How far in the hierarchy does the incompetence spread?

[moreluck]

Your last 6 words answered your own question.

 

[MonavieLeaker]

The way UPS has dealt with the recent bad weather in WA and OR is insulting. No one expects deliveries to proceed at normal pace when there's a snowstorm, but UPS seems to have fallen on their ass and enjoys the show of their own falling apart.

They are now days behind and on top of that they are working at reduced capacity. Not only packages aren't delivered (some residential neighborhoods are still covered in slush, although all main roads in Seattle are fine) but people are told they cannot pick theirs up at the local distribution centers. My package has been stuck in the Seattle UPS center for 5 days now and I keep hearing the same things when I call - due to bad weather (there hasn't been any new bad weather since last Sunday) we stopped all ground deliveries, etc etc. Apparently, because of the "concerns related to the safety of the employees" they don't allow people to come and pick up their parcels either. This doesn't make much sense; people would gladly drive in the snow to the local UPS center and stay in line to pick up their packages, and UPS can easily beef up support at those facilities by paying overtime rates to a handful of employees.

I was finally able to get a manager on the phone who admitted they were 7 days behind with the deliveries. How is it possible that a company the size of UPS, with their considerable logistical and material resources goes belly up over three days of heavy snowing? A snowstorm is a rare event in Seattle, so someone on the Midwest or Northeast tell me, does UPS perform that poorly every winter? Is this snowstorm just a convenient cover up for the fact that they can't cope with the volume of holiday deliveries anyway?

It's during crisis situations when companies gain or lose the respect of their customers. UPS has certainly lost mine. I wish I could say I will never use UPS again, but unfortunately I have no choice. I'd feel better about this if at least UPS would not bombard ups with all the work-ethic ads, "what can brown do for you" etc, who extol the virtues of the business and the idea that the customer is King and always gets their service on time. Nobody at UPS cares when the customer gets their delivery; most times things just work fine, but when they fail, they fail monumentally. What's the customer got to do, it's not like there are so many alternatives...

Incidentally, a Google search for the sentence "UPS sucks" yields 15,300 results today. Searching for "FedEx sucks" yields only 7,470 results. Which means that UPS sucks roughly twice as much as FedEx.

Happy holidays!

 

[MonavieLeaker]

I have a question. The term troll is used here a lot and I know it refers to trolling in fishing where you drag a line slowly to see what bites.

What would someone gain by making up a story just to elicit responses? Wouldn't they just be wasting their own time?

There is no reward on this or any other site for having people respond to your posts is there?

I know that clown BBAG used to just make up stories and see who answererd. Is it really just boredom on their part or a complete lack of a real life.

Part boredom part having no life

 

[Mike Hawk]

if your employees are buried in snow and not coming to work during the work week then they won't show on the weekends either.

There have been very few "snowed in" calls on the preload or from the driver pool, can't speak for the local sort. Current employees showing up is not the issue, we just don't have nearly enough of them because management took the gamble that there would be no snow and did not hire extra peak help, they lost big time.

Other problem would be your drivers can't go out since they are probably out of hours. Run them on Sunday and they might be out or close to out by Friday.

With Xmas last week and New Years this week a Sunday sort would be the first of 5 working days, not the sixth.

If the roads are clean then working weekends is a good idea if the most of your secondary roads are still covered then working weekends would be a waste.

Let me explain the situation, as of now all drivers go out with about twice what they can accomplish in 12 hours, in the snow. Why you ask? So some stupid number on a report shows up, now these drivers are less productive digging through their trucks all day because they are brickloaded. Some areas are still snowed in, but the rest of them are OK to deliver, the drivers just don't have enough time to deliver because of the previously stated reasons.

 

[BigFatRat]

I'm glad we all had a good time. I will let you know when I get my package, then we can all start another heated thread, where you call me a troll but you still can't stop responding. It's time to reveal my true identity... I am indeed the president of FedEx - like you so astutely deduced - and just wanted to bash the competition because of my own company's inability to deliver. They are going to fire me because I blamed God for my incompetence. I'm sure I can find a job at UPS, maybe I can answer the phones or make coffee...

