Bad UPS News: Furloughs begin

Polar742 said:
727s. Couple to that the 5 year stop in attrition.

And a very significant percentage of their pilots sit reserve.

And everyone forgets that UPS is a shipping company that operates planes, it's not an airline.
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I remember reading a perspectives article that said he got a call from UPS saying they were starting their own airline. Tomato tomatoe
 
UPS got rid of their 727s a good number of years ago, I think it was 2006 or so? Have they really had 727 guys that hadn't upgraded since they got rid of them?
 
Perhaps even worse news for guys looking to get on with DAL? Would think that DAL would look highly on hiring some of these UPS furloughees, which could make it tougher for other applicants.

Of course I have no idea and could be talking out of my rump.
 
Nick6485 said:
Not from air packages. Customers are switching from Air to Ground to save money...trust me, I see it everyday. So needless to say, it directly effects our air operations.
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Interesting - I would have thought air would be huge with so much emphasis on two day shipping with so many direct retailers.
 
Murdoughnut said:
Interesting - I would have thought air would be huge with so much emphasis on two day shipping with so many direct retailers.
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Many of these retailers either ship directly from the manufacturer, or they themselves have multiple distribution centers around the country. A retailer can promise two day shipping and never have the package ever see the cargo hold of an aircraft in many instances.
 
I've actually found that for a lot of stuff I'm buying now, from car parts to tools to home supplies, it's cheaper to buy in store vs. online and pay shipping. The big different is in electronics but with the recession I haven't really been buying many of those. I did buy a Wii game on half.com but it was sent media mail thru the Post Office.
 
wheelsup said:
I've actually found that for a lot of stuff I'm buying now, from car parts to tools to home supplies, it's cheaper to buy in store vs. online and pay shipping. The big different is in electronics but with the recession I haven't really been buying many of those. I did buy a Wii game on half.com but it was sent media mail thru the Post Office.
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Yep. Same here. I tried ordering new brakes the other day and they wanted $160 to ship it here.:insane:
 
twotwowoo said:
Big business = pure evil. That's all there is to it. Pure, unadulterated greed.
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Um yeah, because all their revenues are the result of stealing from people. I mean, they don't actually provide a service for that money or anything.
ASpilot2be said:
Yep. Same here. I tried ordering new brakes the other day and they wanted $160 to ship it here.:insane:
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Yeah, but you're also trying to ship something to the ass end of the world....
 
flyTotheSky said:
The sad thing is that those furloughed are obviously very junior and are no where near making $250k....try $65k.
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I'm pretty sure that under the latest contract, 2nd year UPS F/Os do a LOT better than $65k. Certainly in six figures. Not that I disagree with the thrust of your post.

JordanD said:
UPS got rid of their 727s a good number of years ago, I think it was 2006 or so? Have they really had 727 guys that hadn't upgraded since they got rid of them?
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I wouldn't swear to it, but I think they parked the -200s years ago, but kept the -100s with the Tays until fairly recently.
 
Boris Badenov said:
I'm pretty sure that under the latest contract, 2nd year UPS F/Os do a LOT better than $65k. Certainly in six figures. Not that I disagree with the thrust of your post.
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I'd say, as usual, you are correct. My buddy told me how much he made in Q1, and I'll say it is a much larger number than a good number of pilots see in a year.
 
Boris Badenov said:
I'm pretty sure that under the latest contract, 2nd year UPS F/Os do a LOT better than $65k. Certainly in six figures. Not that I disagree with the thrust of your post.



I wouldn't swear to it, but I think they parked the -200s years ago, but kept the -100s with the Tays until fairly recently.
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I was being generous in my estimate to show how their concessions to management would easily have covered the furloughees salaries. None of those guys make under $100k.
 
Not to take UPS's side here, but we are still in a lingering recession and shipments are down. People aren't ordering as much. This means stores are not shipping as much which means UPS, FEDEX and USPS are not getting the volume that they had prior to the recession. That means they don't need as many jets to fly these fewer packages around.

This is in spite of DHL shutting down operations in the US and that volume going to UPS and FedEx.

The post office has already announced they are looking for ways to cut costs because of the drop in volume which is causing them to lose money.

When the recession is over and things start moving again then shipments will increase and I'm sure they will add the jets back when the time is right.

UPS pilots have been well paid in the past and I would expect this to continue in the future.

Joe
 
I think the bone people have to pick with UPS on this one is that they screamed "recession" to get concessions. Then, after the goals were met, they furloughed anyway. What do you want to bet the concessions aren't returned? If you can't employ people, you furlough them, yes. But it's a two way street. Next time, I predict the UPS pilots play hardball and the company says "they're being unreasonable". Damned if you damned if you don't.
 
flyTotheSky said:
And the topper is a lot of these guys/gals have just moved up their families to ANC only to be furloughed a year later with no re-location assistance back state-side.
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Not to kick these guys while they are down, but this is why the motto I have taken in this career is 'live where I want, not where I am based'...
 
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