When Did the Decline Start?

[Shiftless]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

For me it was two things that happened.

One: They wanted to have me call in when my route was finished before I could return to the building. There were no cell phones, occasional phone booths and cans with string between were the norm.

Two: They started giving us these twist top brown pens where you had to twist the top to be able to use them instead of a quick thumb button push!

Very crazy times for sure! Downfall of the company! Don't know how we got thru those times! I miss my days with a micro brake!

 

[ManInBrown]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

Anytime you ever ask an old timer you’ll get the same answer. When the company went public. When some pissant two years out of highschool gets pulled off the preload and made an on car, then he’s telling some 25 year vet how to do his job when the sup couldnt do the job for two hours. You know it’s never gonna work.

 

[Ancient Alien]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

August 29th, 1907

 

[Richard Harrow]

Somewhere along the way UPS allowed its customers to cheapen its service.

When I was a kid, it was a big deal when UPS pulled up in front of your house.

Now I pull up in front of the same houses 5 days a week with 2 or 3 packages of Chinese-made garbage or stuff you can buy in any dollar store shipped next day saver from Kentucky.

 

[Covemastah]

Somewhere along the way UPS allowed its customers to cheapen its service.

When I was a kid, it was a big deal when UPS pulled up in front of your house.

Now I pull up in front of the same houses 5 days a week with 2 or 3 packages of Chinese-made garbage or stuff you can buy in any dollar store shipped next day saver from Kentucky.

It's paying your bills & be thankful that your not pulling up to the house in an Amazon van !!

 

[728ups]

IMO things started going downhill in my building with the implementation of EDD. Before this I ran my route the same way everyday, The load never changed and was in the same part of the truck each and every day. Start time was 08:15 and we were out of the building by 8:20 My customers could set their watches by me. After EDD Metrics became the most important thing to chase. Preload was started at late as possible, instead of loading 3 trucks loading four to five became the norm.Our start time was changed in increments to 9:15 now. Instead of Quality Loads Pieces per Hour became the MOST important metric. Routes started being cut and it became the norm to never have the same area two days in a row. Service has taken a back seat since EDD has been implemented and the idea of quality service is never coming back.

 

[ouanling]

Somewhere along the way UPS allowed its customers to cheapen its service.

When I was a kid, it was a big deal when UPS pulled up in front of your house.

Now I pull up in front of the same houses 5 days a week with 2 or 3 packages of Chinese-made garbage or stuff you can buy in any dollar store shipped next day saver from Kentucky.

I wonder what was the load for drivers back then. Did they have the time to at least talk 45secs with most customers? Wait for them to answer?

My first week i was waiting a minute per door to see if they answered, That was really fun, met a lot of people. One person did that for a few months but they always got back at 9pm as it took forever to do the whole run.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Somewhere along the way UPS allowed its customers to cheapen its service.

When I was a kid, it was a big deal when UPS pulled up in front of your house.

Now I pull up in front of the same houses 5 days a week with 2 or 3 packages of Chinese-made garbage or stuff you can buy in any dollar store shipped next day saver from Kentucky.

It's paying your bills & be thankful that your not pulling up to the house in an Amazon van !!

Exactly! Unfortunately the majority of Americans are too lazy to shop elsewhere because Amazon has dumbed down the whole process. To the point where most people are throwing away hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars over the span of a year. And now we are finding out that Amazon is suppressing speech. In addition to their antitrust violations that are being addressed overseas and will likely be addressed in this country as well.

 

[Ancient Alien]

I believe it was technology that changed this company and the world as a whole. As convenient as it can be. It's been the reason the world has really spiraled downward since the 90's. A person could make a 5,000-10,000 word pitch as to why. I won't give my opinions on that. All I'll say is around 1999 you could see & feel it & it's got considerably worse the last 20+ years.

 

[xkingx]

Anytime you ever ask an old timer you’ll get the same answer. When the company went public. When some pissant two years out of highschool gets pulled off the preload and made an on car, then he’s telling some 25 year vet how to do his job when the sup couldnt do the job for two hours. You know it’s never gonna work.

This right here is head on.

