P
pickup
Guest
Were you able to answer your question by firsthand experience yet?
Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ
- Thread starter 104Feeder
- Start date
Were you able to answer your question by firsthand experience yet?
Indecisi0n
Well-Known Member
lol, oh yeah. You should see all the junk in my trunk. My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
barnyard
KTM rider
Ask at the feeder office. They will know.
Indecisi0n
Well-Known Member
If there is one thing I learned at UPS it's that everyone in the office is clueless.
Richard Harrow
Deplorable.
Question may have been covered but I dont feel like going back through 300 pages of this thread, so can someone explain to me how it is that you guys know where you're going/what your assignment is everyday providing you dont have a regular run?
Also, what is management stance on GPS use? I'm hoping by the end of the summer I'll be in feeders and the only thing that gives me any anxiety about it is not knowing where I'm going while at the wheel of a vehicle thats difficult to get turned around if you go somewhere you're not supposed to be.
Also, what is management stance on GPS use? I'm hoping by the end of the summer I'll be in feeders and the only thing that gives me any anxiety about it is not knowing where I'm going while at the wheel of a vehicle thats difficult to get turned around if you go somewhere you're not supposed to be.
Here if you're cover and you don't have an assigned run for the week you're on call. Basically if someone calls out they will call you in seniority order and offer you the work, if you don't want to do it and there are still drivers under you on the on call list then you can pass on it.
They don't care if you use a GPS, I used one when I started and still keep it handy but honestly your best bet is to get with other drivers and let them talk you in whenever you're going someplace new.
They don't care if you use a GPS, I used one when I started and still keep it handy but honestly your best bet is to get with other drivers and let them talk you in whenever you're going someplace new.
Johney
Pineapple King
Get a good headset and get a few numbers from senior feeder drivers. Most can talk you turn for turn into any place you need to go. Far better than any GPS, they will give you a heads up on what to look for and do at any destination you are going to, but spend the money on a good Blue Parrot or better cause there is nothing worse than trying to talk someone into a TA with a crap headset.
Johney
Pineapple King
That's funny.
ManInBrown
Well-Known Member
Anyone ever make a delivery to Amazon? I never even knew this but apparently we bring them loads and they sort the work for us?
Johney
Pineapple King
I never have, but we have a long list of their yard rules on our bulletin board.
barnyard
KTM rider
The Amazon listings show 'others available.' I ordered one of those. Came with the original package, but had been opened. Significant discount. The tractor I had on the last run I covered did not have a radio, so I streamed podcasts into the headset. It worked perfectly.
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
At least my old dispatch had a whole file cabinet full of map pages of every meet point and place of business and UPS building that the drivers in my building might go to. Sometimes the maps were hand written. Sometimes not so accurate. But with the advent of GPS and Waze, etc, it shouldn't be near as bad these days. I don't go anywhere now without Waze.
barnyard
KTM rider
We have 3 runs in my building. I was very, very nervous the 1st time alone (after my productive week.) The weekend before, I ran all the legs on my motorcycle. Wrote down exit numbers and things like that at the end of each leg. That helped quite a bit. During road construction season, I look at the DOT maps online before leaving so that I know what to expect. I have still been caught by surprise, but because I had viewed the map, I knew what my detour options were.
2Down2Many2Go
Well-Known Member
Where I'm at in your first week's of training on road will give you a folder with directions to all of ups buildings we go to a well as all of the rail yards.
If not dispatch has maps or can print you one if you ask.
P
pickup
Guest
I’ve brought loads to them from our hub but those loaded trailers were full of returned or non accepted packages.
Rick Ross
I'm into distribution!!
At my building many senior drivers have no clue about any TA other than their own...they stay on the same runs for decades at a time. And many of the guys who came from package are afraid to bid off their crappy runs because they are afraid of change, so they are no help.
Drivers like me who stay on daily coverage almost every week of the year would be the most knowledgeable...In the past 3 months I've probably been to over 30 centers, hubs and meet points. Many times I'll run extra loads and other hubs send me to centers my building doesn't even build loads for, $$!
My advice is to always look at a Google image and know where you are going. Many addresses in the UPS system are to the front of a building with the feeder entrance around back or on a side. If you drive to the front it may be difficult to find a place to turn around a set or a longbox.
Johney
Pineapple King
I guess what works for one may not for another. I only gave advice for what works and has worked here for years. Junior drivers have no clue here. The one's from Jax are the worst. Seen one the other night turn in front of me with a traffic cone stuck under the front of his tractor. After trying to catch up to him and giving up as he was doing at least 20 mph above the posted speed limit I caught him(he was barely old enough to hold a CDL) at a traffic light and motioned to him that there was a problem he proceeds to act like I'm a
for bothering him. So seeing him at the TA the cone must've been under there for at least 20 miles.
Last edited:
Mugarolla
Light 'em up!
Great tip.
Anytime I went to a new building, I would Google Image it and see where I needed to go to get to it, find the feeder gate and even get the layout of the yard.
Middleburg Heights OH
Johney
Pineapple King
I talk to a guy two or three nights a week that goes there.
