Was the tightest ship.

[sealbasher]

ive been driving for UPS for 16 years,12 in same area.If u ask me i think the ship is sinking.(In Canada anyway)

 

[rod]

"The tightest ship in the shipping business". That was a great motto while it lasted. (and at that time it was). Sure beats the hell out of "what can brown do for you" or some long haired dude sctatching on a friggin whiteboard.

 

[BLACKBOX]

I don't know if its time to "Abandon Ship" but lately now that customers have all these different options to ship their freight, now even my loyal customers whose been using UPS for years are now complaining when FDX or DHL gets there earlier than I do. You can't win'um all......but I don't doubt its time to go to "Battle Stations!".

 

[rockymtnupser]

I also have 16 years service and I think daily about the changes Ive witnessed at UPS. I only can wonder where we are headed. It really bothers me to see moral in our center at a all time low. It is apparent the new numbers are unreasonable. It is appaent our center manager is a puppet for someone in IE. It is apparent safety is only a issue for the 5 minute pcm. It is apparent our competition is doing things different. It is apparent its time for a change and the only thing that makes me smile is I know you guys in suits couldnt do my job for more than a couple weeks. And if you followed the methods youd blow your brains out after a week.

 

[brownmonster]

Do you mean to tell me that 350 pound guy from IE with his hands in his pockets couldn't outgun you? Cmon, he has the power of a clipboard and a calculator!

 

[tieguy]

I don't know if calling ourselves the "tightest ship" was necessarily a positive. Makes us sound cheap and makes us sound inflexible to the customers.

 

[RockyRogue]

It is apparent its time for a change and the only thing that makes me smile is I know you guys in suits couldnt do my job for more than a couple weeks. And if you followed the methods youd blow your brains out after a week.

I know this might make me sound like a snob or something but its not my intention. UPS as a business and corporate culture are built on industrial age principles. To an extent, there is no better way to found and run a company. However, as an organization it makes us cumbersome and unable to quickly adapt. As such, our competitors (FDX and DHL) are running literal circles around us. I was given an excellent article in a grad class recently about the evolution of management and how it could adapt to this very different age of business. I read the first paragraph and my eyebrows raised. I thought to myself, "This is UPS!" Included in that article were a few suggestions, one of which a lot of people here would love: get ride of the bulk of middle management. The article's justification was that these middle management people stifle or cause breaks in communication. I thought the article was interesting. I have it here somewhere...-Rocky

 

[Delivered]

I only can wonder where we are headed. It really bothers me to see moral in our center at a all time low. It is apparent the new numbers are unreasonable. It is appaent our center manager is a puppet for someone in IE. It is apparent safety is only a issue for the 5 minute pcm. It is apparent our competition is doing things different.

You are completely 100% correct !! Most of my Mgt Team would also agree with you I only wish they had to courage to not follow IE's direction and put in the amount of cars they know it takes to run the operation.

 

[ImpactedTSG]

I know you guys in suits couldnt do my job for more than a couple weeks. And if you followed the methods youd blow your brains out after a week.

and I bet you can rebuild a UDC workstation, configure an ODBC connection to a Visual Foxpro Database, or calibrate an IDS/EDS Scanner?

 

[toonertoo]

and I bet you can rebuild a UDC workstation, configure an ODBC connection to a Visual Foxpro Database, or calibrate an IDS/EDS Scanner?

Im thinking he was talking of operations not the techical side. This has totally nothing to do with what you guys do. You guys/gals in suits are not the problem.

 

[browniehound]

I also have 16 years service and I think daily about the changes Ive witnessed at UPS. I only can wonder where we are headed. It really bothers me to see moral in our center at a all time low. It is apparent the new numbers are unreasonable. It is appaent our center manager is a puppet for someone in IE. It is apparent safety is only a issue for the 5 minute pcm. It is apparent our competition is doing things different. It is apparent its time for a change and the only thing that makes me smile is I know you guys in suits couldnt do my job for more than a couple weeks. And if you followed the methods youd blow your brains out after a week.

