Old Time UPS.

[Brown Rocket]

All you old timers speak up.

I have been a UPSER for fours years now and a driver for three. I have driven trucks that are as old as my wife and used both DIAD III and IV. I have seen the old pads from paper just before the DIAD I. What do you remember. Have the bulkhead doors always been metal? Pad locks?

Have any pictures?

 

[Dustyroads]

The early P600s had a wooden bulkhead door. I drove Econonline vans in the rural areas for 14 years that had no bulkhead doors at all!

Accounts used to use a rubber stamp that had their six digit shipper number on it with a box for the weight to be written in. Some accounts used Pitney Bowes meter machines and produced a ups meter that had the date of the shipment and the shipping cost, much like a postage meter.

 

[EmerCond421]

If I recall correctly, the old Ford Flattops and bubble tops (late '80's) had no bulkhead doors. The old 600-800's use to have wood doors with no locks. Just pull the strap to open. Even the first 1000's had no lock.

 

[Brown Rocket]

Man I wish someone had pictures. I love that kind of stuff.

 

[Dustyroads]

I have some of the old econolines...i'll have to scan them and see if i can get them up after Christmas.

 

[Dustyroads]

A buddy of mine still has his coat from the mid-70's, if you can call it that. It's thin, no lining, no logo.

 

[Brown Rocket]

I have a boss who is about to retire (35 years) that said his original uniform had no logo and his jumber wore something like a mechanic's coverall with a logo.

 

[Dustyroads]

The old delivery notices were printed with brown ink on white card stock (before the invention of the sticky note), and they had a perforated signature card on the top end.

We used to have ISP cards which were Improper Shipping Practices cards that you could communicate with customer service reps across the country, notifying them that their account was failing to properly pack or label their boxes.

We all carried masonite clipboards for the paper records that had stainless steel "bankers clips" on the ends to hold the paper down on the board. Not as much mass as a diad, but they still would get a dog's undivided attention.

And, of course, we all used to fill out time cards that we carried in our shirt pocket.

 

[jw55wags]

Hey I remember on those old time cards ( that we carried in our shirt pockets) if we ran bad the sups would draw sad faces on the backs of them the next morning. The GOOD OLD DAYS!!

 

[Brown Rocket]

Hey I remember on those old time cards ( that we carried in our shirt pockets) if we ran bad the sups would draw sad faces on the backs of them the next morning. The GOOD OLD DAYS!!

That's where my old on road got that from. She would do that on the reoport that they print out showing everyone's numbers. You;d get highlighted and a sad face next to your name.

 

[The Milkman]

All you old timers speak up.

I have been a UPSER for fours years now and a driver for three. I have driven trucks that are as old as my wife and used both DIAD III and IV. I have seen the old pads from paper just before the DIAD I. What do you remember. Have the bulkhead doors always been metal? Pad locks?

Have any pictures?

I remember the high steps on the old 600's. Very poor rear lighting which was one small spot light.Try reading old blue ink customer counter shipper #'s and rubber stamped #'s in dim light. The defrosters were a joke in the 600's I drove. A small black box on the firewall with a little pull out flap that was supposed to keep your legs warm and defroster hoses that were torn and tattered thus making the slots in the dash useless. Many cold winters in Jersey. Had to wear gloves and bundle up for the heater really did nothing. The old straight edge wiper blades were no good also in rain and especially in snow. I had to bang on the wipers with a scraper sometimes while driving as they iced up. And it was fun when you pulled in our building to park and your mirrors fogged up instantly.. The good old days, frozen pens ,ink skipping across the sheets and wet carbon paper.

 

[EmerCond421]

Remember cash turn ins? Hundreds if not thousands of dollars to count and turn in. And it better be spot on or the next day you had some 'splain'in to do. LoL

 

[Brown Rocket]

Remember cash turn ins? Hundreds if not thousands of dollars to count and turn in. And it better be spot on or the next day you had some 'splain'in to do. LoL

One of our really old 1000s has some sort of metal box with a slot under the shelf where the 2000 section is. Is that a box for cash or COD?

