I think you are missing the point of the thread. I was speaking in terms of management opportunity and level of compensation now as compared to earlier periods within my working lifetime. I have no idea what was going on in the 60s and 70s.
Revenue was about 3 billion in 1975. It grew to somewhere around 15 billion in 1995. The growth from 3 bil to 15 billion was the most revenue growth of any period up until that time. UPS was not even a billion a year company in 1970. During this time (75-95) they lost billions internationally. The size and scope of the company was growing and lots of people were getting promoted. Virtually all management people were promoted from within. The ratio of management to hourly was low.
I'm not sure what there is is to dispute. If you believe the supervisor or manager job is more financially lucrative or is More attractive career today than it was in the past you are out of touch.
Tell me about "lucrative"...when I went into mgmt (circa '74) my MONTHLY salary was $1150. As for MIP, a couple of years into the process (still as a one unit) I received $200 net...and had to make a round trip on a SUNDAY in a snowstorm ("blizzard peak) to receive it (would gladly have PAID that much just to have a day off!)
Next, since you specifically stated TWENTY years, might I remind you that "1975" is considerably MORE than 20 years ago....close to twice that figure, in fact. And, as one who participated in the international expansion pretty much from the get-go, I think I can categorically state that, by 1995, UPS wasn't losing "billions" in it. And I can also categorically state that very, very few mgmt opportunities (relatively speaking) were opened-up by that expansion...mostly because so few UPS managers had foreign language skills (Germany, for example, probably involved no more than 50-100 Americans at any one time "in country" during the whole period of its development)
Granted, the late 70's were still a relatively high growth period. But the eighties and nineties - particularly when throwing out your somewhat belated qualification of your "working lifetime", didn't begin to compare with that period. Or, more particularly, the sixties and early seventies (it seems that there is a company history outside of your lifetime) when a guy could go from being hired-in as a driver (no preloaders, etc. at the time) with a high school education, to a customer service rep., to a center manager (not that many center supervisors as well) to a division manager all within the space of a couple of years.
Granted, those that participated in the MIP prior to the IPO did quite well in the end. But that was sometimes rather hard to predict prior to the fact. Morever, in terms of straight salary - even relative to inflation - my guess is that it's as high now as it has been at any time in the company's history. As for the MIP, that's remains hard to predict? Who knows what the future will bring? All I can say is that, at times, it look pretty bleak "back when" as well.
I might be "out of touch"...but I think I at least can claim to HAVE "touched" the eras in question, and have some personal knowledge of them. Granted, the grass tends to look greener in retrospect (20 years ago, and 20 years before that, I heard essentially the same arguments as you're presenting today!), but I believe a lot of that is misperception.
