My facility is essentially a Catch 22. And honestly, UPSSOCKS, it's a bit insulting for you, a person who has never done a preloaders job, to say what is and what is not their fault. Until you've gotten your own butt kicked by the wave of packages coming down the belt, I don't think any self-respecting preloader wants to hear you talk about "data issues" and seriously thinking "discipline is the solution."
I'll start by saying I have only worked at this facility, no others, but I imagine the way things are run at mine are much worse than where you work. I bet it's a lot easier where you work. Where I work about half of us are loading 4 package cars and the other half 3 package cars. There are 4 feeders every morning and the piece count can vary anywhere from 4800-5800. The number of routes planned is usually 21 or 22, but sometimes 20 or 23-4. My facility is short on trucks, many of us try to "cram 10 pounds of things into a 5 pound bag." Almost every single day when I leave there I feel like I have just completed a rather daunting task. Honestly, if I couldn't run a smoother operation myself I probably wouldn't bother.
To elaborate on what I mean by Catch 22, I want to say that I do take pride in working hard and doing a good job. This place, however, really makes me stop caring in a hurry because it is just IMPOSSIBLE to keep up and create the absolute best load for the driver. (I'll come back to the drivers.) Anyway, so we have the methods, right? The methods are next to worthless. No one considers them, ever. Except for when management is yelling at us to complete our workbooks which are a complete joke because, as I just said, no one considers the methods. Comparing the PAL stickers to the physical address is easy, but when the scanners are being overwhelmed and accidently place a PAL on the wrong package chances are I'm about to get overwhelmed as well and, let's be honest, loaders simply do not compare every single sticker to the label. There isn't enough time. I would assume this is when you say, "So stack behind the right car and compare it when you have time." well then we are ignoring the "methods" evolving egress. We are supposed to keep a clear walkway at all times and not stack packages, but that isn't the reality of what goes on in my facility. Every day you are GUARANTEED to stack at some point during your shift.
So what is it you want me to do? Do you want me to keep a clear walkway so I don't trip and fall or twist an ankle or tear an ACL/MCL? Or do you want me to keep my walkways clear and be safe, but there will be a greater chance you have to deal with misloads during the day? On top of running up and down the belt, loading 4 trucks, cramming 10 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound container, and one thing I forgot to mention is when people on the belt who are at the start of the flow miss their packages, us guys at the end of flow have to bring them back up, which if we don't causes a mess, egress, misloads, everything, and on top of this we have to deal with the intolerance of the drivers when they show up. At that time of day, I don't care anymore. I'm sorry, but I've just worked my tail off for 3 hours and did my absolute best to make everything perfect for them. I refuse to take any crap from those guys, and if they really have a problem with it they can go tell on me and we'll see what that does for them. Management can come and tell me I'll be suspended for misloads all they want, frankly I wouldn't mind a day off, but the fact of the matter is that misloads will happen as long as management/supes run things like that. It is literally as if they think some of us are Superman. Well if I was Superman I certainly wouldn't need this job.
There are probably some things I've forgotten to add but I feel I am beginning to write a bit of an essay, so I will conclude this now. Maybe it's nice and cushy in your facility but in other facilities it is not. Loading small trucks with too many packages, dealing with re-runs, dealing with intolerant drivers (who by the way have absolutely NO REASON TO BE INTOLERANT toward a preloader. Most of them have done my job but some haven't. The ones who have know better than to complain about the load to us.), after all that you have the nerve to write a post here saying to "fight the war on misloads"? You have better things to do as a manager, like figure out to run the place. Saying it is solely the preloaders fault is naive and irresponsible. Just because you actually have to do some work during the day, figure out how to get a misload from here to there, doesn't give you the right to be mad at the preloaders. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT LOADING 4 PACKAGE CARS IS LIKE. So go sit in your office, play with data errors and solitaire and post on blogs about things you don't have a clue about. Misloads are most definitely NOT solely the preloaders fault, ever. They wouldn't occur if managers would manage and supervisors would supervise. Like when we're getting our butts handed to us, get down there and help us or suffer the inevitable consequences. Or just deal with it like the rest of us.