 

[Dump and Dash]

Many of the older package cars had wooden bulkhead doors. At least they were heavy and didnt rattle like the current aluminum ones. When I started in 1978 there were still some old P400's? (the package cars shaped like a toaster) in use. They had a button you pushed that activated a solenoid that opened the bulkhead door. Nice if you had am armload of stuff. But you rarely needed to close the door. The engine also started with the push of a starter button.
Then came the bulkhead doors that had two flanges with holes that a padlock could be put thru if it was actually necessary to lock the door. Virtually all drivers had jimmied the locks with a little piece of cardboard or wood so as to not have to use a key.
Seatbelts? Forget it! No one used them. In fact I was told "a good UPS driver will pull up to a stop, slam on the emergency brake, run up to the house, and get back to the truck before it quits rocking back and forth!"
Those were the days.

 

[tarbar66]

How about those micro brakes, when they worked they were great. When they didn't you could say, oops there's a runaway!

The old P400's mirrors were not much bigger than the old white delivery notice. No convex mirrors either.

There were no back up lights on the 1963 & 1964 P400's that I remember.

The Diamond T tractors did not have turbo chargers so I think you had less than a 200 horsepower engine!

 

[Dustyroads]

When I started in '79 we had a couple of those old slant nosed "toaster" 400's, I drove them as a cover driver. They ran fast, but it was scarey. They had a solid steel top, so they were pitch dark inside. And, ours had a little vent with a fan in it in the center of the cargo area, you could put it on exhaust while you were driving.

I started driving on my current area in '80, in a bubble top Ford Econoline. It had a 300 six, and a three on the tree. The yolks on the shifter broke regularly, also they could get caught up between gears on the linkage, and you'd have to get out and crawl underneath, (put a brick under the wheel) and fool around with the linkage. Even with this, the Econolines, were great running trucks, they had independent front suspension, making them very comfortable and stable under all conditions. They all had power steering. The biggest problem with the Econolines was that they rusted pretty badly, sending them to the body shop or the crusher. My 86 Econoline was the first truck in the building with a three point seatbelt.

 

[slantnosechevy]

I remember the old 49000# 4 cubes with the selection tray, 300 Ford Six w/no smog pumps and no governor. The V-8 Slantnosed Chevys. The P600s which were indestructable and good in the snow. The 10000# 8cubes w/ a 5 speed. They were great in the snow too. Wooden shelves and bulkheads. Splinters. Carrying 3-4 clipboards when dispatched 6 different units. Laughing and joking during PCMs with Supes everyday. 2nd day air airplane stickers. Peel off NDA and 2DA labels. No air deliveries just ground. Fingerhut, U.S.Purchasing, and cash only late night TV merchandise. Counting cash turn-in. Fur calls, Phone calls, and AOD cards. Wool Ike Jackets that were really green. Papermate pens were the best in the freezing cold.The Clarksville test on paper. The training film with the guy who whistled his way to every stop. All the boxes were on the shelves and you could dance through his PCar. I remember hearing the guy passed away some years back from a massive coronary. All Good Kids Like Milk

 

[soberups]

For over a year I drove the "triple deuce"....it was a 1960 Ford slant-nose P-800. Wooden shelves with solid supports that turned the area under the shelves into a cage. Wooden bulkhead door. Solid metal roof with 2 little "portholes" for light. Ignition key on the left side. The engine cover protruded halfway into the cab and you laid your clipboard on top of it. 300-inch 6 cylinder, 4 speed manual with a granny gear. No power steering, and the brakes locked up automatically on wet pavement.The mirrors were functionally useless; at speeds over 40 MPH they vibrated too much, and you looked at them thru the windshield in the area outside the arc of the wipers.

It was the Truck That Refused to Die.

 

[Dustyroads]

Oh, man, you guys were there. Slantnose, you must have a memory like an elephant.

Ok, before there was Next Day Air we had Blue Label Air. It would become second day air.

 

[Brown Rocket]

AOD cards?