December 01, 2015
A Programing Note
There may be a considerable reduction in posting frequency.
Yes Steven, You're right. Yamai's little Christmas Yandere does seem to be a Kitsune.
Yes Steven, You're right. Yamai's little Christmas Yandere does seem to be a Kitsune.
We actually worked Sunday (which is almost unheard of, except the week before Christmas).
Yesterday we exceeded our all time volume record for our building. Yesterday was still November.
Belts have been straining and shutting down under the weight of the packages. There is physically no more room for trucks and the parcels keep coming. In 23 years at UPS I have never seen anything like what we've dealt with the last few days.
Every piece of me hurts
I cannot even.
So very volume.
So much package.
Many many cardboard.
"thud"
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:13 PM
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Post contains 129 words, total size 2 kb.
1
I think this is part of a trend, where more and more people are shopping online instead of visiting local stores.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Dec 2 02:18:42 2015 (+rSRq)
2
I haven't done xmas shopping in an actual store for three years, I think, and I'm not likely to start now.
Actually, come to think of it, I don't do much shopping in stores period.
Actually, come to think of it, I don't do much shopping in stores period.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wed Dec 2 02:49:45 2015 (zAcee)
3
I see a problem of UPS not hiring enough people to cover peak periods. As long as Brickmuppet and the team continue to carry on, the management is going to skate along with the current staffing levels because they don't want to pay extra people in off-peak periods. It is going to take a significant deterioration or a complete meltdown to get their attention.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Dec 2 10:10:08 2015 (XOPVE)
4
BTW, Steven could attract attention of Instapundit to this. He always wrote about "Retail Support Brigade" in previous years, but not this time.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Dec 2 10:11:31 2015 (XOPVE)
5
Actually they hired lots of seasonal people. The issue has been that the volume the last few years has been way above predictions, even though they anticipated a big increase. this year it was a whole different level. Remember too that the economic outlook is not great and a good deal of this increase involves sales shifting from stores to web browsers.
In our particular case we have additional physical plant limitations as well. There is only so much one can cram through a building and for our building, we have exceeded that. An expansion of the building or moving to a larger facility would solve most of the issues since we can't utilize the people we have as effectively as we might due to space limitations. Any further specificity would get into P&C info, but rest assured it's not flaming incompetence or venality on the part of our personnel dept.
In our particular case we have additional physical plant limitations as well. There is only so much one can cram through a building and for our building, we have exceeded that. An expansion of the building or moving to a larger facility would solve most of the issues since we can't utilize the people we have as effectively as we might due to space limitations. Any further specificity would get into P&C info, but rest assured it's not flaming incompetence or venality on the part of our personnel dept.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Dec 2 11:00:15 2015 (AaBUm)
6
I'd like to corroborate Brickmuppet's assessments above. I was at UPS Worldport, i.e. the main North American air hub in Louisville, KY, during the X-mas seasons in 2013 and 2014. The increase in volume that I saw in just that one year was huge. On Monday Dec. 22nd and Tuesday 23rd, 2014, my overnight shift came in around 18:00 and left at 8:00 the next morning when the day shift came in to take over. Every work station in my department, sorting, was being worked by either a year-round employee or a seasonal hire, so I do not think a lack of personnel was the problem.
By the way, our overnight shift the week before that was only running about six to seven hours long. Obviously, lots of folks waited until Christmas week to order presents - yikes!
For what its worth, the sorting department had lulls in the action on even those last two nights before Christmas Eve delivery (we don't deliver on X-mas Day), which suggested to me that our fleet capacity was the real limiting factor: There are only so many truck bays from which to unload, and only so much room on the tarmac (a.k.a., "the ramp") for airplanes to land and depart. UPS (or FedEx, either) can't just triple that capacity overnight because so many shoppers waited until the Monday before Christmas to order stuff from online retailers.
As they say in the Land of the Rising Sun, "Gomen nasai."
By the way, our overnight shift the week before that was only running about six to seven hours long. Obviously, lots of folks waited until Christmas week to order presents - yikes!
For what its worth, the sorting department had lulls in the action on even those last two nights before Christmas Eve delivery (we don't deliver on X-mas Day), which suggested to me that our fleet capacity was the real limiting factor: There are only so many truck bays from which to unload, and only so much room on the tarmac (a.k.a., "the ramp") for airplanes to land and depart. UPS (or FedEx, either) can't just triple that capacity overnight because so many shoppers waited until the Monday before Christmas to order stuff from online retailers.
As they say in the Land of the Rising Sun, "Gomen nasai."
Posted by: Blue Crab at Thu Dec 3 17:18:45 2015 (P2Eio)
7
"Ramp" is the correct term nowadays. It is also called "Apron" in international use as blessed by ICAO. The offical pilot/controller glossary defines "Apron" as:
"Tarmac" was a material used for pavement of ramps before concrete took over. It is a kind of asphalt. Thus, colloquially it used to mean "a paved surface, such as apron, taxiway, or runway". However, once the movement and non-movement areas of airports became better defined, and the aeronautical glossary more rigid, tarmac disappeared from use, only remaining in a specific phrase "Tarmac Delay" (and e.g. "Three-Hour Tarmac Rule").
This transition happened so long ago, that I did not hear even veteran airmen refer to tarmac. The Airport/Facility Directory uses "asphalt" to describe tarmac-covered runways.
A defined area of airport or heliport intended to accommodate aircraft for the purposes of loading or unloading passengers or cargo, refueling, parking, or maintenance. (With regard to seaplanes, a ramp is used to access the apron from the water)
"Tarmac" was a material used for pavement of ramps before concrete took over. It is a kind of asphalt. Thus, colloquially it used to mean "a paved surface, such as apron, taxiway, or runway". However, once the movement and non-movement areas of airports became better defined, and the aeronautical glossary more rigid, tarmac disappeared from use, only remaining in a specific phrase "Tarmac Delay" (and e.g. "Three-Hour Tarmac Rule").
This transition happened so long ago, that I did not hear even veteran airmen refer to tarmac. The Airport/Facility Directory uses "asphalt" to describe tarmac-covered runways.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu Dec 3 18:02:41 2015 (XOPVE)
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