Question about DRA

[AB831]

Hello all! I am new to the message board and really want to pick your brains about something. I have been with Fedex for 3 and 1/2 years, so i'm not a total noob, but i'm also not privy to all of the ins and outs of the company just yet either. What I want to ask is about whether or not there is any merit or upside to DRA at all? It doesn't ever build me a route on Monday and it absolutely slams me Tuesday and Wednesay. Thursday and Friday are normal workloads, although my P1 and P2 are two zip codes apart from each other. Making P1 service is an impossible endeavor. I have an FO driver help me most days, but on the days he doesn't, I usually finish P1 in between 1130 and 12. Is DRA one of those things where it works better in some places than others? Or is it truly as bad as it seems to me?

 

[Star B]

DRA is only as good as the people programming it... and they aren't that good. Some things to check to see if you're off the mark or the program is off the mark. On the top of your manifest, it will state a 'building out time' and the To-Area time. Check to make sure those are accurate.

As long as you're not friend'ing off and doing the best you can, there's nothing management can do to you, especially if you hold your place. Ask them "How do you want me to run it?"... if they say "via DRA" then run it via DRA, let there be lates. If there's something you can suggest to change that makes sense, suggest it. Expect to be scoffed though. Don't let them sway you with "Well $SWING can do it just fine..." because quite a few swings break rules constantly to try to make service on something that they were thrown on.

Echoed in these halls is ask your manager to do a checkride. Let them see it for themselves, if they decline, it's on them again. However, one thing you will find with this option is your dispatch will probably "magically" fix for checkride day. Just make sure that they are aware this is a weird dispatch with facts. Old dispatches from last week, etc.

 

[AB831]

DRA is only as good as the people programming it... and they aren't that good. Some things to check to see if you're off the mark or the program is off the mark. On the top of your manifest, it will state a 'building out time' and the To-Area time. Check to make sure those are accurate.

As long as you're not friend'ing off and doing the best you can, there's nothing management can do to you, especially if you hold your place. Ask them "How do you want me to run it?"... if they say "via DRA" then run it via DRA, let there be lates. If there's something you can suggest to change that makes sense, suggest it. Expect to be scoffed though. Don't let them sway you with "Well $SWING can do it just fine..." because quite a few swings break rules constantly to try to make service on something that they were thrown on.

Echoed in these halls is ask your manager to do a checkride. Let them see it for themselves, if they decline, it's on them again. However, one thing you will find with this option is your dispatch will probably "magically" fix for checkride day. Just make sure that they are aware this is a weird dispatch with facts. Old dispatches from last week, etc.

Thanks for your feedback. The "to area" time usually seems to be pretty right. It's the stuff beyond that where it gets tricky. One day it only gave me 10 P2 and about 22 P1. It has my return to building time at 145 PM. I'm only about 35 minutes from the station, so if I do the math that means that it either A) expects me to do 5 stops per hour in P2 in an area that borders Washington DC or B) it was programmed to have me running P1 well past 1030, maybe even 1130. I think it's the most asinine system I could imagine, but my manager (great guy) is more of a bandaid fix than get down to brass tacks and really figure things out type of die.

 

[Operational needs]

Hello all! I am new to the message board and really want to pick your brains about something. I have been with Fedex for 3 and 1/2 years, so i'm not a total noob, but i'm also not privy to all of the ins and outs of the company just yet either. What I want to ask is about whether or not there is any merit or upside to DRA at all? It doesn't ever build me a route on Monday and it absolutely slams me Tuesday and Wednesay. Thursday and Friday are normal workloads, although my P1 and P2 are two zip codes apart from each other. Making P1 service is an impossible endeavor. I have an FO driver help me most days, but on the days he doesn't, I usually finish P1 in between 1130 and 12. Is DRA one of those things where it works better in some places than others? Or is it truly as bad as it seems to me?

The only thing good about DRA is it plots stops for you so you don’t have to look them up.

 

[AB831]

If it's as bad as I think it is, what is the company's justification for keeping it? It seems kind of like hammering a square peg in a round hole

 

[Nolimitz]

DRA has sucked from day 1. Our eng is worthless meat wait to retire and fixes nothing. Then here's LEO we started "routing" SRA routes in the rural areas today and everybody that was dome by 1500 yesterday will be out til 1900 or beyond running circles from town to town and back aging. It too will not be fixed.... FedEx cant find its way out of a paper bag, much less plot a route

 

[Nolimitz]

5 lbs of dung in a 2 lb sack.

 

[Operational needs]

If it's as bad as I think it is, what is the company's justification for keeping it? It seems kind of like hammering a square peg in a round hole

The justification is that they’ve spent mucho dinero on DRA and can’t drop it now. Plus, they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the people in the ivory tower.

