Ive been with ups 33 years and seen a lot of operations around the southeast . The amount of dissatisfaction with the company is without a doubt a all time high. Both at the labor and management level. The situation with the economy can only take you so far with how you treat your employees. What is the answer? I have my thoughts but i want to hear from you, both labor and mangement. This company needs a open dialouge and just not its continued lip service. I am lucky that a can indeed retire at any time but those mid rangers need some concrete ideas on how this company can reinvent themselves as being people friendly. Let me know and ill pass it on . Work is work, it has to be done, but with civility and understanding !
What has happened?
- Thread starter fairday
- Start date
trickpony1
Well-Known Member
Systems exist to perpetuate themselves. This concept applies to everything from one cell amebas to corporate America.
The higher order and more powerful systems (Ivory Towers in Atlanta) will always dominate and prevail over the lower order systems (front line supes and hourly)
Right, wrong or indifferent, the higher order, when threatened with survival will forsake the lower order.
In simple terms, Atlanta is trying to substantiate their jobs.
The higher order and more powerful systems (Ivory Towers in Atlanta) will always dominate and prevail over the lower order systems (front line supes and hourly)
Right, wrong or indifferent, the higher order, when threatened with survival will forsake the lower order.
In simple terms, Atlanta is trying to substantiate their jobs.
Old International
Now driving a Sterling
Let local management manage !! It seems like every time I turn around, my center manager has his hands tied by somebody up the food chain. If we are truly going to a P&L type operation, then let the locals guys do the job, as they know the operations the best, and only step in when it DOESN'T work.
Braveheart
Well-Known Member
Sometimes it is true that things come from Atlanta.
Sometimes it is a lie.
We have multiple centers and as usual our manager does all the ass backward stuff while the other use some common sense.
He claims it is from above but when the other centers are doing things completely different you discover he is full of it.
We need to get rid of all the "bully" managers. That is for LP and the Labor manager. Manage don't intimidate.
Sometimes it is a lie.
We have multiple centers and as usual our manager does all the ass backward stuff while the other use some common sense.
He claims it is from above but when the other centers are doing things completely different you discover he is full of it.
We need to get rid of all the "bully" managers. That is for LP and the Labor manager. Manage don't intimidate.
rushfan
Well-Known Member
Been here 16 years. In the beginning, IMHO there was an unwritten rule if there was a beef with the company, we as hourly employees, didn't hear any complaints. Now, it seems as though everyone wants to "put in their time" and get away from UPS. Gone are the "good 'ol days".
helenofcalifornia
Well-Known Member
The only people that UPS care about now are the stockholders and Wall Street. Witness the torn, stained uniforms on many drivers that they can't get replacements ones, the "burned out" drivers who can't seem to catch a break but are always found to be "at fault."
Witness the mid level management and supes who can tell you now the exact date they will retire and are counting it down. 20 stops added to each route just "because." Routes cut, yet expected to do your route and the extra stops in the same time.
Customers a secondary concern now. Who cares if they are getting their packages 3 hours later? Not Atlanta, until the customer goes to Fedex. And how the hell are we supposed to remember all the new rules and regs for delivering that come our way each week that we sign and say we are trained in. Yeah, right.
And on and on. UPS doesn't care and couldn't handle an open forum with all the shot that would come their way.
Witness the mid level management and supes who can tell you now the exact date they will retire and are counting it down. 20 stops added to each route just "because." Routes cut, yet expected to do your route and the extra stops in the same time.
Customers a secondary concern now. Who cares if they are getting their packages 3 hours later? Not Atlanta, until the customer goes to Fedex. And how the hell are we supposed to remember all the new rules and regs for delivering that come our way each week that we sign and say we are trained in. Yeah, right.
And on and on. UPS doesn't care and couldn't handle an open forum with all the shot that would come their way.
PASinterference
Yes, I know I'm working late.
