Question for drivers..

[brownmonster]

I deliver 200 pkgs a day. Preloading would be much harder.

 

[DoMorePayLessUPS]

I deliver 200 pkgs a day. Preloading would be much harder.

On an extremely serious note: do your absolute best to stay wise, and to keep your brain instead of becoming brainwashed like these other guys up here

 

[SCV good to go sir.]

Ok, someone explain to me what's so mentally challenging about driving to an address, picking up a box, walking that box to the door, dropping it off, or getting a signature, and walking off...

I had to stop reading through the thread as soon as I read this. You just don't get it.

First off, you're simplifying the job. If it were that simple, then you'd be right that it wouldn't be mentally challenging. Now to be fair, under a combination of certain conditions, the job can be as simple as you're describing. Those conditions include but are not limited to: having an intimate knowledge of the area one is driving in, nice weather, having a well organized load, being in a juicy residential tract, the package being easy to carry, etc. Under those conditions, your simplification of the job is accurate, but those conditions are the optimal conditions. Having said that, think about your shift. How often do all the packages come down the slide with the labels up? How often do they come down at a nice steady pace? How often do they all fit perfectly on shelves? How often does the belt not get jammed? How often do you not get backed up? How often are you not being yelled at for bull? Me, you, and every other person here that has preloaded knows the answer to that. So why would you assume that it it is different for drivers? That our entire day is seamless and everything goes smoothly according to plan. That we don't have wrenches being thrown in our gears? You're going to start believing in delusions because some driver yelled at you? Grow up.

There are A LOT more variables to deal with as a driver than a preloader. Furthermore, most of the variables in your job are internal (relative to UPS), which allows for more control over them. Some of the significant variables drivers face are external and well beyond UPS's control. The combination of an increase in the number and magnitude of those variables are what makes the job challenging: weather, traffic, construction, load quality, pick up volume, bulk stops, commit times, # of NDA, vehicle condition, clerk packages, cods, on demand pick ups, call tags, driver follow ups, dispatch, area knowledge, etc. All of these are different from day to day and have the potential to change within a day. There's a lot of multi-tasking/juggling involved going on in a driver's mind because there's a lot more to the job than moving a box from point A to point B (although that is the essence of it). Think of all the different jobs that take place within a hub during twilight and preload. There's no division of labor within a driver's truck. The driver shift is what connects the preload to twilight. The driver deals with the clerks directly. The driver has to turn in at the end of the day, which goes to the white collar side of UPS. Being a driver, is all encompassing, it condenses a lot of different aspects of the operations until that work gets allocated to specialized departments at UPS. You don't see it, most people don't. Hell most drivers probably didn't until they spent a day in the driver's seat. If you think that driving is easy, it's because the driver makes it look easy.

If a preloader loses his mind, management is right there to asses the situation and throw bodies at his workload to fix it. The situation can easily be contained. The same cannot be said for drivers. Production aside, a driver that is losing his while driving can easily get involved in a fatal accident that extends beyond UPS. Finally, that first time that you have 50+ stops at 9 pm in an area you've never been in before and you realize that no one can help you... That s with your mind in a way you cannot even imagine.

 

[G.V. Rush]

To the person who asked: loading is 1,000,000,000x harder than delivering, I'm sure! How hard can it be to see an address, drive to that address, and drop off a package?

There is something wrong with you. I was an unloader in preload and that alone is 10 times more physical than loading. With that said. Driving FT for 3 years now; driving is insanely harder than any preload position. Doing routes cold, boards dying, helping other drivers, people trying to fight you for blocking their driveway, management trying to fire you any chance they get, uber lyft taxis everywhere. GTFO!!! Man up and bid on a driving list.

 

[G.V. Rush]

I had to stop reading through the thread as soon as I read this. You just don't get it.

First off, you're simplifying the job. If it were that simple, then you'd be right that it wouldn't be mentally challenging. Now to be fair, under a combination of certain conditions, the job can be as simple as you're describing. Those conditions include but are not limited to: having an intimate knowledge of the area one is driving in, nice weather, having a well organized load, being in a juicy residential tract, the package being easy to carry, etc. Under those conditions, your simplification of the job is accurate, but those conditions are the optimal conditions. Having said that, think about your shift. How often do all the packages come down the slide with the labels up? How often do they come down at a nice steady pace? How often do they all fit perfectly on shelves? How often does the belt not get jammed? How often do you not get backed up? How often are you not being yelled at for bull? Me, you, and every other person here that has preloaded knows the answer to that. So why would you assume that it it is different for drivers? That our entire day is seamless and everything goes smoothly according to plan. That we don't have wrenches being thrown in our gears? You're going to start believing in delusions because some driver yelled at you? Grow up.