 

[Cactus]

The justification is that they’ve spent mucho dinero on DRA and can’t drop it now. Plus, they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the people in the ivory tower.

Fred would gladly spend his money on stupid stuff like DRA than spend it on better wages and benefits. You should know that by now.

 

[AB831]

DRA has sucked from day 1. Our eng is worthless meat wait to retire and fixes nothing. Then here's LEO we started "routing" SRA routes in the rural areas today and everybody that was dome by 1500 yesterday will be out til 1900 or beyond running circles from town to town and back aging. It too will not be fixed.... FedEx cant find its way out of a paper bag, much less plot a route

So i can expect things to get worse before they get better? lol

 

[Cactus]

So i can expect things to get worse? lol

There, I fixed it for you.

 

[AB831]

Fred would gladly spend his money on stupid stuff like DRA than spend it on better wages and benefits. You should know that by now.

I get the impression that Fred blows money on these kinds of things out of some misbegotten hope that these kind of "toys" will impress the consumer, when in actuality no one actually gives a damn about what goes on behind the curtains in shipping companies.

 

[Cactus]

I get the impression that Fred blows money on these kinds of things out of some misbegotten hope that these kind of "toys" will impress the consumer, when in actuality no one actually gives a damn about what goes on behind the curtains in shipping companies.

You're learning!

 

[Nolimitz]

Fred spends money to impress Wall ST. no one else.

 

[MDUB25]

Problem with dra the map hasn't been updated in years. I have streets that are 5 years old but doesnt appear on the dra map. Newerr streets are consistently routed to wrong routes. Enginer says not fixable.

 

[AB831]

Problem with dra the map hasn't been updated in years. I have streets that are 5 years old but doesnt appear on the dra map. Newerr streets are consistently routed to wrong routes. Enginer says not fixable.

I actually believe the engineer. That's how fatally flawed this system appears to be. I want to know what the huckster selling this to the company said during his sales pitch to make ANYONE actually think this is a decent product.

 

[McFeely]

If it's as bad as I think it is, what is the company's justification for keeping it?

I'm guessing the justification for purchasing it and keeping it are:
-Minimizing routes flexing stops during the sort, DRA does that
-Cutting down on OT. If DRA worked flawlessly, the company's goal would be to have every FT driver done in under 8 hours daily
-Allowing FX to hire even bigger morons than they already do, because DRA plots all the stops AND puts them in order. Any idiot can run a route now, right?

That being said, anyone who works in a DRA station knows how shoddy it is, how inept the engineer is, and how ancient the mapping data is.

If DRA actually worked properly, it could be kinda nice. I actually kinda like it on Saturday routes, because I'm usually in areas I don't know. I still don't follow the DRA sequences though.

 

[AB831]

I'm guessing the justification for purchasing it and keeping it are:
-Minimizing routes flexing stops during the sort, DRA does that
-Cutting down on OT. If DRA worked flawlessly, the company's goal would be to have every FT driver done in under 8 hours daily
-Allowing FX to hire even bigger morons than they already do, because DRA plots all the stops AND puts them in order. Any idiot can run a route now, right?

That being said, anyone who works in a DRA station knows how shoddy it is, how inept the engineer is, and how ancient the mapping data is.

If DRA actually worked properly, it could be kinda nice. I actually kinda like it on Saturday routes, because I'm usually in areas I don't know. I still don't follow the DRA sequences though.

But not only does it not do a lot of the things it's designed to do. It actually does the opposite. In most cases at my station, DRA guarantees overtime. It also leads to bickering on the sort because one day this bulk stop is on this route, the next day it's on that route, the day after that it's on another route. From my perspective, it's complete, unmerited garbage. Agreed that it was sort of helpful on Saturday.

 

[McFeely]

From my perspective, it's complete, unmerited garbage.

100%.

My weekday route is usually 20-30 P1, and usually 80-90 P2 and pickups at the end of the day. I pay zero attention to anything DRA on my route. It's crap.

Some day I'd like to run my full route according to DRA and see what time I finish my 10:30s and SOs.

 

[AB831]

100%.

My weekday route is usually 20-30 P1, and usually 80-90 P2 and pickups at the end of the day. I pay zero attention to anything DRA on my route. It's crap.

Some day I'd like to run my full route according to DRA and see what time I finish my 10:30s and SOs.

I've thought about doing that, but I really like my manager and don't want to show him up. DRA often has me running two to three different loops on my route. I estimate on heavier days that I'd be rolling freight over to the next day if I ran the route stop for stop.