Tag: UPS

Latest Headlines

UPS pilots agree to 5-year pact with 15% pay hike; B-F dives 4% on quarterly results; plus former KFC store goes to pot — a missed opportunity, BTW

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 6:05 p.m.

UPS‘s 2,500 pilots have overwhelmingly ratified a five-year labor contract with a bonus up to $60,000 per pilot, an immediate increase in base pay, and “more favorable” rest policies for overnight and international flights. The contract, which starts tomorrow, includes an immediate 14.7% pay hike, followed by annual increases of 3% over the life of the deal, the pilots association said today (WDRB). The shipper is Louisville’s single-biggest private employer, with 22,000 workers at its Louisville International Airport hub; more about UPS here.

Jack Daniel's Fire
Fire

BROWN-FORMAN said fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 5% to $856 million and earnings dropped 2% to 36 cents per share, citing weaker-than-expected results in emerging markets and a stronger U.S. dollar. The results were in line with analysts forecasts. The spirits giant also cited tough comparisons from a year ago on its flagship Jack Daniel’s, which lapped last year’s introduction of cinnamon-flavored Tennessee Fire in the U.S. Sales of Finlandia — the vodka brand rumored to be on the auction block — dropped 10% reported as results in Poland “stabilized somewhat” while they remained under pressure in Russia, given the “challenging economic backdrop” and ruble depreciation (press release). Brown-Forman has now filed its more detailed quarterly 10-Q report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both classes of the company’s stock fell more than 4% in the first 45 minutes of trading before recovering. The more actively traded non-voting B shares ended the day at $48.55, down $1.78, or 3.5%.

PIZZA HUT: The manager of a Pizza Hut outlet in Tokyo’s Koto Ward and three accomplices were arrested for allegedly beating the store’s deputy manager with a lead pipe and stealing 1.4 million yen (U.S. $13,500) from a safe on May 1. The victim suffered serious injuries including a fractured left arm which required more than two months to heal, police said (Tokyo Reporter).

TACO BELL and KFC: In Houston, police are investigating a smash-and-grab attempted burglary after someone crashed a vehicle into a combination Taco Bell-KFC restaurant on the city’s northeast side early today. The front doors and some of the interior were damaged, but it didn’t appear anything of value was taken (KHOU).

KFC Pittsfield
The former KFC location has already gone to weeds (heh).

And in Pittsfield, Mass., the appropriately named Happy Valley Compassion Center is proposing to open a medical marijuana dispensary in a former KFC restaurant building. Side note: It occurs to Boulevard that opening a KFC or any other fast-food outlet next to a marijuana store would be an excellent way to sell to customers with the munchies (Berkshire Eagle).

Latest Headlines

Yum hits 52-week high; Pizza Hut kicks off a new flick football game box; Papa John’s, Calipari in Louisiana flood-relief effort; and up to 100 students brawl at New Zealand KFC

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:59 p.m.

YUM shares traded at a 52-week high of $90.93 today, before easing back to close moments ago at $90.76. It’s all-time record high came May 20, 2015, when it traded for $95.90 a share (Google Finance).

AMAZON said this afternoon it plans to open a distribution center in Monee, Ill., an hour south of Chicago; it didn’t provide a timetable, however (press release). In the Louisville area, Amazon employs 6,000 workers at two centers, in Jeffersonville and in Shephardsville. More about the retailer’s area operations.

Pizza Hut flick football box
The flick football box promotion ends Oct. 14.

PIZZA HUT: Starting today, and just in time for the start of football season, Pizza Hut is serving medium pizzas in a Flick Football Field box, featuring a football field printed on top, detachable goal posts, football triangles and a scorecard. Flick football is a tabletop game played with a piece of paper folded into a small triangle. Players flick the “football” across a table, scoring points based on where the football lands. Adding a social media marketing component, the Yum unit is asking customers to share videos of their flick football skills for a chance to win free pizza from the chain’s $5 Flavor Menu. The promotion runs through Oct. 14. It follows Pizza Hut U.K.’s far more novel box less than two weeks ago: a very limited edition (as in just five) cardboard box with a workable DJ mixing board (CNBC).

John Calipari
Calipari

PAPA JOHN’S and University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari are teaming up to raise money for victims of the Louisiana flooding. Yesterday, Calipari announced the pizza chain would offer a large two-topping pizza for $10, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Calipari Family Foundation, earmarked for flooding victims (Today’s U Sports). Papa John’s founder John Schnatter has supported the foundation in the past, donating $53,000 since 2012 for its programs helping children.

KFC: In New Zealand, four people were arrested today after a massive brawl involving up to 100 students from rival schools erupted at a KFC fast food outlet in South Auckland. Weapons used included knives, chairs and bits of wood, a police spokesperson told NZME, and witnesses said the students involved both boys and girls, with some appearing to be less than 16 years old (7 News via Yahoo).

