The Milkman
Well-Known Member
Been on this site for a while. retired from Central Jersey 1-08 and moved to Az. My blood pressure is down and I feel more relaxed and not in the nerve wracking( what's today going to be like?)mode. I miss the people on my old rte and I sometimes say to myself "How did I make it this 'far in one piece" Just over 25 years, 18 on the road always a full timer and the last 8 at the Customer Counter. After reading many posts and seeing the telematics I wonder if anyone no matter how much they pay per hour will be willing to put up with all this IMO Big Brown watching you. I use to like making my decisions on how to run my rte and being able to make decisions to provide good service but now the diad tells you how to do it. Customers as I was about to leave the road were concerned about the new loops that caused alot of delivery area times to change sometimes from Am to Pm. I would routinely deliver a out of home business in the Am and come back in the Pm and pick up there products. They loved the Am so they could work on their stuff..Well I got off the road just in time and I would hate to be on my old rte after hearing how they chopped it up. I feel for the drivers that have many years to go because I went from paper to the diad like many of you and that was something to shake you up a little and now we went from pagers to GPS in the boards. I guess if I started today I would not know any difference as the old timers,but I wonder about the new hires of today,what will they be dealing with in 20-25 years from now?? The automatic trucks with p/s and good heaters and a pre planned route make it easy for Ups to hire anybody and I mean anybody.When I started it was no-no to hire family..The harder they make this job the harder it will be for them to hire people that will stick out to the end..As I look back and think of all the splits I did and all the peaks especially as a rookie I wonder how I made..I started when I was 30 and believe me when I say and others will agree..I Earned my Pension and benefits and I hope to live to be 100. We came a long way since "Next day Air" debuted in '82.........The Milkman now Retired and Loving it!!!!!