Management Buy-out and Pension cut

[constructively dissatisfi]

Eskew seems to be making up for lost time. He must realize that he doesn't have much time left, and his legacy is a dismal failure. The only CEO in UPS history who hasn't increased the share price. His Strategic Process Management deal to make Corp more efficient was a total flop. They hired hordes of consultants to plan it all out, and then left the same knuckleheads in charge who caused all the bloat to begin with. Within a few months after "implementation" it was back to business as usual. The same is occurring now. The failures who caused the problems at SCS, e.g. Stoffel, Romanella, et al are just being shuffled around. Why aren't they gone? His PAS project hasn't delivered the promised results and we continue to pour money down that rathole. We put yet another beancounter in charge of IS. It seems as though IS senior management has become an alternate career path for beancounters who weren't getting anywhere in accounting. Why don't we have technology people running IS and why aren't we holding them accountable for delivering an ROI on the billions we're spending?

 

[jehardrock]

An announcement on Monday, 12/11? This happens to be my 50th birthday. I am 1 grade below 18. I'll either be saved by the bell or a day late and a dollar short. OR not impacted at all. We'll see.
1 or or or

And to add to the madness....management has this policy of promoting on relo-yes individuals which leaves many qualified individuals out of the running for leading this company into the future.....big mistake.

 

[alwaysaware]

Made some calls last night. A lot of 'rumors' floating - some totally absurd. The 80 (age + years of service) factor seems to be the front runner, but again all rumors some without substance. I think Monday is going to come and go without any announcements.

Could it be the SS Eskew has hit some rough seas and while he's down below playing beer pong shouting orders to whomever all these rumors are flying. Would love to see Jim Casey come back from the great beyond so he can give his all to Mike.

2005 Reportback Mike said we were in trouble - then came 'Project Lead' another flop. 2006 he says 'Wow - we survived'. I have met a lot of harworking dedicated UPS partners (remember that word) since joining UPS. Then there are the rich fat cats sitting around talking about the good ole days, looking over other people shoulders telling them they aren't doing anything all the while they are on EBAY or Amazon or posting baseless rumors.

Wall Street broke down our door in 99 to beg us to go public. We did and whenever we sneeze, Wall Stret kicks out tush. Accountaability folks..... .

If we were to announce something, it would be when we announce 4th quarter results (end of January). Too late to rush to the accountants to book some line items. Bean Counters - would love to see them out on a route. Kelly - he walked the walk....

I'm no millionare sitting at a lunch table bragging about it..... Just a person who still thinks UPS is a good place to be looking at our management team wondering when they will retire....

Enjoy your weekend - I am....

 

[jehardrock]

If these buyout rumors are true, does anyone know if they are taxable or can you rollover such a thing into a 401K? I know that the buyouts offered by GM recently were taxed heavily. If that's the case it's not very appealing.

 

[ups44]

UPS changed the management rehire policy for a reason - lay off now as needed, rehire later as needed.

UPS implemented the RSUs for a reason - hold back MIP, raise the retirement age, mgmt can't leave without substancial loss. RSU awards ONLY for death, disability, retirement.

UPS implemented the 401k match for a reason - reduce pension.

UPS has not met the $600m yearly savings target of PAS. Reductions of management will give this a boost.

Add it all up. It's been in the works for a feww years.

At least a portion will be announced on Monday. I anticipate more changes will follow, including changes/buyout of additional management level and teamster pensions.

 

[Coldworld]

If you were a grade 18, what level of management is that. Someone like to share?

 

[Coldworld]

Is it too late to get back to the basics of this company or has the upper crust dug the ups grave too deep??

 

[fixerguy]

Grade 18's are division mangers

 

[alwaysaware]

I have to agree with anonymous cow I am. A PCM won't be done - nor will any announcement be made on Monday. Also, Do calculations based on all of the rumors - My calcs go from 53K to 497K. Go Figure.

Anyway - I think (from Yahoo message board) that Scott had a loose mouth about cost reductions and it's avalanced into the age old pension/buy-out rumor. Possibly wishful thinking. We (UPS) still haven't learned to play with the runners on Wall Street. We act like we are still private - Which would should of stayed as..!!!!

I see changes in 2008 - maybe even board changes - anyone hear those?? Here is one: Apparently Scott Davis is already out and gone.....

Some changes are needed - Unfortunatley, we need people who can execute as opposed to 'cow-towing' to Wall Street yuppies who want big year-end cash bonuses if they know they can bend and twist a company that cannot play with the wall Street 'players'.

