Why do you stay?

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
With all due respect, I think your math is somewhat fuzzy. I only mention this because I know how detail oriented you seem to be. You mentioned in your previous post that you would gross $1,500 or more for 46 hours of work. You must have been paid a lot more than the rest of us in '97 because those numbers do not add up. I also highly doubt that you paid $110 dollars in union dues back then. Of course, that may explain why you made so much money. Sorry, but you put this stuff out here for the whole world to see.

The $110 was 2 months of dues. The $1500 was my best recollection from something that took place 12 years ago. The dollar figure is not as important as the disparity between what I made working construction and what I would have made at UPS. I'm getting old--give me a break.
 
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Mike23

Guest
What the hell is a lunker?

I did not support the strike. I did take my place on the picket line for the first 2 days but after I watched guys drinking beer out of coffee cups and one of our employees who had too many cups of "coffee" go in to the middle of Rt. 3 to express his displeasure at a passing motorist who found it incredulous that a bunch of "overpaid" employees were on strike to become more "overpaid" (his words, not mine), I thought my time would be put to better use if I actually did something with it. I was told that if I didn't sit on the picket line I wouldn't receive my $55. Funny thing is I did receive it but ended up giving it right back (and another $55) for Union dues.

I never once thought of crossing the line.

Sorry, meant lunkhead. I was likely drinking that night ;)
 

brownrodster

Well-Known Member
Try labor on a construction site...
I'm glad you mentioned this one. During the strike, I worked for a construction company. I worked 46 hours and earned a whopping $253. I then had to hand my ex-wife $250 for child support. She was kind enough to ask me how much I had made and handed $100 back. Point is, I busted my butt for 46 hours for what I would have grossed in 8 + OT. The construction supervisor even asked me how much I would have grossed at UPS for 46 hours and when I told him ($1500+) he was blown away.

Now, for those of you asking why I wasn't on the picket line, that is a story for another thread.


When I worked construction 10 years ago I made 25$ an hour... But this was on federally funded jobs that cost tens of millions of dollars. And I had to travel all over the region to different jobs our company was doing. I wasn't pure day labor but I did a lot of that along with driving trucks and operating heavy equipment.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
I can't recall the post but there was a former driver working at the zoo putting down some padding who got his hand cut off by a saw.

Many of these jobs are A LOT more dangerous then ours. We putter around in a vehicle all day that's bigger then 90% of the ones out there. It's a lot safer then, say, working high rise construction of some sort balancing on beams.

Also, they have contracts to fulfill just like we do. Theirs is just months instead of overnight. It's almost the same stuff just we're union so get paid better.
You are talking about Danny, a senior member here.

I never said their jobs weren't dangerous especially when there are stupid people doing stupid things (Danny please forgive me for saying it, I know you were not doing something stupid). Any job can be dangerous. I said that we have far more responsibility. We are paid at a higher standard and we are held to a higher standard. Don't take my words out of context.
 
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Mike23

Guest
You are talking about Danny, a senior member here.

I never said there jobs weren't dangerous. Any job can be dangerous. I said that we have far more responsibility. Don't take my words out of context.

Sorry, didn't mean to take your words out of context :( I did make the point in my post though to show their job IS as responsible as ours. If you're building a house and the contracts late it = lost money for the company and cranky sups. It also means the people can't move into their new house so it costs them extra $$$ so = cranky customers.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
I never said their jobs weren't dangerous especially when there are stupid people doing stupid things (Danny please forgive me for saying it, I know you were not doing something stupid). Any job can be dangerous. I said that we have far more responsibility. We are paid at a higher standard and we are held to a higher standard. Don't take my words out of context.

Sorry, didn't mean to take your words out of context :( I did make the point in my post though to show their job IS as responsible as ours. If you're building a house and the contracts late it = lost money for the company and cranky sups. It also means the people can't move into their new house so it costs them extra $$$ so = cranky customers.

Not to mention cranky posters. :wink2:
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Sorry, didn't mean to take your words out of context :( I did make the point in my post though to show their job IS as responsible as ours. If you're building a house and the contracts late it = lost money for the company and cranky sups. It also means the people can't move into their new house so it costs them extra $$$ so = cranky customers.
I do not agree with you. You talk about contracts and people moving into houses. The responsibility of the house being completed falls to the contractor not the laborer. You are comparing apples and oranges. If someone can't move into their house for a week they will live. We are out there everyday being responsible for, literally, millions of dollars worth of product. We are responsible for our driving habits which may or may not put someones life in jeopardy. Do not tell me that they deserve the same pay I get for my professionalism. I do concede that the union has provided a great deal of benefit to me, but I have earned every dime of it.
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
I do not agree with you. You talk about contracts and people moving into houses. The responsibility of the house being completed falls to the contractor not the laborer. You are comparing apples and oranges. If someone can't move into their house for a week they will live. We are out there everyday being responsible for, literally, millions of dollars worth of product. We are responsible for our driving habits which may or may not put someones life in jeopardy. Do not tell me that they deserve the same pay I get for my professionalism. I do concede that the union has provided a great deal of benefit to me, but I have earned every dime of it.
 