 

[siouxman]

I live in the midwest and we deal with snow and ice storms every week in the winter months. It is not uncommon for ups to be behind 3 to 5 dys after a good snow storm.People here are used to the weather and have realistic expectations when the weather gets bad.ups does do a great job trying to catch up and service our custoners. If the snow storm is an unusal event in your area i can understand why things can fall apart. People have unrealistic expectations, when the weather gets bad the most important thing is saftey of the employee and the general public.

 

[1989]

This is true, for the first two days of the snow storm the plows were nowhere to be seen. Seattle is chronically unprepared and every time a few snowflakes hit the road the whole shebang shuts down and no one goes to work. The city caught up on Monday and by Tuesday things started to look decent. You people in the northeast live with this every winter and you seem more prepared. We're lightweights around these parts...

The city is 95 percent to blame. Unfortionatly UPS doesn't just deliver on the main roads...Where do you live? Capitol hill, north Seattle, south Seattle?

 

[HEFFERNAN]

"WORST EPISODE EVER !"


-Comic-book-guy-

 

[Catatonic]

 

[brownboxman]

Well where do I start, after 20 years of delivering for UPS this year was the worst as far as managements reponse to the weather here in Oregon. Yes there was no way for them to predict the weather event but I feel they really didnt respond in a rational manner. For the last few years the threats flew constantly about not working over 12 hours punch to punch. All of a sudden this year the rules changed and presto, we were allowed to work 13 1/2 hours plus our lunch. Well after 10 days of ice and snow (and yes we are not used to that and neither are the state road dept) the fatigue was definetly a factor. So with the lack of concern for safety in this picture I will be resigning from the "safety" committee Monday morning.

 

[rod]

As CEO of UPS I wish to publicly apoligize to BigFatRat for delaying his package. He will receive 10 free shipping coupons and a certified letter of our sincere heartfelt promise to do better the next time. (I hope they don't get lost in the mail). P.S. If anyone else has claimed to be CEO I also apoligize to them.

 

[dilligaf]

We fight between ourselves like brothers and sisters do! but once a non family member attacks one of us we will defend each other. Our company is not perfect like many, but we the employees do our best and have earned the right to bitch!

We are forced to eat crow from customers all day, do not think for a moment that we will eat it here!

I noticed you said your package was car parts? If you are buried in snow, were the friend%$# do you plan on going in your car that's so god dam important?

Awesome.

 

[trplnkl]

When this thread first started I saw "How far in the hierarchy does the incompetence spread?" I was ready to jump in with both feet....BUT....Then I read the OP and my allegiance suddenly switched. Not because I flip-flopped on my opinion but because there was this outsider with no clue as to our daily lives, slamming US. Even though the OP was careful to word his argument toward the people in command of the tightest ship in the shipping business, his remarks also brought scrutiny on the swabbies, you and me. If this subject had come from SoberUps or Dilli or even TieGuy we probably would've sounded like the Tabernacle Choir singing "row, row, row your boat". What's my point? HEll if I know.


Like many of y'all, I too am very disappointed in the "PEAK SEASON PLAN", or in reality, the lack there of. Let us all hope and pray that "the comapny" has learned from this years mistakes and can come up with a better plan for 2009.

To all youseguys(and gals) that have been damned by this winter weather and the massive piles of packages, as you work your fingers to the bone to clean up the mess....work safe, relax when you can and develope the hide of a rhino. May the NEW YEAR bring better times and flowers.

 

[dilligaf]

When this thread first started I saw "How far in the hierarchy does the incompetence spread?" I was ready to jump in with both feet....BUT....Then I read the OP and my allegiance suddenly switched. Not because I flip-flopped on my opinion but because there was this outsider with no clue as to our daily lives, slamming US. Even though the OP was careful to word his argument toward the people in command of the tightest ship in the shipping business, his remarks also brought scrutiny on the swabbies, you and me. If this subject had come from SoberUps or Dilli or even TieGuy we probably would've sounded like the Tabernacle Choir singing "row, row, row your boat". What's my point? HEll if I know.

