Question Regarding Package Selection (New Driver)

11.19igrad

Well-Known Member
Bro Im not even playing when I say, I walked into my truck one day and there was a dude in there from unload, hadnt even been there two weeks, in unload now not preload, and I said, "Hey, where is such-and-such who normally loads this truck", he says "she went to the bathroom so Im covering for her I guess. Hey, what do these numbers on the label mean............................."

Bro, I coulda grabbed my backpack and went home after he said that. Needless to say I found 1000 shelf items under the 8000 shelf for several stops lol
you know what..... 😒😒😒
 

barnyard

KTM rider
Just curious if wherever you are has UPS has switched to loading trucks in ORION order?
Not loaded in Orion order. I routinely have to skip running any ground with air, my truck is too full to try and look for anything that is not right inside the bulkhead door or right inside the back door.
 

PPH_over_9000

Well-Known Member
Man! The heat that drivers have to deal with is ridiculous!

So I came back from vacation on Tuesday, ended up with heat exhaustion and called out yesterday per my center manager's advice. As a result, my route sat yesterday.... so today I came in to 303 stops,~470 pieces. Heaviest route in the center today, not including pick-ups.

I only knocked out 244 stops before I got the message to come back to the building. Had to throw about 120 packages on the belt.

i swear, with every passing workday I'm learning to respect the drivers more and more-- especially the old-timers, doing this :censored2: for 10-20 years now. I always thought preload had to be tougher than driving, and mannnnn.... I don't think I could've been more wrong.
 

JJinVA

Well-Known Member
Man! The heat that drivers have to deal with is ridiculous!

So I came back from vacation on Tuesday, ended up with heat exhaustion and called out yesterday per my center manager's advice. As a result, my route sat yesterday.... so today I came in to 303 stops,~470 pieces. Heaviest route in the center today, not including pick-ups.

I only knocked out 244 stops before I got the message to come back to the building. Had to throw about 120 packages on the belt.

i swear, with every passing workday I'm learning to respect the drivers more and more-- especially the old-timers, doing this :censored2: for 10-20 years now. I always thought preload had to be tougher than driving, and mannnnn.... I don't think I could've been more wrong.

I dont know what kind of route youre on but Im walking 18 miles a week... that in itself is rougher on the feet and legs than preload. Maybe not as rough on the arms but definitely has its own struggles.
 

PPH_over_9000

Well-Known Member
I dont know what kind of route youre on but Im walking 18 miles a week... that in itself is rougher on the feet and legs than preload. Maybe not as rough on the arms but definitely has its own struggles.

I'd have to get something like a FitBit to give an accurate estimate, but there's a whole lot of hiking up long, narrow driveways on some of the backroads I've been covering. Then you hit the neighborhoods and it's massive houses, insane driveways, >20 steps up the front porch, and the occasional gated home.

The walking doesn't really bother me, though. Well... most days. Tuesday damn near killed me with heat exhaustion, and I probably should've taken more than a single day off to recover. I'm still worried about being DQ'd for something like that, though, so I dragged my ass back to work as soon as I stopped cramping up.

As a preloader, I always pictured drivers just driving around dropping off packages. I never really thought about all the minutiae of the job, things like weather/temperature, customers that won't answer the door until you've already completed the stop as a non-delivery and are hopping back in the truck, how much time signature required'sand pick-ups can take, just how short of a leash management has you on, etc etc. I guess it goes back to that old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side, but with UPS the :censored2:'s just brown everywhere.
 

freehoodies

Well-Known Member
If you take an extra minute each stop, that's over 3 hours added to your day when you have 200+ stops.

Just keep finding ways to shave seconds off each stop, it all adds up.

Right now im trying to find out how to prepare for running new routes everyday. Im thinking of taking my phone holder from my car so I can use google maps (esp on a rental) but I feel like that might get me in trouble.
 
If you take an extra minute each stop, that's over 3 hours added to your day when you have 200+ stops.

Just keep finding ways to shave seconds off each stop, it all adds up.

Right now im trying to find out how to prepare for running new routes everyday. Im thinking of taking my phone holder from my car so I can use google maps (esp on a rental) but I feel like that might get me in trouble.
Take the time to sort your truck. Get it in order, push everything forward and put all the big packages towards the rear door.
 

PPH_over_9000

Well-Known Member
If you take an extra minute each stop, that's over 3 hours added to your day when you have 200+ stops.

Just keep finding ways to shave seconds off each stop, it all adds up.

Right now im trying to find out how to prepare for running new routes everyday. Im thinking of taking my phone holder from my car so I can use google maps (esp on a rental) but I feel like that might get me in trouble.


Oh for sure it'll get you in trouble (probably a fun talking-to if you've got seniority, or you might get DQ'd like one of my fellow trainees.) It's an in-cab distraction apparently, but the dude who got DQ'd was in a rental with a DIAD that didn't have MapNav. He did exactly what you just suggested, but after the first time they observed him doing it he still didn't stop. Chalked it up as failure to follow directions on top of a safety issue.
 

burrheadd

KING Of GIFS
I'd have to get something like a FitBit to give an accurate estimate, but there's a whole lot of hiking up long, narrow driveways on some of the backroads I've been covering. Then you hit the neighborhoods and it's massive houses, insane driveways, >20 steps up the front porch, and the occasional gated home.

The walking doesn't really bother me, though. Well... most days. Tuesday damn near killed me with heat exhaustion, and I probably should've taken more than a single day off to recover. I'm still worried about being DQ'd for something like that, though, so I dragged my ass back to work as soon as I stopped cramping up.

As a preloader, I always pictured drivers just driving around dropping off packages. I never really thought about all the minutiae of the job, things like weather/temperature, customers that won't answer the door until you've already completed the stop as a non-delivery and are hopping back in the truck, how much time signature required'sand pick-ups can take, just how short of a leash management has you on, etc etc. I guess it goes back to that old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side, but with UPS the :censored2:'s just brown everywhere.

if you called in because you got to hot during your 30 days
Not much chance of them keeping you around
 

PPH_over_9000

Well-Known Member
if you called in because you got to hot during your 30 days
Not much chance of them keeping you around

Yeah, I've been worried about that. The center manager [EDIT: scratch that, it wasn't the center manager that first talked to me, it was someone else in management. The center manager called me twice the next day to check on my recovery and gave me a ton of tips on how to prepare for and deal with extreme heat] literally told me to, though, after he saw the shape I was in when I returned to building. He said there was no way I'd be recovered in the next 8 hours... I didn't believe him, but he turned out to be right. Eh, I'll find out within the next 13 days, I guess.

God help my drivers if they send me back to preload, though. After dealing with the occasional :censored2:show of a load I now know for sure that I was trying way too hard for the past 9 years.
 
Last edited:

Ackerlin

Well-Known Member

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