There are A LOT more variables to deal with as a driver than a preloader. Furthermore, most of the variables in your job are internal (relative to UPS), which allows for more control over them. Some of the significant variables drivers face are external and well beyond UPS's control. The combination of an increase in the number and magnitude of those variables are what makes the job challenging: weather, traffic, construction, load quality, pick up volume, bulk stops, commit times, # of NDA, vehicle condition, clerk packages, cods, on demand pick ups, call tags, driver follow ups, dispatch, area knowledge, etc. All of these are different from day to day and have the potential to change within a day. There's a lot of multi-tasking/juggling involved going on in a driver's mind because there's a lot more to the job than moving a box from point A to point B (although that is the essence of it). Think of all the different jobs that take place within a hub during twilight and preload. There's no division of labor within a driver's truck. The driver shift is what connects the preload to twilight. The driver deals with the clerks directly. The driver has to turn in at the end of the day, which goes to the white collar side of UPS. Being a driver, is all encompassing, it condenses a lot of different aspects of the operations until that work gets allocated to specialized departments at UPS. You don't see it, most people don't. Hell most drivers probably didn't until they spent a day in the driver's seat. If you think that driving is easy, it's because the driver makes it look easy.

If a preloader loses his mind, management is right there to asses the situation and throw bodies at his workload to fix it. The situation can easily be contained. The same cannot be said for drivers. Production aside, a driver that is losing his while driving can easily get involved in a fatal accident that extends beyond UPS. Finally, that first time that you have 50+ stops at 9 pm in an area you've never been in before and you realize that no one can help you... That s with your mind in a way you cannot even imagine.

^winner winner^
A bit wordy, but just about sums it up. Stop assuming and being ignorant @DoMorePayLessUPS

 

[G.V. Rush]

I deliver 200 pkgs a day. Preloading would be much harder.

Yeah but how many brutal years did you have before you landed a cake route like that?

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

Yep.

That's why I like the relative freedom of being a mechanic to get the job done.

 

[8 Hour Day]

I sincerely hate to hear that and I truly mean no harm when I say this, really, but perhaps you could come in even earlier than just 20 minutes..

I used to do that. I don't anymore with good reason.

If I change my start time so that I get paid for essentially doing preload's job, I can be fired for "stealing time." A guy in my center was already fired this year for stealing time.

Second, if I get injured while doing this off the clock, it's an off the job injury. So, instead of worker's comp, which isn't great, it's disability, which wouldn't pay my light bill.

What you have to understand is that in loading these trucks, you control how good or bad our days go. If you're getting chewed out, instead taking it personally (which I readily confess is difficult), try a different approach. Ask the nicest of your drivers to help you know what you can do better, and do your best to respond. Like a few others have said, we don't expect perfection, just an honest effort.


Allow me to explain how this works... At the beginning of Peak Season, I got a new loader who was brand new to the job. The load was unusable. After two days, I told the guy "man, your killing me with this load!" He looked baffled as if he thought he was doing a good job. So, I asked him why there were 3000, 7000 and 5000 packages on my 6000.No joke, he said "those shelves ran out of room, so I just put them where I had space."

His training was crap. After pointing out to his and my mgmt, and after having two days of me bumping up against my DOT allowed hours, they retrained him. With that, if I ever pointed out something that needed to be done differently, he did his best to accommodate the request.

He was the best loader I've ever had... I even tipped him repeatedly through Peak. The load was like a library, and I was getting done in 10 hours every day. See, we don't raise Hell for no reason. Likewise, if we have a good loader, most of us show gratitude.


Don't be defensive.
Be better.

 

[Indecisi0n]

Drivers, as a preloader, I wonder, why do you all insist on being complete and total a s sholes? We're busting our ass all morning while you all dream away, for not even half of what you all make, and you all come in and bitch and complain for 20 minutes. Many of you start making that $ and completely forget that you were once in our shoes. Just keep this one thing in mind, drivers: you're 100% more replaceable than we preloaders are.

Is it so hard to put a box with a number on it in the area of the truck that matches that number?

