rod
Retired 23 years
Enough to stink up the whole truck for the day. I love onions but not the onion sets.
How Peak Was A Long Time Ago
- Thread starter mrbrownstone
- Start date
35years
Gravy route
True, until the last 2 years when we moved to 70 hours.
Most years back in the 80s we were under a strict 12 hour maximum. Starting at 8:15 A.M. would get you off at 9 P.M. with unpaid lunch taken. And that was the worst nights (perhaps 5-10 nights this late)... I did not punch out before 10:30 PM one night for 3 weeks in a row this peak.
In the 80s peak started a week after Thanksgiving (no cyber Monday or Black Friday)
Then peak day would be a week and a half before Christmas. The loads would be nearly normal 3 days before Christmas, and Christmas Eve day was 1/2 a day worked and a full 8 hours paid.
This peak our center worked every driver 69 hours for 4 weeks in a row. 13.5 hours and sheet the rest as missed every night for a month. Then the few hours you had left for 69 you were forced to work on Saturday.
Nov 1 started the 12 hour days which then became 13.5 after Thanksgiving.
The peaks of yesteryear were nothing compared to this year. Sorry old-timers, I was there then, and still working today. Some locations may not have seen these hours this year, but since they make far more money this way it is soon coming your way.
I remember driving a brick loaded P-600 full of Swiss Colony and Wisconsin Cheeseman. I would have to set up my first sections on the cab floor until I could get some sorting room on the front shelf. My Helpers were always young guys that were home from college break and would hustle all day. Peak Season was from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. We would get hit hard for just one day or two. The Customer Service Reps would Brown up and drive a rental van. It seemed a lot easier than compared with what we do today. All this technology just makes it more complicated to me, it causes more problems than its worth. We simply set a section up and wrote the abbreviated address on paper delivery records. No wasted time hunting for packages that weren't loaded on our cars. We ran the same trace every day and customers could set their clocks by when I showed up.
I had an Agway store on my first route. The first warm day in March, they got about 10 fifty pound bags of onion sets. They were loaded right up against the wall of the truck.
Between the warm air and the sun beating on the side of the truck, by the time I got rid of them, I was about ready to puke from the smell.
728ups
All Trash No Trailer
I dont miss the High Step 1000's that didn't have Power Steering at all. Also EDD really helps alot as in the old days you had no idea how many packages a stop had,and it wasn't uncommon to make two or three trips to the same stop.
I also miss the center manager making decisions and staffing the center as it needed to be staffed. Peak was a BAD two weeks but we were out of the building by 830 am every day and even on the worst days I don;t remember working past 1030 Pm in the 80's and 90's .
There wasn't as much NDA and 2DA either. It was very very rare that air was late and shuttled out. It MIGHT happen on the 22 or 23 of December but not always.
Peak was bad in the 80's and 90's but IMO in the past 15 years it's gotten steadily worse
I also miss the center manager making decisions and staffing the center as it needed to be staffed. Peak was a BAD two weeks but we were out of the building by 830 am every day and even on the worst days I don;t remember working past 1030 Pm in the 80's and 90's .
There wasn't as much NDA and 2DA either. It was very very rare that air was late and shuttled out. It MIGHT happen on the 22 or 23 of December but not always.
Peak was bad in the 80's and 90's but IMO in the past 15 years it's gotten steadily worse
rod
Retired 23 years
We had a guy who would open up the boxes of cheese that he considered chasers and eat them and throw the evidence away. He never got caught and eventually quit. We found out about this after he quit.
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
They have a thing called a Key map. I don't know how many parts of the country they are in. They were about te size of a library book, but they had the whole county mapped out in a grid form. Most drivers carried one of these maps, and they updated every year with new streets.
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
Did anybody deliver Tupperware? I think they came out every wednesday. I had one of the supervisor tupperware ladies on my area, and she would get 10-15 BIG boxes once a week. I set it up with her I would come there first thing in the morning, even though that subdivision was an afternoon delivery. She gave me a key to her garage so I could put it in there in case she wasn't home.
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
The first 5 years or so of my PC career, we were a sort and load facility. All drivers stood behind their PC's, and as the packages came down the belt, you picked your own packages and loaded them. No excuses if you missed your own stop count. lol.
Tupperware, Avon, Spiegel, ABC
JackStraw
Well-Known Member
Avon was 199-100 for me. Lot of fingerhut, blair, Harry and David .
Once delivered 20 fruitcakes to someone. Guess they were playing a joke on them. I've never met anyone that actually likes fruitcake.
watdaflock?
Well-Known Member
Your grammar is horrible.
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
You can find the corner of Westheimer and Dairy Ashford in there.They have a thing called a Key map. I don't know how many parts of the country they are in. They were about te size of a library book, but they had the whole county mapped out in a grid form. Most drivers carried one of these maps, and they updated every year with new streets.
rod
Retired 23 years
At one time I had probably 6 or 7 Avon ladies on my route. The main gal would meet me at my first stop in town and take them all so the other gals could get their stuff early at her house.
Babagounj
Strength through joy
They have a thing called a Key map. I don't know how many parts of the country they are in. They were about te size of a library book, but they had the whole county mapped out in a grid form. Most drivers carried one of these maps, and they updated every year with new streets.
I used maps and a Street Guide ( my bible ) that listed where to find the street , but also at what street number another street intersected it at .
I was so good at it that one time a co-worker came up to me asking for address while I was standing next to an on car sup , I gave him such a detailed description on how to get there that he did not believe me . Instead he turned to the sup and repeated his question , the sup got mad at him for not believing me .
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