8 hour requests are a joke here.

Packmule

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys for all the info and perspectives. Will likely file, though I'm afraid the company would rather pay $66 than honor 8hrs. May be screwing everybody when they request! Sneeze money to UPS!
 

govols019

You smell that?
I wish people would only ask for 8 hours when they actually need it instead of either just to make extra money or/and just to make life a little more difficult for the dispatchers and supervisors. Why? Because I'm one of the guys that frequently gets burned by them. That is.....when they actually decided to honor them.

I take my two 8hr days every month. Whether I actually have a reason to be off in 8 or not is irrelevant. Those days are my right per the contract we work under. If someone else doesn't use their 8hr requests it's not my problem.

I also don't complain when I have a little extra work because of someones 8hr day. It is what it is.
 

9.5er

Well-Known Member
I always take atleast one a month. Usually the first Friday of the month. Some times I am feeling froggy and put in for two. I wish every one on my center would use them. Usually its the same 4 or 5 people using the request.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I seldom put in 8 hr requests, and when I do its a challenge for management to honor them because everyone else in my area drives a P-1000 that is too big to operate in my extended rural area.

I find that 8 hr requests are a useful tool for getting a requested day off if I find out I need one too late to do an optional holiday. My 8 hr request is a "poison pill" and the the easiest way for management to deal with it is to give me the day off when I call in and ask for it that morning.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
You call the day of with your 8 hour request? I thought it had to be at least 5 working days.


Resident know-it-all.
No.

I call in on the morning of my 8 hr request day, and request the day off.

99% of the time they give it to me because its easier to put a replacement driver on my route than it is for them to honor my 8 hours.
 

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
I get hammered on the same day every week not because its heavy but because they slide me into neighboring routes further than usual so I take that day every other week as an 8 hour to have a decent dispatch.

Sent from my 28 year old brown truck
 

Packmule

Well-Known Member
I wish people would only ask for 8 hours when they actually need it instead of either just to make extra money or/and just to make life a little more difficult for the dispatchers and supervisors. Why? Because I'm one of the guys that frequently gets burned by them. That is.....when they actually decided to honor them.
This is true for lower seniority guys. If I wasn't critical I'd gladly pass to them if asked.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
How, dispatcher Dave?
I will answer for him.

I have rural stops where I can barely...and I mean barely...get in and turned around in a P700.

Send a P1000 or 1200 up there and you will need a helicopter to pick it up and carry it out.

Plus there can be a huge variance in how long a given number of stops will take, depending on how long the driveways are. I have areas where 15 stops per hour is easy, and others where I'm lucky if I can do 8 or 9 an hour.

I have an understanding with my management that when I put in an 8 hr request, I tell them exactly how many stops to give me and if they dont exceed that number then I will ask for no further help even if I wind up going over 8. The last thing I want to do to one of my co-workers in a P1000 is to make him drive up on the mountain on a dark foggy night.
 

cosmo1

Perhaps.
Staff member
I will answer for him.

I have rural stops where I can barely...and I mean barely...get in and turned around in a P700.

Send a P1000 or 1200 up there and you will need a helicopter to pick it up and carry it out.

Plus there can be a huge variance in how long a given number of stops will take, depending on how long the driveways are. I have areas where 15 stops per hour is easy, and others where I'm lucky if I can do 8 or 9 an hour.

I have an understanding with my management that when I put in an 8 hr request, I tell them exactly how many stops to give me and if they dont exceed that number then I will ask for no further help even if I wind up going over 8. The last thing I want to do to one of my co-workers in a P1000 is to make him drive up on the mountain on a dark foggy night.

Sober, I have no idea how your route is set up.

But, for 29 of my 34 years, I ran rural routes. Some averaging more than 200 miles per day. On every one, there was work that could have been easily pulled to make an 8-hour dispatch. A short business section outside a town, a couple trailer parks or even a small development.

You are entitled to x-number of 8-hour requests, and how dispatch pulls it off should not be your concern.

And, I'm still waiting for Dave's answer.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
You are entitled to x-number of 8-hour requests, and how dispatch pulls it off should not be your concern.

And, I'm still waiting for Dave's answer.

The last two times I have done an 8 hour, I told my management to give me 85 stops and they complied.

On one of those days, I clocked off in 7.4 hours and got paid for 8.

On another day, I caught some bad stops and wound up taking about 8.75 to get done.

On that occasion, I chose to roll with it rather than create headaches for my co-workers. I have a good working relationship with the guys in my loop, we are all friends and we cooperate and help each other out, and I didnt feel like screwing them over.
 

Packmule

Well-Known Member
It is much harder to honor 8 hour requests on rural areas.
May be true on some routes. Mine always requires they fill up my dispatch with back in town resi that are 15 to 60 in count. Easy for them to dispatch these to the guys that get off at 5:00 every night, partly cause I'm doing some of their NDA in the morning before I leave town. Lots of ways they could make an 8 hr work if they really wanted to.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
file on it, and you will get 2 hours of penalty pay. There are several drivers in my buidling (mysel fincluded) who put them in on Mondays or Wednesdays knowing there isnt a snowballs chanc e in Hades of it being honored with the sole vision of being able to file and collect. And since the day wasn't honoured it dosent count towards the Two a Month we are entitled to so we follow suit the next week .
Between 8 hour Penalty grievances,Supervisor Working Grievances and Excessive Overtime Grievances I have made an extra $8,000 this year so far.

You can buy a new skateboard with that kind of scratch.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
No offense but I take mine even if I don't need them. It's my right per the contract. Management and dispatch know exactly what is needed to give me an 8 hour day. They also have a weeks notice and sometimes 3 weeks notice because I like to plan ahead. There is no excuse for them not to honor my 8 hour requests.


Sent using BrownCafe App

Yes, it is your right but all I'm saying is that those 8 hour requests end up being a pain in the ass for someone else. Whether they request theirs or not. But I agree that there is no reason why they shouldn't honor them. Especially when there aren't a bunch of other 8 hour requests that day. And there is always someone that wants the OT.
Sometimes I put it an 8 hour just to make Happy Hour.

Well hey that reason is just as good as any. A damn good one actually. And is a hell of allot better than "just for the hell of it."
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
I didnt see any penelty pay for 8hr request in central supplement. After getting hosed over on 8hr request 2 times in past just found it easier to call in sick for future ones when I used to drive got enough o.t to make up lost pay anyway

Sent using BrownCafe App

It's in the Master.
 

turdbrown

Well-Known Member
in our ctr they can work us up to 8 1/2hrs per the contract. If I don't get off in time, I put in a request for another 8hr day the following week. If they don't get me off in time again, I file a grievance for penalty pay for both days. Even if its 1 min past the time I am suppose to get off. I always take my 2 per month.
 
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