Qualifying?

[mcsketcher]

I’m a new cover driver. I’m told I have 30 days to qualify. I’m not told exactly what this means, but I am told I need to be able to do 200 stops per day in 8 hours. And that’s 8 hours paid time. I usually get to my area with 7-7.5 hours of possible delivery time within that 8 hours.

Additionally the truck is loaded, to quote my sup while on-road, the worst he’s ever seen. He also says I’m doing friend*n phenomenal from what he’s seen, and my times are obviously not my fault. But he still repeats the 200 in 8 thing.

200 in 8 doesn’t seem possible.

WTF is going on here? And WTF does qualifying actually mean?

 

[Cowboy Mac]

I’m a new cover driver. I’m told I have 30 days to qualify. I’m not told exactly what this means, but I am told I need to be able to do 200 stops per day in 8 hours. And that’s 8 hours paid time. I usually get to my area with 7-7.5 hours of possible delivery time within that 8 hours.

Additionally the truck is loaded, to quote my sup while on-road, the worst he’s ever seen. He also says I’m doing friend*n phenomenal from what he’s seen, and my times are obviously not my fault. But he still repeats the 200 in 8 thing.

200 in 8 doesn’t seem possible.

WTF is going on here? And WTF does qualifying actually mean?

Welcome to driving for UPS. The supervisors clearly see the issues that we deal with, including dispatch, load quality, weather, traffic. These things make it impossible to meet their numbers. That’s not going to stop UPS from asking you to do the impossible, on the off chance that you get it done.

My advice to you would be to understand the numbers system for what it is, a harassment tool. When your on your packet, do the best you can without getting injured or getting into an accident. Keep a positive attitude always, and kiss lots of ass.

Show up an hour early every day to sort your truck out and make sure the boss sees you. When you’re done, call in and see if they need help with anything else. If you get close to running their numbers and they really like you, they will find a way to keep you.

When you pass your qualifying period, stop working for free, take your breaks and learn your methods. Hydrate and take care of your body. Work at a pace that you can maintain for 30 years without an injury or accident. You will receive some pushback from management, but as long as you do the job the right way and take care of your customers, they can’t do anything. The methods will set you free.

 

[mcsketcher]

Welcome to driving for UPS. The supervisors clearly see the issues that we deal with, including dispatch, load quality, weather, traffic. These things make it impossible to meet their numbers. That’s not going to stop UPS from asking you to do the impossible, on the off chance that you get it done.

My advice to you would be to understand the numbers system for what it is, a harassment tool. When your on your packet, do the best you can without getting injured or getting into an accident. Keep a positive attitude always, and kiss lots of ass.

Show up an hour early every day to sort your truck out and make sure the boss sees you. When you’re done, call in and see if they need help with anything else. If you get close to running their numbers and they really like you, they will find a way to keep you.

When you pass your qualifying period, stop working for free, take your breaks and learn your methods. Hydrate and take care of your body. Work at a pace that you can maintain for 30 years without an injury or accident. You will receive some pushback from management, but as long as you do the job the right way and take care of your customers, they can’t do anything. The methods will set you free.

Makes sense. I’m told I need to sort the truck as I’m delivering, and that this will somehow make it work, but there’s no way. Looking for 5 stops and moving them to a front shelf takes just as much time as looking for each one and sheeting it as I go. Tried both ways. And when the truck is full you can’t even move anything to sort it anyway without basically dumping everything from a front shelf into the floor and having no room to walk.

I’ll just get there early and sort. I assumed that’s what I’d have to do.

Thanks

 

[KearsargeCoop]

Makes sense. I’m told I need to sort the truck as I’m delivering, and that this will somehow make it work, but there’s no way. Looking for 5 stops and moving them to a front shelf takes just as much time as looking for each one and sheeting it as I go. Tried both ways. And when the truck is full you can’t even move anything to sort it anyway without basically dumping everything from a front shelf into the floor and having no room to walk.

I’ll just get there early and sort. I assumed that’s what I’d have to do.

