Construction Projects

[Tough Guy]

Optimizing the operation of processing the packages through the building is all well and good. The problem for peak is that you can still only fit so many packages in a package car.

Our problem every year is not enough trucks and not enough space within said trucks.

 

[Retiree]

And yet it all got delivered

 

[Holydriver]

Amazon competitive threat discussions never seem to go anywhere. I just want to know if we're spending money to move more volume peak 2016 than we did peak 2015. Money talks, so it should provide an insight into the thinking of senior leadership.

Does anyone see any meaningful construction under way or have you heard of any starting soon in your area?

the thing about adding more infrastructure to handle more packages is that you need to hire even more drivers to deliver it. whats the point of having way more packages to deliver if you have drivers already running around doing 12 hour days daily during peak?

 

[worldwide]

And yet it all got delivered

That's old school thinking and appropriate for a retiree. Not that there was anything wrong with that "mentality" as it worked well and served a purpose for a particular period of time in different business conditions. UPS has changed over the years but typically very slowly and only when forced by outside forces.

It's a different world now and UPS has no choice but to change and adapt. I believe that is the primary reason for much of the ill-will and overall blah-feeling in the company at most levels. Long time UPSers have a harder time adapting to the accelerating pace of change. The younger millennial work force has different expectations and needs that the old school 20+ years did not have. And of course there are always exceptions and I'm generalizing to some degree but that's my perspective.

As the older group of UPSers retire, the pace of change within the company will increase. UPS will be a little less conservative and a little more dynamic. They have to be if they want to grow and prosper. The next few years are critical to the long-term success of UPS, IMHO. The market is changing rapidly and UPS can not react like they always have. What's worked in the past will not automatically work in the future. Who could ever have imagined a UPS that accepts being 2nd to FedEx Ground in transit time? Did going public change things? Yes, but it's not the only reason. And the world would have changed just the same whether UPS remained private or not.

Again, no disrespect to anyone retired or is close (within 5-7 yrs) to retirement. It's simply a different business environment than it was in the past. Casey was a brilliant guy to be sure, but I wonder if even he would have been up to the task at hand. The Board of Directors is slowly changing but it is changing and the pros and cons of that could be a thread by itself. Let's hope they can change and adapt to outpace the changes occurring in the marketplace.

 

[wkmac]

That's old school thinking and appropriate for a retiree. Not that there was anything wrong with that "mentality" as it worked well and served a purpose for a particular period of time in different business conditions. UPS has changed over the years but typically very slowly and only when forced by outside forces.

It's a different world now and UPS has no choice but to change and adapt. I believe that is the primary reason for much of the ill-will and overall blah-feeling in the company at most levels. Long time UPSers have a harder time adapting to the accelerating pace of change. The younger millennial work force has different expectations and needs that the old school 20+ years did not have. And of course there are always exceptions and I'm generalizing to some degree but that's my perspective.

As the older group of UPSers retire, the pace of change within the company will increase. UPS will be a little less conservative and a little more dynamic. They have to be if they want to grow and prosper. The next few years are critical to the long-term success of UPS, IMHO. The market is changing rapidly and UPS can not react like they always have. What's worked in the past will not automatically work in the future. Who could ever have imagined a UPS that accepts being 2nd to FedEx Ground in transit time? Did going public change things? Yes, but it's not the only reason. And the world would have changed just the same whether UPS remained private or not.

Again, no disrespect to anyone retired or is close (within 5-7 yrs) to retirement. It's simply a different business environment than it was in the past. Casey was a brilliant guy to be sure, but I wonder if even he would have been up to the task at hand. The Board of Directors is slowly changing but it is changing and the pros and cons of that could be a thread by itself. Let's hope they can change and adapt to outpace the changes occurring in the marketplace.

Good comments. I've got 35 years down with a couple of more to go and in regards to the upgrades in infrastructure, even towards automation, I get it and it is the way forward.

The biggest problem is the high cost of real estate in building new facilities but if you can use automated systems that actually increase output capacity while maintaining the present real estate foot print, that to me is a no brainer.

Columbia increased its output capacity by about 50% if I remember the numbers correctly and yet the 4 walls of the building were never touched.

 

[rod]

Columbia increased its output capacity by about 50% if I remember the numbers correctly and yet the 4 walls of the building were never touched.

 

[Catatonic]

Columbia increased its output capacity by about 50% if I remember the numbers correctly and yet the 4 walls of the building were never touched.

That must be the one where the roof was popped off by the excess packages.
I heard it looked like popcorn!

 

[Retiree]

That's old school thinking and appropriate for a retiree. Not that there was anything wrong with that "mentality" as it worked well and served a purpose for a particular period of time in different business conditions. UPS has changed over the years but typically very slowly and only when forced by outside forces.

