New Career?

If you pay for career counseling, does it make sense to ignore the recommendations? You really can't argue with the logic. Although it disregards my education and current interests, the recommendation certainly seems to align with my career path to this point. Most readers are aware that I spent 37 years performing almost every type job available at the U.S. Postal Service, so I am very well acquainted with delivery systems. Fewer of you know of my exploits on bicycles. I do not ride as regularly as my brother, Keith, or his training partner, Josh. But still, I have managed to survive a couple of mountain bike races, a couple of adventure races, a criterium (a long time ago) and a metric century (62 miles) ride, as well as several sprint triathlons. Now, thousands of REAL cyclists will laugh at these beginner's credentials but it fits with the pattern for the new job. What is the logical next step for someone with lots of delivery and a little cycling experience? Delivering packages on a bike for UPS, of course.

I can hear you snickering. You are thinking "That is just silly. UPS is a modern company, moving at the speed of light. They would never pay somebody to deliver packages on bikes." Well, think again! I knew you would not believe me, so here are photos to back up the story;





















So, what do you think? I was really excited about the idea....at first. Then, I was a little discourage by the low pay. And then, while convincing myself of all the benefits that override the pay, it occurred to me that the poor cyclist is probably responsible for any package that is lost or stolen. So really, the greatest potential for profit would be to follow this guy and when he dismounts to walk up to a door, toss his packages in back of the truck and take off. No matter how fast he is, he can't catch an 8 cylinder with a bike pulling a trailer.

Still, it seems like a fun seasonal job. What do you think? Remember, if you don't comment--the terrorists win!

DISGRUNTLED

What comes to mind when you hear the term "disgruntled"? It is not used often, so most people think of the way the press used it so much in the 1980's--disgruntled-postal-employee--like one word. I would like to defend the USPS--but not right now. This post is to make fun of UPS and Fed Ex. By now everybody has heard that they plan to merge and be called Fed-UP. Actually, as you see in this photo the two have already merged.

This is a copy of a copy, so it is not so clear. But you can tell that a UPS truck clobbered a FedEx truck. As a postal employee, I pull for the UPS guy. The UPS folks work hard and make a little on each delivery, counting on volume to make money. The FedEX folks are elitists who rely on a great ad campaign and sales people to convince junior execs to pay double for the same service we provide--with a money back guarantee. I hope the UPS guy hits him again tomorrow. By the way, in my world UPS is pronounced OOPS.