and I obviously still am not very good at stacking good walls. Do you thiink my supervisor understands? They had me leave after break yesterday (along with 3-4 other guys who may or may not be new hires) because I guess they had enough people on staff that day and didn't need us. Is this common or should I view this as a bad thing? I'm lifting as hard and as fast as I can but I'm still hesitant about where/how to stack the packages.

Sometimes I may take 10 seconds or more before I decide where to put something whereas the other guys don't even given it any thought, they simply grab and stack. I was told this is something that will come to me eventually but I still feel bad because I know I'm slowing things down.

 

[CTOTH]

This will be the case for a while, you can't expect to come in an run with the guys who've been doing this for a year.
Of course management knows this is the case. You're aren't the first new hire they've seen nor the last. Just stick with it, It'll come. Remember, quality before quantity. You can be fired for mis-sorts and such you can't be fired for being slow within reason.

 

[stoavio]

This will be the case for a while, you can't expect to come in an run with the guys who've been doing this for a year.
Of course management knows this is the case. You're aren't the first new hire they've seen nor the last. Just stick with it, It'll come. Remember, quality before quantity. You can be fired for mis-sorts and such you can't be fired for being slow within reason.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking but it's reassuring to hear it from someone who also works for UPS. I'm also worried that maybe I just don't have an eye for stacking the boxes but I'm not going to worry myself right out of this job. I'll just keep at it.

 

[stoavio]

Just a quick update:

It's 2:24am (sat) now so yesterday's work was a lot smoother than Thursday. I did a much better job stacking and I did an alright job keeping up. I only put 2.5 hrs in though. They keep letting me and 3 others take off after break. The other two are also relatively new, one has been there for 4 weeks (loading but previously was employed for about a year) and the other for about 2 months.

So far so good. Looking forward to Monday

 

[Xaul Zan]

you have no 3.5 hour guarantee?

 

[20_smoke]

brothers and sisters let me remind you especially (20_smoke) of article 37 section 1 of our contract which clearly states "The EMPLOYER shall not in any way intimidate,harass, coerce or OVERLY SUPERVISE any employee in the performance of his/her duties.The EMPLOYER will treat employees with DIGNITY AND RESPECT @ ALL times, which shall include, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, GIVING DUE CONSIDERATION to the AGE AND PHYSICAL CONDITION of the employee." It goes on...... copies of the master agreement are available on line @ Teamsters for a Democratic Union pm me if your interested in a kick ass protien recipe.....

Teamsteran, How you applied what i said to article 37 is beyond me. You must be one of those employee's that hides behind this article. Or maybe you have one of those stupid 22.3 jobs. Remember, you work for UPS not the teamsters. The problem w/ UPS is that we have supervisors and managers who DO NOT supervise enough!!!! So we keep letting the good employee's carry the weight for the employee's that say "they are doing the best they can" You left out the part that you need to follow the methods. And the methods say to work w/ a sense of urgency. Before you take another shot at me, you need to get your facts straight.
P.S. learn how to use spell check!

 

[teamsterdan]

(Teamsteran)???? and you think I need to use SP????? I do not believe that referencing another's name and quoting them directly constitutes "taking a shot" @ someone, but then again you live in a land where this type of tripe exists: ("do not use the "I'm doing the best I can" line.) regardless article 37 exists and was not only mutually agreed to but should be adhered to (along w/ the work methods)......I agree with you that "The problem w/ UPS is that we have supervisors and managers who DO NOT supervise enough!!!!" local centers and hubs are not given the opportunity to "work and apply their individual talents" they simply exist to "make the #'s work"....... I may or may not also agree with you, and do in fact happen to have a 22.3 job.....as far as the job being "stupid" again your frustration should be directed @ UPS for mutually agreeing to creating the jobs.....I simply won the bid, sorry....as far as anyone "hiding" if contract enforcement = hiding then that's what I'm doing and BTW those slackers that I do acknowledge exist, are screwing over their fellow workers more than MGT. anyway.....(unless mgt. is doing union work) the workers who do hustle and flow are rewarded w/ more work........

 

[20_smoke]

(Teamsteran)???? and you think I need to use SP????? I do not believe that referencing another's name and quoting them directly constitutes "taking a shot" @ someone, but then again you live in a land where this type of tripe exists: ("do not use the "I'm doing the best I can" line.) regardless article 37 exists and was not only mutually agreed to but should be adhered to (along w/ the work methods)......I agree with you that "The problem w/ UPS is that we have supervisors and managers who DO NOT supervise enough!!!!" local centers and hubs are not given the opportunity to "work and apply their individual talents" they simply exist to "make the #'s work"....... I may or may not also agree with you, and do in fact happen to have a 22.3 job.....as far as the job being "stupid" again your frustration should be directed @ UPS for mutually agreeing to creating the jobs.....I simply won the bid, sorry....as far as anyone "hiding" if contract enforcement = hiding then that's what I'm doing and BTW those slackers that I do acknowledge exist, are screwing over their fellow workers more than MGT. anyway.....(unless mgt. is doing union work) the workers who do hustle and flow are rewarded w/ more work........

How could tell you had a 22.3 job?? You also must be the worst shop stewart ever.

 

[browniehound]

stoavio,
When I started at UPS 8 years ago loading feeders I was about 30 LBS over weight and it was the middle of the summer. By the end of the summer I lost all the weight and havn't put it back on yet. And like Tie said there are some jerks out there, but my experiences with management have been mostly positive.