Ronald Ganett
Gantt

UPS: In Prattville, Ala., a UPS driver was taken to the hospital in stable condition after he was accidentally struck by a crossbow bolt fired by someone while he was driving. The driver wasn’t identified. The bolt went through his upper right arm and lodged in his right chest, according to an Autauga County Sheriff’s Office report. Investigators say 55-year-old Ronald Curtis Gantt has been charged with assault in last Thursday’s incident. Gantt told authorities he was taking part in target practice in his front yard when he shot the driver. Investigators are calling the incident an accident, but charged Gantt due to the reckless nature of his actions (Montgomery Advertiser).

Latest Headlines

Schnatter trims holdings by another $873K, new SEC filing shows; mourners recall pregnant Calif. Taco Bell employee killed in crash; and UPS to launch expansion

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 5:12 p.m.

PAPA JOHN’S founder and CEO John Schnatter sold 11,500 shares this week at $76 each for a total $873,000, according to a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday.

To put Schnatter’s $873,000 profit in perspective, consider this: His pizza chain is running a help-wanted Craigslist ad in the Louisville area right now for delivery drivers, promising as much as $20 an hour, with tips. At that rate, a driver would need to work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, for 21 years to make what Schattner, 54, earned with a few keyboard strokes this week.

And he still owns a lot more stock. The trades were made Monday and Tuesday, and left him with a still-huge stake: 10 million shares worth $758 million at yesterday’s closing PZZA price of $75.80. With options, the figure rises another $40 million.

HUMANA declared a regular quarterly dividend of 29 cents a share payable on Oct. 28 to stockholders of record Oct.13 (press release).

Dulce Capetillo
Capetillo

TACO BELL: In San Jose, Calif., last night dozens of mourners remembered Dulce Capetillo, the pregnant 18-year-old Taco Bell employee killed in a car crash last week on the way to picking up her husband, who worked for the fast-food chain during the late shift at another outlet. Doctors saved their infant son, Christopher; he’s now eating from a bottle and no longer tethered to medical equipment. By yesterday, nearly $17,000 had been raised to cover Capetillo’s funeral costs and Christopher’s medical bills, with Taco Bell contributing toward the total (Mercury News). In Louisville, the fast-Mexican chain delivered free lunch yesterday to Louisville Metro Police headquarters as it made amends for an embarrassing incident last week, where employees at a Taco Bell on Preston Highway near Phillips Lane initially balked at serving five LMPD officers (WDRB).

UPS will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for its previously announced $310 million expansion of the company’s giant shipping hub at Louisville International Airport; the project is expected to add 300 jobs over the next 18 months to the 22,000 already there (Courier-Journal). UPS is the city’s single-biggest private employer; more about the shipper’s local operations.

BROWN-FORMAN turned to automation in an expansion of its Jack Daniel’s distillery operations in Lynchburg, Tenn., according to a new and very wonky account in a trade publication (Automation World).

Latest Headlines

KFC’s new extra-crispy marketing recipe revealed! Big name + bizarre thing = smell of success

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 9:43 a.m.

KFC‘s latest publicity stunt — fried chicken-scented sunscreen — zigged in the U.S. from People magazine, then zagged to the U.K.’s Marie Claire, rolling up untold millions of dollars in free PR over the past 48 hours since its brief Monday launch. And it all involved just 3,000 bottles of a fake product never meant to get into consumer’s hands, according to trade site DigiDay.

KFC sunscreen 75Google News counted nearly 100 websites mentioning KFC Extra Crispy Sunscreen. Huffington Post’s story had 3,100 shares. The retro promotional infomercial video got nearly 280,000 views since it was posted on YouTube. And it won 11,000 mentions on social media, said Brandwatch analyst Kellan Terry.

The campaign was by the W+K agency in Portland, Ore., and followed the same formula W+K used for another client: Old Spice. “Its irreverent and unconventional,” Terry said, “and people love to laugh and watch the ad as it unfolds. These types of spots are tailored for multiple platform success.” And it paired perfectly with fake Colonel Harland “Extra Crispy” Sanders, played by actor-turned-pro tanner George Hamilton (photo, top).

The sunblock gimmick followed KFC’s two edible nail varnishes — flavored Original and Hot and Spicy — released in Hong Kong back in May.

TACO BELL is once more in the very unwelcome spotlight after reports employees refused to serve law enforcement officers. The latest incident, involving five Louisville Metro Police officers, comes amid a summer of rising tensions between police and the public.

