No, is it the same as the one about the Minister, the Priest, the Rabbi and a duck?
I believe the magazine was called Today’s Trucking.
Greyhounds,
Don’t be “foul.”
Gabe
Overnite was owned by the UP origanlly and fought the teamsters tooth and nail. USF Freightways aka Holland also fought unions they closed down the Red Star divison rather than give in to the fedaral mediator saying the union won the election. So organizing either one of those companys is a drag out fight.
While the UPS purchase of Overnite could be in reaction to all of the moves by Yellow Freight, I think it is more likely to be a result of the Fed EX purchase of American Freightways. A recent article in Business Week stated the American purchase by Fed Ex was a move to increase total market share of the transportation market as well as an attempt to provide "one stop’ shipping solutions to customers. UPS reecently bought Mail Boxes ETC., and Fed Ex responded by buying Kinkos. I think it is more a UPS-Fed Ex war than any reaction to recent moves by Yellow.
Overnite was originally an independent firm and was purchased by UP several years ago. The purchase may have been an early attempt to provide “one-stop shopping” for transportation services. Overnite was always a non-union operation, same as J B Hunt.
I work in Pittsburgh Intermodal Terminal and deal with UPS on a regular basis. First, UPS is the railroads’ largest customer, along with JB Hunt & Schneider, pay for and recieve premium service. For example, last December on a Sunday afternoon, NS train 21W was held at Pittsburgh for an hour and a half waiting for 3 UPS trailers to arrive from Baltimore to be loaded. Second, all UPS shipments are not in UPS equipment. UPS utilizes rail trailers,(i.e.: TIPZ, REAZ, SFTZ, BMDZ, VTRZ, XTRZ, etc. ), and therefore doesn’t need to maintain as large a fleet to cover busy periods like Christmas during slack periods. If they don’t have a load for a rail trailer, it’s returned to the rail terminal empty and it’s the railroad’s problem to store. This also covers the problem of freight imbalances,(more loads in than out), as UPS doesn,t need to deal with equipment relocation. After ten days of empty dwell time at the rail, the railroad must pay the trailer owner for its inactivity, so before the ten days is up, the trailer is sent back to its home terminal,(usually Chicago or Kansas City). Fourth, for UPS to purchase and maintain all the necessary equipment in an intermodal terminal would be quite exspensive. Pittsburgh has two packers,( and is busy enough to need a third), 6 jockey trucks, 3 service trucks, a 2-bay garage, and two tracks & parking space 3/4 of a mile long. Oh, and 20 subcontractor employees & 10 rail employees. Also, we are located next to the busy Pittsburgh line. I am not aware of any UPS facilities located next to a rail line except for Willow Springs, Illinois on the BNSF. As for Roadrailers, the problem of equipment utilization rears its ugly head. Much of the trailers being used might be dispatched over the road with its next load instead of the rail. In Pittsburgh, UPS loads come off for Harrisburg, Pa.; Richmond, Roanoke, & Front Royal, Va.; Washington DC ; and Baltimore, Md. & suburbs. Empty rail trailers can be returned to the nearest ramp if there is no return load. Roadrailers would have to be r