Superbowl

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
We are constantly told that we train all year for peak. That this is our Superbowl. Well, UPS lost. We were not able to full fill what we agreed to do. Packages that were suppose to be delivered by Christmas day are sitting on slides, in trailers, in rental trucks or sitting on the shelves of package cars.

UPS can paint a picture that weather is the reason, or higher then expected air volume caused the system to fail.

UPS made it very clear months ago that they were going to gamble with weather and cram more work into the system hoping that it could run more efficient.
"Cramming holiday shipments into fewer days could make the network run more efficiently, they said, but it raises the stakes if there's a disruption."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-more-doubles-3q-profit-121827804.html

UPS failed. They can spin the PR machine anyway they want to, but they new that they decided to roll the dice instead of planning for the what if's. I was never Brown and proud, but I was never ashamed of the company I work for, but now I am even a tad embarrassed to say that I wear brown.

I can't help but to sit here and think of the mounds of packages sitting in buildings system wide. A job not completed.

But lets not forget the DOK. Be prepared, expect the unexpected.
 

oldngray

nowhere special
funny-pictures-the-big-game-kittehs-iz-gettin-reddy-teh-sooper-bowl.jpg
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
I do agree with you but can't help blame merchants too. Many were advertising that it will get there by Christmas. Really? I guess not! Overwhelm anything and things go bad.

Wait until the politicians get involved asking UPS why they made promises they couldn't keep.
 

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
I do agree with you but can't help blame merchants too. Many were advertising that it will get there by Christmas. Really? I guess not! Overwhelm anything and things go bad.

Wait until the politicians get involved asking UPS why they made promises they couldn't keep.

If UPS had planned, I would agree. They hired the same number of seasonal hires as they did in 2012. They predicted more volume in a shorter period, but decided to gamble.

I was taught, if you don't give 100%, you can't place blame.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
I can only speak for my center but we went in with a solid plan which was derailed after one driver quit and another was fired for sexually harassing his helper. Senior drivers were being sent back out after completing their own work to bail out an overwhelmed seasonal driver. That being said, other than the closed send agains from yesterday, we are 100% clean going in to tomorrow.
 

brown67

Well-Known Member
UPS keeps trying to do more and more with less and less, and this year it failed. Customers are taking a backseat to efficiency. Friends are posting on facebook about their packages being "out for delivery" for 3 days straight in areas of the country with no weather delays. It is really sad, because this NEVER happened a few years ago. Everything was cleaned up on Christmas Eve and we bent over backwards to get anything that looked like a Christmas present delivered. Drivers were bring back 100 stops on the 23rd, because there wasn't enough time in the day to make service. Sups were saying it would be impossible to get clean on the 24th. On the 23rd we had a 45' trailer that was 75% full with just missed deliveries. Time to rethink how we handle peak.

The olds days of a slow build from Thanksgiving to Christmas are over, but the company still plans that way. Peak starts on the Monday after Thanksgiving and goes to mid January now. The week after Thanksgiving is nearly as bad as the week before Christmas.
 

oldngray

nowhere special
The "plan" assumes the whole world is a big Clarksville where everything is perfect every day. A real plan would allow some slack to account for the inevitable problems that pop up every year. NO peak goes as perfectly as predicted.
 

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
I can only speak for my center but we went in with a solid plan which was derailed after one driver quit and another was fired for sexually harassing his helper. Senior drivers were being sent back out after completing their own work to bail out an overwhelmed seasonal driver. That being said, other than the closed send agains from yesterday, we are 100% clean going in to tomorrow.

I think my center is clean as well. However, I am not sure if packages stuck in other parts of the country are not for my center.

Regardless, this is not about individual centers. It is about UPS. If my Ferrari payment is made, but my Pebble Beach house is in foreclosure, I can't sit here and say "my financial picture is good, look my Ferrari payment was made".

Back to the DOK "get the big picture"
 

ups1990

Well-Known Member
We lost the SB because we came out flat in the 1 and 2nd quarter and fell behind quickly. Coming out of the half, we had a great third and made a valiant effort but ran out of time and lost. The look in drivers faces last night spoke volumes. Defeated mentally and physically.
Every driver around the country worked extremely hard but now we sit back and get scrutinized and criticized by the commentators about how poor of a job UPS did this peak and how packages are sitting somewhere today in the system instead of under a tree.
 

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
We missed 1,600 packages Friday but cleaned last night and all drivers were in by 9... but I was told by management there are multiple airplanes full of packages at the airport we decided not to process yesterday because they knew we couldn't handle another wave of a shuttled out air.

Sent from Nexus 7 using BrownCafe mobile app
 

joeboodog

good people drink good beer
The sad thing is that eventually we drivers will be thrown under the bus by the wizards in Atlanta. We did everything right but just like a hit while parked, the upper management weasles will find the one thing we overlooked and nail us for it.
 

gman042

Been around the block a few times
I can only speak for my center but we went in with a solid plan which was derailed after one driver quit and another was fired for sexually harassing his helper. Senior drivers were being sent back out after completing their own work to bail out an overwhelmed seasonal driver. That being said, other than the closed send agains from yesterday, we are 100% clean going in to tomorrow.

We cleaned as well......but it was a battle to the bitter end.
 

Maple Grove MN Driver

Cocaine Mang!
I can only speak for my center but we went in with a solid plan which was derailed after one driver quit and another was fired for sexually harassing his helper. Senior drivers were being sent back out after completing their own work to bail out an overwhelmed seasonal driver. That being said, other than the closed send agains from yesterday, we are 100% clean going in to tomorrow.

So you will take your break between the 3rd and 5th hour?
 
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