UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Stooping and picking vegetables in the hot sun for 8+ hours a day is definitely a skill. You should try it sometime.
You are confusing skill and work ethic.
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Stooping and picking vegetables in the hot sun for 8+ hours a day is definitely a skill. You should try it sometime.
It's not just work ethic. It takes skill to do that work and survive. Sort of like crab fishing in Alaska.You are confusing skill and work ethic.
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A fruit picker has but one task, which is to pick fruit. No technology, no multiple service levels, no vehicle no additional skills, no multi-tasking, and no customer interaction. Remove fruit from branch and insert in box or place on belt. Not exactly the same level of skills required. Bad analogy, because the courier job is multi-faceted and requires both skill and judgment on a continuous basis.
It's not just work ethic. It takes skill to do that work and survive. Sort of like crab fishing in Alaska.
There is no unique skill set required for either of those two jobs.
There is no unique skill set required for either of our two jobs.
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Now was that so hard....Technically, we are semi-skilled, but my point is that the level of productivity demanded pushes us into the realm of the skilled. No, you don't need a degree to do this job well, but you do need a number of "skills", none of which Fred is willing to pay for. I almost never agree with vantexan, but his post above is right on the money.
Not so quick. If anything, DRA has proven that they cannot just plop someone in a vehicle and make it "happen".
Since you are straying from your statement that regarded the 'level of productivity [demanded]' as your criteria for skilled labor I have a different analogy for you.
OK, so a sales representative in a retail store is skilled laborer?
They have customers, technology (cash registers, RFID scanners), use equipment (forklifts) in the backroom, have to multi-task.
Hell, they even have to deal with money, which almost no courier does....
Absolutely. If Fred and his cronies think the courier job is easy and only requires the skill of someone stationed at a McDonald's french fryer, I say they can try it for a week and let us know just how much they like it. Up for the challenge Memphoids?Like I said, Fred likes to say we're easily replaceable because it suits his purposes to do so. If I can do twice as much as a new-hire DRA courier, attract new business, stay safe on the road, and deliver impressive service, I'd say that's a skill set.
Absolutely. If Fred and his cronies think the courier job is easy and only requires the skill of someone stationed at a McDonald's french fryer, I say they can try it for a week and let us know just how much they like it. Up for the challenge Memphoids?
I just wish they'd stick their heads in a McDonald's french fryer if only for a minute.They think it's the same thing. Therein lies the problem.
yes!, they should hold an annual 'bobbing-for-french fries' contest in MEMI just wish they'd stick their heads in a McDonald's french fryer if only for a minute.
A fruit picker has but one task, which is to pick fruit. No technology, no multiple service levels, no vehicle no additional skills, no multi-tasking, and no customer interaction.
Then again, not everyone can handle working at McDonald's during lunchtime.
Fact is, it takes a certain type of person to do this day in and day out. In the year 2014, I'd say work ethic IS a skill-set. 50 years ago a solid work ethic was common, today it is not.
When that old courier was young he had a $100 annual deductible on his insurance, everything else paid by the company. He had a traditional pension and real wage progression. A nice bonus system. He had jumpseating privileges as well as some incredible commercial airline discounts. His future was bright, and he saw it being slowly taken away over time while being lied to constantly. So his attitude isn't great. But that young guy coming in works in a different world and all he really sees now is an expectation to work hard with no rewards, no real perks. He soon realizes he'll never make the money the old couriers are getting and his mgr's attitude is it's good enough for him so don't complain. And word is out about FedEx now. Very few applicants are the same quality workers of times past and the few who are leave quickly. I set up guys with 25 stops in a fairly condensed area with a good map and they didn't get back to the building until 1500-1600. It was absolutely pathetic and the mgrs were so desperate to hang on to part-timers that they said very little. We had so much turnover of young part-timers at one station that I'd get the FedEx Office pup dumped on me after running a heavy extended route all day while part-timers were heading back to the station. Why? It was Friday night and they all bitched about working late and having to work Saturday too. Most of those newhires aren't just like us only they haven't honed their skills yet. They are Walmart McJobbers who are thrilled to make $15hr because they never thought they would but don't have the wherewithal to perform at the level the company demands. That's what the company is trying to overcome with DRA because they don't want to pay for quality.You're confusing skill with experience, mastery, and work ethic.
You were once the pleb that you consider your newer coworkers to be. Only through repetition of your assigned tasks did you master them to the point where you consider yourself to be skilled. That new employee might not be able to touch your numbers now, but given time they will; and they'll be younger, healthier, cost less, and have a better attitude than you.