personal GPS

[soberups]

When I was an air driver I used my phone to guide me whenever I was sent somewhere unknown. IF you have an android powered phone google maps is your friend.

The other day I was sitting and eating my lunch at an outdoor table and just sort of "people watching."

It seemed like everyone I looked at was either talking or texting or using some sort of "app" on their "smart" phone as they went about their business.

I can foresee a day in the not-too-distant future when an enemy nation who wants to attack us wont need an army or a fleet of missiles or bombers. All they will have to do is destroy a few of our orbiting communications sattellites and completely shut down our cellular communication systems.

I can envision the results right now; tens of millions of people roaming the streets in a panic, frantically trying to get their now-useless "smart" phones to work. These people will literally not be able to cope with life. They wont know where to go, they wont know what to do, they wont be able to talk to anyone or send text messages. They wont have land-lines at home and they wont be able to remember anyone elses phone number.

We are raising an entire generation of people who are incapable of reading maps, stamping and self-addressing an envelope, or using standard reference materials in a library. Its really kind of scary if you think about it.

 

[soberups]

I finally broke down and got a smart phone. The Google Maps App is great for running missorts.

My wife has an iphone. Whenever its "upgrade" time my wife gets the new phone and I "upgrade" to her old used one. My personal rule about cell phones is that I refuse to own one that I cant replace for $50 or less by buying used off of Craigslist. The "smart" phones are all quite expensive and If I am going to bring a phone to work with me on a package car I dont want to get all stressed out about dropping it or breaking it. As long as my phone can talk and text and take a halfway decent picture, that is all I really need.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I had someone stop me and ask for the physical address for our center. I tried to give him directions but he insisted on the physical address so that he could put it in his GPS.

 

[Bubblehead]

My wife has an iphone. Whenever its "upgrade" time my wife gets the new phone and I "upgrade" to her old used one. My personal rule about cell phones is that I refuse to own one that I cant replace for $50 or less by buying used off of Craigslist. The "smart" phones are all quite expensive and If I am going to bring a phone to work with me on a package car I dont want to get all stressed out about dropping it or breaking it. As long as my phone can talk and text and take a halfway decent picture, that is all I really need.

Sober, I admire you as much as anybody on this site, but your kind of sounding like an old man.
I'm on my third smart phone, and like any electronic device, they are only cutting edge for about 6 months.
You could buy many second hand smart phones on craigslist for $50 or less that are quite capable of the helping you with many things that your old flip phone can't.
Not to mention that some of the cameras on the new phones are off the hook.
My latest phone has an 8 megapixel camera with a xenon flash.
If you're a long time customer with your present carrier, you can probably upgrade to one of these new smart phones for cheap, as long as you extend your contract with them.
Hell there's even a Brown Cafe app out there now.
Give it try, you might like it, or not.
Just trying to encourage you to try what I consider to be one of my favorite toys.

 

[moreluck]

Then you must think I'm ancient !! No cell phone.....no toy.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Then you must think I'm ancient !! No cell phone.....no toy.

Here's a phone you might like:

http://www.amazon.com/Faithful-Senior-Citizen-Phone-Buttons/dp/B003JN6KAY

 

[705red]

Last time I checked we got paid by the hour. You make more money by having to look at a map and you will never get fired for stopping and looking at your map compared to getting into an accident while using your GPS.

 

[soberups]

Try doing this with a smart phone GPS app!

 

[Cementups]

I had someone stop me and ask for the physical address for our center. I tried to give him directions but he insisted on the physical address so that he could put it in his GPS.

My boss was coming to get a package from me the other day and he called me and asked me where to meet him and I said "meet me at the Blah Blah Diner" he asked for the address (obvious GPS question) so I asked him where he was. He told me and I said, go to the red light and turn left. It will be on your right. His response....."Oh......"

And for those curious, the food at the Blah Blah Diner is so-so.

 

[soberups]

Sober, I admire you as much as anybody on this site, but your kind of sounding like an old man.
I'm on my third smart phone, and like any electronic device, they are only cutting edge for about 6 months.
You could buy many second hand smart phones on craigslist for $50 or less that are quite capable of the helping you with many things that your old flip phone can't.
.

I can certainly see the benefits of the smart phones and I'm sure that eventually I will wind up with one. Part of the problem for me is my hands...I'm a big guy and 24 yrs of slamming cardboard has turned my hands into calloused meat hooks. I tried using the touch screen on my wife's new iphone and I really struggled with it. I can barely even use the QWERTY keyboard on her old flip-phone that I now have...the keys are just too small. When I text message I still find that it is easier for me to do it the "old fashioned" way by using the numeric keypad only, where each number represents 3 or 4 letters and you press the key multiple times to get the letter you want. As far as upgrades go, I keep having to give "mine" to kids who lose/break/want to upgrade their own phones on our family plan, so I always wind up with the crumbs at the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Dynomite]

The other day I was sitting and eating my lunch at an outdoor table and just sort of "people watching."

It seemed like everyone I looked at was either talking or texting or using some sort of "app" on their "smart" phone as they went about their business.

I can foresee a day in the not-too-distant future when an enemy nation who wants to attack us wont need an army or a fleet of missiles or bombers. All they will have to do is destroy a few of our orbiting communications sattellites and completely shut down our cellular communication systems.

