Helping other drivers

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Over, I think its unfair also. We have EDD, why can't we level the dispatch off during the preload? Its such a waste of MY time, the company's time, the company's resources, and the other driver's time for me to drive 15 minutes to transfer 10 stops.

We lose the 5-10 minutes it takes transfer the work and maybe 5 minutes for the other driver to break route to meet me. To me that sounds like 30 min. of wasted labor cost for me to take 30 min. of work from another driver that is getting paid the same as me just so he won't go over 9.5. It is going to cost the company less just to let the driver who needs help just deliver the packages himself.

We are geniuses I tell ya!

Brownie

I had this very same discussion with another driver while we we were transferring packages today. What I don't understand is how we can look at the next day's forecast and see half the routes in the red but instead of the dispatch sup raking some fat off those routes and creating another route or two he'll send the routes out as is and wait until the #%@$ hits the fan to call in a TCD (or two) to go around and take stops off people that will be over 9.5. I'm a TCD so I experience this allot. I'll get the call to come in around noon. Sometimes before and sometimes after. Sometimes I'll be called in for EAMs and think I'll be working the night shift later but instead I end up bouncing around from area to area taking stops off overdispatched drivers. If I'm doing this along with scheduled coverage throughout the year then why am I still part-time? We have 3 or 4 TCDs that cleared $40k this year. One broke $45k.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

What does "bonus center" mean?

Well, in a nut shell.....It means a good portion of the drivers in that center will work and drive unsafely in order to finish earlier and still get paid for the time they saved by working like maniacs. It also means that anyone that is unfortunate enough to run a route that one of those guys is normally on will be screwed.

 

[over9five]

"Over, your response doesn't surprise me and, if you were in my center, I would suddenly develop amnesia if asked to go help you. May I suggest you add "What's in it for me?" to your avatar?"

How much weed did you smoke before you read my post??? I was defending the low seniority drivers who are always asked to do extra work. Where did I say I EVER ask for help. I'm "Over9five" cuz' I want that OT, brainchild!

 

[upsgrunt]

Well, in a nut shell.....It means a good portion of the drivers in that center will work and drive unsafely in order to finish earlier and still get paid for the time they saved by working like maniacs. It also means that anyone that is unfortunate enough to run a route that one of those guys is normally on will be screwed.

For being a TCD, you sure come across like you know quite a bit. Maybe you shouldn't generalize so much about bonus centers or all drivers in general.

 

[trplnkl]

What does "bonus center" mean?

The other reply is correct, however doesn't really answer your question.
Basicly, if you are dispatched with ,say. a 10 hour day but you finish in 9 hours you get an hour bonus pay. For that day , in a bonus center, you get 8 hours straight time + 1 hour overtime +1 hour bonus time(at straight time pay)

 

[upsgrunt]

The other reply is correct, however doesn't really answer your question.
Basicly, if you are dispatched with ,say. a 10 hour day but you finish in 9 hours you get an hour bonus pay. For that day , in a bonus center, you get 8 hours straight time + 1 hour overtime +1 hour bonus time(at straight time pay)

Our bonus is paid at time and a half.

 

[pkg-king]

Our bonus is paid at time and a half.

Our bonus is paid at time and half also. I can't believe all centers don't have this. Some drivers take advantage of the xtra pay, some drivers get up to 10 bonus hours per week. Our dispatch sup knows who likes the heavy dispatch and who doesn't, not everyone does. He'll give you 11 hours of work as long as you can get it done by 9.5 hours. Some guys don't want to have that much work on their truck so he keeps them under a 9.5 dispatch.

 

[old brown shoe]

Hate to say this but if you are a lower senior driver and your not at full scale there is a good chance you will be the one to help. It is cheaper for the company and may make business sense but not always fair to the lower drivers. I try to help when I can because there have been times when I desperately needed it myself. ( what goes around comes around)

 

[Cementups]

Over the last 4 years on my current route I have maybe helped out others 12-15 times. I will not do it for a select few drivers at all. there is one guy that covers my neighbor and ALWAYS needs help and claims he doesn't know the run. He demands to run the same run all of hte time. The worse part is that he has a bid route that he has only run 2 times in the past 1.5 years that he has had it.

My reasoning for not helping is simple to me. I don't get help. They say I am too far to send help. So if I am too far to send help to then I must be too far to go help others :shrug:. Do unto others. Normally though the guys in my loop and surrounding loops usually help each other. We don't even bother with communicating with the center, we just take car of it on our own.

 

[Sactown brownie]

As a steward, I see many things. The guys who work through lunches ( it is illegal in CA) breaks. Those who get in their cars before their paid day. I've heard every ryhme or reason for this. In the end you are owned for 8 hrs a day at a minimum. If you choose to NOT call (UPS allows you to make collect calls) you can end up ultimately NOT working for UPS. Failure to follow instructions, Gross insubordination, refusal to do work.

One thing you should always remember if you are asked to do smething do it. Then grieve it later. I have watched guys who have no education and little chance of getting a good job lose the 70k job that they have.

Also. read your contract you are bound to that AND you get nothing MORE than is in that contract. THAT is YOUR contract. And yes the new one is garbage. Yes Garbage.

I do suggest however if you do not want the work you file 9.5 grievances. I long ago gave up worrying about getting home before this time. I entered into this contract willingly as all the drivers have.
Let your management team know of your request and if they do not fulfill this in 5 days you file. You MUST give 5 days to rectify the wrong.

