Preload get any easier?

[Krampustein]

Been at it for 2 weeks now and the last 2 days have been brutal. Mon I had 4 trucks completely stacked out, even the super fast kid was stacked out. Today was a cluster . I was golden till the last 2 hrs and it all went to hell. They said we were leaving at 8, we didn't leave till 930 and boxes were still coming. Drivers problem I guess.

Last 2 hours literally every other box was mine, I had like 30 rdl and put them in the truck fast enough to grab the next and continue and 2 other trucks to pull for like how the hell am I supposed to get anything done with that. Every job I'm pretty fast, this one is kicking my ass. Once I stack out I'm ed for the rest of the day.

Bitched about it on another forum and how I'm trying to stick through to be a driver and some try to say driving is harder. I just don't see it. Of course I've never done it for ups. It's handling 1/3 the work load and probably more walking and driving. How hard can it be? I ran a box Truck making deliveries for years. Idk, preload is kicking my ass. Just venting I guess haha

 

[over9five]

You've only been at it 2 weeks, give it some time!
PLUS, it's Peak. Should be over mid January.

 

[...]

How hard can it be?

Temps in back can reach 140 in the summertime. That's where you'll spend most of your time, searching for packages, because the preloader couldn't put them in the correct location. You'll often have to crawl over your load or sometimes unload pieces just to find what you're looking for.

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

@Jkloc420 we could use your expertise here

 

[Krampustein]

Temps in back can reach 140 in the summertime. That's where you'll spend most of your time, searching for packages, because the preloader couldn't put them in the correct location. You'll often have to crawl over your load or sometimes unload pieces just to find what you're looking for.

I love working in the heat so I guess I got that going for me. Winter would suck balls, I hate cold and rain. But guess I'll have to deal

 

[Been In Brown Too Long]

Drivers problem I guess.

This statement right here pretty much sums up why driving is more difficult than being a pre-loader. Everything, including terrible loaders, terrible management, bad dispatch, rotten customers, traffic, etc... all becomes the "drivers problem."

Driving is not 1/3 of the workload, but you keep telling yourself it is. As a pre-loader, you only see a small portion of what a driver actually has to deal with.

This all coming from a new hire where all the packages have cute little tags telling them which packages are theirs, which truck to load them in, and where. Even loading package cars is easier than it used to be with having to memorize load charts.

 

[Krampustein]

This statement right here pretty much sums up why driving is more difficult than being a pre-loader. Everything, including terrible loaders, terrible management, bad dispatch, rotten customers, traffic, etc... all becomes the "drivers problem."

Driving is not 1/3 of the workload, but you keep telling yourself it is. As a pre-loader, you only see a small portion of what a driver actually has to deal with.

This all coming from a new hire where all the packages have cute little tags telling them which packages are theirs, which truck to load them in, and where. Even loading package cars is easier than it used to be with having to memorize load charts.

1/3 of the work load as far as boxes. I move boxes for 3 trucks majority of time. On occasion 4. So 1/4 or 1/3 of what I'm moving already.

I know driving comes with its own issues, having a preloader would probably be frustrating But idk and that's why I threw it in there as well. Doesn't seem as bad on the outside looking in but what do I know. All I know is the belt never stops and try to organize as best I can.

Load charts? Yeah we get them after the first hour if we are lucky.

 

[Jkloc420]

1/3 of the work load as far as boxes. I move boxes for 3 trucks majority of time. On occasion 4. So 1/4 or 1/3 of what I'm moving already.

I know driving comes with its own issues, having a preloader would probably be frustrating But idk and that's why I threw it in there as well. Doesn't seem as bad on the outside looking in but what do I know. All I know is the belt never stops and try to organize as best I can.

Load charts? Yeah we get them after the first hour if we are lucky.

Speed comes with time, being organized comes with time, if you are on the same trucks for years then it will be easier, 2 weeks in is going to be a show because you dont have it yet

 

[Been In Brown Too Long]

1/3 of the work load as far as boxes.

