When Did You First Hear of UPS?
- Thread starter scratch
- Start date
browniehound
Well-Known Member
Scratch,
Cool choice for a topic! I first noticed UPS when I was about 7 or 8 in 1981 or so. We ordered a "Yard Blob" (lol) and it came COD from UPS. Anybody know what a "Yard Blob" LOL is?
It was basically a big blue outside water bed. It was tougher than a water bed and was about 12x12 feet. You could jump on it, lay on it or hose it down and run up and dive on it and slide across.
I never knew anyone else who owned one nor have ever seen one anywhere else. All the kids in my neighborhood loved it and would be at my house everynight during the summer for whiffle ball and the "Yard Blob" LOL. It was positioned in my yard so that is was part of the basepath between 2nd and 3rd. Kids would slide over it to get to 3rd regardless if it was neccesary or not!
I also remember seeing the truck on my street from this point forward. I also remember thinking to myself what "UPS" stood for. I remember my initial thought being it stood for "United states Package Service" (I know it doesn't jive fully) . I also remember thinking that those brown US postal service mail relay boxes were for UPS. I thought they were what mailboxes were to the postman.
My first experience dealing with them and understanding how tough a job it is was in 1992 when I worked as a reciever. The driver was a woman and she would double park in front of our overhead door (it was a busy street and impossible to back to without blocking the entire lane of traffic. It would be around noon and her entire floor was still a mess. Always without a smile, she would hand me DIAD I and I would "sign my life away" as some not very funny customers like to say
.Anyway Scratch, I think this is an intersting topic and look forward to reading everyone else's posts, thanks!
Brownie
My first recollection of UPS is when they delivered to my grandmother’s furniture store. I think it would have been in the mid 80s.
The first time I thought of working for UPS was when I was a teenager in the mid 90s and they delivered to the shop of my father’s wood manufacturing business. Thinking back I don’t believe Tom was a very ambitious driver. He would often stop and shoot the breeze with us for a half hour or more. One day he bought 6 treated 4x4s that were 12 or 16 feet long from us. He stopped back later in the day and picked them up in his truck. If I remember correctly they stuck out the back door and he used a bungee cord to keep the doors from flopping.
Anyway, I sure wish I would have pursued the career back then. But here I am 15 years later and my first day with UPS in tomorrow.
The first time I thought of working for UPS was when I was a teenager in the mid 90s and they delivered to the shop of my father’s wood manufacturing business. Thinking back I don’t believe Tom was a very ambitious driver. He would often stop and shoot the breeze with us for a half hour or more. One day he bought 6 treated 4x4s that were 12 or 16 feet long from us. He stopped back later in the day and picked them up in his truck. If I remember correctly they stuck out the back door and he used a bungee cord to keep the doors from flopping.
Anyway, I sure wish I would have pursued the career back then. But here I am 15 years later and my first day with UPS in tomorrow.
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
Full time pay when I started in 1988 was $15.59 an hour so early 70's was probably not $14.50. My earliest recollection of UPS was getting a compound bow delivered to the house after I worked all summer logging in the north woods to pay for it.
rod
Retired 22 years
Shorty was feeding you a line of BS------I started full time in 1971 and I believe when I got up to full scale after 3 months ( yes that's 3 months) the pay was $6.75 an hour.
rod
Retired 22 years
Sounds like I wasn't the only driver that ever hauled personal stuff in his package car. I would have to confess to hauling a dozen sheets of plywood, a motorcycle, a canoe, 5 or 6 Christmas trees and my wife- not all on the same day of course
Oh and a bunch of shelving and a waterbed frame and some stereo equipment etc.etc.etcSounds like I wasn't the only driver that ever hauled personal stuff in his package car. I would have to confess to hauling a dozen sheets of plywood, a motorcycle, a canoe, 5 or 6 Christmas trees and my wife- not all on the same day of course
Anytime I purchased things on area I asked permission to haul them in advance. My first shopping & hauling was at 84 Lumber, windows & screens in empty TDP trailer. The yard guy at 84 said this is 1st and is the trailer big enough?
