[Milsurplus] OT: UPS Ground Insanity

[Robert Nickels]

On 11/30/2012 8:01 AM, Thekan, Paul wrote:
> UPS had driven a forklift fork right into the front panel of the radio and completely destroyed the radio
I realize it's out of the spirit of the thread to say anything 
supportive of UPS ;-)  but back in the 90s I was involved with some 
automation projects in a number of UPS buildings, "in the belly of the 
beast" so to speak, working closely with their engineering people who 
were very focused on moving packages efficiently, safely, and with a 
high degree of predictability.   This is why they invested in some of 
the best material handling equipment available, and installed nets under 
the elevated conveyors in the rare event something falls or gets pushed 
overboard.  It would be impossible for UPS to stay in business if the 
damage rates reported on some radio-related lists were true across the 
board.  Incidentally, UPS is the 4th largest employer in the US.

I learned that the greatest probability for damage was with  "heavy" 
packages (over 70 pounds, which used to be the weight limit). Normal 
packages and "smalls" are handled on high speed steel belt conveyors and 
are virtually never touched by human hands, but this less the case for 
heavy items (like R-390As), so an unfortunate occurrance like the one 
Paul describes is credible, but hopefully rare.   When talking with 
their engineering guys, they were naturally reluctant to say anything 
bad about the company, but  did admit that many damage claims are traced 
to something that happened once the package is loaded onto your friendly 
brown local delivery truck (aka "package car"  in UPS terminology).   
This is because unpredictability skyrockets in proportion to the human 
element, including everything from drivers mishanding packages to 
packages shifting, traffic accidents, sudden stops, etc.

73, Bob W9RAN

PS: a lesser-known fact - 40% of UPS freight goes by rail.  If your 
package has to travel more than 500 miles, chances are good it's ridden 
on a train.