That was funny!
As for the knees vs shoulder issue, its not. what finishes the joints is a constant impact. They are designed to give you use and some abuse, but the 150+ times out of the truck a day is too much abuse on the knees. That is why UPS spent serious money on research to show that someone using the railing will put less than 1/3rd the impact on the joint than someone that does not.
Over the course of a day, that is several tons of weight that the the knees did not have to absorb.
Now, the shoulder is not meant to absorb shock and impact either. So unless you lose your footing, the shoulder is only a mechanism to slow the descending body, nothing more.
The very worst thing you can do for your knees is to have packages in your hands, and not use the three point dismount/remount.
Now, all that being said for the body mechanics, the package cars that are now much closer to the ground are a big blessing in keeping your knees from being hurt. As is the revelation to ups that many of the hand rails are way to high for the average UPS person to safely use. Plus the location inside the package car made for unsafe angles with your hand and arms.
So many of the handrails have either been moved, or secondary ones installed.
But for many old timers like me, the damage of years of stepping out of the older cars carried with it a price. And for me to have to file, as the most senior driver(we only had 2 P1000's that were not "low riders"). but yet management always had me stuck in one of the old style cars.
The statement that management does not really care about the safety of its employees does resonate some truth. And that is why a real safety committee that has real clout is needed at ups. That is the only way the drivers/union can combat those members of management that relay dont care.
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