Let it be known that I appreciate hard working individuals, union or otherwise. And while unions had their place, I feel they are unnecessary and a drain on our economy in many respects. But my recent run-ins with UPS have strengthened my convictions.
A little background: My business ships daily with UPS, about 20 packages on average. We have been a paying customer of UPS for almost 20 years and even supported them during the strike by using USPS instead of a competing carrier.
About 4 months ago, we had a sub driver on our route. He was routinely delivering packages at the same time that he was picking up. While this is not technically a policy violation, it is considered a service issue. After the 5th day of getting my deliveries at 4:30PM, I told the driver "we can't live with this, what can we do about our delivery time?" He ignored me. I mean, completely ignored, dead silence until he pulled away and said "have a nice day." (And no, he can hear perfectly well, it was quite obvious what was going on.) So I raised holy hell with his route supervisor and my sales person. Service returned to normal and I never saw him again.......
...until this week. So he's back, but no delivery issues until today. He does the exact same thing, 4:30 delivery at the same time as our pickup. I can't do business like this, I have J.I.T. shipments that need to be turned around same day. So this time he speaks, but every word is condescending and arrogant. So he departs and I make it known that I'll be calling my sales rep.
I called everyone I could reach and reported him for being a general jackass and a putz, not necessarily in those words. And I actually had a sympathetic ear at UPS who said he was not terribly fond of this guy either. But you know what's the worst part of this story? They can't fire him! Not without major cause. The Teamsters are too powerful and you practically have to make a case for murder before they can terminate. So I am left with this guy who may or may not be placed on my route again making half-assed deliveries and being a general ass.
So yea, if you read this far, let me know if you have any suggestions. I normally would never think of having someone fired, but this guy absolutely deserves it, and I would actually be pleased it it happened, he is obviously hiding behind the union, otherwise he wouldn't risk $30+/hr and great benefits by being such an ass to paying customers.
A little background: My business ships daily with UPS, about 20 packages on average. We have been a paying customer of UPS for almost 20 years and even supported them during the strike by using USPS instead of a competing carrier.
About 4 months ago, we had a sub driver on our route. He was routinely delivering packages at the same time that he was picking up. While this is not technically a policy violation, it is considered a service issue. After the 5th day of getting my deliveries at 4:30PM, I told the driver "we can't live with this, what can we do about our delivery time?" He ignored me. I mean, completely ignored, dead silence until he pulled away and said "have a nice day." (And no, he can hear perfectly well, it was quite obvious what was going on.) So I raised holy hell with his route supervisor and my sales person. Service returned to normal and I never saw him again.......
...until this week. So he's back, but no delivery issues until today. He does the exact same thing, 4:30 delivery at the same time as our pickup. I can't do business like this, I have J.I.T. shipments that need to be turned around same day. So this time he speaks, but every word is condescending and arrogant. So he departs and I make it known that I'll be calling my sales rep.
I called everyone I could reach and reported him for being a general jackass and a putz, not necessarily in those words. And I actually had a sympathetic ear at UPS who said he was not terribly fond of this guy either. But you know what's the worst part of this story? They can't fire him! Not without major cause. The Teamsters are too powerful and you practically have to make a case for murder before they can terminate. So I am left with this guy who may or may not be placed on my route again making half-assed deliveries and being a general ass.
So yea, if you read this far, let me know if you have any suggestions. I normally would never think of having someone fired, but this guy absolutely deserves it, and I would actually be pleased it it happened, he is obviously hiding behind the union, otherwise he wouldn't risk $30+/hr and great benefits by being such an ass to paying customers.
There have been several other subs that get the route done in a timely manner without resorting to single pickup/delivery.
