Misloads and The Policy

[DS]

You, my friend, are still a knob.

We do not condone name calling here.
SOCKS is much more than that.

 

[Anonymous 10]

We do not condone name calling here.
SOCKS is much more than that.

Like a TOOL?

 

[ROW A]

Supervisors shuttle packages everyday where I am at, the FT Preload Sup usually works to 3 or 4 in the afternoon moving missorts around in his personal vehicle. I don't know if they are reimbursed in any way, they should be. I usually have two missorts a day, nothing ever happens to my Preloader.

wow!!! are you suggesting that your preloader get punished for not being perfect ??

 

[iowa boy]

This is how a real supervisor should act...all you sups here start taking notes. Here is someone who is being a leader and teacher to his employees..thinking outside the box,trying to help someone learn other ways to get the job some. How ironic,this person trying to help someone with misloads and his superiors are telling him to write up the employee...

At what point is the training and learning complete and we as management can expect the employee not to have misloads?

The training and learning should never be complete on any job. How does this company expect employees to be perfect when they are human beings who are programmed to make mistakes? We all make mistakes doing our jobs as hourly or management employees, why are the hourlies held to a different standard than management?

By the way there a lot of employee's that have no misloads daily/weekly/monthly. Thank you for the great job you do everyday.

 

[scratch]

wow!!! are you suggesting that your preloader get punished for not being perfect ??

Not at all, nobody is perfect, and I am far from it. If I have two hundred boxes on my car and two missorts, he was 99% effective in my book. Thats not perfect, but it seems reasonable to me. Of course all of us are measured to be one hundered percent effective, thats the ideal goal to aim for. In the real world, thats an almost impossible goal to obtain. As a driver, my day depends on the quailty of work my preloader does. Most of the time wasted by a driver is in back of the package car hunting for boxes that are loaded out of order or not in the load at all. Most of my other Preloaders have gone for at least a month without any missorts at all, so my point is my present one could do a better job. Just about every morning another preloader or supervisor has to dig through my car trying to find missorts. I usually have two off area missorts a day and have two or three packages missing that were loaded on the wrong package car. Since he loads three package cars, that works out to over a dozen service failures a day plus the extra time I have to drive to deliver a missort if I can make service on. It all adds up.

 

[DS]

Scratch.they don't care.It's not their job.They have reports to submit.
Maybe us hourlies have no place as partners.

 

[UPS Lifer]

This is how a real supervisor should act...all you sups here start taking notes. Here is someone who is being a leader and teacher to his employees..thinking outside the box,trying to help someone learn other ways to get the job some. How ironic,this person trying to help someone with misloads and his superiors are telling him to write up the employee...

At what point is the training and learning complete and we as management can expect the employee not to have misloads?

By the way there a lot of employee's that have no misloads daily/weekly/monthly. Thank you for the great job you do everyday.

Dragon the training and learning is never over. Accountability, awareness & recognition help to re-enforce the behaviors. Recognize the leaders, even if you don't have money for rewards, print out letters of recognition and give these to your employees. I used to send these on UPS letterhead (had to get approval) and had the division manager sign them and we would send them to the employee's home. I figured we would turn the table on the warning letters and use the same concept in a positive approach to recognize employees. They loved it!

 

[brownedout]

Dragon the training and learning is never over. Accountability, awareness & recognition help to re-enforce the behaviors. Recognize the leaders, even if you don't have money for rewards, print out letters of recognition and give these to your employees. I used to send these on UPS letterhead (had to get approval) and had the division manager sign them and we would send them to the employee's home. I figured we would turn the table on the warning letters and use the same concept in a positive approach to recognize employees. They loved it!

Correct Lifer, training does never end. Along with your letters home you more than likely gave out countless Thank you's, Good job, Thatta boy. Simple gestures that were once upon a time very appreciated. Sadly they have disappeared along with so much that once made this a great company to work for.

 

[BuckeyeFan]

Nothing grey about it. The progression of a package in any way is hourly work, if it is being done in any way by a sup it is a violation of the contract that the company agreed to.

