Every morning in my building, I get to watch hundreds of dollars being wasted during the Ballet of the Brown Sardines.
My building was constructed in 1986 and was designed to park a total of 124 P-5, P-6 and P-8 package cars. It currently dispatches around 190 routes, most of which are in P-7's, P-10's and P-12's.
The only way to force that many cars into the available space is to pack them like sardines. Many of the cars are touching, and the average distance between them is less than 2 inches. It is often virtually impossible to get them out without them scratching each other, particularly when the vehicle in question lacks power steering and must be backed in and out a fraction of an inch at a time.
Rather than just coming to terms with this reality, UPS instead insists upon following its idiotic policy of charging a driver with an avoidable accident for even the slightest scratch.
Many drivers simply refuse to even try, and wind up making management do it in order to protect themselves. This results in huge and costly traffic jams and delays for everyone else who is parked behind them and must wait to get out. It is pointless, frustrating and time consuming, and it doesnt have to be this way.
The solution to this problem is simple; brown paint and common sense. Unfortunately, UPS would rather pole vault over mouse turds and make a big safety issue over minor, incidental contact between two vehicles that are parked so close as to be practically touching.
UPS has saved millions of dollars over the years by making do with the current facility instead of enlarging it. Perhaps a minute fraction of this profit could be applied towards the purchase of a can of brown touch up paint. Someone with a brain needs to come up with a policy that recognizes and accepts the simple reality that 190 trucks parked a half an inch apart will occasionally scratch one another and it serves no purpose to jump the employees ass over a $5 problem that they didnt cause and cannot control.
