An ugly prediction that you can hold me to...

[old levi's]

I think this entire thread is a ho-ax.

 

[JustTired]

I think I could do the golf cart thing. A person could get really close to the front porch of EVERY delivery with those things. The step is low and they can't be any colder than a package car.

Speaking of cold.........where would these guys go to get out of the cold to warm up a little. I would definitely want my personal vehicle at the POD. If for no other reason than to take my breaks and drive to lunch.


Hey.......
Maybe that's the plan!.............what would keep these guys from deciding to deliver out of their own vehicles, using their own gas, running up their own miles. Can you say "Fed-Ex ground"? Just a thought.

 

[over9five]

If I recall correctly it was in Playboy. Do you know that Playboy has some really good articles?

Playboy has articles?!?!??!



(someone had to say it)

 

[dilligaf]

Playboy has articles?!?!??!



(someone had to say it)

Yes and the DEC. issue has an interview with James Cameron (director of Avatar). Can't wait to read it.

 

[Dis-organized Labor]

I have heard it said that for every 10 lbs a guy is overweight he loses like a 1/2" in length of that which is protected by the tool shed.

Just an ugly rumor started by the "Extenze" marketing people

 

[dilligaf]

Just an ugly rumor started by the "Extenze" marketing people

LMAO That would be a good rumor for them to start.

 

[chestermechanic]

Can I red Tag it for a PMI ?

 

[Thumbster]

oh STUG I finally get the pic!.... ugly predictions! BTW, has anyone seen my cat?

 

[JimJimmyJames]

Hey.......
Maybe that's the plan!.............what would keep these guys from deciding to deliver out of their own vehicles, using their own gas, running up their own miles. Can you say "Fed-Ex ground"? Just a thought.

Long ago when I was a p/t I worked the holidays as a helper for extra cash. One driver they assigned me to, instead of leaving me with a hand truck and a bunch of packages, suggested we load up my car instead. Being wet behind the ears, I said sure, and so delivered out of my car.

It was a different world back then. This same driver would leave his P6 running all day long, the key was held in with a rubber band because it would fall out. He would also smell like beer at times because if a customer offered him one, well, he drank it!

We had another guy who would "brown up" his family at peak. He would put a uniform on his wife and sons and they would deliver too!

 

[cachsux]

I have heard it said that for every 10 lbs a guy is overweight he loses like a 1/2" in length of that which is protected by the tool shed.

Thats a myth,and besides once you hit double digits you stop counting anyway.

 

[cachsux]

I'm 20 lbs underweight.
I believe you.....It has grown..

Gosh,another millimeter!

 

[Just Numbers]

I pray that I am wrong about this...but I'm afraid I wont be.

I am predicting right now that my building will have many hundreds, if not thousands, of service failures on Christmas eve.

I will update this post on Christmas eve. I'd really like to be proven wrong, and if I am wrong I will be quite happy to man up and admit it.

Our "plan" for peak...as dreamed up by the brain trust from Operations and I.E....calls for my building to hire no peak season drivers and rent no vehicles this year. Instead...we will have up to ten of our seniority drivers being used as helpers or...get this....making deliveries on mountain bikes towing trailers.

Thats right...instead of a 16' Uhaul rental truck, we will have a guy on a bicycle.

We bought these bikes and trailers last year, but never really used them because we got hit with the worst snowstorm in 60 years during the last 2 weeks of December. Even with no snow the "plan" was a joke; the college-educated idiot from IE who sat at his computer and calculated the "best" areas to use the bikes (based upon stop density) failed to factor in the existence of hills.

Assuming that we get no snow...we will still have experienced, seniority drivers pedalling around on mountain bikes in the pouring rain on wet leaves in the dark. It gets pitch black around here by 4:45 during peak, and it usually rains every day if it isnt snowing. This morning it was 31 degrees outside and my driveway was icy. This region is simply unsuitable, due to climate and topography, for using mountain bikes as delivery vehicles.

The "plan" also overlooks basic geometry. Basic geometry teaches us that 1700 cubic feet of delivery volume and 1900 cubic feet of pickup volume cannot be contained in a 1000 cubic foot vehicle. Giving the driver of that vehicle a "helper" on a bicycle with a 10 cubic foot trailer will do nothing to solve this underlying problem.

As near as I can figure, IE's "plan" pretty much consists of...."if we pretend hard enough, dreams really do come true". Wishful thinking and denial are poor ways to make important business decisions.

I have brought my concerns to the attention of my management team, and they pretty much get a sick look on their faces and mumble something about "volume being down" and "needing to cut costs". The plan is being shoved down their throats; they know it is totally divorced from reality; but like lemmings they must blindly follow that plan to the bitter end, right off of the cliff.

This whole thing would be morbidly funny...if I werent in the middle of it.

Its peak season. Its cold and dark and wet and I am going to bust my ass for 12 or 13 or 14 hours straight. I'm OK with all that, its part of the job. but is is frustrating and demoralizing to know that I will be bringing many tens if not hundreds of stops back at the end of that 14 hours.