It's like kids on a playground saying their parents are better than our parents. If one doesn't back down it's likely to come to blows. LOL

Like many of y'all, I too am very disappointed in the "PEAK SEASON PLAN", or in reality, the lack there of. Let us all hope and pray that "the comapny" has learned from this years mistakes and can come up with a better plan for 2009.

That's funny Trpl. Do you seriously think they will learn.

To all youseguys(and gals) that have been damned by this winter weather and the massive piles of packages, as you work your fingers to the bone to clean up the mess....work safe, relax when you can and develope the hide of a rhino. May the NEW YEAR bring better times and flowers.

I second that, but it'll be a tough row to hoe. And there is more bad weather coming. We'll be here to support ya!

 

[ih8tbrn]

Incidentally, a Google search for the sentence "UPS sucks" yields 15,300 results today. Searching for "FedEx sucks" yields only 7,470 results. Which means that UPS sucks roughly twice as much as FedEx.

Happy holidays!

LOL.......This is good enough to be a signature line.

 

[dannyboy]

TRP

While I do agree with your finish, the presumption made during the begining is faulty.

If you would, take the time to read the posts. The thread was posted by soneone that does know more than a bit about ups. And has posted here many times before under other names. If you noticed, he admited it in one of the posts.

So before you get your panties crammed into a weggie, identify what is actually being posted.

As for the massive clean up going on in many parts of the company, use your methods. There is not one delivery worth our driver getting hurt or worse for. Ever.

As for the lack of proper planning, that is why we have the disclaimer "acts of God". There are certain things you can not control. So the way they handle the cleanup will speak volumes about the company.

d

 

[ih8tbrn]

TRP



If you would, take the time to read the posts. The thread was posted by soneone that does know more than a bit about ups. And has posted here many times before under other names. If you noticed, he admited it in one of the posts.



d

I was guessing bigfatrat was actually bigfatBBAG.

 

[Highwayman]

Don't forget that they don't plow snow or use SALT to clear roads up there in tree hugger land!

 

[BILLYB]

In response to the guy without his pkg - we had 12 inches of snow Friday before XMAS and were called off the road by mgt at 5PM. I still had 45 stops left of 275! That snowballs into Monday to well over 300 stops if the weather cooperates! The public has no idea what we accomplish every day regardless of mgt decisions. Today I left my bldg with 152 stops plus my 20 pickups. This is well north of 11 hours of work for my route. Did I whine and bitch and bring work back. Hell no! I sucked it up and finished the job in less than 10 hours and I am a 21 year veteran. I only know of 1 Fed Ex driver that could possibly accomplish that amount of work and he was the UPS Supervisor who hired me over 20 years ago - enough said on that subject. To get back to Mr Lost Pkg. I have neighbors with dirt roads they do not plow! We had ice on top of packed snow. I carry chains and my own shovels! If i get stuck beyond rescuing myself and call for a tow i get charged with an accident!!! Not worth it my man! If i have a shot at not killing myself i will walk the pkg off up to 1/2 mile but i do not have the luxury of time to do this for every customer. SORRY! This was the worst peak i have ever experienced! We had a new center manager, a new preload manager(some expert!) and a new PAS dispatch manager that did not know a single route in this center. Somehow we managed to survive that and almost pull off a succesful peak. I have never been more exhausted. Things can only get better from here. Go 2009!

 

[Braveheart]

Now maybe you see why we UPS drivers are so stressed out. We work for Larry, Curly, and Mo. We tell them to use our regular part timers as helpers and instead they hire outside people who have no idea what they are doing.

The managers in my building include at least 8 managers who drove for than less than 2 years each and at least 5 who if you added their time together you still would not crack a year.