And think about this: anything said or done affects 10% of OUR, yes OUR company. That's what wall street has it's hand on. Maybe they are looking for the remaining 90%.

Again - Enjoy your weekend... These rumors are approaching insanity levels. Think of all the rumors that came out after the strike in 1997....!!!!! They never happened...

Amen...

 

[Tarnsman]

I heard the age was 52 and applies to all management...This is to avoid a class action suit.....For sake of discussion lets assume of a 36 year supervisor, manager, div manager & district manager with monthly salaries of 6,000, 7000, 9000 and 15000 respectively.....That would yield into an annuity of in millions 1.0, 1.1, 1.5 and 2.5.........Figure an annual yield of 6% and you can see where the managers & supervisors are at a disadvantage.............If my figures are somewhat off its not by much.......

 

[sendagain]

Get some account executives that can actually go out there and market this company to businesses large and "small," then actually hold them to results. I can't tell you the years I worked without ever seeing an account executive on my area, while FedEx had three trucks making pickups on my route. Cut all the fat that doesn't really help our business get the packages picked up and delivered. Cut the BS that doesn't give the drivers flexibility to give great service, and find a way to get some part time future drivers out there making pickups. There's no incentive to get more volume when you can barely meet your deadlines with what you already have. If you have to bargain with the union, fine, but do what you have to do to make us competitive with the competition.

 

[BIGBROWN42]

the management that leave the better chance we newcomers have. I say see ya!

 

[newyorker]

Saw where?

 

[brownblood]

Grade 18s can also be region and/or district staff sometimes.

 

[wtf]

An announcement on Monday, 12/11? This happens to be my 50th birthday. I am 1 grade below 18. I'll either be saved by the bell or a day late and a dollar short. OR not impacted at all. We'll see.
1 or or or

And to add to the madness....management has this policy of promoting on relo-yes individuals which leaves many qualified individuals out of the running for leading this company into the future.....big mistake.

Several years ago, I asked my boss if UPS had 200 candidates for promotion, and the "top 100" did not want to relocate, would the company move on to the "bottom 100" and promote those candidates. His answer was an emphatic yes. Now it seems we are reaping the fruits of those kinds of decisions. Our organization needs people to move around and go to where they are needed. No question. But jehardrock is right. Qualified individuals are immediately out of the running because they're a "NO". Partnership is gone. United Parcel Service, the company Casey founded, has morphed into something it was never meant to be. If you're a long-time UPSer, management or non-management, you should be rethinking your long term plan. Buyout or not, good people are planning on leaving UPS for other opportunities. Mid-management turnover was almost non-existent in years past. Not anymore. I for one am skeptical about any large scale buyout. Too many people would take it.

 

[Captain1987]

Grade 18 = Division Manager

 

[tieguy]

Several years ago, I asked my boss if UPS had 200 candidates for promotion, and the "top 100" did not want to relocate, would the company move on to the "bottom 100" and promote those candidates. His answer was an emphatic yes. Now it seems we are reaping the fruits of those kinds of decisions. Our organization needs people to move around and go to where they are needed. No question. But jehardrock is right. Qualified individuals are immediately out of the running because they're a "NO". Partnership is gone. United Parcel Service, the company Casey founded, has morphed into something it was never meant to be. If you're a long-time UPSer, management or non-management, you should be rethinking your long term plan. Buyout or not, good people are planning on leaving UPS for other opportunities. Mid-management turnover was almost non-existent in years past. Not anymore. I for one am skeptical about any large scale buyout. Too many people would take it.

Very good post. I do agree the partnership concept is gone. This company as we know it is gone. We now sell our soul to the whims of the public stockholder. Just think we now do hostile takeovers where we buy a company , dump its people gut it and move components. All while the stock continues to flounder. So we can't really say that we sold our soul to devil for riches because the stock has not responded like we hoped.

We changed the MIP rewards system because we as a company said the management team was not focused on the right elements. We were focused too much on net profit and not enough on the implementation of acquisitions? I could be wrong but it appears the public stock market also responds to the net profit numbers.

As we see on this web site and others many of our people are proud to wear brown proud to represent the brown machine but hate us the managment group. Despite the fact we have more employee relations activities then we ever did.

So we are in a process of change from what we once were. I hope that the person behind the green curtain is pushing the right buttons. If not then 100 years may become a milestone celebration of the end or the beginning of the end.