Once again...I hope to God I am wrong about all this and I am looking forward to admitting that fact here. I would like nothing more than to wrap it up "clean" on Christmas eve. I dont think that is going to happen though.

So who is going to dtay after work to count all those service failures?

 

[soberups]

I pray that I am wrong about this...but I'm afraid I wont be.

I am predicting right now that my building will have many hundreds, if not thousands, of service failures on Christmas eve.

I will update this post on Christmas eve. I'd really like to be proven wrong, and if I am wrong I will be quite happy to man up and admit it.

I had forgotten about this thread.

Like I promised, I need to "man up" and admit that, for the most part at least, I was wrong. My route finished clean and my center didnt wind up with huge numbers of service failures.

The bike helpers were not the disaster I thought they would be, and volume was far lower than it had been in years past. We narrowly dodged a bullet on the weather; our mid-December cold snap didnt produce the snow that would have made the whole bike plan useless.

I will qualify this admission by saying that, had volume been anything like what we had 2 yrs ago, we would have been screwed. Had there been any snow...we would have been screwed. The plan ultimately did work, but only on the razors edge with no margin for error.

The old saying goes..."its better to be lucky than good". This peak, we were a little bit of both.

 

[bikesbikesbikes]

Hi there,
I work at Cascade Bicycle Club and we'd like to run an article in our monthly newsletter about UPS deliveries via bike. Do any of you know anyone who actually rides a bike and makes these deliveries? Or anyone involved with the bike delivery plan in Seattle? I would love to get someone's contact information for the article.

Thanks!
Alison

 

[Anonymous 10]

How is it working out this year Sober?

 

[FracusBrown]

If they hire a hooker, what would she be peddling?

 

[Omega man]

Bikes? AaaaaaaaaaHaHaHaHaaaaaa!!!

 

[Anonymous 10]

If they hire a hooker, what would she be peddling?

Packages

 

[hubrat]

Hi there,
I work at Cascade Bicycle Club and we'd like to run an article in our monthly newsletter about UPS deliveries via bike. Do any of you know anyone who actually rides a bike and makes these deliveries? Or anyone involved with the bike delivery plan in Seattle? I would love to get someone's contact information for the article. I can be reached at [email protected].
Thanks!
Alison

We have some PR folks here. I will try to alert one of them to your post.

 

[brownnugget]

I pray that I am wrong about this...but I'm afraid I wont be.

I am predicting right now that my building will have many hundreds, if not thousands, of service failures on Christmas eve.

I will update this post on Christmas eve. I'd really like to be proven wrong, and if I am wrong I will be quite happy to man up and admit it.

Our "plan" for peak...as dreamed up by the brain trust from Operations and I.E....calls for my building to hire no peak season drivers and rent no vehicles this year. Instead...we will have up to ten of our seniority drivers being used as helpers or...get this....making deliveries on mountain bikes towing trailers.

Thats right...instead of a 16' Uhaul rental truck, we will have a guy on a bicycle.

We bought these bikes and trailers last year, but never really used them because we got hit with the worst snowstorm in 60 years during the last 2 weeks of December. Even with no snow the "plan" was a joke; the college-educated idiot from IE who sat at his computer and calculated the "best" areas to use the bikes (based upon stop density) failed to factor in the existence of hills.

Assuming that we get no snow...we will still have experienced, seniority drivers pedalling around on mountain bikes in the pouring rain on wet leaves in the dark. It gets pitch black around here by 4:45 during peak, and it usually rains every day if it isnt snowing. This morning it was 31 degrees outside and my driveway was icy. This region is simply unsuitable, due to climate and topography, for using mountain bikes as delivery vehicles.

The "plan" also overlooks basic geometry. Basic geometry teaches us that 1700 cubic feet of delivery volume and 1900 cubic feet of pickup volume cannot be contained in a 1000 cubic foot vehicle. Giving the driver of that vehicle a "helper" on a bicycle with a 10 cubic foot trailer will do nothing to solve this underlying problem.

As near as I can figure, IE's "plan" pretty much consists of...."if we pretend hard enough, dreams really do come true". Wishful thinking and denial are poor ways to make important business decisions.

I have brought my concerns to the attention of my management team, and they pretty much get a sick look on their faces and mumble something about "volume being down" and "needing to cut costs". The plan is being shoved down their throats; they know it is totally divorced from reality; but like lemmings they must blindly follow that plan to the bitter end, right off of the cliff.

This whole thing would be morbidly funny...if I werent in the middle of it.

Its peak season. Its cold and dark and wet and I am going to bust my ass for 12 or 13 or 14 hours straight. I'm OK with all that, its part of the job. but is is frustrating and demoralizing to know that I will be bringing many tens if not hundreds of stops back at the end of that 14 hours.

Once again...I hope to God I am wrong about all this and I am looking forward to admitting that fact here. I would like nothing more than to wrap it up "clean" on Christmas eve. I dont think that is going to happen though.

Think about the good news... we'll lose some good customers and YOU can go out and try and get them back with 'sales leads'.