How should company fix peak problems?

[Catatonic]

For those with pick up strings, wouldn't it have been nice to have kept delivering all day without any interruptions?
Yes! If our center had p/t personnel covering driver pickups for us this would have made for a smoother peak.
All or maybe the mid to heavy shippers. It was very frustrating to make P/U with a truck half full of deliveries.

That sounds like a good idea but unfortunately, there was a severe shortage of rental trucks available.
Part of the Perfect Storm.

 

[bbsam]

UPS understands that they cannot compete with Slumdog FedEx Ground and is betting their future on Logistics and International transportation.

Are you morphing into MFE?

 

[bbsam]

And we were told this morning that we will be getting a 1 million piece release from Amazon to help with the backlog, so...you're welcome.

 

[Catatonic]

Are you morphing into MFE?

No reason to get that insulting!
Overboard!

 

[Catatonic]

And we were told this morning that we will be getting a 1 million piece release from Amazon to help with the backlog, so...you're welcome.

Good, I'll checkout my order that been in the cart for a week.
FedEx Ground is still better than LaserShip.

 

[SignificantOwner]

For those with pick up strings, wouldn't it have been nice to have kept delivering all day without any interruptions?
Yes! If our center had p/t personnel covering driver pickups for us this would have made for a smoother peak.
All or maybe the mid to heavy shippers. It was very frustrating to make P/U with a truck half full of deliveries.

But that would reduce stops per car.

 

[tacken]

Please all drivers just smile and bend over, And remember be safe out there.

 

[purplesky]

Any proposals to fix these issues are hindered by our limited capacity. The building I work out of is less than 10 years old and we have already outgrown it. Short of parking rentals outside and extending rollers to load them there is little more that can be done.

The 53s are a big problem for many UPS hubs. If 53s are going to be the feeder future than billions will have to be spent on building expansions to handle these long ass trailers.

The new hubs were obviously designed to handle the 53s and those huge chinese rail boxes.

In INDY I heard they used 4 additional lots to store trailers and had a 2 mile long line of trucks to get into that main hub.

 

[andrew99]

Any proposals to fix these issues are hindered by our limited capacity. The building I work out of is less than 10 years old and we have already outgrown it. Short of parking rentals outside and extending rollers to load them there is little more that can be done.

Most of these deliveries are driver release, right? If ups had decent GPS, you could deliver that at night. Run a cut-car when there's enough DR eligible packages, and have the resident shift's p/t box line sorter go deliver 30-60 stops and then cut out with 8 hours.

Bring more attention to the customer counters available at UPS. Are they open 24 hours a day for xmas? Most people don't know they could have their 1-3pm delivery moved to the counter at their local center for pickup at 8:00 am.

A lot of centers aren't like mine, and don't have customer counters. Another capacity / infrastructure problem? Either way, it comes down to a calculated risk, and it probably wa$n't worth it. What is worth it, if even when you don't deliver you still get your$.

 

[JL 0513]

One lesson from this year's peak? As expensive as air shipping is, it is clearly not expensive enough. At least as far as Christmas week goes. Amazon Prime customers get "free" 2nd day air shipping? That's nuts.

Could UPS not put a hefty premium on air shipping starting the week before Christmas? Naturally, FedEx/USPS would have to follow. And shippers like Amazon needs to not offer such premium shipping for free.

That was the main problem this year. Late air. Standard ground wasn't the issue. You gotta make it so that millions of people don't wait until the 22nd and 23rd to ship their crap. Sorry, but I say make it unaffordable or not worth it for most. Control the situation. If people know this going in, they'll order early as if they have a brain.

 

[Catatonic]

One lesson from this year's peak? As expensive as air shipping is, it is clearly not expensive enough. At least as far as Christmas week goes. Amazon Prime customers get "free" 2nd day air shipping? That's nuts.

It's free 2 day shipping.
Because of Amazon's extensive DC network, that means it is usually ground.

 

[JL 0513]

It's free 2 day shipping.
Because of Amazon's extensive DC network, that means it is usually ground.

OK, thanks for clarifying.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

It looks like the dirty media cloud has cleared and I know my building has been allowed to work casuals for 2 more weeks. There were some good ideas here but we will probably never know what will be implemented until Fall 2014.

UPS is going to have to concentrate on keeping the shippers we have that have made statements in the media about our service. Without these, any move UPS makes will not matter because they will be absent from our system.