Is it possible to put that thing called an address label out instead of to the floor?

Is it possible to take your body odor with you when you are done messing up my truck?

 

[Re-Raise]

I had to stop reading through the thread as soon as I read this. You just don't get it.

First off, you're simplifying the job. If it were that simple, then you'd be right that it wouldn't be mentally challenging. Now to be fair, under a combination of certain conditions, the job can be as simple as you're describing. Those conditions include but are not limited to: having an intimate knowledge of the area one is driving in, nice weather, having a well organized load, being in a juicy residential tract, the package being easy to carry, etc. Under those conditions, your simplification of the job is accurate, but those conditions are the optimal conditions. Having said that, think about your shift. How often do all the packages come down the slide with the labels up? How often do they come down at a nice steady pace? How often do they all fit perfectly on shelves? How often does the belt not get jammed? How often do you not get backed up? How often are you not being yelled at for bull? Me, you, and every other person here that has preloaded knows the answer to that. So why would you assume that it it is different for drivers? That our entire day is seamless and everything goes smoothly according to plan. That we don't have wrenches being thrown in our gears? You're going to start believing in delusions because some driver yelled at you? Grow up.

There are A LOT more variables to deal with as a driver than a preloader. Furthermore, most of the variables in your job are internal (relative to UPS), which allows for more control over them. Some of the significant variables drivers face are external and well beyond UPS's control. The combination of an increase in the number and magnitude of those variables are what makes the job challenging: weather, traffic, construction, load quality, pick up volume, bulk stops, commit times, # of NDA, vehicle condition, clerk packages, cods, on demand pick ups, call tags, driver follow ups, dispatch, area knowledge, etc. All of these are different from day to day and have the potential to change within a day. There's a lot of multi-tasking/juggling involved going on in a driver's mind because there's a lot more to the job than moving a box from point A to point B (although that is the essence of it). Think of all the different jobs that take place within a hub during twilight and preload. There's no division of labor within a driver's truck. The driver shift is what connects the preload to twilight. The driver deals with the clerks directly. The driver has to turn in at the end of the day, which goes to the white collar side of UPS. Being a driver, is all encompassing, it condenses a lot of different aspects of the operations until that work gets allocated to specialized departments at UPS. You don't see it, most people don't. Hell most drivers probably didn't until they spent a day in the driver's seat. If you think that driving is easy, it's because the driver makes it look easy.

If a preloader loses his mind, management is right there to asses the situation and throw bodies at his workload to fix it. The situation can easily be contained. The same cannot be said for drivers. Production aside, a driver that is losing his while driving can easily get involved in a fatal accident that extends beyond UPS. Finally, that first time that you have 50+ stops at 9 pm in an area you've never been in before and you realize that no one can help you... That s with your mind in a way you cannot even imagine.

I don't think you even work for UPS..(sarcasm)

Excellent post and pretty much sums it up if the kid will take the time to read it

 

[Orion inc.]

I had to stop reading through the thread as soon as I read this. You just don't get it.

First off, you're simplifying the job. If it were that simple, then you'd be right that it wouldn't be mentally challenging. Now to be fair, under a combination of certain conditions, the job can be as simple as you're describing. Those conditions include but are not limited to: having an intimate knowledge of the area one is driving in, nice weather, having a well organized load, being in a juicy residential tract, the package being easy to carry, etc. Under those conditions, your simplification of the job is accurate, but those conditions are the optimal conditions. Having said that, think about your shift. How often do all the packages come down the slide with the labels up? How often do they come down at a nice steady pace? How often do they all fit perfectly on shelves? How often does the belt not get jammed? How often do you not get backed up? How often are you not being yelled at for bull? Me, you, and every other person here that has preloaded knows the answer to that. So why would you assume that it it is different for drivers? That our entire day is seamless and everything goes smoothly according to plan. That we don't have wrenches being thrown in our gears? You're going to start believing in delusions because some driver yelled at you? Grow up.

