The power of gray.

[satellitedriver]

With the "new and improved" UPS promoting/hiring persons that have never driven a pkg car to "on road" supervisors and controlling dispatch via EDD/ORION, there seems to be a glitch.
For some strange reason, the technological advances can not replace real world experience.

My center has called back a retired sup, on a contract hourly basis, to train the temporary Christmas drivers. He is a great guy that I have worked with for 25yrs.
An excellent driver and a dedicated sup that got burned out by the "new and improved" UPS.

The reason he was bribed back for a month is that the new "on road" sup's do not know how to physically run a route,nor can they train others.

When I was hired at UPS every person in management worked their way up the ranks from the bottom.

Now, they are hired for their skill at looking at a computer.


Really?
I mean really? Is this the future of UPS?

This retired sup is a 60yr old gray haired man like me and can run circles around the over weight twenty "on road" somethings that UPS has replaced him with.

I can't use his real name, so I will call him Mike.
Mike will make more money training drivers, on contract, without all the back stress of the useless paperwork and corporate BS than he did as an on road sup.

Technology is a wonderful tool, but real world experience is the
trump in this house of cards.

 

[Catatonic]

With the "new and improved" UPS promoting/hiring persons that have never driven a pkg car to "on road" supervisors and controlling dispatch via EDD/ORION, there seems to be a glitch.
For some strange reason, the technological advances can not replace real world experience.

My center has called back a retired sup, on a contract hourly basis, to train the temporary Christmas drivers. He is a great guy that I have worked with for 25yrs.
An excellent driver and a dedicated sup that got burned out by the "new and improved" UPS.

The reason he was bribed back for a month is that the new "on road" sup's do not know how to physically run a route,nor can they train others.

When I was hired at UPS every person in management worked their way up the ranks from the bottom.

Now, they are hired for their skill at looking at a computer.


Really?
I mean really? Is this the future of UPS?

This retired sup is a 60yr old gray haired man like me and can run circles around the over weight twenty "on road" somethings that UPS has replaced him with.

I can't use his real name, so I will call him Mike.
Mike will make more money training drivers, on contract, without all the back stress of the useless paperwork and corporate BS than he did as an on road sup.

Technology is a wonderful tool, but real world experience is the
trump in this house of cards.

When you were hired the inside to outside ratio was 1 to 1 or maybe 2 to 1.
Now the ratio is 6 to 1.

​Add to that, the fact that a driver will have to take a cut in pay to go into supervision.

 

[satellitedriver]

When I was hired the CEO had been a driver.

Add to that, the fact that a driver will have to take a cut in pay to go into supervision.
I took the bird in hand and turned down the promised two birds in 1987.
I witnessed how sups were treated and refused to go that route.

​

 

[Dracula]

This is nothing new. Where I work, they stopped requiring full-time supervisors to go driving probably 15 years ago.

I agree, it used to be a healthy idea to make a driver sup to have experience in the job he oversaw.

It never guaranteed any fairness, but it gives a supervisor an honest assessment of what the driver does on an everyday basis.

Unfortunately, that no longer exists.

Now, what we have, are management consultants, who act as prison guards.

They can carry out orders without question, but they will never understand the orders, or how those orders affect the employees being ordered.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Now, what we have, are management consultants, who act as prison guards.
They can carry out orders without question, but they will never understand the orders, or how those orders affect the employees being ordered.

The nature of the beast...technology is a weapon which not only affects the hourlies, but management too. No reason to hire thinkers and dreamers; only need conformist sheep who can do what they are told and questioning nothing at all.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Our mgt team called our recently retired on-car to see if he wanted to be the helper coordinator for this Peak. I wasn't there but I could hear the laughter all the way down to my delivery area.

His replacement was a preload sup from Houston who had never driven a pkg car; to be fair, he has worked hard and has gained a great deal of area knowledge. To his credit, he acknowledged this shortfall and sought out the more senior drivers to pick their brains.

 

[serenity now]

The only way to learn to operate a farm tractor is to operate a farm tractor / Just saying.....

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The only way to learn to operate a farm tractor is to operate a farm tractor / Just saying.....

Not necessarily:

Farming Simulator - Download

 

[Wally]

Those who can't teach... or supervise (badly).

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Those who can't teach... or supervise (badly).

The on-car that I referenced drove for 15 years.

 

[serenity now]

Not necessarily:

Farming Simulator - Download

Then have all the new drivers at your center taught by someone who is proficient on a delivery truck simulator; please let us know how well that works out.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Then have all the new drivers at your center taught by someone who is proficient on a delivery truck simulator; please let us know how well that works out.

Integrad?

 

[3 done 3 to go]

Then have all the new drivers at your center taught by someone who is proficient on a delivery. truck simulator; please let us know how well that works out.

Won't surprise me if UPS is working on this right now. With the billions in the bank

 

[Jackburton]

This will be the third year in a row we had a retired sup come back to do helper coordination. What I don't understand is why, after 20+ years would you want to spend any time here during the holidays? I mean getting kicked in the teeth for the past 20+ wasn't enough, need the money, or don't like your family. I'm trying to understand why.

 

[Shifting Contents]

I was talking about this just yesterday with one of our on road sups. he's not that far of retiring and was a 20 year driver before he went into management. I asked him as someone who at one time thought about going into management what was even the incentive anymore? they pay for their health care, they pay to be smokers, their spouses can't be on their insurance, and MIP is slowly disappearing.

he told me "honestly, I get more discretionary days than you get option days, and some days when its slow I get to go home at 3 o'clock."

 

[Jackburton]

I was talking about this just yesterday with one of our on road sups. he's not that far of retiring and was a 20 year driver before he went into management. I asked him as someone who at one time thought about going into management what was even the incentive anymore? they pay for their health care, they pay to be smokers, their spouses can't be on their insurance, and MIP is slowly disappearing.

he told me "honestly, I get more discretionary days than you get option days, and some days when its slow I get to go home at 3 o'clock."

He should be a driver at our center, we have FT drivers that barely get enough reports to qualify for vacation.

 

[cachsux]

The bad part is these non-expierianced sups pass along bad habits to the new drivers that they train. I couldn't care less that I can out drive my sup. I'm just getting tired of having to drive around their students.

 

[Anonymous 10]

This will be the third year in a row we had a retired sup come back to do helper coordination. What I don't understand is why, after 20+ years would you want to spend any time here during the holidays? I mean getting kicked in the teeth for the past 20+ wasn't enough, need the money, or don't like your family. I'm trying to understand why.

Same here too. I look at these guys and laugh in their face. They hated it but can't wait to come back for Christmas.

 

[brownIEman]

This will be the third year in a row we had a retired sup come back to do helper coordination. What I don't understand is why, after 20+ years would you want to spend any time here during the holidays? I mean getting kicked in the teeth for the past 20+ wasn't enough, need the money, or don't like your family. I'm trying to understand why.

Dont't try to understand it. It is a highly dysfunctional co-dependent relationship much like battered spouse syndrome. On one hand they hate it, on the other they are addicted to it.

 

[brownIEman]

Same here too. I look at these guys and laugh in their face. They hated it but can't wait to come back for Christmas.

You are violating article 37. Hopefully they are writing you up for old time sake!