Categories
Election Day Satisfaction Work

I wanted to write about my job as a UPS driver, but this ended up being about something much more important.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 5th, is Election Day here in the United States. With the presidential race a toss-up, no one can say with any certainty what the outcome will be – or even when. Tomorrow is uncertain for me at work too. The handful of drivers still on layoff in my UPS facility have all […]

Categories
Holiday Labor Union Valentine's Day

It’s Valentine’s Day. When it comes to your job, are you ‘married’ or ‘in a relationship’?

My wife Bethany and I have been together for a long time. Today is our twenty-ninth Valentine’s Day as a couple. Twenty-nine years. That’s long past the candy-and-flowers stage. Past even the Valentine cards stage. Ours was never a storybook romance. We married young and started a family early. A child with special needs. Job […]

Categories
Holiday Labor Union Workforce

Change is coming to UPS in 2023. There’s one big reason why.

It’s 2023! Like a lot of people on January 1st, today I find myself reflecting on the year that has just passed and considering the year that lies ahead. I’m a big fan of observing milestones. Crossing a finish line is a big deal for me – always an accomplishment worth celebrating. But as a […]

Categories
Advice Appreciation Holiday Online Shopping Thanksgiving Workforce

Four practical ways to thank your delivery drivers this holiday season

Thanksgiving two years ago I shared my thoughts about what I was thankful for as a new package car driver for United Parcel Service. Then last year I observed Thanksgiving with a reflection on how the supply chain is really a global chain of human (inter)activity bringing our purchases all the way to our front […]

Categories
Holiday Inequality Labor Union Work Workforce

5 things American workers want more than a Monday off in September

In the U.S. over my lifetime, Labor Day has served chiefly as a three-day weekend bracketing the ending of summer break from the beginning of the school year. I myself never gave much thought to the holiday until I started researching its origins. All across the country, all throughout the industrial era, the history of […]