Question for Drivers

[matrobw]

I am curious to see how full you guys have been since peak is over? Are you seeing an increase in business? I ask this because the company is threatening to furlough some of the pilots due to the slowdown in business. However when I look at the 4th quarter and year end 2002 numbers we made a bucketload of money again. I am also wondering if they are threatening any kind of layoffs with you guys too?

Thanks

 

[lr1937]

What company official made the threat? Where was it made and by who. Was it a threat or a heads up? Why would you be threatened with a layoff? What would the company gain by threatening you?
Are you over staffed? What do you do? Where do you work? When was the threat made?

 

[matrobw]

The company has told the Pilots Union that it is considering furloughing pilots in an effort to cut costs. They claim the pilot group is overstaffed. However we are growing overseas and continue to take delivery of new aircraft. They have not said that they are going to furlough but they say they need to cut costs (like $3.18 Billion isn't enough in 2002.) That is why I am asking what people are seeing as far as volume is concerned.

And as for where I work I am a pilot.

 

[abuckover]

As for my center, we are down as always at this time of year, but I have seen far slower years. That said my center is a small one up in Canada and probably not representative of UPS as a whole.

 

[michael]

matrobw..

I guess my first question would be "IS the pilot group overstaffed" ? I am not qualified to answer that , but if someone that reads this is qualified and can shed some light on the subject we can continue from there.

Michael

 

[archibald]

Here in Arkansas I do see the loss of volume. I will give customer service credit they are out in force scrappin for volume though! Some of the problem is the economy, some is fed-ex ground. I don't know the solution, even though with the china expansion I would hope our pilots would be safe,I guess noone is these days.I guess we all need to suck it up and try to get back some of the bizz fed-ex and the postoffice has stole, I would call that employement security.I am 18 years in and I am not to proud to kiss some ass to secure my future in these tough times!Bottom line is it is up to all of us, managment and union to get on the same page and help ourselves and kick fed-ex's ass or stand by and watch them kick ours!!

 

[dammor]

I don't think Fed Ex is as big a problem as everyone seems to make it. No doubt we lost some
volume before the contract. I think the economy is hurting us much worse though. People are digging in and holding on to what they have. I sure as hell am. If the economy does well then we do. Considering the times I think UPS has held it's own. Our volume here is pretty much normal for this time of year.

 

[rushfan]

I'm a flex driver and know about 20 routes in our city. A few of the routes have around 25 business stops, and the rest residential. I have noticed on those "mostly residential" routes, volume has dropped compared to previous years.
Sure the "other" company is a thorn in our backside, but I don't see them in numbers delivering packages that I used to deliver.
The customers that I speak with tell me they aren't spending as much as they were.
Sure we need to be vigilant of other companies taking the volume, but my point is that the economy is why our volume numbers are down.

 

[upsdude]

The volume in our center is way up. Local management claims the volume is down yet extra routes are in most everyday. Last year I averaged 125 stops a day. This year Im in the 140-150 range every day. My area hasnt expanded, no splits, no new construction, no new businesses etc, just more stops. Most of the increase has come in the form of HCs. Business stops are up about 5-10 a day. The work load has been steady since November.

 

[upscorpis]

A couple of things to consider:

1) The volume seen on a package car is primarily ground so it is unlikely there's relationship to air volume. More likely is an inverse relationship where customers are moving more volume from the air to the ground due to the economy and ground guarantee.

2) For the year, 1DA declined 5k/day and deferred air declined 22k/day.

3) Perhaps with the increased flow/hr and streamlined container unload process of the WorldPort hub, fewer smaller a/c are required for volume availability purposes. Now you can fly a 757 in at 12:35am instead of a 727 at 11:30pm and a 727 at 12:30am. During the day operation, some volume may have been shifted to the ground for similar reasons.

4) UPS guided to expect flat volume year over year for the first quarter of '03. This comes after growing the staffing to fly the a/c required for peak, many of which are now sitting as spares.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head.