The one in Louisville happened last week at the Taco Bell at Preston Highway and Phillips Lane, when the officers were taking a work break from duty at the Kentucky State Fair. One employee told co-workers he wouldn’t take the officers’ order, though another worker did eventually take the order, according to Sgt. Dave Mutchler, president of the River City FOP union representing officers.

“However, in the meantime,” Mutchler wrote in an e-mail, “another employee stated to a co-worker ‘I want to mess with them. I want to mess with them. I’m going to mess with them. I’m going to mess with them.'” Seeing no manager, the officers left.

Both Taco Bell and the Louisville franchise owner apologized to Louisville Metro Police and directly to the officers. The franchise owner says police made it clear they didn’t want any of the employees fired, and said he would retrain staff (Courier-Journal and WKYT).

The incident echoed one last month in Phenix City, Ala., where a Taco Bell clerk wouldn’t serve two sheriff’s deputies after another customer complained about the officers being there. The employee was fired and the chain apologized to the deputies and to the sheriff’s office. But there have been others involving cops:

  • In Toledo, Ohio, last week, a sheriff’s deputy was fired after making inappropriate Facebook posts about Taco Bell employees he said made vulgar remarks about him. One post said a black employee and a co-worker inside the restaurant yelled “Black lives matter,” and laughed at him while he was in his car in the drive-thru. The deputy was in uniform at the time.
  • A KFC employee in Missouri was fired early this month after reportedly threatening to spit in a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy’s order.

UPS: In Richmond, Va., the shipper says it plans to lay off 160 workers from its UPS Freight unit there within the next 12 months in a cost-cutting move. News reports didn’t give a total headcount there, however (Times-Dispatch).

Latest Headlines

Kindred promotes Zachariah to head of rehabilitation services; and UPS CEO Abney urges Congress to pass new Asia trade pact

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 7 p.m.

KINDRED: Jason Zachariah‘s appointment as president of Kindred Rehabilitation Services is effective immediately. He was previously chief operating officer of Kindred Hospital Rehabilitation services since July 2013. He started at the Louisville hospital and nursing home giant in 2006.

Jason Zachariah
Zachariah

In his new role, Zachariah also joins Kindred’s top-level executive committee, the company said in a press release. Here are all the executive officers.

He succeeds Jon Rousseau, who is leaving the company to pursue other interests, Kindred said. Rousseau joined Kindred in July 2013 and was president of KRS since April 2015.

Kindred COO Kent Wallace praised Rousseau in a statement, suggesting his exit was at least partly amicable. “We thank Jon for his tireless dedication and the strategies he implemented that helped us expand KRS,” Wallace said.

Zachariah’s promotion was announced after stock markets closed. Kindred’s shares closed at $11.06, up 4 cents.

Kindred employs about 2,200 employees in Louisville; it has about 102,000 employees in total. More about Kindred’s operations.

David Abney
Abney

UPS CEO David Abney is pushing Congress to pass a new Asian trade agreement by the end of the year, saying in an interview that if the U.S. doesn’t act now it will be left behind, as Asian nations sign their own deals. UPS and FedEx executives have become more outspoken on free trade in recent weeks as President Obama’s signature Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement looks unlikely to win congressional passage either after the November elections, or under the next administration (Wall Street Journal).

Abney was appointed CEO in 2014, and is the 11th in the 108-year history of UPS. The shipper is Louisville’s single-biggest private employer, with 22,000 workers. More about UPS’ Louisville operations.

Latest Headlines

Amazon’s not out to replace UPS and other shippers — it’s goal is more ‘fantastical’

The big Louisville-area employer wants to add as much capacity to its operations as possible, says New York Times technology columnist Farad Manjoo. “And rather than replace partners like UPS and FedEx,” he says in a new column, “it’s spending boatloads on planes, trucks, crowdsourcing and other novel delivery services to add to its overall capacity and efficiency.” Manjoo continues:

Prime Air logoAmazon’s longer-term goal is more fantastical — and, if it succeeds, potentially transformative. It wants to escape the messy vicissitudes of roads and humans. It wants to go fully autonomous, up in the sky. The company’s drone program, which many in the tech press dismissed as a marketing gimmick when CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled it on “60 Minutes” in 2013, is central to this future.

How fantastical is that future? Amazon has already filed patents for self-driving trucks as mobile shipping warehouses. Prestocked with items Amazon has determined a given neighborhood might need, the trucks could roam around cities. When an order comes in, a drone might fly from the truck to a customer’s house, delivering the item in minutes.

Amazon’s how-it-would-work video about Prime Air is funny, and instructive:

The Seattle-based retailer employs 6,000 workers at distribution centers in Jeffersonville and Shephardsville. UPS, where Amazon is a major customer, employs 22,000 workers at Louisville International Airport, making it the city’s single-biggest private employer.