NEGOTIATIONS WILL RESUME.

Byline: Dan Sewell Associated Press 

With frustrated customers vowing to never again depend so much on United Parcel Service, the delivery giant and the Teamsters union agreed Wednesday to resume talks in an effort to end the crippling 3-day-old strike.

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director John Calhoun Wells said leaders of both sides agreed to his request to return to the bargaining table today in Washington.

``We have seen no sign that the company has changed its attitude, so we are not particularly optimistic about these new talks,'' said Teamsters President Ron Carey. ``But we'll be there, trying to reach a reasonable agreement that provides good jobs for American workers.''

A phone call to UPS wasn't immediately returned, but the company has insisted it won't budge from its last offer. President Clinton, despite appeals from UPS and some business leaders, repeated Wednesday that he didn't believe the strike called for presidential intervention.

Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, who had called Carey and UPS chief James Kelly to urge new talks, said she was encouraged about today's planned session.

``The president and I feel strongly that both the company and the workers, as well as the American people, have much to gain in a quick resolution to this dispute,'' she said.

Some of UPS' biggest customers, such as J.C. Penney and Lands' End, said Wednesday it's premature to discuss whether the strike will affect their future with the company.

``This is my personal opinion, but I think that UPS has a good chance of losing 10 percent of its business permanently,'' said Dwight Sigworth, a consultant for AFMS in Portland, Ore. ``There are a lot of UPS loyalists, people who use only UPS, who are maybe going to change their tune a little bit.''

UPS, which normally delivers 12 million parcels and documents a day around the country, was running at less than 10 percent capacity after the strike by its 185,000 Teamster employees in a U.S. work force of 302,000.