UPS and the Union

[Truckerman79]

All you have to do is look at the unionized LTL carriers. YRC Worldwide (Yellow, Roadway, USF) is basically belly up. The level of debt that company carries is unimaginable. It makes you wonder ho they continue to operate. Many more of the union shops have closed their doors. The unions exist solely to recruit more union members. They provide little in the way of a service to their members. Yes, they can help keep people from being fired or treated "unfairly", but they suck companies dry. The union companies are in trouble because they are locked in to contracts (pensions, health benefits) that they cannot honor, especially when you consider the huge number of baby boomers about to retire. Those companies ceased to be in the business of turning a profit many years ago. Rather, they are in the business of providing inflated wages, health benefits, and pensions to their unionized workforce. These companies will meet their demise.

As for working for a union shop, no thanks. I'd rather get the gravy routes and work my working hard and earning them. In a seniority based system, hard work goes unappreciated as the lazy ******* who has been their the longest gets the choice work just because he has been there longer.

 

[kennys_67]

I was Union President of a CWA local for 17 years. yes we make good money, people are hating on that. My opinion is that Unions are made for the lazy, non working people. If everyone did their jobs and do them right, we would need a Union at our shops. That is, if the company was a fair company

 

[Arm America]

Off topic it is.
Not all Unions are created equal.

UAW auto, yes i agree, unskilled labor earning what they did was extravagant,
actually helped bring down two of the the 3-Big Giants. I do place most of the blame
on upper Management and Our Government for what happened though.

Ford is still Union, has Union Employee's and still making a profit.
Figure that out. I don't think its all about the wages that the line workers make.
It's making the right decisions at the right time.

I have made this comment many times before.
If it weren't for the Unions, most of us would be making minimum wage.

A Union wage sets the scale for the others, be it teachers, electricians, or plumbers.

I agree with the poster above, I want the best bang for "my" buck.

Give me the skilled tradesman that's been thru the 5-year apprenticeship program.

He's paid a fair wage package with benifits, Whats so wrong with that?

He pays enoroumus taxes, has money to spend, and supports his local community with his shopping. Is that a crime??

Geeeze, If thats the worst we have to complain about,
I'd say were pretty damn lucky.

 

[Bigum1969]

With all due respect to members of INGO that are union members, I have to agree with much that has been posted in this thread regarding unions.

I know there are union workers that work very hard for a living. But that being said, there really isn't much that can be worse for business and our economy than unionization. It squashes the competitive environment. It rewards workers for longevity versus innovation and performance. It is socialism in America.

Why do you think unions are such strong supporters of Obama? Why do you think they are pushing for the new socialized health care agenda of Obama?

Anyone who has any experience dealing with unions from a business or management perspective cannot walk away feeling anything other than bullied, and in some ways, threatened.

In my opinion, if you don't like your job and feel that you aren't adequately compensated, than you should find another job. It's supposed to be a free country. Protectionism provided for workers does nothing but rot a business from the core and erode its ability to compete.

 

[Fletch]

 

[hornadylnl]

I hope no union members practice comparison shopping. After all, they don't allow their employers to.

 

[Michiana]

I stopped using overpriced union ran UPS.
UPS stands for Union Priced Shipping. FedEx has beat them on pricing on everything I have recently shipped.

I use UPS, FedEx and the USPS and all three give decent service. I have a great UPS driver who goes out of his way to give me great service. You treat people with respect and you get it in return. I have guns shipped in to me via 2nd day UPS for less than five dollars, that to me is not overpriced.

 

[tedbower]

If you need a package delivered and not really concerned when it arrives ship it usps, if you need it in a week or so then ship it ups , if you need it delivered or people are gonna die it better go fed ex.

 

[Disposable Heart]

All you have to do is look at the unionized LTL carriers. YRC Worldwide (Yellow, Roadway, USF) is basically belly up. The level of debt that company carries is unimaginable. It makes you wonder ho they continue to operate. Many more of the union shops have closed their doors. The unions exist solely to recruit more union members. They provide little in the way of a service to their members. Yes, they can help keep people from being fired or treated "unfairly", but they suck companies dry. The union companies are in trouble because they are locked in to contracts (pensions, health benefits) that they cannot honor, especially when you consider the huge number of baby boomers about to retire. Those companies ceased to be in the business of turning a profit many years ago. Rather, they are in the business of providing inflated wages, health benefits, and pensions to their unionized workforce. These companies will meet their demise.

As for working for a union shop, no thanks. I'd rather get the gravy routes and work my working hard and earning them. In a seniority based system, hard work goes unappreciated as the lazy ******* who has been their the longest gets the choice work just because he has been there longer.

+1001! When I drove and in my current job now shipping, the union carriers are ALWAYS 30-40%!!! higher than everyone else and almost (about 80% of the time) always have billing/lost (yes LOST!) cargo issues. Their reps always come by the shop wanting our business, I ask for a quote then tell them to hit the bricks. My company cannot work on missing a shipment because of a bunch of union folks taking a break nor can I take a hit because the shipment gets there two days late.

Unions had their place in early American history to group together, present safety and fair wage concepts to business. Now in a global economy and similar, unions threaten only to drive a business into the ground. When I delivered to union shops, they always had one or two REALLY HARD WORKING individuals doing the work for the rest of the bums b/c of seniority. That is unfair and horrible for this nation (now leading us to downfall).

