Proper training for a route

[PT Car Washer]

How about delivery or PU notes in DIAD? Front door , back door, dock, side door, etc and are never right? Called a PU one day when I could not find them and, "oh we moved a year and half ago".

 

[upschick95]

18 years in and ill still get sent out blind once in great while. The trick is to mess it up so bad that when the situation presents itself again they think twice before sending you out blind again

 

[DS]

I have to commend you cover drivers.
I could never do it.I was trained 3 days 23 years ago in the same
area I do now.There was a few times at first I did other routes.
I hated walking in offices to be told,all deliveries to receiving,grrrr.
To the OP,dude,you need to stop and smell the poo.
You are a soldier now.
​PCM : Blackjack,get up here and show us the proper way to do 50 pushups.

 

[Brownslave688]

New driver sup: " I don't need to know how to read a map. I have a smart phone". She was doing a space and vis ride with me on a rural route that neither one of us was familiar with. I had fun with that one.

We had a driver sup do the same thing. Went out blind to train a driver. Oh I'll use my phone as a map. Problem was county they were in literally every road is miss labeled in the whole county.

I heard at like 6 they had like 30 of 75 stops off when someone went to bail them out. And give them a map.

 

[bdmiz]

I cover drive in a center with 55ish routes, I trained on one and learned the other thirty myself. Oh you're on a cold route its 7:30pm and you just finished? Go help driver XYZ, thanks see you tomorrow morning.

It's the same anywhere you go, most of the sups coming in nowadays don't even have the knowledge to train you on a route, let alone the techniques besides what they read in their training manual.
​Like the other guy said, just friend it up so bad that they will pass over you next time. Play the game.

 

[542thruNthru]

I have to commend you cover drivers.
I could never do it.I was trained 3 days 23 years ago in the same
area I do now.There was a few times at first I did other routes.
I hated walking in offices to be told,all deliveries to receiving,grrrr.
To the OP,dude,you need to stop and smell the poo.
You are a soldier now.
​PCM : Blackjack,get up here and show us the proper way to do 50 pushups.

Wait you have only done 1 route in 23 years?? May i ask how thats possible. Did you just walk in and get your own route? Sorry its just unheard of to me to only know 3 or 4 routes in 23 years

 

[uber]

I cover drive in a center with 55ish routes, I trained on one and learned the other thirty myself. Oh you're on a cold route its 7:30pm and you just finished? Go help driver XYZ, thanks see you tomorrow morning.

It's the same anywhere you go, most of the sups coming in nowadays don't even have the knowledge to train you on a route, let alone the techniques besides what they read in their training manual.
​Like the other guy said, just friend it up so bad that they will pass over you next time. Play the game.

Its not even about "training you" on a route. Its about having another persons eyes to look out for you while your learning the area. All I need is to see a route one time and I'm set. Going out cold is frustrating as hell when you continually go to all the wrong delivery points the entire time.

 

[dupa]

Wait you have only done 1 route in 23 years?? May i ask how thats possible. Did you just walk in and get your own route? Sorry its just unheard of to me to only know 3 or 4 routes in 23 years

we have a 25 year driver thats on the same route he was trained on 25 years ago, never been on another route. It is downtown industrial with governmental.

 

[PASinterference]

I was trained on 1 route 24 yrs ago by the center manager for 3 days. He was telling me how he ran 200 stops and 200 miles and off by 1630.I found out later he was a feeder driver. Why is it that all mgmt were the best drivers and why do they make up this junk? I told one once that "If you are going to lie you could at least make it believable".

 

[brostalss]

Really? Training for a new route? When I was utility and I told them I didn't know the route they wanted to put me on, their answer was, "You'll know it after today"

And that was before EDD and PAS.

Today utility drivers kick and scream and cry like little babies. Then the Sups send them home.

Suck it up and figure it out on your own. You'll have self-gratification at the end of the day.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

There are certain routes that everyone should be trained on. Not because some people need to be coddled. Not because they don't know it. But because commercial business deliveries and pickups could be botched if someone isn't familiar with the particulars of the routes.

On the flip side.... many routes don't require training. As long as the DOLs are accurate and the dispatch sup doesn't completely Jack up the route. Key words are "AS LONG AS...."

