I know Hoax. Numbers are always vital and integral part of any company. They have to be but it doesn't mean that they can replace the people that work for said company. I'm not necessarily talking about UPS either.
you are so right in what you are saying. i hace been walked to the door so many times i have count for being a steward and pointing out what is wrong and they very same people i defend will not come foward to help so this is why i just do job and go home and keep my trap shut.
With all due respect, you are not at the bottom of the totem pole either. Shiat rolls downhill. At the top all looks rosy and shiny but when you are at my end of things and you see a mgr/sup sitting behind a desk stuffing 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lb sack......................... well let's say what goes in smelling like crap comes out smelling like crap.
Hopelessness................ I suppose in relation to the general economy, in the general ability to be able to perform our jobs in a timely manner and looking forward to being able to get off at a decent hour. Our trucks are being stuffed to the gills, and we see no end in sight. It only gets worse. Mgt says, "it's light today but we kept all the rtes in so you can get done early". They are so magnanimous in their gesture but in reality, the loads suck, preload is being pushed harder and faster, the trucks aren't any lighter, stop counts aren't down on these day. And then we hear rumors (mentioned elsewhere) of our rte's being cut back from 14 to 9 after the 1st. I'm not sure how that fits in your vision but in ours it doesn't work. 9 rtes to 8 zip codes isn't logical especially when two of those zip codes are communities of more than 11,000 each (2009). You could probably bump that to more than 15,000 now.
And then factor in mgt's willingness to use any tactic available (harassment) to get their numbers down to an acceptable corporate standard. A corporate standard that has taken the human equation out of the system and expected us to become robots that have no problem working long hours because we don't have a life. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. We are people. We need to be treated like people with respect and dignity.
Hopelessness? Ya hopelessness. The system is failing. Management is failing in its task, not where money is concerned but where people are concerned. I recently watched Undercover Boss for the first time. It was the Hooters episode. You should watch it. Maybe that will give you an idea of where I'm coming from. There was one particular manager that the CEO should have thrown out on the spot.