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old overniter

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Folks, I worked for Onite for 23 years. From Cochrane to Union Pacific. Bled Blue and Gray and thought there was a method to the madness. A respectable belief in what we did. I have been off this site for quite awhile and wonder how the company has done under UPS. It appears that , from what I see, the industry is the same mess as before. Lots of unhappy folks at many carriers. Does UPS know how to run a TRUCKING company any better than Union Pacific knew how to ? Do they regret the buy as Union Pacific did ? Does anyone care about the employees or are you just a number ( that's why I left and some poor ethics displayed by superiors, but thats' another story ) ? Are they making any money ? I see their equipment that looks worse than anything that Onite had. I understand don't spend on something that you are going to get rid of but after all these years it either should have been gone or converted. Really breaks my heart . If you care to ,tell me what you think.
 
The equipment is in worse shape, but that might be due to cutting the mechanics hours or shifts. At my terminal they cut the graveyard shift. Only a few trailer mechanics on duty graveyard. But i dont think they would get rid of freight, and show they were defeated by thier competitors. Too much of a black eye for ups to bare, dont you think?
 
Thanks for the reply... Since you mentioned the equipment , as I did , it just struck me funny that the parcel equipment was so much newer , cleaner and obviously ( on the surface) maintained. Is freight the b******* child? As far as the " Black eye " I can't say as I don't know the way they operate. If what you say is correct than that is not such a great way to handle the business. Kind of the big boy on the block mentality ? It still amazes me how such a simple industry can get in turmoil that it does - but then most businesses today are run by a elite part of our society that has no grasp of the real picture and life of the everyday guy or for that matter how things really work besides on paper. Guess I am too opinionated for my own good !.
 
Gosh, it has been ten years since I posted this... I think that parcel is really different than the actual LTL business. And it took the top dog to find out this is true (UPS). Say what you may but the old man at Overnite actually had a feeling for the business and the people. One of the faults , and maybe some realize it, the sales aspect has always been strange. Run here , run there and never core the business to maximize the return on the investment. Run 50 miles out of the way to make the revenue look good when the guy down the street had freight but it needed to be worked for. Top line dollars does not mean bottomline dollars. Business models are at fault..

I see there are references to Mr Scuggs. I met him . Talked with him. When it actually went into Operations he deferred to his Bother in Law . Can't remember his name off the cuff. One was politics and the other the business end. They worked as a pair. So take it with a grain of salt.

What they did was take the turd that Union Pacific made Overnite, made it profitable and dumped it. The money that they walked away with is unknown. You know the rest.

I worked at Overnite for a lot of years. My pension comes from UPS. I watch all of this and hope everyone is happy ( really) with what comes next. It will always be Overnite to me. I worked the dock. Drove Truck and went beyond that....

I personally would be glad UPS is gone. Really LTL should be run by really truckers. Not Railroads. Not Parcel carriers and God forbide that a Airline decides they think they have the answer. That's a joke but makes me wonder!
 
“I feel like a number”. Bob Seger. I’m driving a old OVNT eleven series. That should tell you something. We occasionally get a OVNT or MTGO trailer. Every day something breaks down. We have had a lot of people quit or retire in the past 2 years. The company has not hired new people.
 
We say we want to reduce damages (we probably don't.......), and we get the cheapest shrinkwrap----might as well not shrinkwrap it.......

i don't really feel like a number, but i feel that the company looks at everything as a number.

We've become a corporate blob----we only care about the numbers, we don't care about the freight, the trucks, the forklifts, the docks etc. etc. etc.
 
I was in a 12 series Volvo today because my 11 series Volvo broke down yesterday. The 12 series I drove today broke down. The last 15 years ups robbed Peter to pay Paul. They didn’t put money into freight.
 
I'm afraid "we ain't seen nothin' yet", freight levels down, walking away from longtime customers, purging of the sales staff. Terminal closures are coming, smaller end of the line facilities will be gone. The mystery "new equipment" is nowhere in sight. Facilities falling apart, up to your knees in filth and trash.
Mr. Cochrane is turning over in his grave.
I never thought I would say it, those who can get out, now's the time...
Best to you Brothers and Sisters.....
 
Crumudgeon said:
I'm afraid "we ain't seen nothin' yet", freight levels down, walking away from longtime customers, purging of the sales staff. Terminal closures are coming, smaller end of the line facilities will be gone. The mystery "new equipment" is nowhere in sight. Facilities falling apart, up to your knees in filth and trash.
Mr. Cochrane is turning over in his grave.
I never thought I would say it, those who can get out, now's the time...
Best to you Brothers and Sisters.....
Click to expand...
From what I have been told the new tractor's are going to small terminals first. We shall see, there will be changes, but that is the nature of the buyout business.
 
Crumudgeon said:
I'm afraid "we ain't seen nothin' yet", freight levels down, walking away from longtime customers, purging of the sales staff. Terminal closures are coming, smaller end of the line facilities will be gone. The mystery "new equipment" is nowhere in sight. Facilities falling apart, up to your knees in filth and trash.
Mr. Cochrane is turning over in his grave.
I never thought I would say it, those who can get out, now's the time...
Best to you Brothers and Sisters.....
Click to expand...
Crumud, don't be so (in the dumps and gloomy.
Things could be worse.
I was once the same way, in the dumps, everything wrong, nothing going right, when out of nowhere a voice came to me and said, " cheer up, things could be worse"
So I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.
 