 

[oldngray]

"AS LONG AS...." only happens in a couple of places like Clarkesville and BOGs

 

[542thruNthru]

I have to commend you cover drivers.
I could never do it.I was trained 3 days 23 years ago in the same
area I do now.There was a few times at first I did other routes.
I hated walking in offices to be told,all deliveries to receiving,grrrr.
To the OP,dude,you need to stop and smell the poo.
You are a soldier now.
​PCM : Blackjack,get up here and show us the proper way to do 50 pushups.

we have a 25 year driver thats on the same route he was trained on 25 years ago, never been on another route. It is downtown industrial with governmental.

Is it his route? I really have to think that driver is either 1. Not a very good driver and they didnt wanna deal with him. Or 2. No buddy ever wants to do that route and he just stayed with it. 25 years on the same route. I think i would go bat S#** crazy from boredom.

 

[Tough Guy]

Couldn't it be potentially dangerous to send someone out "cold" on a route they don't know? In a place they've never been. There's some pretty rough areas around here, and I have to imagine if the "locals" saw a driver they could tell didn't know where they were, it would be an uneasy feeling.

And as far as commercial stops, I can't believe they don't put that stuff in the DIAD for you's? Like if they prefer front door, or a certain dock number, etc?

 

[sortaisle]

I'm more surprised they don't have pickup and delivery points in the board. Whenever I do a route cold, the board usually has a note that says where to pickup and deliver stuff at each stop. Sounds like you have lazy drivers and/or a management team that's not doing what they can with the tech available. Sorry brotha. Just try to push through and enjoy your money. Or sock it away and retire as soon as you can with a few mil to play with.

 

[upswife75]

I've got 7 year in and still get put on stuff blind. Doesn't help when u have one driver sup that actually knows a route.

That's no lie. When they rebid the routes at my husband's center a few months back, the on road must have called my husband 10 times to ask where stuff was on his old route, while the sup was training the new driver. Blind leading the blind!

 

[DS]

Wait you have only done 1 route in 23 years?? May i ask how thats possible. Did you just walk in and get your own route? Sorry its just unheard of to me to only know 3 or 4 routes in 23 years

I was hired off the street way back then.I was working at a record/tape/cd distributor,and I asked or $15 an hour
because I worked like a bastard.They said no .I got talking to our ups driver there,and he said they needed drivers.
I was hired,trained,and on my own within 2 weeks on my own route.

 

[DS]

Wait you have only done 1 route in 23 years?? May i ask how thats possible. Did you just walk in and get your own route? Sorry its just unheard of to me to only know 3 or 4 routes in 23 years

Is it his route? I really have to think that driver is either 1. Not a very good driver and they didnt wanna deal with him. Or 2. No buddy ever wants to do that route and he just stayed with it. 25 years on the same route. I think i would go bat S#** crazy from boredom.

Boredom? Never.I'm way too busy to be bored.
It's about 1/3 commercial,industrial,residential.
No Walmart .

 

[542thruNthru]

I have to commend you cover drivers.
I could never do it.I was trained 3 days 23 years ago in the same
area I do now.There was a few times at first I did other routes.
I hated walking in offices to be told,all deliveries to receiving,grrrr.
To the OP,dude,you need to stop and smell the poo.
You are a soldier now.
​PCM : Blackjack,get up here and show us the proper way to do 50 pushups.

Boredom? Never.I'm way too busy to be bored.
It's about 1/3 commercial,industrial,residential.
No Walmart .

Ya I don't know what it is but ive been on a route for 6 months before and I start to get bored of it. I like to see new areas and meet new people. Thats why when they need someone to go to another center I'm always willing.

So you came off the streets and got your own route that fast. Damn I was born way to late. Took me forever just to become a driver. well I'm here now so might as well enjoy it.

 

[ZJ NOMAD]

Is there anything about how much training one should receive when learning a new route?
I'm lucky to get 1 day on a route anymore, most of the time i'm just thrown out blind and working 12 hours...
Ideally id like to get 2-3days of training for a route....

I Would think basic geographical notion of your region, and a little common sense should do the trick.

My dad always emphasized on me and my siblings Geography, he would say a man needs to know his way around, shoot! me, brother ,and sis are like human Global Positioning systems- No kidding.