When Did the Decline Start?

[quad decade guy]

UPS offered to take over the pension then. In hindsight it would have been a good thing. But people trusted the company even less than the union which demonstrates the work environment at the time.

But in some ways, it is the same. Some of those awful things too.

 

[quad decade guy]

started when the company went public. Like someone said use to be military like with appearance standards look at the drivers now it is terrible the way some of them look.

Well, dropping the appearance standards was the best thing that ever happened to drivers....in my opinion. It just eliminated any worry about shaving or any of that nonsense. When we had to shave, we still had unattractive, clean shaven ugly people.

 

[charm299]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

My dad is a retired driver and he started in 1973, he said it’s been a show since he started.

 

[Wontmake9.5]

It started going to crap when we as a nation became too sensitive. Can’t tell anyone how to dress or look anymore because they have feelings. It’s not just ups it’s this nation

 

[Wally]

Well, dropping the appearance standards was the best thing that ever happened to drivers....in my opinion. It just eliminated any worry about shaving or any of that nonsense. When we had to shave, we still had unattractive, clean shaven ugly people.

Don't talk about our gals like that.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

The strike didn’t help but if corporate haven’t decided to sell out and go public we would have recovered from it.

I’d say going public and deciding to continue to have their lips surgically attached to Amazon’s ass was the two silver bullets that have done us in. For that FedEx Ground will be king in the very near future. Did you see how much more their volume increase for 2020 was? It dwarfed ours.

 

[oldngray]

The strike didn’t help but if corporate haven’t decided to sell out and go public we would have recovered from it.

I’d say going public and deciding to continue to have their lips surgically attached to Amazon’s ass was the two silver bullets that have done us in. For that FedEx Ground will be king in the very near future. Did you see how much more their volume increase for 2020 was? It dwarfed ours.

FedEx Ground is more in competition with Amazon delivery than with UPS. If anyone gets killed it will be FedEx Ground.

 

[PT 4 Life]

I was told by the older guys that people had more pride working for ups back then. Now it just looked at as you had no other option. Lol it’s like that biggie smalls line “don’t worry ups is always hiring”

 

[burrheadd]

My friend started recently and he is not taking his breaks most of the time and he runs. He still hasnt hit 3 month senority. It works though, all the other new guys that have more days than him are not being called in right now and he's always in.

The day he gets his call to "officially join" he will close his mirrors and look both ways before taking each step to a house.

Same for me, i started in covid peak and i did more than all the new guys. Most of them are stuck on rentals in non-official runs or are gone. Now i work like a guy that has 30 years while still not being an ass when im asked to do something.


i think it's important to perform before you officially get in. Not even a year in and i basically switch between the best 2 splits of my city(better than any of the bid routes, one of them is 95% resi and 350k$+ houses) and i cover people in my city. Only 1 run sucks badly and the guy is always there. The others are not great but once you know them they arent terrible days either.

The sooner you learn to play the game the better off you’ll be

 

[UPSER1987]

It probably started going to crap when people with less than a year of seniority started whining and crying about all the things a 20 year vet had that they didn’t. Along with the changes in management compensation, at least ORS and center manager used to have done the job for a decade, now you get some 30 year old punk who hasn’t delivered or loaded for more than a month that doesn’t understand that you’re in it for the long haul not just yesterday’s numbers. Also when I started, the center manager and ORS’s could actually make decisions that would make a day go smoother, now they are puppets for the stock holders and pretty much can’t even tie their own shoes.

I would have to agree with all of this.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

FedEx Ground is more in competition with Amazon delivery than with UPS. If anyone gets killed it will be FedEx Ground.

Amazon isn’t taking pickup volume from us. FedEx Ground is. I watched it in real time throughout 2020 as many of our pickup accounts started using them. Their volume increased nearly 60% last year while our growth was a fraction of that.

 

[Brownslave688]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

There had already been a bit of a shift but things really ramped up during the recession.

 

[Brownslave688]

started when the company went public. Like someone said use to be military like with appearance standards look at the drivers now it is terrible the way some of them look.

Who cares? It’s not like it’s hurting the business and has nothing to do with the question at hand.

 

[Brownslave688]

It probably started going to crap when people with less than a year of seniority started whining and crying about all the things a 20 year vet had that they didn’t. Along with the changes in management compensation, at least ORS and center manager used to have done the job for a decade, now you get some 30 year old punk who hasn’t delivered or loaded for more than a month that doesn’t understand that you’re in it for the long haul not just yesterday’s numbers. Also when I started, the center manager and ORS’s could actually make decisions that would make a day go smoother, now they are puppets for the stock holders and pretty much can’t even tie their own shoes.

In their defense unions are supposed to everyone is equal.

Day I quit school my grandpa told me get a union job. Everyone is the same after 30 days. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been there 30 years or you sweep floors.

 

[Brownslave688]

It probably started going to crap when people with less than a year of seniority started whining and crying about all the things a 20 year vet had that they didn’t. Along with the changes in management compensation, at least ORS and center manager used to have done the job for a decade, now you get some 30 year old punk who hasn’t delivered or loaded for more than a month that doesn’t understand that you’re in it for the long haul not just yesterday’s numbers. Also when I started, the center manager and ORS’s could actually make decisions that would make a day go smoother, now they are puppets for the stock holders and pretty much can’t even tie their own shoes.

Awhile back we were told telematics are gonna get very serious. center manager “I get asked every time there’s a seatbelt infraction why that person still has a job”

Me: maybe have your boss read the contract. Smh.

 

[Bratty Brown]

Davette , You’ve worked at UPS for one year , and from Canada

That's only 9 months with the exchange rate.

 

[542thruNthru]

I know the exact day that everything fell apart at UPS.

May 7th 2018.

Since then UPS has not been able to recover and it's all down hill from now on.

Some of you may remember that day.

 

[Indecisi0n]

@rod

 

[No1 Special]

If IRC it was Oz Nelson that caused the strike. That's when it started down hill.

 

[Brownslave688]

I know the exact day that everything fell apart at UPS.

May 7th 2018.

Since then UPS has not been able to recover and it's all down hill from now on.

Some of you may remember that day.

You were hired?