I had on cars meet me on area and haul some of their stuff too. Cement mixer, bales of straw, copper pipe and big bags of corn for center cookout.
Ms Spoken
Well-Known Member
UPS was always at my parents house but, I remember we just sat down for dinner and UPS pulled up and my father told me to hurry up and go get that package so that driver didn't have to get out.
Also, for some reason during the summer UPS would always show up mid afternoon when I would be on the roof getting a suntan. This driver still works in my center and we always joke that he did that on purpose. ha ha ha Who would have dreamed it.
Also, for some reason during the summer UPS would always show up mid afternoon when I would be on the roof getting a suntan. This driver still works in my center and we always joke that he did that on purpose. ha ha ha Who would have dreamed it.
rod
Retired 22 years
Aw yes-----one of the best perks of the job. I had quite a few stops on lakes so I would always walk around the lake side to check for a safe DR place. Many a time I surprised a sweet young lass sun bathing
O
oldupsman
Guest
How about this one Rod. Early Dec. in Pa. Deer hunting season. Pull into a regular customer driveway. Back in the woods. Near the end of the day. I had a country route, few pickups. Guy has got 2 does hanging in a tree in the backyard. Both shot that morning, fully gutted. We won't talk about the legality of the situation. Guy had given me venison before. Says hey you want a deer. Yeah, sure, I'll take a deer. Put it in the back of the old 500. Sneak around to the back of building and throw the deer into my pickup. Had meat that winter. Sorry, this should probably be a different thread.
Aw yes-----one of the best perks of the job. I had quite a few stops on lakes so I would always walk around the lake side to check for a safe DR place. Many a time I surprised a sweet young lass sun bathing
In the 70's & 80's before tanning beds most drivers loved house stops in May before school was out. The lady of the house could usually be caught out back half naked!
stevetheupsguy
sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
You're gonna give me a big head LOL
I saw my first UPS truck in Brentwood, Long Island. Brought a box to my house for my dad. I would see him time and again. We knew him by name though the name slips my mind. I think it was Henry, though. This could have been the mailman's name. I also thought that UPS and the postman worked together. My next recollection is when I was back in NYC and we used to hitch rides on the back of the UPS trucks. After I got out of the Navy, I applied to a center in the Bronx/Mt Vernon area. I was hired back in 1984 and didn't make the 30 days. I couldn't hack the work back then. So I tried again in 1996 and made it through. Been here 13 years now.
Douglas Page Chapman Sr.
New Member
Brothers and Sisters,
These are very interesting strings and it piqued my interest, so I posted this in both strings “first time hearing of UPS” and “date started at UPS”. I thought I could give all of you folks some insight into what made UPS great and contributed to their phenomenal growth, as well as management /hourly interaction, and type of operations and equipment. I knew about UPS from my pre-teen years because my Dad worked for UPS as a Package Car driver and then a full-time Positioner and router in the late 1950’s. Back in the day, UPS would put on a picnic for all workers in a Forest Preserve, providing all food drink, games, and entertainment in appreciation of the work done by ALL employees.
Believe it or not when my Dad was driving, I went along with him as a pre-teen running residential deliveries, and pushing the common carrier, which was 90% of the load, while common carrier made up only 5% of his load. I listed where I worked after quitting UPS to fill in the years I accrued pension credits for the sake of clarity. Back then the package cars DID NOT have heaters, so… in the winter the driver would prop up the engine cover to get heat. I believed then and still do believe it was a tactic to keep the drivers moving to keep warm? On top of that all the Feeder equipment in Metro Chicago had vacuum brakes, the pin was on the 5th wheel, not the trailer, and the trailers were only 19’. My first tractor in 1967 was a 1942 International.
Dad also took me with him to work most every Friday evening to unload the Feeders, then help load the package cars after the packages were set up in bins 3 shelves high in order of delivery, and then sheeted, and loaded in reverse order. Back then the full-time Positioner/routers, were paid by the hour and also earned bonus. So… my contribution increased the bonus of the 5 Positioner/routers, and Mack, Harry, Bob, and my Dad chipped in to pay me for the work I did, which gave me extra pocket money.
