I noticed that UPS delivered a package on Monday, even though it was Veteran's Day (observed). Didn't UPS used to be unionized?
On Nov 15, 2007 11:35 AM, raghu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Great article in Fortune about how UPS drivers are obsessively trained to > become efficient automatons. > > http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/11/12/101008310/index.htm > ------------------------------------snip > Like more of my Generation Y peers than one might expect, I'd never worn a > uniform, or even properly nine-to-fived it for that matter, and here at last > was my chance. .... > > In the half-hour since then, the real job's begun, and my verve has, to put > it nicely, ended. Wide-open doors are not a pleasant, rugged alternative to > air-conditioning, and what UPSers call "walking at a brisk pace" to deliver > packages would induce wheezing in even the most seasoned city walker. We've > only delivered to one location, and already I am sweaty, tired, and > wondering how exactly I'm going to make it through a whole day of this > torture. .... > > For those of you who want to slap me, not to worry, I'm with you. Barely an > hour into my job safari and I'm acting like a big spoiled 26-year-old baby. > > > The old man of the industry > > But such is the Gen Y reaction to what one academic described as a "plum > blue-collar job." (UPS drivers make an average of $75,000 a year, plus an > average of $20,000 in health-care benefits and pension, well above the norm > for comparable positions at other freight carriers.) Much derided as a group > of upstart technophiles of little work ethic and even less loyalty, Gen Yers > aren't exactly a perfect fit for Big Brown. In fact, it's hard to imagine a > worse match. > > For decades this company, which last year had $47.5 billion in revenue, has > relied on "human engineering" - strictly timed routines, rote memorization, > even uniform appearance, going so far as to mandate short hair and outlaw > beards - to distinguish itself. (And just in case you thought they weren't > hip to the times, there's even a policy on piercings and tattoos: one stud > in each ear at most for both men and women, and a ban on tattoos visible > during deliveries.) > > Though UPS ( Charts, Fortune 500) has adapted over time, it's that human > aspect that has continued to make the business successful. Here, you don't > just pick up a package any old way. You take 15.5 seconds to carry out > "selection," the prescribed 12-step process that starts with parking the > vehicle and ends when you step off the package car, delivery in hand. It's > all laid out in UPS's "340 methods" - a detailed manual of rules and > routines that, until now, was taught to UPS's legions of driver candidates > in two weeks of lectures. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
