Has anyone left UPS? (non-retired)

[brownsucks]

worked in ops and most recently in bd as senior account manager in dallas. I left because of the insanity - didn't think it could actually get any worse but guess what.....it did! After Northtexas and Metro Dallas Districts merged all hell broke loose. And then came the change with the MIP Program : ( Really, that was the icing on the cake...I made the decision to jump after my son called me out for constantly bitc#$*% on a daily basis to all of my friends and family...life's too short and there is life after Brown. Go for it!!

 

[Deuce]

I haven't left yet, but I am job searching. I have been at UPS for a little over 5 years now (i know compared to many of your stories 5 years isn't very long.)

but anyways the point i was trying to make is that this thread makes me feel better because it gives me confidence to keep looking knowing that people have success and happiness in new careers.

I just cannot deal with UPS anymore, i hate the work enviornment, i hate not seeing my wife/son, i hate waking up every morning and having a hard time getting out of bed because every bone is sore, i hate the fact that my body is destroyed.

I am just very optimistically anticipating a new career. hopefully sooner rather than later

 

[1980]

Re: APWA Update: Indianapolis, Ind. Center

left 18 months ago after 16 years. I'm happier, family is happier now that I constantly don't b*tch about work. UPS makes u think that they are the only thing going, they are wrong. Mgmt is severely underpaid for what they do and the treatment is horrible compared to the non-UPS world. If u are fed up, my advice is to leave, u will not regret it

Left 18 Months ago but still going on a web site dedicated to his former employer............makes you wonder dont it......................

 

[trickpony1]

Re: APWA Update: Indianapolis, Ind. Center

Left 18 Months ago but still going on a web site dedicated to his former employer............makes you wonder dont it......................

.....so what difference does it make?
Maybe he/she has some unfinished business, some loose ends to tie up.

....or maybe the individual enjoys sitting on the sidelines waiting for the eventual apocalypse

 

[Deuce]

I'm going to guess here
this is my .02 cents....

they just want to remind themselves of the misery the endured and how they are glad they don't have to put up with it anymore

 

[mobias]

Discontinued pension????? Is this a true verifiable statement?

 

[mobias]

Is there an informal employment network for former UPS tech folks? Or, any recommends on good places to work for those of us who have left? Thanks.

 

[TonyV]

I left after 25 yrs. Life is great! UPS is a good place to stay if you can handle all the BS and psychotic upper management. I started as a preloader and ended as a Sales Manager with a lot of other jobs inbetween in operations and sales. My story is fairly common. Year after year, my autonomy as a manager was taken away, my benefits were cut, my pay lost pace with the market, my MIP was changed, I was asked to do more and more useless reports, my bosses became more and more annoying, I was taken more and more for granted and spent too much time on "conference calls" designed to publically humilate management members. In short, there were no improvements in working conditions, job satisfaction, level of appreciation, or pay and benefits. To stay under those conditions would be the ultimate sell out. I guess the trend might reverse itself, and everything would get better, I just couldnt see staying another quarter century to find out. The truth is, upper management doesn't care, they just lost another whiner who couldn't hack it.

 

[benschreivogel]

I really wish more people who hated the job would quit. It does no one any good having a staff who hates their job and the company they work for. If they all left not only would the quality of service improve. but more opportunity would be available for those of us who enjoy it.

 

[trickpony1]

"....more opportunity would be available for those of us who enjoy it."

My guess is everyone who goes into management has big dreams and is either awestruck by the glamour, glory and gloss or they simply want to get out of pkg cars before it kills them.

I think things change once a person has been lured into management. Case in point........a hourly person recently signed papers declining management after he had asked numerous longtime hourly as well as some former supervisors what was really involved. He had no knowledge of the MIP mess or the fact that he would, essentially, have to sell his soul to the company.

He was a mere "babe in the woods" that got rescued before the wolves got to him.

 

[TonyV]

I really wish more people who hated the job would quit. It does no one any good having a staff who hates their job and the company they work for. If they all left not only would the quality of service improve. but more opportunity would be available for those of us who enjoy it.

Wow! You are just what the company is looking for! Young, ambitious, and ignorant. You will go far. Good Luck! You are a born leader.

 

[CurrentBrown]

Looking and let me tell you this ... I have been offered positions at 15k more than my base. It is out there. Decide what you want and go get it. I did not take the last offer as the 15k was not accompanied by what else I was looking for. But I have many bites, it is just a matter of time before finding a match.

If it is in your head, go get it.

Leaving after 10.5 years of service and have never been more sure.

 

[BrownNut]

I left after working for UPS for 14 years most of those in management. I had a question regarding retirement/pension. Is it possible to get or negotiate a pay out today rather than taking the small pension that was earned in my 14 years that I will not see for another 17 years??

 

[Anonymous Non-Attorney]

I left after working for UPS for 14 years most of those in management. I had a question regarding retirement/pension. Is it possible to get or negotiate a pay out today rather than taking the small pension that was earned in my 14 years that I will not see for another 17 years??

Probably not, but the federal regulations about this are complex, and they allow the company some leeway to create additional rules. I have three experiences, each different:

I left one company in the early 1980's and I was required to take my vested amount out of their pension plan. I think that was the company's rule, because they would not maintain an account below a certain dollar amount. My account was tiny (after 2 years as a non-union driver for a company that was later named "Menlo Logistics").

A company I worked for in the 1990's dissolved, and so did the trust that was the pension plan. Everyone was given their vested value. (Plus a little more! The plan was overfunded, and the partners decided to convert that money to the plan! I think they could have taken that money back.)