I can envision the results right now; tens of millions of people roaming the streets in a panic, frantically trying to get their now-useless "smart" phones to work. These people will literally not be able to cope with life. They wont know where to go, they wont know what to do, they wont be able to talk to anyone or send text messages. They wont have land-lines at home and they wont be able to remember anyone elses phone number.

We are raising an entire generation of people who are incapable of reading maps, stamping and self-addressing an envelope, or using standard reference materials in a library. Its really kind of scary if you think about it.

I see your prediction not happening. Since snail mail is quickly fading away why teach kids how to address an envelope? Or how to read a paper map? I really am sick of the older generation bitching about this. Technology is the future why should we teach our youth outdated BS just to make older people less cranky.. You know what I'm mad about... When the older generation was young the teachers didn't teach them how to keep direction with the stars, and sun. Get off my lawn.

 

[moreluck]

I see your prediction not happening. Since snail mail is quickly fading away why teach kids how to address an envelope? Or how to read a paper map? I really am sick of the older generation bitching about this. Technology is the future why should we teach our youth outdated BS just to make older people less cranky.. You know what I'm mad about... When the older generation was young the teachers didn't teach them how to keep direction with the stars, and sun. Get off my lawn.

I'm amazed that cursive isn't being taught anymore. So apparently in the future they won't be buying houses and cars. No signing of contracts. Sign checks? I write a letter to my grandkids and they can't read it.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I see your prediction not happening. Since snail mail is quickly fading away why teach kids how to address an envelope? Or how to read a paper map? I really am sick of the older generation bitching about this. Technology is the future why should we teach our youth outdated BS just to make older people less cranky.. You know what I'm mad about... When the older generation was young the teachers didn't teach them how to keep direction with the stars, and sun. Get off my lawn.

Technology is the future and you are right in that we should keep our children up to speed; however, much of what the "grumpy old man" is "whining" about is true. I have lost count of the number of times I have been run in to by a teenager walking and texting at the same time. Skills that most of us regard as basic have either not been taught to or honed by our younger generation--reading a map, changing a flat tire, interviewing for a job, making a business phone call, etc. Generation Me has been called the most poorly prepared generation in our history.

There is one part of his rant that I do disagree with. I dropped my land line four years or more ago. It simply did not make sense for me to have both a land line and a cell phone. The representative I spoke with at Verizon agreed that I was wasting my money as I rarely if ever used my land line. The problem for us as delivery drivers is with more people dropping their land lines and the phone companies not yet listing cell phone numbers in their directories it is becoming harder for us to do address corrections on "look-ups".

 

[menotyou]

How about having clerks deliver packages? That should even out your phone book issue.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

How about having clerks deliver packages? That should even out your phone book issue.

Google "customer service" if you are not familiar with the term.

 

[menotyou]

Google "customer service" if you are not familiar with the term.

Check your contract if you are not familiar with whose job is what.

 

[soberups]

I see your prediction not happening. Since snail mail is quickly fading away why teach kids how to address an envelope? Or how to read a paper map? I really am sick of the older generation bitching about this. Technology is the future why should we teach our youth outdated BS just to make older people less cranky.. You know what I'm mad about... When the older generation was young the teachers didn't teach them how to keep direction with the stars, and sun. Get off my lawn.

I agree that technology is the future.

The problem I see....is that we have become so dependent upon that technology that when it fails for whatever reason many people are unable to cope. As a nation, we are vulnerable to those who would attack that technology.

The new hand held GPS units are a perfect example. I wont deny that they are superior to a compass and a map...but what happens when the batteries go dead or there is a malfunction in one of the GPS sattellites? That $200 unit is now useless, and in many cases the person who has been using it has become so dependent upon it that they cannot find their way around without it. My compass may not be as "good" as a GPS unit....but I can rely on it and it works and the map and compass-reading skills I learned in Boy Scouts cant be taken away from me by a computer virus or other electronic glitch.

Put me out in the woods on a dark night with no compass, and I know how to find due north using the North Star. How many people in this day and age honestly know how to do that?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Check your contract if you are not familiar with whose job is what.

Last time I checked we are all tasked with the responsibility of providing customer service.

If I am able to do an ADC on road I do it. I did three of them this past week--two of them had phone numbers on them and the third was in the phone book. In each case the customer was happy and the clerk had three fewer packages to process. If we aren't supposed to do ADC's on road why is the feature in the DIAD?

 

[soberups]

There is one part of his rant that I do disagree with. I dropped my land line four years or more ago. It simply did not make sense for me to have both a land line and a cell phone. The representative I spoke with at Verizon agreed that I was wasting my money as I rarely if ever used my land line".

Post-hurricane Katrina; cellular networks and towers were down for quite some time, but most land lines stayed operational or were up and running fairly quickly. I will agree that land lines arent necessary for a lot of people, and the main reason I still have one is that it came as a package deal with my internet and cable TV service. But I also like the idea of having a backup. Imagine the chaos that would occur if our cellular networks were suddenly disabled. 15 years ago it wouldnt have been that big of a deal, but now I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue.

 

[menotyou]

Last time I checked we are all tasked with the responsibility of providing customer service.If I am able to do an ADC on road I do it. I did three of them this past week--two of them had phone numbers on them and the third was in the phone book. In each case the customer was happy and the clerk had three fewer packages to process. If we aren't supposed to do ADC's on road why is the feature in the DIAD?

Why don't you just work thru your lunch since your Diad allows that, too.