Light Bulb Quest https://lightbulbquest.com/ Because learning is a lifelong adventure Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:05:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 184440836 How much money SHOULD a UPS driver make? https://lightbulbquest.com/how-much-money-should-a-ups-driver-make/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-much-money-should-a-ups-driver-make https://lightbulbquest.com/how-much-money-should-a-ups-driver-make/#comments Mon, 21 Aug 2023 05:27:01 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=813 Just as I’d been predicting, there was no strike at United Parcel Service. Within 24 hours of returning to the bargaining table on July 25, the Teamster national negotiating committee unanimously endorsed a contract proposal that includes across-the-board wage hikes and catch-up raises for longer-term employees, among other economic gains. The union and the company […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/how-much-money-should-a-ups-driver-make/feed/ 1 813 UPS has one week to reach a deal with the Teamsters. Here’s how a strong contract helps the company. https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-has-one-week-to-reach-a-deal-with-the-teamsters-heres-how-a-strong-contract-helps-the-company/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ups-has-one-week-to-reach-a-deal-with-the-teamsters-heres-how-a-strong-contract-helps-the-company https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-has-one-week-to-reach-a-deal-with-the-teamsters-heres-how-a-strong-contract-helps-the-company/#comments Mon, 24 Jul 2023 14:09:34 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=808 If you’ve been following the news, you know that contract negotiations between United Parcel Service and the Teamsters unexpectedly broke down in the wee hours after the July Fourth holiday. Both sides blamed the other and left the bargaining table without any agreed-on or announced plans to return. This was an abrupt reversal for the […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-has-one-week-to-reach-a-deal-with-the-teamsters-heres-how-a-strong-contract-helps-the-company/feed/ 2 808 I just voted to authorize a strike at UPS. Now I don’t think one will actually happen. https://lightbulbquest.com/i-just-voted-to-authorize-a-strike-at-ups-now-i-dont-think-one-will-actually-happen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=i-just-voted-to-authorize-a-strike-at-ups-now-i-dont-think-one-will-actually-happen https://lightbulbquest.com/i-just-voted-to-authorize-a-strike-at-ups-now-i-dont-think-one-will-actually-happen/#comments Sun, 18 Jun 2023 08:38:10 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=795 United Parcel Service has a history with organized labor that extends all the way back to 1916. That’s when UPS founder Jim Casey invited the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to unionize his workforce. You read that correctly. UPS has a union because it wanted a union, from almost the very beginning. Even now, on its […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/i-just-voted-to-authorize-a-strike-at-ups-now-i-dont-think-one-will-actually-happen/feed/ 3 795 Four reasons why we love seeing our UPS driver https://lightbulbquest.com/four-reasons-why-we-love-seeing-our-ups-driver/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=four-reasons-why-we-love-seeing-our-ups-driver https://lightbulbquest.com/four-reasons-why-we-love-seeing-our-ups-driver/#comments Sat, 03 Jun 2023 04:48:35 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=504 I’ve written about some of the skills required to be a successful UPS driver. One I didn’t mention was the skill of making small talk. If a customer is on hand for the few seconds it takes me to complete my stop, I must keep up my side of a brief chat that shouldn’t interfere […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/four-reasons-why-we-love-seeing-our-ups-driver/feed/ 2 504 I asked ChatGPT to write this. Here’s what happened next. https://lightbulbquest.com/i-asked-chatgpt-to-write-this-heres-what-happened-next/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=i-asked-chatgpt-to-write-this-heres-what-happened-next https://lightbulbquest.com/i-asked-chatgpt-to-write-this-heres-what-happened-next/#comments Sun, 14 May 2023 07:04:51 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=724 The other day The Washington Post ran an article titled, ‘Type in your job to see how much AI will affect it.‘ So I did. First I typed in Delivery Driver, which changed to ‘Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers’ from a pre-populated drop-down menu. It then displayed an orange dot and a green dot, […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/i-asked-chatgpt-to-write-this-heres-what-happened-next/feed/ 3 724 Know what scares me the most as a UPS driver? People who fear for their lives. https://lightbulbquest.com/know-what-scares-me-the-most-as-a-ups-driver-people-who-fear-for-their-lives/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=know-what-scares-me-the-most-as-a-ups-driver-people-who-fear-for-their-lives https://lightbulbquest.com/know-what-scares-me-the-most-as-a-ups-driver-people-who-fear-for-their-lives/#comments Tue, 02 May 2023 06:14:22 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=713 Recently, in the space of about a week, the news media have reported on no fewer than four separate incidents where an honest mistake or innocent misunderstanding led to gunfire. In Kansas City, a sixteen-year-old boy rang the doorbell of a house where he was sent to pick up his younger siblings, except he was […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/know-what-scares-me-the-most-as-a-ups-driver-people-who-fear-for-their-lives/feed/ 2 713 UPS is set to begin negotiating a new contract. What do its union members want? https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-is-set-to-begin-negotiating-a-new-contract-what-do-its-union-members-want/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ups-is-set-to-begin-negotiating-a-new-contract-what-do-its-union-members-want https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-is-set-to-begin-negotiating-a-new-contract-what-do-its-union-members-want/#comments Tue, 18 Apr 2023 06:51:35 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=709 It was supposed to be today. Monday, April 17th, was the date set for the beginning of national contract talks between United Parcel Service and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The current five-year contract expires July 31st. But it already appears that things will not be proceeding according to that mutually-agreed-upon timetable. First, a bit […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/ups-is-set-to-begin-negotiating-a-new-contract-what-do-its-union-members-want/feed/ 1 709 My age isn’t my biggest challenge as a UPS driver. This is. https://lightbulbquest.com/my-age-isnt-my-biggest-challenge-as-a-ups-driver-this-is/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-age-isnt-my-biggest-challenge-as-a-ups-driver-this-is https://lightbulbquest.com/my-age-isnt-my-biggest-challenge-as-a-ups-driver-this-is/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 06:40:30 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=698 When I was a little boy I was mesmerized by a toy I call the Floating Ball. You can still find it for sale online. It’s such an elementary concept: as you blow gently into the tube you keep the ball aloft, levitating as if by magic. Obviously you cannot exhale indefinitely, but if you […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/my-age-isnt-my-biggest-challenge-as-a-ups-driver-this-is/feed/ 3 698 It’s Valentine’s Day. When it comes to your job, are you ‘married’ or ‘in a relationship’? https://lightbulbquest.com/its-valentines-day-when-it-comes-to-your-job-are-you-married-or-in-a-relationship/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-valentines-day-when-it-comes-to-your-job-are-you-married-or-in-a-relationship https://lightbulbquest.com/its-valentines-day-when-it-comes-to-your-job-are-you-married-or-in-a-relationship/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2023 05:05:00 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=687 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 […]

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]]> https://lightbulbquest.com/its-valentines-day-when-it-comes-to-your-job-are-you-married-or-in-a-relationship/feed/ 5 687 Think anyone can be a UPS driver? Think some more. https://lightbulbquest.com/think-anyone-can-be-a-ups-driver-think-some-more/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=think-anyone-can-be-a-ups-driver-think-some-more https://lightbulbquest.com/think-anyone-can-be-a-ups-driver-think-some-more/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2023 06:29:26 +0000 https://lightbulbquest.com/?p=675 ‘No offense, Martin,’ one of my dearest friends, Dave, was telling me. I’d just started as a UPS driver, and as luck would have it, I caught him at home one day when I showed up with a delivery to his address. I decided to take a ten-minute break to catch him up on my […]

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