Now, on the other hand, some unions have served their industries well until recently, such as skilled trades. But even then, the viral laziness has set in and greed run amok. Now, newer folks that will replace the now lazy upper folks are forced to remain unemployed or work horrible conditions/hours because some older guy with Dunlop disease has it made gravy b/c of seniority. If they are so senior, then just cut them out of the system and make way for folks that WANT to work?! That is the union way NOW, but not then (how it used to be).

Sickening, pure and simple sickening. I honestly feel really bad for skilled trade workers that have less than 20 years experience. They get the shaft by some slicked up jerk who is their "representative" and get the wages of OTHER'S sins.

 

[public servant]

I prefer UPS...

Oh...and IBTL. (Like anyone will see this part)

 

[RogerB]

well that's an exception to the rule

 

[RogerB]

okay...I kept quiet as long as I could on this. I work in the UPS IT dept here in Indy, and I'm non-union. I'm fine with you having your own opinions regarding pretty much damn near everything. But please don't paint with such a broad brush when talking about UPS and unions, they are two different entities.

I know that the non-union workers at UPS wished they could make the coin that the union workers do, but they also know the ramifications to the company if we were all to be union. There are hard workers on both sides of the union - non-union table, as well as the slackers. UPS is also a very large company, where the shots are called high above the heads of most employees.

I won't even go into how many packages move through the UPS system every single day without any issues.

So please, decide what you want to b itch about...

UPS Pricing....yeah pretty much out of the average workers control regardless whether their union or not.

Unions....not going to argue for or against them, I'm not union and I see no point in it.

Hell I'll even give you option three...

B itch about how your shipment got effed up going through the UPS system. But try to keep a small little corner of your mind open to the fact that there ARE non-union workers at UPS that DO care about your shipments. Regardless whether its that tricked out 1911 or M1 that your grandpa had or juice maker for your wife.

UPS has provided for me and mine for several years, and hopefully for several more. It kills me to hear of a messed up shipment, we do care. I'll even extend the offer that if you have a messed up shipment, PM me, let me see what I can do to help. But try to remember, some things are out of our immediate control.

Okay rant is over and done with, carry on.

 

[rambone]

Unions have played an integral part in bringing America to where it is today...







...A country careening towards socialism, that imports all its goods, outsources jobs to stay competitive in every industry, on the brink of a total economic meltdown.

 

[ATF Consumer]

I use UPS, FedEx and the USPS and all three give decent service. I have a great UPS driver who goes out of his way to give me great service. You treat people with respect and you get it in return. I have guns shipped in to me via 2nd day UPS for less than five dollars, that to me is not overpriced.

I must admit, my UPS driver is way friendlier than my FedEx driver.

 

[Mudcat]

I am union and work in a closed shop meaning we have to be union to work there. I have worked for the same boss as nonunion and union no difference to me. Now a select few of the guys that work there take advantage of being union. The push the rules to the limit and go as slow as possible. My union steward, I have no use for and would love a chance for a little closed door session with him. I have no use for the union at my work place! I am not lazy and can keep my job without having to call someone in to point to the fine print so I can stay and collect a check. I agreed to work for a certain wage and benefit package, I will give them a good days work for a good days pay. Whatever that job may be, if I can do it I will do it.
I do not want to even get started on the political aspects of the unions.

 

[ATF Consumer]

B itch about how your shipment got effed up going through the UPS system. But try to keep a small little corner of your mind open to the fact that there ARE non-union workers at UPS that DO care about your shipments. Regardless whether its that tricked out 1911 or M1 that your grandpa had or juice maker for your wife.

UPS has provided for me and mine for several years, and hopefully for several more. It kills me to hear of a messed up shipment, we do care. I'll even extend the offer that if you have a messed up shipment, PM me, let me see what I can do to help. But try to remember, some things are out of our immediate control.

Okay rant is over and done with, carry on.

I gotta say, for every package that I did package correctly and properly insure, of those I did have problems with, UPS took care of the problem with great customer service. Although I complain about their prices, I cannot complain about their service. So, in many circumstances, you get what you pay for. Out of the 7 years I have used UPS, I have only had less than a handful of issues. I had for a short period back in 2005 switch over to DHL, but that didn't last long...they couldn't compare to UPS's service.
Recently in shipping price comparisons, FedEx has been about 10% less than UPS on ground shipments for me.

 

[Michiana]

I have shipped through UPS for at least 30 years and have zero major complaints about their service. I have had a few problems with the US Mail but lets face it, we are dealing with the government. Don't remember any major problems with FedEx either. Everybody has a burp once in awhile but overall for all the packages these people handle they do a pretty good job. All my UPS drivers go out of their way to make sure I get good service; being a small business person I depend on them watching over my shippments for me.

 

[6birds]

I prefer UPS...

Oh...and IBTL. (Like anyone will see this part)

Michiana, if she delivers MY guns to YOUR business, you'd tell me, right!

 

[Michiana]

Michiana, if she delivers MY guns to YOUR business, you'd tell me, right!

My UPS driver is more your type.

 

[6birds]

(sigh) Merry Christmas Bud.