Glimpses of the past

[filthpig]

I guess what I remember most from the old days was the almost total absence of technology in a UPS facility. No scanners or computers. I think we had 1 or 2 computers in the whole building when I started (1988). I also remember the INCREDIBLE amount of file cabinets. Hundreds. And those long counters where we did our turn in. All of that's gone now.

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by bellyz

Were you trained on this though? It sounds like it's all up to the driver's discretion/common sense. Is there anything in any training manual that says where you are or aren't permitted to place a package?

I can't say what is in the "manual" but I was trained to place packages out of normal walk paths @ businesses and next to the door @ residential stops (we got sigs on most resis at that time). Whether or not anyone was actually trained anything specific depended on the trainer.


When I was a clerk, the paper records were a huge PIA for me, I was the one that had the joy of filing all that crap. When I started all the drivers just placed the records in a box for me to separate the copies from the originals and file the copies then send the orig to the district office. It didn't take me long to get a system in place to get that task done easier and faster.

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by filthpig

I guess what I remember most from the old days was the almost total absence of technology in a UPS facility. No scanners or computers. I think we had 1 or 2 computers in the whole building when I started (1988). I also remember the INCREDIBLE amount of file cabinets. Hundreds. And those long counters where we did our turn in. All of that's gone now.

Ahhh yeah, the ole RS1 dinosaurs, I mean computers. Simple number crunchers. The dot matrix printers were so large and loud too, they placed them in padded boxes to cut down on the racket.

[JustTired]

Originally Posted by ups_vette

WOW. I'm impressed. You're saying you failed to use the proper methods. What other methods didn't you do as you were trained to do back then? Are you still making up your own methods today? Don't let Griff see this, he's under the impression that all drivers use the methods they were trained to use and not violate the Contract.

Let's just say I adjusted some of the methods to enhance my performance. Back then I was usually one of the first drivers back on a regular basis. Used to get paid to drive home and sometimes eat dinner (8 hr. guarantee). I've always said that the methods are a good place to start. You just have to find what works best for you as an individual. Nowadays I follow the methods a lot closer. It doesn't pay to do anything else. Why would anyone get done early just to get more work the next day? That was what made them the "good old days"!!

[dilligaf]

Originally Posted by filthpig

I guess what I remember most from the old days was the almost total absence of technology in a UPS facility. No scanners or computers. I think we had 1 or 2 computers in the whole building when I started (1988). I also remember the INCREDIBLE amount of file cabinets. Hundreds. And those long counters where we did our turn in. All of that's gone now.

I had to do one vision today and mt on-road sup had a great explanation for our company. He said "we used to be in the pkg delivery business, now we are in the technology industry delivering pkgs". I thought it wis very appropriate.

[Big Babooba]

We had one old time driver who dated back to when the package cars didn't have any shelves. Every day after leaving the building, he would pull over and take everything off of the shelf and load it on the floor. he even had blankets to seperate his towns. He did this until the day he retired, even when he had supervisors riding with him. He always got the job done, so they looked the other way.

[Captain America]

we have a driver that refers to the pre-DR days as "when the drivers used to sign for everything"

[under the radar]

Originally Posted by Captain America

we have a driver that refers to the pre-DR days as "when the drivers used to sign for everything"

I was a swing/cover driver back then. Some of the bid drivers would hide delivery notices at there regular customers. The trick was finding them. It was an absolute pain to beg a neighbor to sign for a package. Especially in suburban or rural areas where it was more than a walk next door.

You could always tell the neighbors who were feuding. They would see you at the door and disappear. It reminded me of when I was a paper boy and would have to go collecting from customers on Saturdays. They would see it was me and scatter like rats! It could give a guy a complex. Kind of like getting barked at by dogs all day.

[worthlessdriver]

Does anyone remember when we had a 50lbs limit and only 200lbs from a shipper to a consignee.
And when there was no intrastate del in Texas.
Also the operation report was done by hand on a huge spread sheet that they put in a trailor at night and unloaded in the morning.Who knows where it went?
We had no 1,2 or 3 day air,no committ times and no ways to really track a pkg. Pick ups were made as you went, we did not ever go back a second time. If it was not ready at 10am to bad.
I also recall it cost .75cents to ship a 1lbs pkg.
Your car was washed everyday, even if it never hit the road that day.
I think they painted it once a year. I remember once our center failed a audit because they said the cars were not clean enough and they looked great compared to the way the cars look today.
Also we started at 6am and if we were not making del. by 8am we were LATE.
Boy o boy have things changed and not always for the better.

[UPS Lifer]

When I started driving in 1973, we had brick loads and edge loads..... and you better believe every package was in stop for stop order. The "night loaders" used bins to "position - write - load" each package.

[rod]

Originally Posted by worthlessdriver

Does anyone remember when we had a 50lbs limit and only 200lbs from a shipper to a consignee.
And when there was no intrastate del in Texas.
Also the operation report was done by hand on a huge spread sheet that they put in a trailor at night and unloaded in the morning.Who knows where it went?
We had no 1,2 or 3 day air,no committ times and no ways to really track a pkg. Pick ups were made as you went, we did not ever go back a second time. If it was not ready at 10am to bad.
I also recall it cost .75cents to ship a 1lbs pkg.
Your car was washed everyday, even if it never hit the road that day.
I think they painted it once a year. I remember once our center failed a audit because they said the cars were not clean enough and they looked great compared to the way the cars look today.
Also we started at 6am and if we were not making del. by 8am we were LATE.
Boy o boy have things changed and not always for the better.

Good ones I believe in feb. 1971 when I started a one pound pkg cost 55 cents to ship. I made the mistake of telling my Dad ( he owned an office supply store) that he could get around the no more than 100 lb rule if he had the shipper address his boxes of paper to different people in his shop. Dumb thing for me to tell him because his shop was on my route. He even made up names so he could get more damm paper.