 

[Coldworld]

Tie, what the hell do you expect. From your posts, you really do seem like a manager that most drivers would love to have on their management team. Im sure that much of the bs that drivers and hub alike have to deal with come from several levels above or from corporate. This company has had the same management style for the last 100 years, Do what we say, even if it is contrary to making money or else...period. Yes, this company had done well. I think some management credit the "do it or else" management style for the growth where the early growth was because of no competion and that the post office lacked services. There has never been any solid effort to ask drivers or local area management for ideas on how to grow the business. Remember tla's, at least you could spend an hour a year year asking questions about the company and give ideas about certain aspects of the company...not any more. One could say that the ERI is an effective way of relaying to the conpany different things but that probably is used more for you management bonuses and as a excuse to not give you a good bonus for having a failing score....again more excuses. This post could go on and on, people dont care about this company like they should. Going public was a problem, spending absured millions on a failed pas system, competition certanly is a problem even though some drivers are willing to bust their ass harder to get more volume without any help from management. It goes on and on and on. Tie another thing that i have seen in 14 years here is the lost of any responsibility of the center manager in any decisions of day to day business. At one time, center teams were the ones that dictated the amounts of routes run. And by no means did they put in extras unless they were needed. Not anymore. This is all forced by IE, without even going into a center and seeing the volume not being able to fit into cars. Im really surprised that some ideas about this company arent changing. The driver- customer relationship really isnt utilized to its fullest potential. Local management-drivers relationships are poor at best. Feeder-Pkg management seem to disagree about different things along with two different types of management styles, at least in my area. Tie, if you had 5 things that you could change about this company, that would they be. Your the ceo here for a day, These are things that have to be realistic and could be implemented within a year or so. I really would like to know what you think. This is not a personal bash from prior posts you seem like a manager I would like to have on my team.

 

[beentheredonethat]

Tie, if you had 5 things that you could change about this company, that would they be. Your the ceo here for a day, These are things that have to be realistic and could be implemented within a year or so. I really would like to know what you think. This is not a personal bash from prior posts you seem like a manager I would like to have on my team.

OK, I'm not Tie, but I am a manager and I have a few ideas I'd like to throw out. #1. Increase capacity in our hubs. We need some new hub facilities in key areas that can process large amounts of volume per hour to handle the growth we need in our ground network. The new hubs we build need to be automated for many reasons including reducing the need of PT hourly which we usually have in short supply.
#2. Increase capacity in our Air network. We have intentionally not bid on certain contracts because our air network couldn't handle the extra volume. Granted this was a customer that is a retail customer so the volume would have been huge at peak, which is a strained system as it is. Capacity is needed in terms of both lift (total pkgs we can handle) and in pickup time. By pickup I mean additional small gateways so that our pkg ctrs in some areas can have later pickup times to compete with FDX. #3. Dividend. To pay for the above 2 items, I would have brought the dividend back to where it was (almost 1/2). I'd rather take the money spent in dividends and put it back into long term investment in the company. This will pay off in long term dividends for UPS vs short term cash dividends. #4. Conference Calls - Get rid of more then half of them. Most operations mgrs in the centers don't pay attention to them since they are a rehash of what they already know. (at least for the good ones). Let the mgrs spend more time on running and growing their business. #5. This last one wouldn't be popular. But I'd want to get more PT Drivers. We have a great need based on our customers demand of early delivery and late pickup. I'd want to have a PT driver work to deliver both ground and air in the morning. Another PTer using the same car as in the AM to work Pickup of ground\air. The above was my CEO for the day suggestions. I have a sixth idea. We need to work with our people to find a good long term solution for the pension problem covered by Teamster plans. I am not suggesting a bail out. But our people who have worked long and hard deserve a comfortable retirement. I truly believe that enough money was set aside for a good pension for our people but it has been mismanaged. For too long UPS management wasn't involved in sitting on the boards of the Teamster pension plans. I don' t know the answer. But this needs to be dealt with immediately.

 

[yankswinagain]

Annoucement made available on Monday to the impacted people at set levels of "upper" management. There has been some scrambling this past week to try and make that go smoothly.

Rumors have indeed been all over the place - buy out, pension change, lay offs, pension termination....

On that note... rememer that by law any Pension Plan change requires notice to those impacted and set scheduled needs to be followed. There are filings that need to be made with PBGC. Since this WOULD be a standard termination of the plan (since the plan is not insolvent), UPS would have to make a good effort to find all past employees due a benefit, etc.

Many of my peers feel that a plan change would be the last thing holding them at UPS (health plan changes, low wages and raises, MIP change, going public, flat stock price, longer hours, etc.). If UPS wants to cut staff by 20% or some such number, then it may happen by good old quitting...