It's a different world now and UPS has no choice but to change and adapt. I believe that is the primary reason for much of the ill-will and overall blah-feeling in the company at most levels. Long time UPSers have a harder time adapting to the accelerating pace of change. The younger millennial work force has different expectations and needs that the old school 20+ years did not have. And of course there are always exceptions and I'm generalizing to some degree but that's my perspective.

As the older group of UPSers retire, the pace of change within the company will increase. UPS will be a little less conservative and a little more dynamic. They have to be if they want to grow and prosper. The next few years are critical to the long-term success of UPS, IMHO. The market is changing rapidly and UPS can not react like they always have. What's worked in the past will not automatically work in the future. Who could ever have imagined a UPS that accepts being 2nd to FedEx Ground in transit time? Did going public change things? Yes, but it's not the only reason. And the world would have changed just the same whether UPS remained private or not.

Again, no disrespect to anyone retired or is close (within 5-7 yrs) to retirement. It's simply a different business environment than it was in the past. Casey was a brilliant guy to be sure, but I wonder if even he would have been up to the task at hand. The Board of Directors is slowly changing but it is changing and the pros and cons of that could be a thread by itself. Let's hope they can change and adapt to outpace the changes occurring in the marketplace.

So, in reading your long winded reply, where are your concrete thoughts on what exactly UPS is to do? You gave a politicians reply.....long on words, short on substance.

 

[Retiree]

That's old school thinking and appropriate for a retiree. Not that there was anything wrong with that "mentality" as it worked well and served a purpose for a particular period of time in different business conditions. UPS has changed over the years but typically very slowly and only when forced by outside forces.

It's a different world now and UPS has no choice but to change and adapt. I believe that is the primary reason for much of the ill-will and overall blah-feeling in the company at most levels. Long time UPSers have a harder time adapting to the accelerating pace of change. The younger millennial work force has different expectations and needs that the old school 20+ years did not have. And of course there are always exceptions and I'm generalizing to some degree but that's my perspective.

Are you kidding me? Not sure how long you have worked for UPS but you need to catch up on our history of change since 1907 and the last 4 decades in particular....started an airline, express services, expanded to over 220 countries, leader in logistics, warehousing, strategic acquisitions, data storage network, etc. and many of these took place before we went public. As far as being conservative, the turtle always wins the race, you want UPS to be a dot com business? Look how that turned out. This company has undergone much change and will continue to change, adapt and explore additional revenue streams but it won't be as fast as you would like it. Sorry.

 

[worldwide]

Are you kidding me? Not sure how long you have worked for UPS but you need to catch up on our history of change since 1907 and the last 4 decades in particular....started an airline, express services, expanded to over 220 countries, leader in logistics, warehousing, strategic acquisitions, data storage network, etc. and many of these took place before we went public. As far as being conservative, the turtle always wins the race, you want UPS to be a dot com business? Look how that turned out. This company has undergone much change and will continue to change, adapt and explore additional revenue streams but it won't be as fast as you would like it. Sorry.

Your two replies reinforced what I previously posted - all the things you mentioned concerning UPS adapting to change are true but they are also "old news" and happened many years ago. They are also things that happened in a different business environment than the one that exists today. UPS started an airline as a competitive reaction to FedEx - UPS had to start an airline in order to compete. My point is that the business world is different and I am not seeing UPS adapt as quickly and strategically as they need to, in my opinion.

UPS messed up the TNT acquisition and now FedEx is the number 2 or 3 player (depending on what stats you believe) in Europe while previously they had no major ground operation in Europe. UPS should have anticipated the concerns of the European anti-trust commission and made the necessary concessions to allow the acquisition to occur. FedEx leads UPS in China. FedEx Ground is a result of UPS ignoring and/or not taking seriously the threat from RPS.

UPS public comments on Amazon also indicate, at least publically, they are not too worried. Granted, Amazon only represents about 2% of gross revenue to UPS (about $1B/yr) but when your largest customer and arguably the largest retailer in the world starts buying thousands of trailers, looks to purchase 20 or so wide body aircraft and gets a license allowing them to transport ocean containers from China, you have to question UPS' CEO response of "everything is great - UPS & Amazon love each other."

Again, no disrespect to the things that happened in the past but UPS has rested on its laurels for a while and it's just now that they seem to be "waking up" and making the needed investments in the network in terms of automation and transit time. FedEx is faster than UPS in about 25% of ground lanes and it will take UPS several years to close the gap. Amazon could turn into a major competitor or there could be behind the scenes negotiations taking place to strengthen the business relationship.