1959 through 1995
1959 to 1961 UPS Full-time Positioner/Router, I quit when a center manager lied to me about going to a driver position. I must also note that Dad had a stroke in 1960 and never was able to go back to work. There was no disability benefit or pension back then because they didn’t start making pension contributions until 1963. However that didn’t stop the top brass from coming to our home and giving my Mother a death benefit of $5,000.00 even though Dad was still alive and technically not entitled to the death benefit.
1961 to 1962 Peter Wheat Bakers Drove Home Delivery Bread Truck, IBT Local 734
1962 to 1967 Darling & Company, Tractor-trailer driver/spotter, then Route Driver.
1967-1995 UPS Feeder, Jefferson Hub to 1976, Bedford Park Hub 1976-1995. I went back to UPS because a great many Freight Companies were going out of business and UPS was still growing?
Activities in retirement 1995 to present
1995 to present retired with Reciprocal Pension’s from IBT Local 705 (Terminal Plan) and IBT Local 710.
Started PUPS. Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/index.html with eight (8) friends that is a club of UPS retirees only and those qualified to retire with 25 years or more service in IBT Locals 705, 710, IAM Local 701.
Active with DOL/PWBA and the IRS Non-profit arm in Dallas, when Wanda Chapman would be denied five (5) years of my pension if I died within five (5) years of retiring. This was an illegal 10 Year certain pension reduction. (Prevailed)
Active in Federal Court with 92 C 7042, 95 C 0828 objecting to Settlement Agreement with 160 petitioners. Thirteen (13) million culled out of Settlement Agreement. (Prevailed)
Active with first of ten (10) retirees who retired before they were fifty-two (52) with twenty-five (25) to twenty-nine (29) years UPS service. This was age discrimination, violations of SPD, Plan Documents and CBA. (Prevailed in all cases)
Active with Paul Mounts an old friend who was forced by the Local 705 and UPS to take a disability pension that reduced the amount of workman’s compensation UPS was liable to pay him. When Paul finally settled many years later we appealed the collusion and coercion and got his pension increased to the twenty-five (25) and out he deserved, doubling his monthly pension. (Prevailed)
Active in Federal Court with 98 C 7944 with DOL/PWBA investigator Jim Johnson with John Fraschetti and Bob McGinnis two (2) retired Freight drivers returning twenty (20) million dollars back to the Local 705 Pension Fund illegally removed under an illegal 401h maneuver over 5 years under two separate groups of Officers/Trustees. (Prevailed)
Active with six widows and DOL/PWBA Investigator Jim Johnson to get hundreds of Freight Widows denied five (5) years of their deceased husbands pensions and one death benefit denied All widows received a total over one (1) million dollars. (Prevailed)
Active with two (2) friends in 2001, when two (2) UPS Corporate individuals flew to Chicago from Atlanta to meet me in the restaurant I chose, to attempt to intimidate and coerce me to stop helping my Brothers with their problems ascertaining their UPS Medical Benefits in retirement. (Prevailed)
Active with a Local 705 UPS Driver and an IAM UPS Maintenance man each having over thirty (30) years service, who were terminated then denied their earned medical benefits after jumping hoops to get their jobs back before retiring. Contacted the DOL/PWBA in Atlanta after exhausting all administrative remedies. (Prevailed)
Active with appeal of five (5) UPS retirees cheated out of bonuses instituted in June of 2003. Result was Twenty-three (23) retirees got $634,000.00 inside of six months of the appeal. (Prevailed)
Active with a friend whose idea it was to start NABER Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/ACCOMPLISHMENTS.html in 2004, so we could communicate with UPSER’S nationally. Results thus far exceed expectations.
Active with UPS IAM Local 701 mechanic who decided to retire with Twenty-eight (28) years service June 01, 2006, because he was injured and on workman’s compensation for over a year (medical ran out) and wouldn’t be rehabilitated enough to return to work. Hewitt Associates who runs the UPS medical Claims center in Lincolnshire, IL. Lincolnshire told him he wasn’t entitled to medical coverage in retirement and "don’t call them again". Appealed to UPS Corporate. (Prevailed)
Active with two (2) retired UPSER’S suffering ADA, ADEA, and Retaliation against them by UPS Corporate in Atlanta with the EEOC filed in 2003. (Pending).
