So which way is it?

Shiftless

Well-Known Member
What do you think?

Is being a UPS Package Driver at UPS today in the year 2017 that much harder to get thru a day then say back in the 70's or 80's?
 

burrheadd

KING Of GIFS
Early 80s were the golden years once you left the bldg rarely did you interact with anybody at the bldg.
Go do your job don't crash and never heard a peep out of them

Ate lunch with the same 5 drivers everyday coming from all over the county rarely had misleads but if there were we exchanged them after lunch

No commit times people could set there watch by what time the UPS
Man showed up

Ahhh the good old days
 

Shiftless

Well-Known Member
Last Pkg car stuff I did was 78. All Paper, NDA was a "NON DELIVERY ATTEMPT", 2nd day air was the only available quicker option. In the center I drove 160 180 stops was a normal route with 280 to 300 pieces somewhat the norm for piece count. Some routes 6 cod's while others at 50 plus per day. Call tags were held down by bull Dog clip on the dash. Micro brakes were just going away. You were lucky if your package car was newer than 72. Most of us had Cabcos with the shelf over the drivers head.

After reading in the general discussion board how some really are so dis-satisfied, I would friend-ing quit! I guess I was there in some of the better years?
 

retired2000

Well-Known Member
Retired in 2000 once we left the building we were our own boss. Ran the route the way you wanted too. Customers knew what time you would be there. Had cash cods they did not have all the fancy stuff on the car that told them everything you did during the day. I would be fired today before I left the building
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
What do you think?

Is being a UPS Package Driver at UPS today in the year 2017 that much harder to get thru a day then say back in the 70's or 80's?

Today mentally for sure harder, but many changes came about to make your tough job a bit less physical,Back in the 80's we never had power steering, lower steps, lumbar adjustable seats, automatics, good heaters, good designed shelves, good lighting in the back of the car trying to read the 6 digit shipper #'s, lower better designed aluminum shelves or bulkhead doors which back then were made of wood and gave us our share of splinters, and decent hand trucks when we went from 50 to 70 lbs. And no Diads. Nowadays at least most of them issues have been fixed to keep many of us from repetitive injuries, Shoulder & knee surgeries. Was nice that you were on your own once you left the bldg. Ran the route the way you set it up. Then came NDA and the pagers, the rest is history
 

rod

Retired 22 years
For the most part in the 70's and 80's at my center once you left the building you were on your own. Any management (all we had was a center manager and ft sup) would leave the building for the day and go play golf or fish or go home not to be seen again until maybe 5:00---if at all. If any problems came up you handled them yourself.
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
Why does everyone forget about the crappy headlights on the PCs ?
They were just standard bulbs . No halogens like today.
You were lucky if you could see the car in front on you , because those lights were so dim , no way could they see you .
I used to drive with my head tilted outside of the cab to see on a foggy night .
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Why does everyone forget about the crappy headlights on the PCs ?
They were just standard bulbs . No halogens like today.
You were lucky if you could see the car in front on you , because those lights were so dim , no way could they see you .
I used to drive with my head tilted outside of the cab to see on a foggy night .

and they were always aimed so high they didn't shine on the road in front of you. The shop must have thought package cars were always flying down the road at freeway speeds and didn't need to see things closer when delivering.
 

JackStraw

Well-Known Member
DR has made it a lot easier although it's upped my stop count a bit. We were only allowed 6 send agains a day and had to call if we had more(had to find a pay phone) this was tough to do even when using the magic triangle! Back then I was in the small parcel division so there wasn't as much bulk. Maybe a Gateway computer set to deliver once in a while. It was definitely harder to learn a route though and very easy to flag a call tag. Also the CNL (cannot locate) acronym was a plus. Job has always been hard, but with Orion, UPS has made it harder.
 
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