Thanks

I'd say stop moving your next five onto you 1000 shelf. If your loaded by HIN and delivering by HIN just keep them where they belong. Organize your stops on the appropriate shelf. Know the next five stops, what HIN they are and how many parcels per stop. Know if you have two smalls on the shelf and a big on the floor, etc. Move quickly, with urgency but be safe.
Work thru your lunch, deliver 25 easy residentials, don't sheet em, and back log your lunch and sprinkle sheet them through out the rest of your day.

 

[FozziesDeliveries]

Sorting the truck while delivering is a method that comes with time and it does help. The main idea is having stuff close to the front of the truck to grab faster per stop instead of walking to the back of the truck for alot of stops.

So for example my route usually ends with air in the country and i have to then work a few stops back into town to start my bulk/commercial stops. If it makes sense for me to do those stops at that time instead of later, and i can get to the packages easily, at the first stop i have to go in the back of the truck i will slide/toss the packages up to the front of the truck on the floor behind the bulkhead door for those few stops. 1 trip to the back of the truck for a few stops. If i am too bulked out then i skip those stops for later because it would take too long to dig out the packages.

When i start my commercial and bulk it USUALLY has me work the floor and 1000, 2000 and 3000 shelf. If you are looking for a package and your shelf is a hot mess start organzing it a little putting the packages in numeric order by the hin number. Do not spend too much time in these early shelves though because you will be delivering these soon. When you are halfway through that section or so, slide that shelf forward while checking for misloads and organizing the hins. Don't slide the packages forward every stop thats a waste of time, try to do it in chunks.

Have a clear spot on your floor as soon as possible behind your bulkhead door so you can step in and not trip on anything and have space to grab packages. I try to move things out of the center of my truck as i clear out bulk on my floor so i can walk through my truck quick in case i have to grab a package from the middle or back. Also it is easier to see if anything falls off a shelf onto the floor if the floor is clear. Speaking of that take turns slow, do NOT turn fast. There is nothing worse then hearing your shelves dump and wasting time putting packages back on a shelf.

It is critical with this job to stay organized! One last tip, when you start getting pickup pieces keep them seperate from your deliveries so they don't get mixed together.

 

[Brown Biscuit]

Bring your baby wipes

 

[mcsketcher]

Work thru your lunch, deliver 25 easy residentials, don't sheet em, and back log your lunch and sprinkle sheet them through out the rest of your day.

I already work through lunch and take it after I’m done with everything. If I’m sheeting stuff out of the area, wouldn’t this show up as an incorrect delivery location?

Sorting the truck while delivering is a method that comes with time and it does help. The main idea is having stuff close to the front of the truck to grab faster per stop instead of walking to the back of the truck for alot of stops.

So for example my route usually ends with air in the country and i have to then work a few stops back into town to start my bulk/commercial stops. If it makes sense for me to do those stops at that time instead of later, and i can get to the packages easily, at the first stop i have to go in the back of the truck i will slide/toss the packages up to the front of the truck on the floor behind the bulkhead door for those few stops. 1 trip to the back of the truck for a few stops. If i am too bulked out then i skip those stops for later because it would take too long to dig out the packages.

When i start my commercial and bulk it USUALLY has me work the floor and 1000, 2000 and 3000 shelf. If you are looking for a package and your shelf is a hot mess start organzing it a little putting the packages in numeric order by the hin number. Do not spend too much time in these early shelves though because you will be delivering these soon. When you are halfway through that section or so, slide that shelf forward while checking for misloads and organizing the hins. Don't slide the packages forward every stop thats a waste of time, try to do it in chunks.

Have a clear spot on your floor as soon as possible behind your bulkhead door so you can step in and not trip on anything and have space to grab packages. I try to move things out of the center of my truck as i clear out bulk on my floor so i can walk through my truck quick in case i have to grab a package from the middle or back. Also it is easier to see if anything falls off a shelf onto the floor if the floor is clear. Speaking of that take turns slow, do NOT turn fast. There is nothing worse then hearing your shelves dump and wasting time putting packages back on a shelf.