 

[Not Rushin’]

Question for the old timers. When did you notice the company culture start to shift to the mess it is now? One of the 30 year drivers on the route next to mine says it all started to go downhill once the company went public in '99. Another driver says he noticed a change once the holiday turkeys stopped. One guy says that once "computers" were introduced, it was all over. I am a 3rd generation UPSer, and my grandfather always used to say that back in the day, drivers were honored for safe driving. Leather jackets? Watches?? Hard to believe that was once a thing. Now it's a quick mention at the PCM and a patch. No one seems to care anymore. It used to be a pride thing. Uniform standards are only suggestions now. Some guys leave the building looking like TRASH. All the while upper management sings kumbaya and acts like widespread apathy toward the job, piss poor customer service, and crapping on the most vital people in their organization will be beneficial in the long run.

I think it all went downhill when we went public. They started fudging numbers, putting production WAY OVER SERVICE, and the corporate culture turned PC.
Getting the turkeys was great, but most people I knew donated them to the less fortunate. The workplace just seemed more flexible than today.

 

[BrownStains]

UPS has always been terrible since I was hired in 04

 

[Re-Raise]

Technology has made all of the employees less valuable, management and union alike.

When I first started you had to memorize load charts on the preload, the center manager wore a suit to work every day and drivers who knew their routes like the back of their hands were worth every penny they were being paid.

Now they think they can hire anyone who just loads by the pal number or follows ORION. The whole operation is now ran by a center manager with no real authority who doesn’t even know the drivers by name or anything about the areas they deliver to.

And maybe all of that is true now, but it used to be a job that I had pride in being able to do. By the end I just shut my brain off and couldn’t care any less as long as the check cleared.

 

[BrownStains]

Maybe if our union wasn’t a joke ,things could be better.

 

[ouanling]

drivers who knew their routes like the back of their hands were worth every penny they were being paid.

Now they think they can hire anyone who just loads by the pal number or follows ORION. The whole operation is now ran by a center manager with no real authority who doesn’t even know the drivers by name or anything about the areas they deliver to.

It's interesting that even loading every package in an App, setting urgent one as urgent you still do a lot better yourself when you know the area well. I started first day with the app for a few months and now that i do not use any tool i see the light. I can understand why current management doesnt get it. You have to do it yourself to see how a good driver knowing his area > technology especially as tech doesnt consider lot size and package weight. PAL numbers are only useful to know where your packages for each areas are in the morning.

 

[Spanky250]

This company used to be run by people that worked their way up through the ranks. It's now run by college grads that have never put their ass in the seat of a package car.

 

[Re-Raise]

This company used to be run by people that worked their way up through the ranks. It's now run by college grads that have never put their ass in the seat of a package car.

More like PT sups that got moved to ORS or Center Manager. Many of our drivers started at UPS while in college and have our degrees.

When I started, they were paying 3X minimum wage to load trucks and it was a highly sought after job in the college town that I worked in.

Now they hire about anyone who can fog a mirror and read a PAL sticker. My last three ORSs came from the part-time sup ranks at other centers and none of them were drivers or college grads.

 

[WorstPreloaderInTheGalaxy]

Driving almost a year now

Still have not received my union booklets

New contract 3 months ago

still not received

Contacted teamsters: "SOME DAY"

but teamsters is very active when they need you to vote for new teamster leadership or when they want us to get vaccine before old vulnerable people(teamster canada trying to push vaccine on ups drivers and truck drivers before the old)

it's nonsense.

You can download the pdf online.

UPS Agreements, 2018 – 2023

The following links are to PDF files of the printed contract books. These documents are also available, in searchable format, on the UPS Rising app, available o

teamster.org

 

[Covemastah]

This company used to be run by people that worked their way up through the ranks. It's now run by college grads that have never put their ass in the seat of a package car.

Nailed it !!

 

[Spanky250]

More like PT sups that got moved to ORS or Center Manager. Many of our drivers started at UPS while in college and have our degrees.

When I started, they were paying 3X minimum wage to load trucks and it was a highly sought after job in the college town that I worked in.

Now they hire about anyone who can fog a mirror and read a PAL sticker. My last three ORSs came from the part-time sup ranks at other centers and none of them were drivers or college grads.

That's true and I agree with all of that. But I'm talking about at the corporate level. It's now nothing but people with a theoretical knowledge of how this job is done combined with an absurd faith that if it works on a computer screen it will work in the real world. Combine that with an utter refusal to ever admit when one of their ideas is a failure *coughorioncough* and a mindset of "we have to do it for the shareholders" and you get the recipe for the decline of a once great company.