Last Monday we had 2 routes cut.Everyone had 11 hr planned days and that was with the nazi time allowances still in affect at our center.The heat index was 119 and had 2 drivers go to the hospital for heat exhaustion.I dont know what these morons in corporate are thinking,but I dont see us in business much longer with some of the decisions they are making.
helenofcalifornia
Well-Known Member
They just don't care anymore about drivers, PTers, PT supes, mid level management. It's all about the dollar and they don't care (or want to know) at what cost that dollar was earned. I too do not see a rosy bright future for UPS like I have in the past 30 years. They are cutting into the meat now.
bigbrownhen
Well-Known Member
Open communication is the biggest problem, up and down the chain, and across the fence between hourly and management. I have had to deal with many a problem all through my career that would have been avoided if one person would communicate to another.
midwestmess
Active Member
We too have seen many routes cut and drivers going out with heavy dispatches. When talking with our labor manager he stated that we make 75K and up and that its time our center managers understand that we work for them and not vise versa. UPS believes that because our premium wage they deserve 100% from us everyday, and I can see there point. The only thing that I can offer is that you do your job, follow the methods that they have underlined and file 9.5 grievances. Eventually they will have to add routes back. You can never be disciplined for doing your job the right way. Maybe down the road we can see the local managers making more decisions on there own.
browned out
Well-Known Member
Management is trying to get drivers to quit, do something dishonest and get fired, or work everyone into the ground so they can try to get helpers on the car year round.
22.34life
Well-Known Member
i would like to see problems actually get solved instead of just working around them.it seems like any time you bring up a concern they just come up with some way to work around it instead of just fixing it.the problems go so deep at ups its hard to see them getting fixed i would like to be able talk to my manager without him answering his cell phone or talk with my friend/t sup without him talking to two other people,some of these things seem like just common courtesy but in case you havent noticed there is a serious lack of that here.
Meh...UPS is going down the drain. Ever since they went public, UPS has operated under the bean counters. All routes are done on paper. A perfect day, no traffic, every stop has an immediate signature, perfect load...etc. Never happens. They need to let the local management manage. They figured out how to make the numbers look close to right by doing add/cuts on routes and it sucks for everyone but upper management. I remember supervisors looking at peoples shoes trying to match a foot print on a stepped on package. Now they're stepping on packages trying to shove them down the belt faster. Greed will consume this company. I don't have much hope in retiring here if they don't change their tactics again.
satellitedriver
Moderator
I totally agree with your synopsis.
UPS corporate has adopted the fatal flaw of micro-management.
Typical over reaction to present conditions and losing view of the long game.
Name of the game these days is survival.
The trouble is that the people making the decisions are focusing on keeping their position, instead of keeping UPS a viable enterprise.
Since the IPO-( and I am a long term stock holder) corporate has really screwed the pooch.
IMHO
IT HAS NEVER BEEN THIS BAD....It is both hourly and management. The sad thing that I see is that true brown to the bone UPSERS (both managment and hourly) are losing their faith, trust and dedication. As a Center manager it is extremely tough in this environment to build teamwork, motivation are even a "give a damn attitude" with either my management team or the workgroups. ALl I can hope for is that our next CEO is a UPSER that has done many of the jobs you and I perform- and knows the dynamics of UPS culture, and potential... I AM VERY CONCERNED.
Returntosender
Well-Known Member
Atlanta is panic mode. First Atlanta collapsed districts. Second drivers stopped increased, routes got cut. Now part timers are on hitting deck. There's an ulterior motive behind these changes. IMO Atlanta wants to make the job so hard so top pay UPSers quit. Replace them with entry level pay UPSers. A handful of senior drivers quit when their routes were cut and became swing. Now they work at FED EX Ground. Rumor has it the person they work for is ex-UPS manager. Who left UPS and bought FED EX ground routes and hired EX UPS drivers to work them. I doubt they make 30 dollars and hour, but I'm pretty sure those drivers aren't touching 300+ packages a day.
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
I called my center manager a puppet yesterday and he agreed. Said everything is coming down from above the Division level. Pretty sad when someone is dipatching Eastern Wisconsin from a Minnesota cubicle. I told the Supe that us drivers are used to the chaos but the customer has other options to recieve service. It's a downward spiral. Lose business, cut routes, piss off customers, lose more business, cut more routes. Can no one at the top see this?
I am convinced that they cannot or choose not to see it. I tell myself that someone in corporate has used the big IE calculater and analyzed all cost benifit propositions of where we are going (impact on morale, package care, customers, safety , performance. long term planning, payback on training etc etc etc . In my center it means reduced management and sales staff as well as route cuts and cram/jam inside operations. I tell myself all the math has been done and this is what they want (compared to what i used to expect of myself and my center as a manager). As long as they have evaluated the consequences and they are built into the equation, who am I to question?. I have decided I will no longer lose sleep over the matter. Lets all just pray the calculater works!!! I have learned through many years of management at UPS to not focus on the elephant in the room... But diverting my eyes from the Brontosaurus in the room is difficult to say the least.
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