Now and Then

rod

Retired 22 years
If I recall right the hourly pay in 1971 when I hired on was $7.25 an hour. Don't laugh - my wife had a full time state State job and she pulled in $3.65 an hour. Of course things were a little cheaper then. Our 2 bedroom apartment with garage and all utilities encluded rented for $77.00 a month.:happy2:
 

DS

Fenderbender
I remember walking to the store for my mom when I was little, with a $1 bill and getting her 2 packs of smokes and I got 10 cents worth of candy with the change,and it was a lot of candy.A pack of butts here now is $9.50.
 

govols019

You smell that?
Wish they were that much here. I might quit then but I also said I would quit when they went over a $1. That didn't work out too well.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I remember walking to the store for my mom when I was little, with a $1 bill and getting her 2 packs of smokes and I got 10 cents worth of candy with the change,and it was a lot of candy.A pack of butts here now is $9.50.
And your beer is not cheap either:happy2:
 
O

oldupsman

Guest
I beg to differ rod. I was hired "off the street" for peak as a fulltime package driver in 1975. I remember starting at 5.89 an hour. But hey 32 years later maybe my mind ain't what it used to be. This is my first peak being retired. It's all still very wierd, but enjoyable.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I beg to differ rod. I was hired "off the street" for peak as a fulltime package driver in 1975. I remember starting at 5.89 an hour. But hey 32 years later maybe my mind ain't what it used to be.

I was hired for Peak as a Midnight Sort Loader in Oct. '75. Mininum wage back then was $2.10 an hour, I started at $4.25. Back then,starting pay was over twice what a teenager would make in a fast food joint.
 

Brown Dog

Brown since 81
I remember riding up to the A&W root beer stand in about 1968 on my Schwinn "Orange Crate" and for 1$ I got a cheesburger,fries, and a large root beer. Now if I could just remember what my wife told me not to forget about an hour ago:funny:
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
If I recall right the hourly pay in 1971 when I hired on was $7.25 an hour. Don't laugh - my wife had a full time state State job and she pulled in $3.65 an hour. Of course things were a little cheaper then. Our 2 bedroom apartment with garage and all utilities encluded rented for $77.00 a month.:happy2:
I ain't laughin Rod, I'm cryin in my beer. In 1972, I was making $2.10 an hour. Split rent and utilities with 2 roommates. Cost me $75.00 a month to keep a roof over my head. College tuition, booze and gas took up the rest of my pay.
Funny, I never felt poor back then.
PAX
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
I remember riding up to the A&W root beer stand in about 1968 on my Schwinn "Orange Crate" and for 1$ I got a cheesburger,fries, and a large root beer. Now if I could just remember what my wife told me not to forget about an hour ago:funny:
I have the opposite problem. I sometimes wish I could forget what I was doing in 1968.
 

Fnix

Well-Known Member
How much is your guys rent/mortgage now? Mine is $900 for a 2 bedroom apartment in a ghetto part of town.
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
Were you one of those who got an all expenses paid tour of a Southeast Asian country? I missed out on that deal by a few years.
No Big, I did not go.
Not to get sappy, but it was the year I was looking at my brother in a hospital bed at Balboa Naval Hospital. He did 2 tours as a Marine and was hit just before he was to come home on a 30 day leave to get married and then go back for a 3rd tour.
He knew I was going to join and try to and kick someones ass. He made promise that I would not. I kept that promise, even though I came very close to breaking it.
He spent a year in the hospital and should not have lived or have ever been able to walk.
Spent Thanksgiving Day with him and his two sons and his first granddaughter.
He ain't lean, nor is he mean, but he is still a Marine.
PAX
 

Sammie

Well-Known Member
While rearranging the basement over the weekend to make room for a dryer delivery, I found a box of old “Big Ideas”. For those of you fairly new to the scene, these were UPS magazines sent out every other month with news of the company in general and of our particular districts.

Here are a couple of tidbits from the November ’85 issue -
(I'll have more of these later)....

In the ‘60’s and 70’s in the Pacific region, off duty firemen, policemen and others were hired to set up the Christmas loads (bulk stops) that wouldn’t fit in the sort bins (predecessors of today’s boxlines).

Retired Chicago driver Andy Lips recalls “We sometimes slept in our trucks during peak and covered up with furniture blankets. All the drivers helped each other so we could get home at a decent time on Christmas Day. If a package came gift wrapped, we never tore the paper or the ribbon. If a package had a picture of a toy on it, we taped over the picture.”


Bill Mooney, a 20 year mechanic from New York City, recalls that “Every Christmas Eve I slept in the center because the trucks didn't get in until 10 or 11 pm, and I, being the mechanic, had to get the cars ready to roll on Christmas Day. Many times, around 2 or 3 am, I would push myself out from under a car to find Jim Casey standing there with a container of coffee for me”.

My, how times have changed!!!
 
C

chicagobrown705

Guest
1980 peak......the rookies get buried........they dont know anybetter ............................... 2007 peak......rookies no nothing.........senior drivers get 350 stops
 
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