It has been a long time since I posted in this forum, so long that I am no longer recognized by my former username-interested. I had to re-register as, Iconoclast.
Let's be honest here PAS is just the title of the problem, the real issue is apathy from management, on all issues related to BIG BROWN. TIE, you and I have gone a few rounds over the years and I have to agree with DAMMOR on this, you are just spoiling for a fight with CANON.
Your passive aggressive games fool no one, and they are much, much more harmful than a poorly looped route, or too much volume for a green preloader. Your attitude insults, demeans and demoralizes good, honest, hardworking people who have legitimate reasons to be fed up, vocal and frustrated. You asked a question of the forum and of Canon specifically-What have we learned from this thread - I'll tell you what we learned-PAS SUCKS, period. It isn’t because UPS doesn't know how to fix it, there have been a legion of really good suggestions in this thread alone - based on observation, solid fact, and real life experiences of people who work in the system every day. These are not new to UPS at large, discussions of this caliber go on every day in centers, preloads, sort aisles, package cars, taverns etc.
The problem is one that has plagued this company for years-management has been bred to rely on a chain of command. There is no autonomy or incentive for management to operate outside of those boundaries, there never has been, and there doesn't appear to be any plans to do so in the foreseeable future.
Each center manager and their respective teams could vastly improve the performance of his/her center if they were to dedicate a specific amount of time to only PAS. But, alas, your day is not your own at UPS. So what if you have 30 years experience in the operation, your drivers and sups trust you, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you could make PAS work - given the time and resources to do so, but you are not allowed to deviate from your planned day, not without oodles of red tape. It is sad that it has to be qualified in this sentence, but I don't mean by deviation taking a day or two, I mean coming off of your planned day for a month or more straight, every day, and get this-it's your decision to do that. Yeah, you keep your boss in the loop, but largely it's your decision. After all, when we read this thread almost everyone agrees that the input of those who use the system every day is critical. What kind of organization is it that has all of these resources at its disposal and won't allow the front line management who are the most capable of fixing PAS to do so? It absolutely boggles the mind, it is almost beyond the ability of Christ himself to comprehend.
Know this sad fact - PAS was an investment in billions for the organization and it has definitively, and in no uncertain terms, hurt, yes hurt, the overall service of UPS and ultimately its share price.
I don't know if anything could be worse than that, except, the attitude of most managers (its certainly not just you Tie) that make PAS and all other issues worse by viciously demeaning the morale of the entire organization by telling people to be positive.
Nothing about change is easy, it is hard, confrontational and brutal. Anyone who has ever successfully changed something in their lives knows that. Anything worth doing right is hard. Let me tell you, if everyone in this company, management especially, started to voice their anger and frustration, began to stand up to their managers and demand change in the PAS system, even at the expense of possibly losing their jobs, then I guarantee you PAS would work, and quick!!
Would it be the best thing for individual members of the management team to jeopardize their livelihood, probably not. Would it be the best thing for UPS and the shareholder-Damn right-it would finally bring about change. Every time we see a FedEx ground truck or a DHL car we have no one to thank but ourselves.
The UPS all pervasive attitude of - Don't rock the boat - go with the flow, - be positive - cover your own a** has absolutely crushed this company in the last 50 years. It has castrated our management team and allowed us to be outflanked in almost every battle we have fought to remain on top in our industry. The industry we invented for God's sake!!
To think that with our infrastructure, and our ability to control the price point of moving small packages, that these other companies were allowed into our marketplace, we should be ashamed.
I think that the old saying that - wherever there is inefficiency, there is great opportunity was designed for UPS.