Unlike most jobs time doesn't drag on. You have something that really fills your work day and somedays I'm surprised how quickly Friday comes around.

I also love the fact you only see your supes in the morning and hardly when you get back.

love the only fact you see your sups in the morning just watch out during the day they are seeing you work even though you dont see them
 
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Mike23

Guest
I do not agree with you. You talk about contracts and people moving into houses. The responsibility of the house being completed falls to the contractor not the laborer. You are comparing apples and oranges. If someone can't move into their house for a week they will live. We are out there everyday being responsible for, literally, millions of dollars worth of product. We are responsible for our driving habits which may or may not put someones life in jeopardy. Do not tell me that they deserve the same pay I get for my professionalism. I do concede that the union has provided a great deal of benefit to me, but I have earned every dime of it.

I'm not disagreeing that you haven't earned every penny of it. I'm saying they should get paid better too.

If a company can't move into a building when it's supposed to be built, who's to say it's not going to suffer a million dollars worth of lost product because they stopped shipping a week earlier? Also the contractor (a lot of times) is also the laborer.

Construction workers are also responsible for peoples lives. Their management constantly is telling them to do 'shady' things (dig closer to the electrical wire, etc...). It's just like us. A low educated job with higher ups trying to put the squeeze on. By low educated I'm not saying we're idiots BTW I'm just saying it doesn't take a lot of brain power to do what we do once you get into the flow of it.

We'll never agree with each other though...So how about a hug? :D
 

Conan04

Member
This job is a soap opera if you let it become one.

My truck is parked between the 2 most polar opposite drivers you could ever encounter. The gentleman to my right, and he is a gentleman, is a man of few words, involved in his church, a 'great' guy to b.s. with in the morning and he honestly does not carry any baggage with him as it pertains to this job. Yes, he is tired as I am at the end of the week but it isn't a mental grind for him other than the general day to day that is in every career. He is quick with a joke (Billy Joel is on the radio right now...) and is also quick to help the new guys if they ask. He is never, never, ever, one to stand on a soap box and bitch and moan about his job. He knows what he signed up for. (He has about 25 years in or so and I have known him for about 15 of those)

The guy on my left, here we go. He has a horrible attitude, although he makes you laugh when he complains, he is still clearly frustrated as if he had no idea when he worked 7 years part time what the driving gig was all about. He has been fired/working terminations on 2 different occasions, complaints up the wazoo and every week is a new chapter in the aforementioned soap opera.

You are so right that IF you let this job become a soap opera it will.

Another question is how many of us do either A) engage in the drama or B) keep your head down and just try to coast out the door every day.

I choose B.
I choose B at least 90% of the time.
 

morgahorse

Well-Known Member
It gets me out of the house.
I'd go nuts if I had to work in a cubicle, couldn't sit still all day long.
Love working outdoors, even in the winter.
I've worked worse jobs.
And of course the money and benefits.
 
I stay because I like the money. Love working outside and not having my sup over my shoulder every min of every day. I started at ups when I was still in High school. I was hired 2 weeks after I turned 18. They tell me I can retire after 25 years but I don't think I will :) The sups are annoying but like everyone on here says they don't stay around for long also they always find someone else to mess with after a couple weeks everyone has to take a turn.
 

NHDRVR

Well-Known Member
That's why you and the rest of the lemmings (the B team) continue to get more of the same, day after day, after day, after day...

I'm interested in the other 10% of your time.

Lemming?? I choose to not play the game every day. I have been here far too long to get sucked into the drama that is 'oh my truck is loaded'-'oh my stop count is too high' - oh I'm sick of being over 9/5'

That's not being a lemming. That is simply finding what works for me to get my butt out of the door without so much as a raised eyebrow. When you figure that out, you will be doing it too...
 

jennie

Well-Known Member
Just like everyone else who answers honestly - for the money. :wink2:

UPS use to have a management workshop back in the 80's called People's Workshop. One of the exercises was to discuss whether people work for the Money, Self-Fulfillment or some other BS reason. It was always "for the money" with just a few starry-eyed romantics going for the other options. The exercise was helpful in identifying the people that worked at UPS who were goobers. UPS is no HP.:sad-little:

Qualification: I had not worked in an office environment at that point ... might be a little more PC now, but probably not. :happy-very:

As I started late in life at UPS so its not all about money for me but I stay now, because everyday is different and again its something I never thought I would do, and I don't have to get all dressed up, which is so easy in the morning:peaceful:
 
I work in Preload and I stay for:

1. the workout
2. the full medical benefits for part-time work
3. I get recognized for my hard work.
4. I don't really have to work with anybody.
 
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