Upstate this is for you, "FILE A GRIEVANCE"

grgrcr88 is correct, if any driver is available, they should be the ones to shuttle misloads. If no one is then the management can but they need to enter the work into a diad. All shuttle miles and hours need to be recorded. They dont record it because the numbers go into the op report . Its an integrity problem. Higher ups know this is going on and turn a blind eye to it. Fix the problem. This is what happens when we have to hire supervisors off the street bec they can't find employees that want to become supervisors. I have always been a firm believer that a person needs to have performed the job in order to train or supervise someone else. (and i dont mean to have driven for 10 days and then promoted)

 

[Bubblehead]

grgrcr88 is correct, if any driver is available, they should be the ones to shuttle misloads. If no one is then the management can but they need to enter the work into a diad. All shuttle miles and hours need to be recorded. They dont record it because the numbers go into the op report . Its an integrity problem. Higher ups know this is going on and turn a blind eye to it. Fix the problem. This is what happens when we have to hire supervisors off the street bec they can't find employees that want to become supervisors. I have always been a firm believer that a person needs to have performed the job in order to train or supervise someone else. (and i dont mean to have driven for 10 days and then promoted)

DRIVER AVAILABLE????
That's a convenient excuse.
Planned opulence in my book.
It's a valid greivance any time they forward a package.
That's why they are hiding the records and turning a so called blind eye.
FILE, FILE, FILE!!!!!!

 

[UPSSOCKS]

I agree file the grievance, but on the managment end treat every single misload as it was your package and discipline the employees to the fullest extent. If they would do the job correctly this wouldn't be an issue. They say file, file, file. I say take their jobs from them. You will see, the stewards will be so busy in arbitration fighting to save jobs management will be able to have a free for all. "TAKE THEIR JOBS" grievances will soon cease shortly after.

 

[brownmonster]

I agree file the grievance, but on the managment end treat every single misload as it was your package and discipline the employees to the fullest extent. If they would do the job correctly this wouldn't be an issue. They say file, file, file. I say take their jobs from them. You will see, the stewards will be so busy in arbitration fighting to save jobs management will be able to have a free for all. "TAKE THEIR JOBS" grievances will soon cease shortly after.

Most of my misloads are system problems. PAS/EDD creates PAL labels that boggle the mind. The system was designed for the loader to look at the PAL label. If it's not the same as the address on the box, that is not the loaders problem. Employees keep having to work around the failings of our technology. Fix the damn system so it is 100%. Enough of the mgmnt. excuses.

 

[Mapp]

i'm a part-time sup at my building and i take a completely different approach to misload than my fellow supervisors.

when i was an hourly, i was a frequent misloader myself, and i was constantly written up, disciplined, etc., none of which helped my misload numbers whatsoever.

i like to think of myself as pretty analytical, and for the vast majority of misloaders, i can tell you that is has NOTHING to do with lack of focus, or too much focus, or sheer apathy. my misload numbers were the same whether i tried, whether i didn't try, whether i was happy, whether i was pissed, etc., and the only thing progressive discipline did was agitate my workplace (and i can really get under peoples skin if they push me to that).

eventually i came up with some of my own ways for reducing misloads and they were moderately effective to the point my supervisor began teaching them to other people and eventually they became part of the methods for the building.

now, as a part-time sup, i'm constantly pressured to also take the easy way out and just progressive discipline a misloader out of the building, but i'd rather try to work with that preloader, get him/her to adopt methods that get them to double-check the PAL, and if they still persistently misload, move them around to try to find a better fitting pull for them, move them to sort or unload if possible, and only if no other recourse is available to go for a termination.

my manager disapproves of my mindset, but my numbers are just as good as anyone else's so i'm disinclined to acquiesce

I'm assuming(hoping) that they couldn't fire you due to the union so they just made you management. ty workers shouldn't get easier work, the guy who busts his ass should get the lighter workload/ better position. Lets not reward incompetence, laziness.

 

[hypocrisy]

i'm a part-time sup at my building and i take a completely different approach to misload than my fellow supervisors.

when i was an hourly, i was a frequent misloader myself, and i was constantly written up, disciplined, etc., none of which helped my misload numbers whatsoever.

i like to think of myself as pretty analytical, and for the vast majority of misloaders, i can tell you that is has NOTHING to do with lack of focus, or too much focus, or sheer apathy. my misload numbers were the same whether i tried, whether i didn't try, whether i was happy, whether i was pissed, etc., and the only thing progressive discipline did was agitate my workplace (and i can really get under peoples skin if they push me to that).

eventually i came up with some of my own ways for reducing misloads and they were moderately effective to the point my supervisor began teaching them to other people and eventually they became part of the methods for the building.

now, as a part-time sup, i'm constantly pressured to also take the easy way out and just progressive discipline a misloader out of the building, but i'd rather try to work with that preloader, get him/her to adopt methods that get them to double-check the PAL, and if they still persistently misload, move them around to try to find a better fitting pull for them, move them to sort or unload if possible, and only if no other recourse is available to go for a termination.

my manager disapproves of my mindset, but my numbers are just as good as anyone else's so i'm disinclined to acquiesce

You sir, have my respect. This was very refreshing to read.