It is critical with this job to stay organized! One last tip, when you start getting pickup pieces keep them seperate from your deliveries so they don't get mixed together.

This all makes sense. The organization is a big diff from when I was at FedEx. When you load your own truck you know things are on it and where they are. The smooth driving carried over. Moving quickly did too. But not knowing if I even have the package I need and having to search 2k-8k shelves for a 1k package is an issue that coming in early will help a ton with.

Bring your baby wipes

Not sure what this is about unless you’re just being an ass.

 

[ManInBrown]

Just do the best you can. At the end of the day, they either like you or they don’t. The whole process is not something you can control other than doing your best safely.

 

[DriverNerd]

How long have you been doing this? Production standards (which are ridiculous) are able to be met, but seem impossible for someone who just started. You see when you first start that it takes you 10 hours to get done with a 100 stops and you just can't imagine doing twice the amount of stops in an even shorter period of time... everybody sucks at this job when they start. That's why they give you 30 days to qualify. Try your best not to stress yourself out.

 

[mcsketcher]

How long have you been doing this? Production standards (which are ridiculous) are able to be met, but seem impossible for someone who just started. You see when you first start that it takes you 10 hours to get done with a 100 stops and you just can't imagine doing twice the amount of stops in an even shorter period of time... everybody sucks at this job when they start. That's why they give you 30 days to qualify. Try your best not to stress yourself out.

2 weeks. I did 150 from 9-4 clocked in time with a good load twice. Problem is the load and trying to sort it as I go. Showing up early will def help a lot.

 

[...]

Showing up early will def help a lot.

Put a stop to this the moment you qualify.

 

[DriverNerd]

2 weeks. I did 150 from 9-4 clocked in time with a good load twice. Problem is the load and trying to sort it as I go. Showing up early will def help a lot.

If you're doing 150 two weeks in (even if it's just a couple times) you don't need to stress out so much. Just work hard and take tips from other drivers (including the advice on here) and you'll get where you need to be.

 

[MECH-lift]

No wonder no one wants to work here

SMH

 

[Shift Inhibit]

2 weeks. I did 150 from 9-4 clocked in time with a good load twice. Problem is the load and trying to sort it as I go. Showing up early will def help a lot.

Pee into a bottle every time during your 30 days. You’ll get good enough to pee & sort at same time. Saves a lot of time . Pro tip

 

[KearsargeCoop]

I’m a new cover driver. I’m told I have 30 days to qualify. I’m not told exactly what this means, but I am told I need to be able to do 200 stops per day in 8 hours. And that’s 8 hours paid time. I usually get to my area with 7-7.5 hours of possible delivery time within that 8 hours.

Additionally the truck is loaded, to quote my sup while on-road, the worst he’s ever seen. He also says I’m doing friend*n phenomenal from what he’s seen, and my times are obviously not my fault. But he still repeats the 200 in 8 thing.

200 in 8 doesn’t seem possible.

WTF is going on here? And WTF does qualifying actually mean?

How many miles we talking on this 200 stop route? Package count?

 

[mcsketcher]

How many miles we talking on this 200 stop route? Package count?

80ish miles and 248 packages was my worst day so far. Some bulky stuff too. Nearly zero floor room and no shelf room. Tiny boxes and paper thin padded envelopes stuck behind large boxes that are in the right place, but the ones behind aren’t.

 

[mcsketcher]

Pee into a bottle every time during your 30 days. You’ll get good enough to pee & sort at same time. Saves a lot of time . Pro tip

Nice. I sweat so much I don’t even need to pee. They’ve yet to give me shorts.

 

[mcsketcher]

So, another question. It’s BS when they say “those computers are wrong sometimes” talking about when you check the time it should take to run your day and you get done an hour early only for them to say you were over?

Doesn’t make sense that a central system is doing the heavy lifting and you’re just seeing the output but somehow the data you see is “wrong” and their data conveniently is both right and makes you look bad.