There are A LOT more variables to deal with as a driver than a preloader. Furthermore, most of the variables in your job are internal (relative to UPS), which allows for more control over them. Some of the significant variables drivers face are external and well beyond UPS's control. The combination of an increase in the number and magnitude of those variables are what makes the job challenging: weather, traffic, construction, load quality, pick up volume, bulk stops, commit times, # of NDA, vehicle condition, clerk packages, cods, on demand pick ups, call tags, driver follow ups, dispatch, area knowledge, etc. All of these are different from day to day and have the potential to change within a day. There's a lot of multi-tasking/juggling involved going on in a driver's mind because there's a lot more to the job than moving a box from point A to point B (although that is the essence of it). Think of all the different jobs that take place within a hub during twilight and preload. There's no division of labor within a driver's truck. The driver shift is what connects the preload to twilight. The driver deals with the clerks directly. The driver has to turn in at the end of the day, which goes to the white collar side of UPS. Being a driver, is all encompassing, it condenses a lot of different aspects of the operations until that work gets allocated to specialized departments at UPS. You don't see it, most people don't. Hell most drivers probably didn't until they spent a day in the driver's seat. If you think that driving is easy, it's because the driver makes it look easy.

If a preloader loses his mind, management is right there to asses the situation and throw bodies at his workload to fix it. The situation can easily be contained. The same cannot be said for drivers. Production aside, a driver that is losing his while driving can easily get involved in a fatal accident that extends beyond UPS. Finally, that first time that you have 50+ stops at 9 pm in an area you've never been in before and you realize that no one can help you... That s with your mind in a way you cannot even imagine.

I used to do that. I don't anymore with good reason.

If I change my start time so that I get paid for essentially doing preload's job, I can be fired for "stealing time." A guy in my center was already fired this year for stealing time.

Second, if I get injured while doing this off the clock, it's an off the job injury. So, instead of worker's comp, which isn't great, it's disability, which wouldn't pay my light bill.

What you have to understand is that in loading these trucks, you control how good or bad our days go. If you're getting chewed out, instead taking it personally (which I readily confess is difficult), try a different approach. Ask the nicest of your drivers to help you know what you can do better, and do your best to respond. Like a few others have said, we don't expect perfection, just an honest effort.


Allow me to explain how this works... At the beginning of Peak Season, I got a new loader who was brand new to the job. The load was unusable. After two days, I told the guy "man, your killing me with this load!" He looked baffled as if he thought he was doing a good job. So, I asked him why there were 3000, 7000 and 5000 packages on my 6000.No joke, he said "those shelves ran out of room, so I just put them where I had space."

His training was crap. After pointing out to his and my mgmt, and after having two days of me bumping up against my DOT allowed hours, they retrained him. With that, if I ever pointed out something that needed to be done differently, he did his best to accommodate the request.

He was the best loader I've ever had... I even tipped him repeatedly through Peak. The load was like a library, and I was getting done in 10 hours every day. See, we don't raise Hell for no reason. Likewise, if we have a good loader, most of us show gratitude.


Don't be defensive.
Be better.

To the OP:

Read this kid and learn.

Now you can stop whining like a little bitch.

 

[Brownslave688]

I had to stop reading through the thread as soon as I read this. You just don't get it.

First off, you're simplifying the job. If it were that simple, then you'd be right that it wouldn't be mentally challenging. Now to be fair, under a combination of certain conditions, the job can be as simple as you're describing. Those conditions include but are not limited to: having an intimate knowledge of the area one is driving in, nice weather, having a well organized load, being in a juicy residential tract, the package being easy to carry, etc. Under those conditions, your simplification of the job is accurate, but those conditions are the optimal conditions. Having said that, think about your shift. How often do all the packages come down the slide with the labels up? How often do they come down at a nice steady pace? How often do they all fit perfectly on shelves? How often does the belt not get jammed? How often do you not get backed up? How often are you not being yelled at for bull? Me, you, and every other person here that has preloaded knows the answer to that. So why would you assume that it it is different for drivers? That our entire day is seamless and everything goes smoothly according to plan. That we don't have wrenches being thrown in our gears? You're going to start believing in delusions because some driver yelled at you? Grow up.

There are A LOT more variables to deal with as a driver than a preloader. Furthermore, most of the variables in your job are internal (relative to UPS), which allows for more control over them. Some of the significant variables drivers face are external and well beyond UPS's control. The combination of an increase in the number and magnitude of those variables are what makes the job challenging: weather, traffic, construction, load quality, pick up volume, bulk stops, commit times, # of NDA, vehicle condition, clerk packages, cods, on demand pick ups, call tags, driver follow ups, dispatch, area knowledge, etc. All of these are different from day to day and have the potential to change within a day. There's a lot of multi-tasking/juggling involved going on in a driver's mind because there's a lot more to the job than moving a box from point A to point B (although that is the essence of it). Think of all the different jobs that take place within a hub during twilight and preload. There's no division of labor within a driver's truck. The driver shift is what connects the preload to twilight. The driver deals with the clerks directly. The driver has to turn in at the end of the day, which goes to the white collar side of UPS. Being a driver, is all encompassing, it condenses a lot of different aspects of the operations until that work gets allocated to specialized departments at UPS. You don't see it, most people don't. Hell most drivers probably didn't until they spent a day in the driver's seat. If you think that driving is easy, it's because the driver makes it look easy.