Yeah, but you move them a couple feet. Drivers have to lug them upstairs, through crowded malls, etc. And you're forgetting or just not realizing, the driver does pickups and fills the truck back up, handling packages you never see.

Load charts? Yeah we get them after the first hour if we are lucky.

No, the load charts I'm referring to were the old school load charts that listed every street name that belonged in that particular truck. You used to have to know every street name that belonged to a route x3 or x4 routes. Also, you had to know the street number breaks. All of Main St. wasn't loaded together. You had to know that 100 Main St. went in the middle of section 1 while 200 Main St. belonged at the front of section 4. And 500 Main just went into another truck altogether. Trust me...you've got it waaaaay easier nowadays. You have PAL labels doing all of that for you.

 

[burrheadd]

How hard can it be?

Lol
Almost everybody on here has been a hubrat at one time or another ask’em which is harder
With that attitude you better stay on the preload

 

[burrheadd]

still dont know if I would take 22.4 back if given the chance.

Why would they give you another chance?

Remember they fired you because you didn’t understand what an e-brake was for

 

[PPH_over_9000]

1/3 of the work load as far as boxes. I move boxes for 3 trucks majority of time. On occasion 4. So 1/4 or 1/3 of what I'm moving already.

I know driving comes with its own issues, having a preloader would probably be frustrating But idk and that's why I threw it in there as well. Doesn't seem as bad on the outside looking in but what do I know. All I know is the belt never stops and try to organize as best I can.

Load charts? Yeah we get them after the first hour if we are lucky.

idk man, pick-ups can be pretty brutal.

Load charts are irrelevant. Even when you get them they're going to be missing volume. They're best used to figure out your bulk stops, because even though the system hasn't fully populated yet most of the bulk stops should still be listed at the bottom of the sheet.

Loading is basically building a number line with PAL numbers. You don't even have to follow the shelf numbers so long as everything's in order. If one shelf is heavier than the others, you snake the load into the light shelf. Need to put boxes on the floor? Cool, just use the PAL label and put the boxes in some kind of logical sequence. If you can't figure out how to explain it to someone new, just tell them "Front-to-back, top-to-bottom, left-to-right, low to high." Always try to make the most accessible package-- whether it's on top of another box or to the left like a bookshelf-- an identical or lower PAL number than the package beneath, behind or to the right of it. It's not always possible but that's the idea.

Once you can keep up the pace, loading's incredibly easy. The pace can be a killer, though, so you need to figure out how to buy yourself a little time. Most people do this by stacking out, and that's okay! You just have to get those stacks loaded before it gets to the point that you can't get into your truck anymore and are forced to either stack out further or jump in the truck to clean up and miss package after package on the belt.

I'll also say that working from a conveyor belt, the closer you are to the top of the belt the more difficult your job's gonna be. What you want is to be the 3rd to 4th last person from the bottom of the belt. That way you get the luxury of having less packages to sort through, you can look up the belt to watch for breaks in the volume where you might be able to hit the bathroom or a snack machine really quick, and you're relieved from having to help with the split at the top and from having to help clean up at the bottom when volume gets ridiculous and everybody misses their stuff. 3rd or 4th from the bottom, that's where you want to be if you're loading from a belt.

 

[eats packages]

I was actually wearing out my hips on lateral motions keeping the packages in hin order that driving instantly felt like an easier job but this is nowhere near the typical case.

As a general rule of thumb. You're PT and get to have way more latitude in how you work. So take advantage of it and spend as much time as needed to write legible numbers, resort the car, keep a bulk stack, retape packages, find damages, etc. Your wallet will benefit and your drivers lets face it already earn enough and want off earlier.

Plenty of routes with a 'hood' in it are also way more safe to work in when packages are fast to find.

 

[nWo]

It doesn't necessarily get easier but you just get used to it. And you will start getting used to each trucks volume, bulk stops, businesses and what not. Things will just go smoother.

Driving is easier IMHO. I'm just out there flirting with housewives all day. The hours are longer. And of course you have to drive safely. But you don't have a conveyor belt constantly burying you in packages. You don't have a hs dropout pt sup in your way all day. Just out there cruising and walking boxes of plastic Chinese crap to people's doorsteps.