Regardless, the speed of changes occurring worldwide in the logistics industry is increasing and over the last decade or so, UPS has not made any particularly strong, strategic moves to indicate they have a "vision" for their place in the logistics universe. They have made plenty of tactical moves to band-aid and shore up existing operations but nothing transformative.

No doom and gloom here, but UPS is clearly playing catch-up on several fronts and so far, has not laid out a clear and concise strategic vision of where they are heading.

 

[UPSProbs]

Your two replies reinforced what I previously posted - all the things you mentioned concerning UPS adapting to change are true but they are also "old news" and happened many years ago. They are also things that happened in a different business environment than the one that exists today. UPS started an airline as a competitive reaction to FedEx - UPS had to start an airline in order to compete. My point is that the business world is different and I am not seeing UPS adapt as quickly and strategically as they need to, in my opinion.

UPS messed up the TNT acquisition and now FedEx is the number 2 or 3 player (depending on what stats you believe) in Europe while previously they had no major ground operation in Europe. UPS should have anticipated the concerns of the European anti-trust commission and made the necessary concessions to allow the acquisition to occur. FedEx leads UPS in China. FedEx Ground is a result of UPS ignoring and/or not taking seriously the threat from RPS.

UPS public comments on Amazon also indicate, at least publically, they are not too worried. Granted, Amazon only represents about 2% of gross revenue to UPS (about $1B/yr) but when your largest customer and arguably the largest retailer in the world starts buying thousands of trailers, looks to purchase 20 or so wide body aircraft and gets a license allowing them to transport ocean containers from China, you have to question UPS' CEO response of "everything is great - UPS & Amazon love each other."

Again, no disrespect to the things that happened in the past but UPS has rested on its laurels for a while and it's just now that they seem to be "waking up" and making the needed investments in the network in terms of automation and transit time. FedEx is faster than UPS in about 25% of ground lanes and it will take UPS several years to close the gap. Amazon could turn into a major competitor or there could be behind the scenes negotiations taking place to strengthen the business relationship.

Regardless, the speed of changes occurring worldwide in the logistics industry is increasing and over the last decade or so, UPS has not made any particularly strong, strategic moves to indicate they have a "vision" for their place in the logistics universe. They have made plenty of tactical moves to band-aid and shore up existing operations but nothing transformative.

No doom and gloom here, but UPS is clearly playing catch-up on several fronts and so far, has not laid out a clear and concise strategic vision of where they are heading.

Blaming the "business environment" for 15 years is getting old. Maybe Casey was right about employee ownership being the single most important factor in the success of UPS. Mediocrity set in when employee ownership was effectively destroyed.

 

[rod]

I don't really see UPS "changing" all that much---at least not for the good. I do see unwashed trucks, tattered uniforms, buildings that could qualify for a National Historic Site plaque and service that is really going down hill fast. I see a company slowly rotting away from the inside out. JMO

 

[brownmonster]

I don't really see UPS "changing" all that much---at least not for the good. I do see unwashed trucks, tattered uniforms, buildings that could qualify for a National Historic Site plaque and service that is really going down hill fast. I see a company slowly rotting away from the inside out. JMO

You should see it from the inside. That being said, it still pays damn well.

 

[rod]

You should see it from the inside. That being said, it still pays damn well.

That's the important part for you guys ----------------------------for now.

 

[AirOps1]

I'm new here and seeing all this talk about Amazon buying planes and moving shipping containers across the ocean and purchasing of trucks and trailers. What I want to know is where and how will they sort it? Come on you hub guys, think about that, Amazon does not sort anything, they send it us for that because we can do the job. I have watched the trailers pull in to our facility full of gaylords of their smalls and we get it sorted and ready to either move out on a plane or get it to preloads faster than they ever could.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I'm new here and seeing all this talk about Amazon buying planes and moving shipping containers across the ocean and purchasing of trucks and trailers. What I want to know is where and how will they sort it? Come on you hub guys, think about that, Amazon does not sort anything, they send it us for that because we can do the job. I have watched the trailers pull in to our facility full of gaylords of their smalls and we get it sorted and ready to either move out on a plane or get it to preloads faster than they ever could.

The Amazon trailers would be sorted at Post Office processing centers.

 

[AirOps1]

Post office cannot handle their own stuff. Why do you it comes to ups and fedex for sorting and transit? That's laughable if you think the post office will do the sorting

 

[silenze]

they do have sorting centers. here in Milwaukee we have 2 buildings one is the amazon fulfillment and the other sorts to the post office

 

[AirOps1]

Ups has one facility on the west coast that on its Peak day in a 24 hour span it 328K. The post office cannot make that claim and neither can Amazon. There are 3 Amazon facilities in my area and everything comes to us for sorting because they and the post office cannot handle the volume.