Beat Orion

[burrheadd]

I follow Orion until I cannot because of late NDA or missed PUs. If they want me to follow it, I expect to be able to follow it 100% unless I am running a neighborhood in reverse so I am not crossing the street at every stop.

If I am expected to follow it, I want it done right.

Good luck with that

 

[barnyard]

1 of the weeks, I followed it 95ish% everyday and was within 2 miles of the Orion plan. The regular driver came back and told me that he regularly beats the plan by 10-20 miles. I shrugged, "I just do not care."

 

[JL 0513]

The last 3 weeks, I ran 3 different routes (1 per week). 1 week, I followed Orion and everything worked. 1 week I followed it some days, but on days with a lot of air, could not because I would have had late air. Usually only skipped a couple of stops, so not that far off.

Then there was last week. Every day, I had to skip at least 10 stops or have late NDA. If I would have followed Orion, I would have had missed PUs AND late air.

We have had Orion in my center for over 2 years, I can see being off by a little, but not off by as much as last week's route was off. That to me is nothing but management failure.

One of the problems with Orion is the leave building time that is preset and isn't changed day to day based on what is really happening. Orion's timetable that sets you up for the whole day is based on the assumption that you're leaving the building about 10 minutes after start time. We all know that almost never happens. Lot's of days in my center, drivers are loading their own cars for 20+ min. after the PCM. So you're already a good 20 minutes behind the Orion plan which has sprinkled ground stops during your air run. So right out of the gate, you're needing to break trace and skip the grounds. Never mind that you will also be behind for your P/U break points.

 

[barnyard]

My boss told me that the last "upgrade" changed the pickup allowances to 30 minutes +/- the set time. The route I was on last week, many of the PUs are scheduled within 5 minutes of closing. 1 of them we get there after they close, but someone stays for 10 minutes waiting for us to get there.

This route's plan is screwed even if we leave the building on time (which we did 3 times and I still had to skip stops.)

Getting it right can obviously be done, as there are some routes in my center that I follow it almost 100%. The regular guy will do it with less miles, but I just don't care that much anymore.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Our Center's new thing is checking with an OMS to match our mileage with whatever magical number ORION came up before we clock out. I usually beat it by 3-5 miles, sometimes ten because of how bad the system is set up. If I go over, its because of missorts or missloads. I am making a lot of money thanks to ORION. Its like getting a bonus every payday.

Our supervisors don't like certain "explanations" for why we were over the miles to be on that form the OMS is looking at. The OMS is now put in the situation where they are having to ask drivers for another reason why. To make up something. In other words.....lie. So, telling them we went over because we "didn't back in the right driveways," or because we "must have turned the wrong way," is not acceptable. LOL! The seem to prefer "had OCA," "delivered misload," or "broke trace for air." LOL! Corporate is responsible for this nonsense. They are so desperate to convince the stockholders (and themselves) that this garbage works that they are willing to lie to them (and themselves).

 

[Re-Raise]

The only people that ORION helps are drivers who are going out blind with no area knowledge.

Or it was implemented to try to catch drivers who were blatantly running up their miles.

I don't care what ORION wants, I know my route and businesses better than they do. The coverage guy can use it if he wants.

 

[Browntown2014]

The only people that ORION helps are drivers who are going out blind with no area knowledge.

Or it was implemented to try to catch drivers who were blatantly running up their miles.

I don't care what ORION wants, I know my route and businesses better than they do. The coverage guy can use it if he wants.

How does it help them? Orion makes it harder to run a route in the blind not easier.

 

[JL 0513]

How does it help them? Orion makes it harder to run a route in the blind not easier.

True. It is almost always easier to follow regular EDD when running blind.

Orion shuffles the natural order of the stops so when you're blind, it's much more confusing.

 

[Re-Raise]

How does it help them? Orion makes it harder to run a route in the blind not easier.

In theory it gets you near your commits and pickups when you should be there.

I figure out how to run my route in 10 minutes by looking at what I have that day. It is different every day. My route may be different than your routes because I go about 190 miles and deliver to 4 different towns.

I began driving before edd or anything and I would have liked to have some sort of guide on how to deliver some of these rural routes when I started out.

They just go where ORION tells them to go next now.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

True. It is almost always easier to follow regular EDD when running blind.

Orion shuffles the natural order of the stops so when you're blind, it's much more confusing.

Yes and no.

For the heck of it I have been running my residential areas and any adds stop for stop and, for the most part, the solution is not that far off from the way that I would run it.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

In theory it gets you near your commits and pickups when you should be there.

I figure out how to run my route in 10 minutes by looking at what I have that day. It is different every day. My route may be different than your routes because I go about 190 miles and deliver to 4 different towns.

I began driving before edd or anything and I would have liked to have some sort of guide on how to deliver some of these rural routes when I started out.

They just go where ORION tells them to go next now.

The best way to deliver RR or RD routes is to figure out how the mailman does it.

 

[cosmo1]

The best way to deliver RR or RD routes is to figure out how the mailman does it.

Suppose you have a rural route with multiple zip codes and multiple mail routes crossing one another?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Suppose you have a rural route with multiple zip codes and multiple mail routes crossing one another?

You mean like the one that I had for several years?

You hope that the previous driver had an updated card file.

 

[Re-Raise]

Suppose you have a rural route with multiple zip codes and multiple mail routes crossing one another?

Exactly. Sometimes the rr3's from one town would overlap the rr1's from another town. At least with ORION the new guys don't have to try to figure out how to run it themselves.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

One of the problems with Orion is the leave building time that is preset and isn't changed day to day based on what is really happening. Orion's timetable that sets you up for the whole day is based on the assumption that you're leaving the building about 10 minutes after start time. We all know that almost never happens. Lot's of days in my center, drivers are loading their own cars for 20+ min. after the PCM. So you're already a good 20 minutes behind the Orion plan which has sprinkled ground stops during your air run. So right out of the gate, you're needing to break trace and skip the grounds. Never mind that you will also be behind for your P/U break points.

Yeah, this is where ORION breaks down badly. Their perfect world modeling initializes leave times that are totally bogus. ORION always had me at a first stop (never an air stop, always digging through 3000-8000 sections) around 9:25, but the realistic time to be at the first stop was more like 9:35-9:45. The last vestiges of rush hour traffic, plus a late preload wrap practically every day.

As is said in the computer modeling field..."garbage in, garbage out" and that is exactly what any ORION final solution is most of the time, garbage. Butterfly effect in full force.