 

[Cloud]

Mondays suck. People call-in a lot. Business-heavy routes have a bunch of stuff held over the weekend to be delivered for monday. You always get 4 trucks because "short-staffed". Your experience sounds like the typical preload experience.

 

[Yeet]

Jesus Christ. Listen, if you don’t quit on UPS, they won’t quit on you. It takes a certain person to make it here. Keep showing up for more licks or don’t. It’s up to you to ask yourself if all this is worth it or not. If it isn’t, get the hell out of here and fast. If it is, get thicker skin. And fast.

 

[Krampustein]

idk man, pick-ups can be pretty brutal.

Load charts are irrelevant. Even when you get them they're going to be missing volume. They're best used to figure out your bulk stops, because even though the system hasn't fully populated yet most of the bulk stops should still be listed at the bottom of the sheet.

Loading is basically building a number line with PAL numbers. You don't even have to follow the shelf numbers so long as everything's in order. If one shelf is heavier than the others, you snake the load into the light shelf. Need to put boxes on the floor? Cool, just use the PAL label and put the boxes in some kind of logical sequence. If you can't figure out how to explain it to someone new, just tell them "Front-to-back, top-to-bottom, left-to-right, low to high." Always try to make the most accessible package-- whether it's on top of another box or to the left like a bookshelf-- an identical or lower PAL number than the package beneath, behind or to the right of it. It's not always possible but that's the idea.

Once you can keep up the pace, loading's incredibly easy. The pace can be a killer, though, so you need to figure out how to buy yourself a little time. Most people do this by stacking out, and that's okay! You just have to get those stacks loaded before it gets to the point that you can't get into your truck anymore and are forced to either stack out further or jump in the truck to clean up and miss package after package on the belt.

I'll also say that working from a conveyor belt, the closer you are to the top of the belt the more difficult your job's gonna be. What you want is to be the 3rd to 4th last person from the bottom of the belt. That way you get the luxury of having less packages to sort through, you can look up the belt to watch for breaks in the volume where you might be able to hit the bathroom or a snack machine really quick, and you're relieved from having to help with the split at the top and from having to help clean up at the bottom when volume gets ridiculous and everybody misses their stuff. 3rd or 4th from the bottom, that's where you want to be if you're loading from a belt.

First week I was end of the belt but behind the heavier trucks. This week they have me 2nd or 3rd depending from the splitters and it's annoying as friend. Volume comes and they are still splitting down to my trucks and they're in my way, the people behind me are coming up in my way. Then I'll get a nice 34 item rack going rdr literally every other package for 25 min today was mine and half the other ones were for another one of my trucks. One guy did help out and we just started chucking the rdr where they went and stacked out the other trucks and we still missed packages and I was stacked out half the shift. Volume finally chilled for a bit and I got caught up except for maybe 5 or 6 boxes for each truck and the end of day rush came. Also we had 2 people quit mid shift. So that's fun. I argued with a driver that was bitching about not having a preloader, I said nah. There's walked out mid shift. I've been here. But happens, we've been busy. Don't like it come in earlier. All 3 of my drivers didn't show up till 10 min till time for us to leave. Hate it for em. Did what I could. Wasn't as bad as the day before when they moved me to that spot cause a cat fight drama mid shift and I had to un the entire truck all shift while still pulling and putting more in

 

[NAHimGOOD]

Blah blah blah... All 3 of my drivers didn't show up till 10 min till time for us to leave. Blah blah blah

If you focused more on your work...

And not crying about work...

You would be able to mind your own dam business on when drivers arrive.

Hoped to have helped.

 

[MECH-lift]

Bitched about it on another forum and how I'm trying to stick through to be a driver

#1 ....YOURE SEASONAL

#2 .... YOU WILL NEVER A RPCD !!!!!!

#3 ....READ #2 AGAIN

 

[MECH-lift]

I argued with a driver that was bitching about not having a preloader,

must have been a 22.4 , try to argue with a RPCD and they’ll grab you by the throat plus toss you over the belt.