Crumudgeon said:
I'm afraid "we ain't seen nothin' yet", freight levels down, walking away from longtime customers, purging of the sales staff. Terminal closures are coming, smaller end of the line facilities will be gone. The mystery "new equipment" is nowhere in sight. Facilities falling apart, up to your knees in filth and trash.
Mr. Cochrane is turning over in his grave.
I never thought I would say it, those who can get out, now's the time...
Best to you Brothers and Siste
Crumudgeon said:
I'm afraid "we ain't seen nothin' yet", freight levels down, walking away from longtime customers, purging of the sales staff. Terminal closures are coming, smaller end of the line facilities will be gone. The mystery "new equipment" is nowhere in sight. Facilities falling apart, up to your knees in filth and trash.
Mr. Cochrane is turning over in his grave.
I never thought I would say it, those who can get out, now's the time...
Best to you Brothers and Sisters.....
Click to expand...
Do to my age and broke down body from ltl since 01 i'm gonna have to ride it out and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
 
No port said:
From what I have been told the new tractor's are going to small terminals first. We shall see, there will be changes, but that is the nature of the buyout business.
Click to expand...
That is correct. As I work at an end of line terminal, the reasoning is that our multiple million mile trucks cost too much in maintenance. They are replacing from the bottom up, instead of us always waiting for sloppy seconds (and thirds) that we are use to getting.
 
seabreeze said:
Crumud, don't be so (in the dumps and gloomy.
Things could be worse.
I was once the same way, in the dumps, everything wrong, nothing going right, when out of nowhere a voice came to me and said, " cheer up, things could be worse"
So I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.
Click to expand...
I'm doing fine, thank you. Retirement papers on my desk next to me. Soon to join the elder statesman role you seem to enjoy. I hope I can join you and your like as a voice of reason..

I keep my communication lines open, and some who have progressed into upper management once worked alongside of me. When they are concerned and uncertain of the short term future here I attempt to share it as well as I can. It seems no one, even up to Regional V P level have a handle on the future. It is a "who's next" atmosphere in management and :crap: rolls downhill. I've been in this business over 40 years, almost 30 here, been through several buyouts, but TFI is playing hardball. They know what it takes to be profitable and plan on being profitable. The process will be painful and if I were young with a family, mortgage, etc., I would be concerned. UPS destroyed a great Company with a great future and I don't know if it can be fixed.
I will put a lid on the doom and gloom and hope I am wrong.
 
Crumudgeon said:
I'm doing fine, thank you. Retirement papers on my desk next to me. Soon to join the elder statesman role you seem to enjoy. I hope I can join you and your like as a voice of reason..

I keep my communication lines open, and some who have progressed into upper management once worked alongside of me. When they are concerned and uncertain of the short term future here I attempt to share it as well as I can. It seems no one, even up to Regional V P level have a handle on the future. It is a "who's next" atmosphere in management and :crap: rolls downhill. I've been in this business over 40 years, almost 30 here, been through several buyouts, but TFI is playing hardball. They know what it takes to be profitable and plan on being profitable. The process will be painful and if I were young with a family, mortgage, etc., I would be concerned. UPS destroyed a great Company with a great future and I don't know if it can be fixed.
I will put a lid on the doom and gloom and hope I am wrong.
Click to expand...
I actually believe the position is stronger now. At UPS we were 3% of the company. At TFI we are 44%.
 

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44% is better than 3% as far as contract negotiations go, ups didn't need a freight division and didn't want one, we shall see how it goes.
 
old overniter said:
Gosh, it has been ten years since I posted this... I think that parcel is really different than the actual LTL business. And it took the top dog to find out this is true (UPS). Say what you may but the old man at Overnite actually had a feeling for the business and the people. One of the faults , and maybe some realize it, the sales aspect has always been strange. Run here , run there and never core the business to maximize the return on the investment. Run 50 miles out of the way to make the revenue look good when the guy down the street had freight but it needed to be worked for. Top line dollars does not mean bottomline dollars. Business models are at fault..

I see there are references to Mr Scuggs. I met him . Talked with him. When it actually went into Operations he deferred to his Bother in Law . Can't remember his name off the cuff. One was politics and the other the business end. They worked as a pair. So take it with a grain of salt.

What they did was take the turd that Union Pacific made Overnite, made it profitable and dumped it. The money that they walked away with is unknown. You know the rest.

I worked at Overnite for a lot of years. My pension comes from UPS. I watch all of this and hope everyone is happy ( really) with what comes next. It will always be Overnite to me. I worked the dock. Drove Truck and went beyond that....

I personally would be glad UPS is gone. Really LTL should be run by really truckers. Not Railroads. Not Parcel carriers and God forbide that a Airline decides they think they have the answer. That's a joke but makes me wonder!
Click to expand...
What i never understood was why UPS got rid of most of our core business the 2nd bid in 2006, right after the brand launch.... our Next day and 2nd day freight. then Oak Harbor, and R&L exploded here. And im sure Estes took a little also.
 
Crumudgeon said:
I'm doing fine, thank you. Retirement papers on my desk next to me. Soon to join the elder statesman role you seem to enjoy. I hope I can join you and your like as a voice of reason..

I keep my communication lines open, and some who have progressed into upper management once worked alongside of me. When they are concerned and uncertain of the short term future here I attempt to share it as well as I can. It seems no one, even up to Regional V P level have a handle on the future. It is a "who's next" atmosphere in management and :crap: rolls downhill. I've been in this business over 40 years, almost 30 here, been through several buyouts, but TFI is playing hardball. They know what it takes to be profitable and plan on being profitable. The process will be painful and if I were young with a family, mortgage, etc., I would be concerned. UPS destroyed a great Company with a great future and I don't know if it can be fixed.
I will put a lid on the doom and gloom and hope I am wrong.
Click to expand...
Well good luck to you in Retirement Bro. Hurry and get what you can from Social Security before we give that away to the Taliban also.
 
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