Are UPS trucks as bad as Fedex trucks?

[Indecisi0n]

We don't have trucks, we have cars.

 

[MendozaJ]

UPS drivers don't have to choose between maintenance or the mortgage. With Fedex, you are the investor, and it's up to you to make your money back. With UPS, we are the investment. It's also funny to see Fedex trucks filling up at the local Exxon. It's just like, man, that sucks. How much are insurance premiums going up again? Damned if I know, I don't have to pay for mine.

 

[dudebro]

Pretty sure the video this was taken from was a "runaway" diesel. Only thing you can do is stuff something into the air intake to get it to die.

And even then.... in my vocational school there was a generator sized diesel that ran away like that.

One of the instructors put a soft cover manual over the intake and the engine bucked, sucked down the manual, coughed, and kept running.

Finally another guy showed up with a scrap piece of plywood and slapped it onto the manifold intake, and although a little air could get in still, it held, and finally the thing bucked and died.

Diesel engines can be incredible things.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

UPS drivers don't have to choose between maintenance or the mortgage. With Fedex, you are the investor, and it's up to you to make your money back. With UPS, we are the investment. It's also funny to see Fedex trucks filling up at the local Exxon. It's just like, man, that sucks. How much are insurance premiums going up again? Damned if I know, I don't have to pay for mine.

I fill up at the local Mobil station. I use my rewards card at the same time.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

I'll never forget when my P12 starting acting up like this. On Mondays after sitting the entire weekend in the cold the engine would not start. You had to let the glow plugs charge for HELLA long to get it to start. I remember the onroad trying for a couple minutes one time and the truck spewed so much exhaust that that everyone on the line had to leave the area. And when it finally did start the truck would have a top speed of about 15 miles per hour in the first 10 minutes of driving. Terrible times.

Sounds to me like the glow pugs were not working at all.

 

[socalfusions]

The new trucks at UPS are NOTHING like the old ones. The old ones had plenty of fumes, engine loud as hell, lap belt only, knuckles touching the window as you grip the steering wheel. High step guaranteed knee problems, three points of contact wouldn't save you from that. Stick shift smack dab in the middle of the floor when you're trying to stack packages to load on the handcart. No power steering guaranteeing shoulder problems. The new ones have none of those problems.

Are all of those old trucks no longer being used? Those sound like some serious issues, many of which I've experienced personally in Fedex contractor trucks.

The new UPS trucks are indeed much quieter and have cleaner air in the cab than the old trucks. The one downside is the ones I drove were loaded with bells and whistles. Literally.

If you leave the lights on while dr ing a pkg, if your parking break sensor goes bad, if your diesel wants to alert you that you started it before the water in fuel sensor got warmed up etc etc etc, you will get a buzzer, a whistle, a beeper or the like til you think you're gonna go deaf. This always seemed to happen to me on the same damn day that red location beeper on the diad would go bonkers on every regular stop I made.

Newer isn't necessarily " better quality of life" in every respect.

That must get annoying fast, I suppose it's better than sucking down diesel fumes or dealing with physically detrimental vehicle components though.

Many of the trucks at FedEx Ground are in disrepair because of the contractor business model scam the owners are under. The time/cost it takes to maintain them are quite the burden for the owners. We have several in my area that have their bulkhead doors barely sitting in their frames. And most of them sound like they are about to break down any minute. It's easy to hear them because they are all left running at each stop.

This is unfortunate but sadly true, the supervisor that trained me who used to be a route owner went into details explaining some of the stuff you mentioned, mainly that Fedex runs a bottom line business strategy that screws over the contractors for the sake of making the most profit. I have yet to see a vehicle that doesn't have a serious problem in the fleet, it's either cabin fumes, suspension problems, alignment problems, etc. Every vehicle is incredibly loud as you described, some to the point that it likely is damaging your hearing.

Some of the transport drivers that deliver the new package cars to our center complain how bad they ride. I let them know these 1's ride like Cadillacs compared to our old GMCs. We've gotten rid of all of our old "penalty trucks" this year.

What exactly is a "penalty truck?"

UPS vehicles are maintained on a regular scheduled basis.

That sounds like the way work vehicles should be maintained which is apparently a privilege in the package delivery industry it seems.

My favorite is seeing FedEx trucks with plywood bulkhead doors .

A couple of the ones I've trained in have plywood passenger seats which is evident due to the padding exposing it, your butt takes a hell of a beating at the end of the day.

The difference between Ups and FedEx trucks is simple. If I have an issue with my truck, the mechanic on staff fixes it that night. FedEx would require the contractor taking the car out of service for a few days and him having to find another vehicle. So they don't do anything unless it keeps the truck from operation.

That makes sense, a couple of vehicles had to be repaired in my contractors fleet and they take them to a local mechanic who has multitudes of other civilian vehicles to fix before they can get to the contractors truck which can take days or weeks. It was mentioned that for this reason they refrain from fixing many things. I can see how discouraging it would be to want to fix any quality of life components on a truck even if it threatens the health or safety of the driver unfortunately.

UPS drivers don't have to choose between maintenance or the mortgage. With Fedex, you are the investor, and it's up to you to make your money back. With UPS, we are the investment. It's also funny to see Fedex trucks filling up at the local Exxon. It's just like, man, that sucks. How much are insurance premiums going up again? Damned if I know, I don't have to pay for mine.

Yeah it seems to be a lose lose business practice for the contractors, I haven't heard from one yet that has had many positive things to say about Fedex and in many ways by taking part they are enabling Fedex to continue this controversial business practice though I'm sure many others are ready to take their place. I'm just curious to know what it's going to take to eradicate such business philosophies, why doesn't Fedex get unionized I wonder? Yearly earnings? Do UPS trucks have their own gas station?

 

[Brownslave688]

Worse*


Hope this helps.

 

[Brownslave688]

I'll never forget when my P12 starting acting up like this. On Mondays after sitting the entire weekend in the cold the engine would not start. You had to let the glow plugs charge for HELLA long to get it to start. I remember the onroad trying for a couple minutes one time and the truck spewed so much exhaust that that everyone on the line had to leave the area. And when it finally did start the truck would have a top speed of about 15 miles per hour in the first 10 minutes of driving. Terrible times.

They must of sent that truck here. I have to turn it on and cycle through the glow plugs 15-20 times to get it to start.

 

[Wally]

Worse*


Hope this helps.

The author wrote it this way to suggest a certain lexicon for comedic purposes.

Thank you for your concern.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

They must of sent that truck here. I have to turn it on and cycle through the glow plugs 15-20 times to get it to start.

Most of the CA diesels I've had forced on me had non-functioning glow plugs. Who knows for how long.

 

[bbsam]

Sounds to me like the glow pugs were not working at all.

Not gelled fuel in the lines?

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

Not gelled fuel in the lines?

It does not rain there either. Wiper motors were all original too. (20 years old).

 

[Coldworld]

Lmao!!!!nice Wally