You might also add a 'peer' training aspect to your approach, where you use one of your better loaders who might be easily received by the loader to work with him/her and improve their methods (I would discuss this with your steward and business agent so there are no training pay type issues though I only recall driver/trainer language that has pretty much been dropped from usage).

Another suggestion is to develop a methods form where you sit down with the preloader and steward to discuss the method disconnect and have the loader fill out the form in their own words. This type of meeting is non-confrontational and not used for discipline, but it can be a "wake up call" and a teaching opportunity at the same time. Sometimes the act of writing down what methods they are going to follow engraves it in the brain. It could also be used to perhaps open up the employee to any issues they might be having in their personal lives that the Union or Company can assist with and might improve their performance.

I'm sure you numbers are as good as anyone else's but I'd bet real money your employee's attendance record is better.

 

[TearsInRain]

I'm assuming(hoping) that they couldn't fire you due to the union so they just made you management. ty workers shouldn't get easier work, the guy who busts his ass should get the lighter workload/ better position. Lets not reward incompetence, laziness.

out of 100 or so part-timers in my building, i can think of maybe FIVE who currently meet management's expectations on misloads (1-10,000)

their misloads have little to do with laziness or a refusal to follow methods and far more to do with the poor design of the building, truck-layouts, and other environmental factors.

many of these same loaders had zero issues at neighboring facilities, but when ours was opened, suddenly problems that didn't exist before appeared.

if i were to follow my currents manager's procedure for discipline, we would have to terminate over 90% of our work force, does that seem reasonable to you? who would we replace them with? where would we find these magical savants who never misload and will bust their ass for 9.50$ an hour?

 

[grizbiker]

The worst loads I had were done by pre-load sups. I could tell a difference in load quality as soon as I looked in the back. I told center manager I would have at least 5 misloads the day a sup loaded my truck. He didn't believe me at first. Found 3 before I left the building(at the beginning of shelf 1000 and 2000) and 2 more later on. The fewest I had by a sup was 4 and the most was 7 in a day.

 

[tieguy]

I have been paid on multiple ocasions for supervisors shuttling missloads. That is hourly work and should be treated as such. If your reading this and see a sup shuttling misloads file for the time(Sup working is double time).

if your logic is right then you could double the number of union jobs by having your preloaders missort every package. Your union labor was paid to load the package on the correct car. fixing your union labors mistakes to make service on a package should not generate additional requests for pay.

 

[Dragon]

Dragon the training and learning is never over. Accountability, awareness & recognition help to re-enforce the behaviors. Recognize the leaders, even if you don't have money for rewards, print out letters of recognition and give these to your employees. I used to send these on UPS letterhead (had to get approval) and had the division manager sign them and we would send them to the employee's home. I figured we would turn the table on the warning letters and use the same concept in a positive approach to recognize employees. They loved it!

I disagree lifer. How many times do I need to train/retrain you to read a PAL label? Once maybe twice, after that you get held accountable. Along with the thank you's, nice job, outstanding! we have done a ton of positive re-inforcement (ask finance) the only thing we have not done is send out the letters as you have mentioned.

As far as shuttling misloads - why should we have to pay twice??

 

[grgrcr88]

if your logic is right then you could double the number of union jobs by having your preloaders missort every package. Your union labor was paid to load the package on the correct car. fixing your union labors mistakes to make service on a package should not generate additional requests for pay.

Good idea, I will recomend that to all our preloaders with your recomendation. If your doubting the truth to my statements so be it. I will take the money every time.

 

[washington57]

why isn't there a utility driver shuttling those misloads?

also tie it isn't only the preloader's fault. sometimes the PAL label is wrong.

that being said- when i preloaded misloads were never a problem if you paid attention to what you were doing. i think what happens is that some preloaders zone out while they are working and walk into the wrong truck.

also misloads tend to happen when you move preloaders around. i've seen 4 different people load one brown throughout a shift.