Sme drivers suck, but I tell you your management team knows this and they too hate this.
Truth is if you do all of your stops by the methods and you get in an hour early. our time study is wrong and you should have more work. If you close the bulkhead and take the correct path yada yads you will not make scratch nor get in early. EVERY driver that gets in early does not take their breaks nor their lunches at the proper times. And works off the clock. I have spoken to many over the last 17 years and they ALL state " hey I give up.....to get in early" to see family or whatever. I get it I understand it too, BUT if the guy next to you does what the company asks and it takes 10 hrs and you blow it out is 7 1/2 it is your fault.

And in CA they are firing guys who dont take their lunch if they catch you. YES fire good bye. Your union can care less abouit this as well. The locals AGREE with this as more route will become available if everyone takes their lunch at the proper times.

Reality guys is you have a good job, the people you work for on the road love you, the guys you see at the hub/ center are not so loving.

Do not complain about the guy or gal next to you. IF That person has less seniority and they go home before you file a grievance. Your senority gives you a little sometimes. We have guys who have went as far as to say have this guy finish my roiute I want to go home. All centers hubs etc are different. Talk to you union. they will advise you on what to do and more importantly what NOT to do.

This company knows that you are stuck if you have family. And you cannot afford to lose paychecks. Pick your battles wisely folks.

And remember its the 15 minutes or so at the beginning and at the end of the day that suck. Imagine if you had some of those jobs where you deliver too. Talk about unhappy.

Enjoy your new years weekend. You earned it.

Local 150!

 

[Wally]

I don't have a problem helping out; but what gets me is when you do get a lighter day at dispatch and a few cry babies see on the computer screen how many stops you have all of a sudden they are tooooo heavy! Guess who gets more dumped on them? Why your answer is correct..me. Man can they cater to a few just so they don't have to hear them cry. Like on xmas eve, the few who cried was in 2 hours before me.

 

[trplnkl]

In 20 years of driving, I have requested help maybe 4-5 times, received help twice and one was this peak season. The only reason I got help that day was they wanted me to help another guy out and the only way it would work was if they took something off me.
Our OMS sends the message recruiting help to everyone at the same time, I guess he figures that's the quickest way to get someone to help without threatening them. Usually when I get the message I am anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour away so I wait till I am at the edge of town to call the ctr, it's already taken care of most of the time.
One thing I have seen happen time and time again, some drivers will refuse to go back out and nothing ever happens to them, others that refuse get warning letters. I have never gotten a W letter for THAT.

 

[trplnkl]

Good post Sactown brownie

 

[Big Babooba]

I don't have a problem helping out; but what gets me is when you do get a lighter day at dispatch and a few cry babies see on the computer screen how many stops you have all of a sudden they are tooooo heavy! Guess who gets more dumped on them? Why your answer is correct..me. Man can they cater to a few just so they don't have to hear them cry. Like on xmas eve, the few who cried was in 2 hours before me.

I do not have a problem helping some drivers. What frosts my though is when the person who you go to help sticks it to you. That is the driver who keeps the cream and gives you the crap. There is nothing I like better than doing 30 stops on the blind, in the dark, in an area where there are few house numbers. When you get back to the center, you find out that the one you helped punched out over an hour and a half before because he kept all the DRs and left you with CODs and sig required stops.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

For being a TCD, you sure come across like you know quite a bit. Maybe you shouldn't generalize so much about bonus centers or all drivers in general.

At the very least I can speak for my own center. When people are getting one hour, two hours, and even three hours of bonus FOR ONE DAY then something is up. But I've heard from others I know in other buildings and they've said the same thing I did and have seen plenty of comments about the subject that mirror my own on this board so I don't think my comments are simply a broad generalization. It can't be a generalization of it's a common occurance all over.

 

[dirty moose]

I understand if the dispatch is a screwy, which it always is.
Im talking about lazy ass drivers who need help everyday!
You bid on that route, you knew what it was all about, suck it up and take it like a man.
Were not little kids anymore, and im sick of drivers always needing help like they are still kids.

If im under dispatch by an hour and they ask me to go help a driver, it ends up being more than an hour of work by the time you meet the driver(esp. if they are cell phone less or in a different town) xfre the work do the work and head in, its just a hassle and its totally unfair. Like i said b4 i don't work fast to do more work. This is the only job i know of where hard work offers no rewards. The slackers of UPS are the only who come out on top. Its just amazing.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Over, I went back and read your post more carefully and, you're right, I did not read it correctly the first time. I appreciate your concern for the lower seniority drivers who always seem to get the butt end of the deal and do agree that the dispatch sups need to do a better job proactively rather than reactively. However, we differ when it comes to the idea of helping other drivers. I rarely have an issue when asked to help other drivers--the times that I do is when it is the same driver who spends his AM time pawning off his NDA and other work and then spends his morning BSing with his customers only to have to bust his butt the rest of the day to catch up.

Do both of us a favor--chill out with the personal attacks. I am not about to get into an argument similar to the one that you had going with VT. Unlike VT, I have a life.

Happy New Year.

 

[over9five]

Upstate, I apologize. I misunderstood your statement of "would suddenly develop amnesia if asked to go help you. May I suggest you add "What's in it for me?" to your avatar?" as a personal attack. I am now sure you didn't mean it as such.....

Happy New Year to you and yours as well.

 

[Cementups]

Now that you two have kissed and made up........things may get aw kward here now

 

[Ms.PacMan]

From a female perspective- my personal favorite is the skirt chaser who needs clean-up everyday then ends up divorced and uses the " I have to pick the kids up from daycare" or "it's my weekend so I need an 8hr request", every other Friday as a way to unload work. Suddenly Super Stud turns into a sniveling cry-baby .

As if those of us with children EVERYDAY are somehow not in need of family time or don't have the same time commitments for picking up kids.

Whiners and slackers are going to find every angle. PERIOD. I never help them.