After 9 years of non-union work for UPS, I was "Workforce Reduced". They would not allow me to convert the current value to some other form of retirement savings. I think that many pension plans have rules like this to keep from churning their investments, since a significant layoff could lead to a plan being underfunded.

Non-union UPSers may not like this, but I think that UPS may try to eliminate the non-union defined-benefit pension (and convert/replace it with a defined-contribution pension, such as a 401[k]). Doing that would probably give me the opportunity (or even force me) to convert that money to my existing IRA. I think that UPS could dissolve the pension plan, cash out everyone's vested current value, and keep anything that is left over - I think.

I think this is a Catch-22 of pension plans: If they're underfunded, someone may not get their retirement money. If they're overfunded, there is a financial incentive for the company to convert them. (They would have to be overfunded enough to pay for all the red tape involved in dissolving the pension plan and still leave something.)

Disclaimer: None of this is legal advice. I am not an attorney. I am not a financial adviser.

 

[CakeDaddy]

I really wish more people who hated the job would quit. It does no one any good having a staff who hates their job and the company they work for. If they all left not only would the quality of service improve. but more opportunity would be available for those of us who enjoy it.

Go ahead and continue bleeding brown until it's all gone and you'll see the big picture.
You have a lot to learn my friend. Check back with us after your 15 years of employment at UPS. I'd be curious to hear what your "Brown Blood Pressure" is now compared to 15 years from now.

 

[Troy Miller]

I really wish more people who hated the job would quit. It does no one any good having a staff who hates their job and the company they work for. If they all left not only would the quality of service improve. but more opportunity would be available for those of us who enjoy it.

not sure how i came across this forum...but i was thinking the same thing until i realized how negative of a work environment UPS is.

i've only worked there for 8 months, but i know that i've worked much harder than the majority of my co-workers. i've been constantly told that i follow all of the safety guild lines, know my ****, and am doing a good job.

i can honestly say that at least half of the people(excluding drivers and management) dont give a **** about the job. i've heard several people say that they couldn't care less and that they are waiting for a better job.

so what do i do? instead of complaining about them(because they are still around and most even get treated better due to ass-kissing), i choose to join them. im not going to quit. im just going to half ass it every single day and look as hard as i can for another job.

when i first got the job, i really excited. it wasn't my first job and im not new to working. i thought that i finally got a job at a company that i could move up in and make a career out of. all UPS has been, is pure disappointments.

 

[Run2KpUp]

I agree with Deuce! I left in 05 and have been told by my suffering souls that are still there "good thing you got out when you did!". I do NOT regret it. My family LOVES it. And today, I am on this site, why? To encourage YOU who are THINKING ABOUT leaving, to realize there IS life after UPS!!! Be more than you are now...........don't let brown get you down!!!!

 

[pauliep1_98]

I left the house of pain in 1998 after 22 years! The ironic thing is that there are so many great people that I worked with over those years along with some total morons. When I started in the late 70's and thru most of the 80's there was no better place to be a part of. Somehow during the early 90's everything started to unravel and it was like going to the dentist every day! Management and hourly people became 2 hostile camps, the pressure from above was constant, and alot of the old timers (who made UPS what it is) started to get burnt out or just plain left. I remember asking some people how old they were and I was shocked too find out they were 10-15 years younger than they looked! I remember a running joke during the 90's was that the bottom 5% of every educating class was hired by UPS and quickly moved up the management ladder! It is no coincedence that as many of true professionals in management left in the late 90's that the overall atmosphere went down the tubes. The "Big Idea" (remember that) of everyone working together towards a common goal went the way of the 8 track tape. UPS is now a company that makes profits despite of itself because of the talents of dedication of the people who laid the groundwork decades ago! The one thing I can tell you is that when somebody leaves UPS you will get hired by someone else in a heartbeat! Also keep in mind food starts tasting better, stress goes down, and you will sleep better!!

 

[browned out]

I have worked at UPS for 17 years. 10 inside loading, unloading, preloading, etc and the last 7 as a full time driver averaging over 50 hours a week. The pay and benifits are good (pension and health care getting worse)but the job is garbage. It makes many employees (hourly and management) miserable. I have four driver friends who have left and could not be happier.(all worked at UPS over 10 years or more) One owns a dairy queen, one works for the city, another is a real estate agent and the other is a massage therapist. These folks inspired me. I opened a business a year ago and now that it is off and running, I will be out after this contract expires. Think of how hard you work for UPS; if you dedicated this much work and dedication to yourself; you will most definitly will prosper. Make a plan, don't just leave. Save some cash to sustain yourself.
Life is short. Good luck

 

[fcb64]

Former Air Operations supervisor here. Left after 5 years of the most choatic years of my life. 4 years of Marine Corps bootcamp didn't even prepare me for the BS that I endured from day to day. After UPS, I took on a low-paying manager job in a call center just to go on a mental detox of the brain. UPS is a culture, it's either you fit in or you don't. There's always going to be some kiss-ass corporate recent college grad that will try to tweak here and tweak there; they'll do anything to try to shave off 2 seconds on the street. My employees told me that I was the biggest non-brown blooded supervisor in the company. I've moved on and advanced in my career as an operations manager for a major transportation company. I work 8 hours a day stress free, I am happy, the family is happy and my wife doesnt have to listen to me talk to myself in the bathroom preparing for another ass-chewing meeting with the DM about, SPORH, Over 5, going over plan, etc. No more stress, no more 16 hour days, no more wearing wool suits in a 90 degree terminal, no more sleeping pills. Best thing about leaving UPS was that I got to donate about a dozen suits to Salvation Army! What a friggin' nightmare!