NEW YORK (AP) — UPS expects the global economy to get worse before it gets better. Again. The world’s largest package delivery company is more pessimistic about U.S. growth than many economists. It predicts global trade will grow even slower than the world’s economies — a trend not seen since the recession. It’s making cuts in its business and reducing its earnings projections. UPS on Tuesday lowered its forecast for all of 2012 and said its third-quarter earnings will fall below last year’s results. Customers are worried about the global economy weakening in the second half of the year, the company said. Their skittishness was also felt in the second quarter, where UPS missed analysts’ expectations for both earnings and revenue. The stock fell more than 4 percent in midday trading. “Economies around the world are showing signs of weakening and our customers are increasingly nervous,” Chairman and CEO Scott Davis said in a conference call with analysts. That sentiment, along with similar comments from chemical maker DuPont, weighed on investors, who are already nervous about the global economy. The S&P 500 index dropped 0.5 percent in the morning. UPS is a closely watched barometer of broader economic health because it moves millions of packages between consumers and businesses every day. UPS said it expects the U.S. economy, by far the world’s largest, will grow just 1 percent this year. The company cited stalling growth from U.S. service companies, lower retail sales and still-high unemployment as signals that the U.S. isn’t holding up as well as UPS anticipated just three months ago. Although economists have been cutting their projections, estimates for U.S. economic growth this year are still in a range of about 1.8 percent to 2 percent. This marks the third straight year growth has stalled at mid-year after getting off to a promising start. UPS cut its full-year earnings forecast by 25 cents per share to $4.50 to $4.75. Wall Street had been expecting earnings of $4.82, according to FactSet. For the three months ended in June, UPS said net income rose 2 percent to $1.12 billion, or $1.15 per share, compared with $1.09 billion, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. Analysts expected $1.17 per share according to FactSet. Revenue for the Atlanta company rose 1.2 percent to $13.35 billion. In the U.S., revenue rose 4 percent from a year earlier, driven by a higher volume of packages. UPS said the increase was mostly due to a higher number of packages ordered from Internet retailers. Overseas, revenue fell 4 percent on lower exports from Asia and falling revenue per package, an indication of lower prices. Revenue in UPS’ supply chain and freight business fell 1.7 percent. That segment includes both UPS’ long haul trucking business and a unit that helps manufacturers streamline and make their businesses more efficient. A month ago, rival FedEx Corp. warned that slow global economic growth will crimp its earnings over the next 12 months. UPS said Tuesday that it’s cutting some flights out of Asia and reducing the frequency of others over the next several quarters to counter slowing demand. That amounts to a 10 percent cut in capacity on Asia flights, on top of a previous 10 percent reduction. The company warned it would take additional actions, if necessary, to bolster its financial results. UPS does see one bright spot ahead: it believes fourth-quarter earnings will be buoyed by major technology product launches ahead of the busy holiday season. Apple Inc. is expected to release a new version of the iPhone in the fall.
United Parcel Service to roll out Motorola digital scanners
United Parcel Service Inc. is deploying a new type of wearable scanner for employees designed to accelerate package loading and information visibility. The new device, made by Motorola Solutions, consists of a hands-free imager that is worn on a finger and a small terminal worn on the employee’s wrist or hip. The imager is a major advancement because it automatically scans based on label-sensing technology, allowing UPS employees to more quickly image barcodes compared to the current “point and shoot” method available with existing equipment, according to a news release. The scans are key to providing the tracking data that feeds the 32.1 million tracking requests viewed daily on www.ups.com, the release said. The scanner sends each package’s tracking information via Bluetooth to the terminal worn on the wrist or hip. The data is then transmitted via Wi-Fi to the UPS facility network and ultimately to UPS’s global data centers to be stored and processed for access by customers. The imager also helps avoid service disruptions by verifying that a package is being loaded into the proper trailer or air container. An audible and visible alert identifies any package that’s about to be loaded incorrectly. UPS began deploying the new system last year, and 28,000 ring imager and terminal devices are in use at 480 facilities. The deployment will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2013 with more than 38,000 ring imager and terminal devices in use at 1,383 facilities. Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS) bases its UPS Airlines division in Louisville. UPS’s Worldport facility in Louisville is a 5.2 million-square-foot sorting hub — its largest sorting facility. The facility can sort about 416,000 packages/documents per hour. “UPS is always examining new ways to improve our delivery reliability and provide timely and accurate shipment information to our customers,” Juan Perez, UPS vice president of information services, said in the release. “Effectively deploying mobile and pervasive computing technologies like this allows us to achieve those goals, with higher performance, and a more rugged, longer- lasting piece of hardware.”
