BrownCafe
A UPS driver delivering packages Monday likely saved a man’s life following a serious crash in Jefferson County.
Coy Danner was headed west on County Line Road near 4500 East around 4 p.m. when he says he saw the tail end of a pickup truck suddenly swing around.
“As drivers, we’re always looking for kids and dogs in the road, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Danner tells EastIdahoNews.com. “The water shot up, and all of a sudden that truck was gone, and there was water splashing up.”
A United Parcel Service driver attempted to cross a private bridge that collapsed under the truck’s weight at 1:41 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
The single-lane bridge has a metal truss system and wood decking.
The Catlett Volunteer Fire and Rescue Co. responded to the accident, which produced no injury.
Santa’s helper
Amazon.com owns the online shopping world at Christmas. Last year, it accounted for 44% of all the e-commerce sales made during the last two weeks of the holidays, and 38% of total Christmas sales. It already accounts for half of all e-commerce sales made, holiday or otherwise, and analysts say it could soon drive as much as 80% of all online sales.
Holiday e-commerce sales hit record levels last year, with so-called Cyber Monday sales surging 12% from the year-ago period to hit $3.45 billion, blowing past analyst expectations of just $3.36 billion. Adobe Digital Insights notes it was the first time ever online sales exceeded $3 billion for the day, “and the first day ever to drive over $1 billion in mobile revenue.”
The second-day air surcharge of $0.97 per piece that UPS is imposing — the highest of the surcharges — seems specifically targeted at Amazon because of its Prime membership program and its two-day delivery guarantee. Yet, because of Amazon’s size and scope, it has the financial wherewithal to absorb the fee increases, whereas small and medium-sized businesses trying to compete with the e-commerce king do not.
By 2025, many large pensions, and the government agency that insures them, could be insolvent, threatening the retirements of millions of Americans.
…
The Central States Pension Fund covers workers and retirees from a variety of industries, but most of its retirees are truck drivers who worked for one of the thousands of trucking companies that once dominated American highways.
…
The failure of trucking businesses around the country has left financial scars for Central States. An analysis by Boston College revealed that of the 50 largest employers that participated in the pension plan in 1980, only four were still around in 2014. It wrote in its 2014 analysis that “roughly 50 cents of every benefit dollar goes to pay benefits to ‘orphaned’ participants, those left behind when employers exit.”
Large, healthy, and profitable employers have also bought out of the Central States Pension Fund, exacerbating its financial problems. In 2007, the delivery company United Parcel Service paid $6.1 billion to exit the fund, an amount determined sufficient to pay for the pension payments to UPS retirees who were drawing from the fund. When UPS bought out, Central States was already in poor shape. After the UPS payment, Central States was funded between 70% and 75%, according to a 2008 estimate.
United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is offering weekly retention bonuses to package handlers hired in 2017.
Workers can get a $150-per-week bonus if they were hired this year to work in UPS’s Second-Day Air operation or hired after March 13 to work in the company’s Ohio Valley District ground operation.