July 23, 2013: Today, UPS announced after-tax profits of $1.07 billion for the second quarter. The money is there for a better contract.
In the first six months of the year, UPS made $2.11 billion. UPS expect profits to grow in the second half of the year by as much as 13 percent.
Wall Street is crying that UPS profits are slightly down from the same period last year. The dip in earnings will cost stockholders 2 cents a share.
Only at UPS do they complain when profits are "only" a billion dollars a quarter.
Management blames the dip in profits on the shift away from Next Day Air to lower-priced services and slow international freight forwarding business.
But in the U.S., revenue was up both in package and at UPS Freight.
A few other figures that Wall Street is not reporting on this morning: Under the tentative agreement, 140,000 Teamsters and their families will pay more out of their pockets for healthcare after Hoffa and Hall toured the country and told Teamsters, "No way, we won't pay!"
With UPS's profits for 2013 projected to be $4.5 billion again, the money is there to maintain members' health benefits and improve the 18 supplements that were voted down by UPS Teamsters.