Business First
TDU Asks the Big Question
August 22, 2012: It’s an ugly question, but one that has to be faced. And then our union needs to take action to deal with the problem, to prevent it from happening.
Could the Central States Pension Fund Go Insolvent?
The Hoffa administration has all but given up on the Central States Pension Plan. This decision could have dire consequences for 280,000 Teamsters and retirees, numerous Teamster officers, and the financial viability of hundreds of Teamster locals.
What can be done to prevent this train wreck for Teamster pensions and Teamster power?
The key turning point came in late 2007 when James Hoffa and Ken Hall gave UPS management their long-sought concession: pulling out 44,000 full-time Teamsters—and said good-bye to the $800 million (and growing) that UPS would be contributing annually.
This sell-out set off a cascade of events. Other companies pulled out; added withdrawal liability to YRCW’s balance sheet; and a ratio of retirees to actives which is now over 3:1. Then the stock market, which the fund became heavily dependent on, took a tumble.
It gave UPS workers some short-term security, but now their pensions are in the hands of the company for decades to come. It also endangered the local unions that UPS workers belong to.
In late August, Hostess Brands Teamsters are voting on a proposed national contract which would pull thousands of more Teamsters out of the Central States Fund (and other Teamster pension plans). Hostess is in bankruptcy.
The 2011 Financial and Analytical Reports for the fund show that it ended the year with $17.7 billion, down $2.2 billion in a year. The fund depends on investment returns to pay benefits, and now must earn 12 percent a year on investments to tread water. This is not viable.
Fund Director Thomas Nyhan testified two years ago before Congress that the fund could be insolvent in a decade, without a lifeline of relief.
The Consequences
Over 213,000 retirees depend on the fund for their promised retirement after a lifetime of Teamster work. Another 67,000 active members have been promised a pension in the future.
If the fund becomes insolvent, Teamsters would be dependent on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which has a maximum payout per month of $1,080 for a Teamster with 30 years credit.
That tells you how devastating this would be.
Officers and Local Unions
Among the biggest losers would be Teamster local officers and business agents throughout the Central and Southern Regions and the Carolinas. Most of them retire with high seniority and a good pension.
For most of them, Central States provides their only pension, and it stands to be slashed to about $1,000 per month. (Officials in the South have an additional, officers-only pension plan.)
And if the fund fails, who then will want to become a union officer? The local unions cannot leave the Central States Plan, because the withdrawal liability payment would break them financially.
Our local unions would then be financially burdened and weakened.
Incredibly, most of these officers campaigned last year for James Hoffa and Ken Hall, the architects of the disaster in their own pension plan.
Concerned Teamsters need to stand up and speak out. It’s not too late to save our pensions and union but the clock is ticking.
The International Union needs to take a firm stand that no more corporations will be allowed to pull out. Hoffa has done the opposite, and in fact just bargained the National Pipeline Agreement to allow more companies out of Central States.
In addition, we need a political movement to save pensions in this country, initiated by the Teamsters but with a broad coalition of support. That won’t happen in this election year, but its time to start laying the basis for it.
Two years ago Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania sponsored a bill to help protect pension plans, and strengthen the PBGC and increase its guarantees. It had some bipartisan support, and was announced at the YRC terminal in Carlisle, Pa.
There was talk among Teamster members and officers about a march on Washington and building a broad coalition in defense of pensions. Members and retirees responded very favorably to this kind of action. The Hoffa administration poured cold water on it, in favor of lobbying politicians behind the scenes.
