[Coco] Shipping and packaging,

[tonym]

Well, hopefully we didn't bore too many people, but I found it interesting.

If you ever feel the need to know anything about cruise ships, let me know.
I work at one of the 'Big 5', in the IT Dept, more specifically the Ship Systems group.
Our group supports the systems/applications used onboard, such as casino,
property management, point-of-sale, restaurant/table management, food & beverage, etc..

Most folks don't realize what it takes in the background to have basically a "City At Sea."


Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Taylor operator at coco3.com
Sent 11/13/2007 12:51:23 AM
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts coco at maltedmedia.com
Subject: Re: [Coco] Shipping and packaging,



Roger, I'll give BOTH those points to you, without thought - noone 
will ever catch UPS.
They;re basically the Microsoft of shipping and logistics.





On the second point, I don't know about YOUR area, but here in the 
Miami/Ft Lauderdale Metro Area, seems
like all the yellow DHL vans are subcontracted, and say so painted 
right on the door. And they look like
a bunch of rental van rejects, or boneyard projects!

FedEx also subcontracts or contracts their drivers. However, FedEx, 
in some cities, have gone against a statement they made before that 
they would never do it the way UPS does, which is 
employee-based. UPS has at least a one-week 8-9 hour a day school 
you have to attend to get behind the wheel, where I think FedEx has 
at least a 2-week school and are not subject to the same discipline 
we go through. I'm not sure how DHL puts their guys behind the 
wheels, but for UPS you have to have an almost perfect record, prove 
regularly you are beyond safe, although yes... you see them speeding 
or passing to get around holdups in order to get comitted packages 
delivered as promised, etc. but the safety issue is drilled on a 
daily basis all day long and they will fire on the spot for an 
accident, backing into a tree even if it brushes the bumber, etc. It 
could have been a person, and backing up is to be avoided when 
possible anyway. DHL just whips in, stay sparked facing the 
building, and they back up when they leave. UPS driver gets a 
ticket? He has to tell about it and he loses driving rights for X # 
of weeks, and that's ANY ticket, personal or job related.



One thing I can say about UPS, is I honestly cannot recall ever 
having issue with any of the driver's
way of driving - I honestly can't. DHL, on the other hand, boy, did 
you just make the understatement
of the year! Those bozos are unreal!

Every morning at least 80 drivers in our hub have to form a huge 
semi-circle where they give the PCM meeting with loud verbal safety 
tips of the day, warnings of the current conditions, recent mistakes 
and usually the person who did it is looked upon, and if they call 
your name you have to get up there and come up with a lengthy safety 
speech that everyone better be listening to. It seems to be a pain 
in the rump until you get out there and it keeps going through your 
mind the last 100 safety rules and you can't help but to just act on 
them naturally since it's constantly drilled in your head. Heck, I'm 
watching out for DHL because they have a problem with wanting to race 
away from the red lights like it's a Nascar event, and then their 
light little van with 20 packages on it goes weaving in and out of 
the cars ahead as if to say, "look at me, I won". No ya 
didn't... I've got 300 packages the size of a TV on this vehicle and 
I'll have them unloaded safely with no dents in the boxes in 10 
minutes flat and my heart won't skip a beat nor will I sweat a 
bead. :) Ok, I'll quit bragging.

Fedex isn't as bad, but nowhere near the class and courtesy of the 
UPS drivers, that is really where they shine.

At first I think UPS silently chooses it's drivers they want to go 
for it eventually. If you somehow fit the criteria the HR managers 
know is right, you'll probably be asked to be a delivery person 
eventually, but then they put you through the ultimate nerve wrecking 
tests and usually they drop out like flies from the pressure, so I'd 
have to say that through all the tests of becoming what appears to be 
a cardboard box toter :) the ones that make it probably have the 
right stuff that's made the business what it is. I remember the 
first requirment in class was to write word-for-word, punctuation 
marks and all, 100% perfect, the long space and vis. rules which 
takes up a whole page when typed. It took me a month to learn it and 
I'd say it in my sleep until I dozed off.

What nobody sees, and nobody will unless you're granted a tour of a 
hub (as a hiree only), is the behind the scenes that if you catch 
even on a slow day (what's that?), will stick in your head 
forever. No movie or documentary that I know of has touched it. You 
can probably hear some stories on browncafe.com but usually from 
disgruntled employees who think they are treated unfairly, etc. UPS 
makes up for any of that with awesome benefits and when you find 
yourself driving around at Xmas making $40 an hour all day long, you 
can't help but to say, yea... dang it, I guess it's worth it. Ouch, 
my back, and it's colder than an igloo in the vehicle, when are yall 
going to get off of some money and fix my heater! :) And power 
steering? Forget it. Only the oldest senior drivers, some, have that.


I work around the corner from the mini-hub in Miami,FL on NW 25th 
street, which is right near the cargo entrance
for MIA, and I literally have to drive by their main entrance twice 
a day - coming and going.

You honestly never see issues with the driving manners and 
responsibility of the UPS drivers.

You can literally see DHL and FedEx vehicles practically drag racing 
down 25th St.

Yep but smart drivers can predict what traffic will do based on how 
many kids are up ahead showing off, road rage, DHL thrown in the mix, 
a dump truck full of dirt, an 18-wheeler, and a slow grandma with 
blue knuckles and white hair only showing above the steering 
wheel. I throw all that in a formula in about 10 seconds and when 
I'm looking back at DHL trapped behind the grandma driver who WAS on 
the back, and I never got over 40 mph, our driving school makes sense 
at that point. Tee hee.

When I've seen either of those next the a UPS truck, the UPS driver 
just drives as normal, while the other
twit makes a fool of himself!

It looks like I'm a paragraph behind you but you're taking the words 
out of my mouth, as you're right... we have to practice space and 
visibility and prediction, but if you do see a UPS guy appearing to 
be acting crazy I'd bet he's trying to get out of the group of 
traffic and either ahead or fall behind where it's safer. Try 
this... works Every Time. Next time you're on the interstate and you 
see a UPS feeder truck (the double trailer rigs), slowly change lanes 
and get in front of him about 5 or 6 car links and watch what he 
does. I think he'll drop back from you nicely and maintain a 15-18 
second distance, mainly for your protection, but for his, too, since 
he'll be fired when he parks the truck if he's being spied on that day.

Anyway, it was fun talking about all this but I think I've bored the 
group long enough and I'm also trying to get my IA-1 booting as a 
CoCo 3 emulator which has got me up past my bedtime since I get up at 
3:30 every morning to report to real work, and the thing still won't 
boot from the Compact Flash card. I'm about to pull my hair out.



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