What I learned from reading Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS by Greg Niemann.
UpS was half a century old in 1957.
In June of that year, I was a 17 year old Californian right out of high school and had already secured morning employment.
Still, I complained to a neighbor, who always wore a brown uniform, that I needed an afternoon job, too.
Why don't you go down to United Parcel?
They always need guys to load and unload in the afternoons.
So in June I became a upserving, even though I wouldn't be 18 until July.
Close enough, they said.
And I was assigned to load a trailer in downtown Los Angeles, starting at $1.62 an hour.
In August, the company gave us free cake and pamphlets commemorating the company's 50th anniversary.
In December, we moved into a new, state of the art facility next door, where men in suits were always around checking things out.
Another upser gave me the heads up that one of them was company founder Jim Casey.
From the very beginning, I had heard stories about the company's tireless founder.
He was a living legend, Jim Casey, the son of irish immigrants, working from the age of eleven to support a family of five.
In 1907, in a basement beneath a bar, he conceived the American messenger company, which eventually became UpS.
I drove for UPs for five years and two weeks, and then, in 1966, I entered management.
All the stories I heard about the company's origins and history took on a new clarity as I met and got closer to the great men who were leading ups.
Great men, including Jim Casey.
Though retired, he was still a presence.
I was fortunate enough to meet him on numerous occasions.
His unwavering insistence on strong values kept ups and its employees on course.