I find it ironic that in 4 days, we celebrate a holiday that reflects on the past year and makes resolutions for the upcoming year. Just in time for our company !!

 

[HBGPreloader]

I have to say that there were a lot of interesting replies - some good, some bad and, perhaps, a couple show that people really don't have a clue about running a business.

The fact is UPS is a for-profit corporation and they exist for only one purpose - to make a profit for their shareholders. Without that profit, UPS wouldn't exist.

There were, essentially, three factors that caused these delays - weather being one; the lack of resources being another; and (late) consumer demand being the final and most damaging factor.

Ordering more equipment, expanding centers and hiring more permanent employees to accomodate what is essentially a rush for a few weeks out of the year is just not cost effective.

I don't know the exact numbers. But, you have to figure that even 1 or 2 more vehicles for each center will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars. When you add in additional trained staff, more equipment and expansions, the costs would likely be billions - if not more.

IMHO, the best comment by far is what TUT said..
"Put a reasonable "Order By/Ship By" Deadline out to the industry..."
Essentially, try your best to control your customers expectations. And, if anything, under-promise and over-deliver.

It may not be the perfect solution. However, that and the usual additional seasonal preps, is a cost effective solution that would be more pleasing to the shareholders and a little more palatable to the customer.

For the record though, I do agree that the company is pushing workers a little too hard. And, in many circumstances, a little expansion would help the bottom line.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

When the CEO and CFO go on business news media and tell them we have a week less this year than last year in peak but will only hire the same amount of seasonals, and then we fail. That's a big issue

I think KOC can point us out to a thread made in November

 

[Indecisi0n]

I have to say that there were a lot of interesting replies - some good, some bad and, perhaps, a couple show that people really don't have a clue about running a business.

The fact is UPS is a for-profit corporation and they exist for only one purpose - to make a profit for their shareholders. Without that profit, UPS wouldn't exist.

There were, essentially, three factors that caused these delays - weather being one; the lack of resources being another; and (late) consumer demand being the final and most damaging factor.

Ordering more equipment, expanding centers and hiring more permanent employees to accomodate what is essentially a rush for a few weeks out of the year is just not cost effective.

I don't know the exact numbers. But, you have to figure that even 1 or 2 more vehicles for each center will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars. When you add in additional trained staff, more equipment and expansions, the costs would likely be billions - if not more.

IMHO, the best comment by far is what TUT said..
"Put a reasonable "Order By/Ship By" Deadline out to the industry..."
Essentially, try your best to control your customers expectations. And, if anything, under-promise and over-deliver.

It may not be the perfect solution. However, that and the usual additional seasonal preps, is a cost effective solution that would be more pleasing to the shareholders and a little more palatable to the customer.

For the record though, I do agree that the company is pushing workers a little too hard. And, in many circumstances, a little expansion would help the bottom line.

There is no reason why people should still be driving manual 8 cubes from 1980. The trucks are not only hell on the body they are straight up not safe. Greed is the only reason they are still here. I can understand wanting to Get every single penny out of everything we have but not when it becomes unsafe. New trucks not only making doing the job easier year round but it makes the driver much more efficient at his job.

 

[Brownslave688]

When the CEO and CFO go on business news media and tell them we have a week less this year than last year in peak but will only hire the same amount of seasonals, and then we fail. That's a big issue

I think KOC can point us out to a thread made in November

Yeah cramming more into an already overloaded was supposed to make us more efficient. What a joke.

 

[104Feeder]

Unfortunately, having industry best wages, healthcare, pension and other benefits is contra-indicative to the goals you express.
Many drivers in the last contract talks indicated they would be willing to give some of their wages and other compensation if there was language regarding hours worked.
I don't recall this being negotiated into the contract up for final approval.
Unfortunately, I don't see any remedies for your situation being implemented by UPS since there is a cost associated with adding drivers.
Hopefully 2014 brings some positive changes.

Correction: Many(?) Brown Cafe Users in the last contract talks indicated they would be willing to give some of their wages and other compensation if there was language regarding hours worked.

That was never an official contract proposal.

 

[104Feeder]

Is Fox News going to start saying "UPS Drivers are the footsoldiers in the War on Christmas!"

 

[bottomups]

Is Fox News going to start saying "UPS Drivers are the footsoldiers in the War on Christmas!"

Look at the bright side. Maybe we won't have to hear about Benghazi for a few days.