I worked at UPS for many years and only saw a handful of picnics. I can understand UPS's viewpoint on this as some employees have trouble showing up for work on time, much less a picnic. And yeah, some people tend to get a little out of hand. But picnics should still happen. It is a good reward and morale booster for the ones that do attend. The company I work for now has a Halloween party and Christmas party every year and they are quite nice (formal, catered, hotel ballroom, etc)
On the other hand, I've heard that UPS management throws some pretty wild parties for themselves and also enjoy the benefits of corporate advertising (club seats at hockey, football, basketball, racing, etc).