Excellent posr roclymtn!,
I think we all got the PCM. Fed-ex grew at 14% and we only grew 4% volume-wise last year. Fed-ex is getting the good volume also, the business to business volume.

This is a big problem for us at UPS. I'm a driver and I agree that its everyone's problem at UPS. Its us against the competition for a secure future.

Here is where I disagree with management: getting more sales leads is not going to fix the problem. There is a reason why people are choosing DHL and Fed-ex over UPS. Do you believe this is happening because drivers are not putting in enough sales leads?

Yes, getting more sales leads will stem the tide, but there is a fundamental problem with UPS in the business world that makes customers use an alternative method of shipping.

I'm always on the lookout for sales leads. Problem is, I've exhuasted all opportunities in my area as of March 23. I got my first route this year and everyone either uses UPS or is "satisfied with the competition". I can't give anymore sales leads for now because there is none to be had.

My opinion is we need Mike Eskew to solve this problem. From a previous thread I believe he made a salary of over $4million for 2006. We need people with this type of brain power to knock down the competition. What is the management commitee doing to get our volume back (besides telling drivers to get sales leads and renaming the program "Take Charge" ) What is the board of directors doing to increase the value of the stock?
I keep hearing from management that everyone needs to their part in growing the volume. Us drivers have done our part. Now its corporate's turn. Don't ya think????

 

[browniehound]

They came up with PAS/EDD to help beat the compition. It failed miserably. The company invested hundred's of million's of dollars into a technology that wreaks more havoc in an operation than creates smoothness.

What do driver's save: not much, we all still need to sort the truck. How does it help the preload? More misloads. Under the old system, we might get 1 or 2 misloads per weak. Now each car is getting 2-4 per day

Why? becuase nobody knows the addresses anymore. It amazes me that UPS did not test this out in the largest center in the country before investing hundred's of $$millions on this. They probably ran their tests on centers running 10-20 cars instead of a major hub with 200+ cars in it.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Management is just trying to polish the brass on the Titanic, But it's all goin' down man.

 

[Covemastah]

I don't know if calling ourselves the "tightest ship" was necessarily a positive. Makes us sound cheap and makes us sound inflexible to the customers.

i have to disagree with you on that one tie!! it was meant to say we have a great company thats in tip top shape good rep clean vehicles and planes and clean cut drivers!ups was telling the customers that this is a tight ship unlike the post office and the fairley new fedex at that time!!

 

[over9five]

"..trying to polish the brass on the Titanic.."

LOL! Nice analogy.

 

[30andout]

I don't know if calling ourselves the "tightest ship" was necessarily a positive. Makes us sound cheap and makes us sound inflexible to the customers.

We are inflexible now that we have PAS/EDD we tell the receiving customers things like "someone has to be first and someone has to be last". Or also I have heard "we have a business to run also and this the most efficient time I can get here." These come from management not drivers who are told to rum trace.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

We are inflexible now that we have PAS/EDD we tell the receiving customers things like "someone has to be first and someone has to be last". Or also I have heard "we have a business to run also and this the most efficient time I can get here." These come from management not drivers who are told to rum trace.

You all are making something out of nothing here. Where does it say UPS isn't the best shipping company anymore? Fortune magazine? All those magazine rankings are a bunch of crap. In the overall category FedEx is ranked higher yet in the industry ranking UPS is #1??? Doesn't make sense to me. I don't see anything else out there that would make me think FedEx is better.

 

[satellitedriver]

I don't know if calling ourselves the "tightest ship" was necessarily a positive. Makes us sound cheap and makes us sound inflexible to the customers.

It always made me think that it could be a quote from Capt. Bligh.

 

[local804]

Imo I like the "tighest ship in the shipping business" much better than "syncronizing global commerce" anyday of the week!

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

I'm not so sure FedEx is anywhere close to knocking UPS out of the saddle when it comes to service but I think they are doing a better job of advertising and brand management. UPS's approach is way to corporate compared to FedEx's approach.