To me, the gifts and prizes were just trinkets. I perform my job with excellence, not to appease my boss, and not to get some little prize, but to provide a level of service to my customer that is unmatched. I am well compensated for the work that I do.
Several years ago, I decided not to take my safe driving awards for a few years, I felt like the safety department wasn't really sincere in their desire for a safe working enviornment. Now, if you want to talk about some pressure, I got it from management and from the Robbins Company (the company that provided the prizes). The center manager we had at the time called me in the office...."we need you to select your safe driving awards, or we will just select them for you," the guy said. I laughed at him and told him that red was my favorite color if he were picking out gifts for me.
However, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the prize programs, I think everyone has missed the point of the prizes. They were not compensation for doing perfect work. They are intended as a reward for exceptional work in certain areas, or simply as morale booster, or in some cases, they are little more than advertising for the company. It's not just UPS that gives out such prizes. There are a number of companies whose entire business is providing reward prizes for other businesses; Robbins Company, Maritz are a couple examples. Most big corporations provide those prizes to their employees, many of the prizes bear company logos, and could easily be seen as advertising for the provider.
When the economy tanked, UPS was unable to change the compensation package to which they were contractually bound with the IBT. So, they looked for non-compensation items to cut. The turkeys, years of service awards, and safe driving awards were some of things they found to take away. Big deal. I remember when they quit giving out billfolds. So what.
Bottom line is, we were not given the turkey for being a perfect driver or perfect loader. If SOCKS or anyone else thought that is why Jim Casey began that tradition, they are really out of touch. If UPS or anyone thought that not giving turkeys would substantially affect the bottom line, you are living in a dream world. We waste more money than that on paper for the operation reports that winds up in the trash every day.