In 2010, UPS ditched its iconic slogan, "What can brown do for you?" in favor of the more
emotional and efficiency-oriented "We heart logistics."
In 2015, the company cut the heart out of the equation, no longer professing its love
for logistics and instead adopting the motto, "United Problem Solvers."
While the latter two slogans sound less friendly, you could argue that they better reflect one
of the unifying philosophies of the United Parcel Service: time is money, and if you
want to save both...you can't waste a single second.
In 2014, UPS employee Jack Levis explained to NPR…
"Just one minute per driver per day over the course of a year adds up to $14.5 million."
The pressure to shave off minutes from deliveries is increased by the number of stops UPS makes.
For instance, according to the Chicago Tribune, in 2017, the company was slated to deliver
750 million packages worldwide between Thanksgiving and Christmas alone.
To ensure the fastest deliveries humanly possible, and perhaps even super-humanly possible, UPS
equips its trucks with sensors that track every movement a driver makes.
When the company discovered that using a key to open doors was eating up precious seconds,
keys were replaced with push-button key fobs.
Drivers avoid making left turns to save time and fuel.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, trucks aren't air-conditioned because the
average UPS delivery person opens their cargo bay doors 130 times a day.
Similarly, during deliveries, drivers leave the passenger door open in order to make leaving
the vehicle more efficient.
Considering how often the doors are open during deliveries, it makes financial sense not to
equip delivery vehicles with air conditioning.
But that reasoning seems to assume that drivers won't stop mid-delivery to cool off on those
long summer days when the sun seems determined to boil you alive.
"The sun sucks…”
“yeah...huh, huh."
According to NBC News, UPS drivers have recorded temperatures in the truck as high as 152 degrees,
and as Live Science notes, hyperthermia sets in for most people after only about 10 minutes
in extremely humid, 140-degree heat.
NBC also reports that various medical records and interviews showed that…
"UPS workers have convulsed, fainted and landed in the emergency room with heat-induced kidney
failure."
So while UPS's candy-bar-colored trucks won't melt, the humans steering them probably feel
like they're drowning in hot chocolate when Mother Nature cranks up the heat.
In August 2016, 59-year-old James Klenk suffered heat stroke and kidney failure after several
consecutive days working in his brutally hot truck.
He spoke to NBC about his terrifying experience…
"My vision was blurred.
I was seeing stars.
I was throwing up, I just honestly could not drive that vehicle safely anymore."
In 2018, Klenk's wife, Theresa, started an online petition demanding that UPS provide
air-conditioned trucks for its drivers.
The company expressed appreciation for its drivers' efforts but noted that, quote…
"Working outdoors throughout the year is the nature of the job."
UPS only keeps a small fleet of air-conditioned trucks for trips that cross the California
desert.
But that's no consolation to drivers in other trucks when every road feels like a flaming
desert and their minds start to play tricks on them.
UPS is a well-oiled machine, and as the cogs behind the wheel, drivers are expected to
be as efficient as mechanically possible.
The obvious problem with treating people like machine parts is that they aren't hardwired
to function like robots.
Employees need time for basic human functions, like refuelling their bodies and, when nature
calls, using the bathroom...which is something most robots don't have to worry about.
In 2015, an anonymous UPS driver identified as "Bill" told the Nation that something as
simple as using the restroom was considered, in his words, "stealing time" from the company.
Bathroom visits weren't the only kind of waste the company frowned upon.
Bill also said…
"If you turned the truck on before you put on your seat belt, that's wasting gas."
Sensors recorded when his foot was on the brake, how far he backed up everything.
And UPS isn't alone in monitoring every millisecond of an employee's day.
In 2013, FedEx warehouse employee, Reynalda Cruz, suffered inflammation in her arm because
of a scanner that tracked her every movement, and when she slowed down because of the pain,
she was ordered to speed up.
Similarly, according to the Verge, Amazon automatically tracks warehouse workers and
fires them for not meeting productivity quotas.
Unfortunately, when companies obsess over cutting costs, staff members often pay the
price and, in the end, do you really want your packages delivered by an overworked and
underappreciated employee?
"Sounds broken”
“Most likely sir.
I'll bet it was something nice, though."
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