Hope you find my long-winded diatribe interesting and shows what was and what could be again, not to mention what can be accomplished by a small group of determined individuals?
It should be noted that Cheryl, who has put together an extremely informative site with an open forum and no bias isn’t given enough credit and accolades for what has to be a burdensome amount of work.
In Solidarity,
Douglas Page Chapman Sr
6619 Dralle Road
Monee, IL 60449-9431
708-534-0490-Home
708-359-9592-Cell
Advocate PUPS Inc. & NABER Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/naber1.html
36-1/2 years member in good standing IBT Locals 705 & 710
Over 55 years experience UPS/BROWN 30 years an employee, and 18+ years when Dad was an employee. Retired 13 years.
These are very interesting strings and it piqued my interest, so I posted this in both strings “first time hearing of UPS” and “date started at UPS”. I thought I could give all of you folks some insight into what made UPS great and contributed to their phenomenal growth, as well as management /hourly interaction, and type of operations and equipment. I knew about UPS from my pre-teen years because my Dad worked for UPS as a Package Car driver and then a full-time Positioner and router in the late 1950’s. Back in the day, UPS would put on a picnic for all workers in a Forest Preserve, providing all food drink, games, and entertainment in appreciation of the work done by ALL employees.
Believe it or not when my Dad was driving, I went along with him as a pre-teen running residential deliveries, and pushing the common carrier, which was 90% of the load, while common carrier made up only 5% of his load. I listed where I worked after quitting UPS to fill in the years I accrued pension credits for the sake of clarity. Back then the package cars DID NOT have heaters, so… in the winter the driver would prop up the engine cover to get heat. I believed then and still do believe it was a tactic to keep the drivers moving to keep warm? On top of that all the Feeder equipment in Metro Chicago had vacuum brakes, the pin was on the 5th wheel, not the trailer, and the trailers were only 19’. My first tractor in 1967 was a 1942 International.
Dad also took me with him to work most every Friday evening to unload the Feeders, then help load the package cars after the packages were set up in bins 3 shelves high in order of delivery, and then sheeted, and loaded in reverse order. Back then the full-time Positioner/routers, were paid by the hour and also earned bonus. So… my contribution increased the bonus of the 5 Positioner/routers, and Mack, Harry, Bob, and my Dad chipped in to pay me for the work I did, which gave me extra pocket money.
1959 through 1995
1959 to 1961 UPS Full-time Positioner/Router, I quit when a center manager lied to me about going to a driver position. I must also note that Dad had a stroke in 1960 and never was able to go back to work. There was no disability benefit or pension back then because they didn’t start making pension contributions until 1963. However that didn’t stop the top brass from coming to our home and giving my Mother a death benefit of $5,000.00 even though Dad was still alive and technically not entitled to the death benefit.
1961 to 1962 Peter Wheat Bakers Drove Home Delivery Bread Truck, IBT Local 734
1962 to 1967 Darling & Company, Tractor-trailer driver/spotter, then Route Driver.
1967-1995 UPS Feeder, Jefferson Hub to 1976, Bedford Park Hub 1976-1995. I went back to UPS because a great many Freight Companies were going out of business and UPS was still growing?
Activities in retirement 1995 to present
1995 to present retired with Reciprocal Pension’s from IBT Local 705 (Terminal Plan) and IBT Local 710.
Started PUPS. Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/index.html with eight (8) friends that is a club of UPS retirees only and those qualified to retire with 25 years or more service in IBT Locals 705, 710, IAM Local 701.