It’s time to put protection of pensions front and center on the Teamster agenda and on the national political agenda.
The Real Trouble in our Country
Poll: Most Opposed To Ryan’s Medicare Reforms, Voucher System
A new poll released Tuesday lends credence to what Democrats — and even some Republicans — have warned about Paul Ryan being thrust onto the GOP ticket: Most Americans don’t much care for the Wisconsin Congressman‘s sweeping proposal to reform Medicare.
The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP), conducted on behalf of the Daily Kos and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), shows that 45 percent of registered voters are opposed to Ryan’s proposed reforms to Medicare, while 36 percent support his proposal.
A star among Republicans and the tea party, Ryan’s entrance in the presidential race has rejuvenated a conservative electorate that has been slow to warm up to Mitt Romney.
The Romney camp has attempted to distance itself from the policy plank for which Ryan is best known — his sweeping budget proposal, which included a plan to supplant Medicare for seniors with a private voucher system, that passed the House of Representatives largely along party lines earlier this year — insisting that it’s the budget put forth by the candidate at the top of the ticket that matters the most. Tuesday’s poll suggests that might not please Republicans, 65 percent of whom support Ryan’s plan for Medicare.
But PPP delved deeper with its next question, shifting from general language (“Do you support or oppose Paul Ryan’s proposal for reforming Medicare?”) to a specific reference to the Medicare voucher program — causing support for Ryan’s Medicare plan to erode even further. Sixty-three percent of voters say that Medicare should not be replaced with vouchers to allow the elderly to buy private insurance, while only 19 percent support the voucher plan.
Worse for Ryan, only 29 percent of Republicans support the voucher plan. That’s higher than the 6 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of independents who support the plan, but it still represents the minority position in the GOP: 44 percent of Republicans say Medicare should not be replaced with a voucher system. Polls have consistently shown low support for Ryan’s proposed changes to Medicare, underscoring the vulnerabilities in Romney’s vice presidential pick.
PPP conducted its survey August 16-19 using automated telephone interviews with 1,000 registered voters nationwide. Its margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
Freudian Slip?
UBS guy on strike
Whiteboard Truth
Space Cushion
UPS, FedEx cooperating with law enforcement on Aurora movie massacre probe
It was all perfectly legal and convenient for Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes to turn to e-commerce to allegedly stock his arsenal for a movie theater shooting spree. Holmes had reportedly amassed more than 6,000 rounds of small arms ammunition from online arms merchants and had the bullets delivered by private carriers that may have included FedEx and United Parcel Service. Memphis-based FedEx and Atlanta-based UPS said Monday they were cooperating with investigators and took a relatively low profile about possible involvement in the alleged shooter’s supply chain. While the U.S. Postal Service does not carry live ammunition, FedEx and UPS routinely do so under special conditions imposed on hazardous cargo. Asked about reports of a surveillance video showing Holmes picking up 150 pounds of ammunition at a FedEx outlet in Colorado, FedEx issued this statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this terrible tragedy in Colorado. We have a long-standing history of close cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Any questions regarding the investigation should be directed to authorities.” A spokeswoman said UPS was cooperating with investigators and hadn’t confirmed whether the suspect received ammunition deliveries by UPS. “While we are cooperating with the FBI for further investigation, it was erroneously reported (Sunday) that our drivers had been interviewed by authorities,” said sporkeswoman Susan Rosenberg. “This didn’t happen for any drivers that delivered to either the suspect’s residential or university addresses. If a reporter talked to any UPS driver, then all they heard was anecdotal about our delivery process in general but they wouldn’t have any information to the specific addresses. We’re still reviewing data, so we have no specific confirmation on deliveries or corresponding shippers.” CBS News reported on “Face the Nation” Sunday that authorities had learned the suspect shopped online outlets such as BulkAmmo.com and TacticalGear.com and that a UPS driver told authorities that 90 packages had been delivered to Holmes’ work address.
Standard-Examiner