If a preloader loses his mind, management is right there to asses the situation and throw bodies at his workload to fix it. The situation can easily be contained. The same cannot be said for drivers. Production aside, a driver that is losing his while driving can easily get involved in a fatal accident that extends beyond UPS. Finally, that first time that you have 50+ stops at 9 pm in an area you've never been in before and you realize that no one can help you... That s with your mind in a way you cannot even imagine.

TLDR



But I'm sure it was a great post.

 

[Brownslave688]

I used to do that. I don't anymore with good reason.

If I change my start time so that I get paid for essentially doing preload's job, I can be fired for "stealing time." A guy in my center was already fired this year for stealing time.

Second, if I get injured while doing this off the clock, it's an off the job injury. So, instead of worker's comp, which isn't great, it's disability, which wouldn't pay my light bill.

What you have to understand is that in loading these trucks, you control how good or bad our days go. If you're getting chewed out, instead taking it personally (which I readily confess is difficult), try a different approach. Ask the nicest of your drivers to help you know what you can do better, and do your best to respond. Like a few others have said, we don't expect perfection, just an honest effort.


Allow me to explain how this works... At the beginning of Peak Season, I got a new loader who was brand new to the job. The load was unusable. After two days, I told the guy "man, your killing me with this load!" He looked baffled as if he thought he was doing a good job. So, I asked him why there were 3000, 7000 and 5000 packages on my 6000.No joke, he said "those shelves ran out of room, so I just put them where I had space."

His training was crap. After pointing out to his and my mgmt, and after having two days of me bumping up against my DOT allowed hours, they retrained him. With that, if I ever pointed out something that needed to be done differently, he did his best to accommodate the request.

He was the best loader I've ever had... I even tipped him repeatedly through Peak. The load was like a library, and I was getting done in 10 hours every day. See, we don't raise Hell for no reason. Likewise, if we have a good loader, most of us show gratitude.


Don't be defensive.
Be better.

My peak loader had no idea what the sequence numbers meant until I told her. She was told shelf numbers and that was all she needed to worry about.



Freaking maroon pt sups.

 

[DoMorePayLessUPS]

Have a great Saturday, guys

 

[alwaysRTS]

You are a true comedian.

 

[Geo926]

they can't even drive a stick. Oh so and so can't drive them. He can only drive automatics.

What do you mean? One of the job requirements when I came on and pretty sure still is you must be able to drive a stick. How the hell do you have drivers in your center who can't do that?

 

[Raw]

My preloader is a cool dude and he tries his best but I`m on the 9.5 list and when I have to deliver 3 misloads a day on other routes when I`m already maxed out and I clock off at 820pm instead of 730pm then there is a huge problem!

 

[DoMorePayLessUPS]

My preloader is a cool dude and he tries his best but I`m on the 9.5 list and when I have to deliver 3 misloads a day on other routes when I`m already maxed out and I clock off at 820pm instead of 730pm then there is a huge problem!

There's a huge problem until you get that check, huh haha

 

[Insaneasylum]

The load charts were only for when you first started, or when they moved you to another set of cars.

We were expected to know every sequence number, what truck and what shelf in the truck.

The load charts and computer printouts with the streets and sequence numbers were just an aid. If you didn't learn them, back to the unload you went.

Now, any monkey can preload. A label tells you exactly where to put the package, and they still can't get it right.

Even when we had to know all this stuff, it was still the easiest job I ever did at UPS...........until feeders.........it is sometimes rather hard trying to stay awake though.

Feeders easy? Oh here we go with another troll. Do you know how fast your day can turn crap when you get grease on your hand. And if we don't hit the gate on time because we're waiting on the dam loaders to finish. Easy I think not.

 

[Brownslave688]

There's a huge problem until you get that check, huh haha

Nope. Family time is worth more than $50 an hour.