Active with DOL/PWBA and the IRS Non-profit arm in Dallas, when Wanda Chapman would be denied five (5) years of my pension if I died within five (5) years of retiring. This was an illegal 10 Year certain pension reduction. (Prevailed)
Active in Federal Court with 92 C 7042, 95 C 0828 objecting to Settlement Agreement with 160 petitioners. Thirteen (13) million culled out of Settlement Agreement. (Prevailed)
Active with first of ten (10) retirees who retired before they were fifty-two (52) with twenty-five (25) to twenty-nine (29) years UPS service. This was age discrimination, violations of SPD, Plan Documents and CBA. (Prevailed in all cases)
Active with Paul Mounts an old friend who was forced by the Local 705 and UPS to take a disability pension that reduced the amount of workman’s compensation UPS was liable to pay him. When Paul finally settled many years later we appealed the collusion and coercion and got his pension increased to the twenty-five (25) and out he deserved, doubling his monthly pension. (Prevailed)
Active in Federal Court with 98 C 7944 with DOL/PWBA investigator Jim Johnson with John Fraschetti and Bob McGinnis two (2) retired Freight drivers returning twenty (20) million dollars back to the Local 705 Pension Fund illegally removed under an illegal 401h maneuver over 5 years under two separate groups of Officers/Trustees. (Prevailed)
Active with six widows and DOL/PWBA Investigator Jim Johnson to get hundreds of Freight Widows denied five (5) years of their deceased husbands pensions and one death benefit denied All widows received a total over one (1) million dollars. (Prevailed)
Active with two (2) friends in 2001, when two (2) UPS Corporate individuals flew to Chicago from Atlanta to meet me in the restaurant I chose, to attempt to intimidate and coerce me to stop helping my Brothers with their problems ascertaining their UPS Medical Benefits in retirement. (Prevailed)
Active with a Local 705 UPS Driver and an IAM UPS Maintenance man each having over thirty (30) years service, who were terminated then denied their earned medical benefits after jumping hoops to get their jobs back before retiring. Contacted the DOL/PWBA in Atlanta after exhausting all administrative remedies. (Prevailed)
Active with appeal of five (5) UPS retirees cheated out of bonuses instituted in June of 2003. Result was Twenty-three (23) retirees got $634,000.00 inside of six months of the appeal. (Prevailed)
Active with a friend whose idea it was to start NABER Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/ACCOMPLISHMENTS.html in 2004, so we could communicate with UPSER’S nationally. Results thus far exceed expectations.
Active with UPS IAM Local 701 mechanic who decided to retire with Twenty-eight (28) years service June 01, 2006, because he was injured and on workman’s compensation for over a year (medical ran out) and wouldn’t be rehabilitated enough to return to work. Hewitt Associates who runs the UPS medical Claims center in Lincolnshire, IL. Lincolnshire told him he wasn’t entitled to medical coverage in retirement and "don’t call them again". Appealed to UPS Corporate. (Prevailed)
Active with two (2) retired UPSER’S suffering ADA, ADEA, and Retaliation against them by UPS Corporate in Atlanta with the EEOC filed in 2003. (Pending).
Hope you find my long-winded diatribe interesting and shows what was and what could be again, not to mention what can be accomplished by a small group of determined individuals?
It should be noted that Cheryl, who has put together an extremely informative site with an open forum and no bias isn’t given enough credit and accolades for what has to be a burdensome amount of work.
In Solidarity,
Douglas Page Chapman Sr
6619 Dralle Road
Monee, IL 60449-9431
708-534-0490-Home
708-359-9592-Cell
Advocate PUPS Inc. & NABER Inc. http://pupsinc.homestead.com/naber1.html
36-1/2 years member in good standing IBT Locals 705 & 710
Over 55 years experience UPS/BROWN 30 years an employee, and 18+ years when Dad was an employee. Retired 13 years.
DS
Fenderbender
Mr.Chapman sir.
Your post was both interesting and informative.I'm glad you joined the bc and decided to share your experience and history.
UPS has indeed come a long way since your early days.
I agree that Cheryl deserves a lot more credit than she gets for hosting
this website.I hope you chime in more often.
Your post was both interesting and informative.I'm glad you joined the bc and decided to share your experience and history.
UPS has indeed come a long way since your early days.
I agree that Cheryl deserves a lot more credit than she gets for hosting
this website.I hope you chime in more often.
haydendavid380
is property of UPS
I've known UPS since I was being born and my dad came to the hospital in his browns. I've known of UPS for all of my life, and it looks like I'm going to continue to know it for the rest of mine.
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