Safety Quizzes

[aspenleaf]

I understand why we have to take the quizzes but I do not understand why I have to be pulled from loading my trucks to take them. Does anyone know if there is a better way to administer these quizzes (they are done on the computer)? I was pulled right after break for 15 minutes to take some quizzes. I told the woman that I really only cared about getting my trucks loaded and asked if I could take the quizzes after my work was done. She said we all have attitude issues and to just do it. I said okay but I have very heavy cages and sitting here is making me miss them. So today’s wrap was a little messy since we were all taking quizzes. I and all the other preloaders have to take more quizzes tomorrow and for the rest of the week. It just seems that should be a better time than right in the middle of loading to do quizzes. Thankfully we should be done by the end of the next week and then we can just do our jobs.

 

[trickpony1]

Aspen,

They are gonna do what they want to do when they want to do it. They don't care what you think as evidenced by the lady's response about your "attitude issue". Get used to it.

Don't fight it, instead you can make their ignorance work in your favor in terms of more work etc. Just smile and go with the flow. Also, be sure to take your time when taking those quizzes as you really want to do well.

Don't cast your pearls before swine.

 

[aspenleaf]

Trickpony,
I know they could care less what I think; after all we preloaders are a dime a dozen and our thoughts don't matter and are not requested. I have received that message loud and clear! I did my quizzes quickly and didn't miss any which really mad the woman upset. Of course she stood right behind me the whole time. The dispatch sup was in the room and he has an attitude too I guess since she told him that he was not helping matters. He told her that before or after our work would be a better time for quizzes. I did forget to note the time today so tomorrow I will have to make sure it gets logged so my pph reflects my true time. <O

 

[wily_old_vet]

Typical UPS mgt turf battle. The logical thing to do is have you do this test before or after you load but since it's logical it won't happen. You can see the stress between the various depts by the dispatch sup disagreeing with the safety lady.

 

[over9five]

I think you should have asked for your shop steward as soon as she (basicly) said you had a bad attitude. She is supposed to treat you respectfully, you know.

 

[aspenleaf]

Over9five,
This woman is not liked by the preloaders (every preloader who joins the safety com. drops out because of her) and she acts like the safety quizzes are the most important thing at UPS. She walks around with her clip board and lectures us as we try to load and now we have to go to an office and do quizzes. I know we have to be safe but ask me to do the quiz before or after my work. And I guess I did have a bad attitude because I told her I cared more about loading my trucks at that moment than taking some quizzes. So she informed that the quizzes were a part of my job and it came from higher up. I asked if her higher ups were the same ones telling me (via the trickle down method - they of course don't talk to me directly!) that I needed to not stack, have no misloads and load my trucks? Oh well, I guess she has to do something for the company.

Wily, you are right about the safety lady and the dispatch sup. . .she just has issues. I, like the others I work with are safe and we know our HABITS but goodness who cares about a quiz as your cages go by full. I just know she'd get better results if we were not thinking of the work we still have to do. She thinks that 15 minutes is not that much time but it is about half a rev of the boxline and that is a lot of packages that could have been loaded in that time. But this is just what I think.

 

[Just Lurking]

Remember that you can have and use your reference cards for these tests. We have a safety quizz once a week instead of PCM that day. They want us to take it without the reference cards but cannot require us to. They say try. I say "I'm a dumb truck driver and need it." and get an blank quiz back.

If your going to try this,make sure your local is going to back you.

 

[old levi's]

Hey aspenleaf, Be glad that you have cages. At the center where I work the pkgs. come down a belt and the preloader gets one shot at pulling their pkgs. and loading them. If they miss any they go to the end of the belt, build up, and fall off. Or the last loader tosses them in the center ailse between the belts because they are in his way. In either case your pkgs. are now 6 trucks away on the floor and nobody is going to bring them back to you. You get one shot.

 

[aspenleaf]

Just Lurking,

You have reference cards??? How nice! I do not find the quizzes to be difficult just a PITA during the middle of my shift. I really do not have reference cards. I know we have things posted in our PCM area - but who has time to read them? The quizzes we have are on the computer and mulitple guess/ choice; so they are not that difficult. The quizzes where they walk up to you as you are working and want you to give an essay are more difficult and I usually have the right words but not in the "right" order.

Dino,
We have an area like that also and I worked in it for a little bit one day. Yes, I will say that having cages is very nice.

 

[Just Lurking]

Just Lurking,

... The quizzes where they walk up to you as you are working and want you to give an essay are more difficult and I usually have the right words but not in the "right" order.

These are theone that i'm talking about . For the drivers it the five seeing habits, HABITS and 10 point commentary.

 

[toonertoo]

Aspenleaf, the safety idiot doesnt care about your job, she cares about making her numbers. She doesnt care if your pph are down, she is commander and she needs her numbers, how dense, and how Ups of her.

 

[mrbill]

YOU get paided by the hour, take as long as you can for the extra things they have you do.If it takes you longer to do your job with the quiz or the other extra things that you are required to do good. Ohsa requires UPS to do these so they look like they following through on "YOUR SAFETY" .They like it when you finish your job in the same time when they add on the extras.It will happen more and more because you do the exra work!!!!!!!!!!

 

[aspenleaf]

Well we have not seen the safety lady in a while. Yesterday she sat in our break area and just stared at us. I guess she just wanted to start the quizzes and at some point will get us later. Next Wednesday is shaping up to be a busy day so I bet that would be a great day to take some quizzes!

mrbill ~ I don't mind taking the time to do the work or the quizzes but I like to be done when it is time for the drivers to leave. I don't feel that my bad day or the lack of planning should make their day even worse.

Today they gave us add/cuts in the last minutes. So I was way over my "time" for the day. I stopped running about that time and just took my time and when my drivers came in I told them about the late cuts. I think someone was yelling at me but I didn't care. One driver told me to tell her something but I can't repeat it here. My new driver made the mistake of saying "this looks like an easy day!" Right before I got the cuts and his truck got hit by 3 preloaders dumping stuff. All I can say is that I am glad the work week is over.

 

[mrbill]

As a driver I thank you .Preload makes or breaks my day.If I have a later AM I will have a later PM that is the nature of THEIR beast they have created

 

[aspenleaf]

mrbill ~ that is why quizzes should come after we load (we don’t need to make your day even longer than it is). No driver should have to wait so the preload can take computer quizzes! And the last minute add/cuts just kill me. I had my trucks loaded great and then I have to take out two shelves and add one to the same truck. The driver said just toss the new stuff on the shelf since he didn't care about staying on trace; but I hate to have things out of order. However there is not much I can do when I have to change 25% of the packages on my trucks. The add/cuts went from my C truck to the B truck and the B truck sent stuff to the C truck and A trucks. The other C truck I have had stuff coming from everywhere. It makes no sense all to do that since all my drivers are in the same area so why couldn't they just well enough alone??? Oh and then they sent two drivers to the same target. One got to take the NDA and the other had the NDA savers and the regular stuff. Late add/cuts only add to the misload issue since packages are going left and right and you hope you put the correct info on the package for the new driver who has to read your writing with some wax crayon!

 

[scratch]

The last minute add/cuts are insane. I thought that PAS pretty much knew what was coming off the trailer before the Preload starts. I had to pull thirty stops off at the last minute yesterday, I couldn't just transfer my EDD info, I had to go to the PAS supervisor and he had to change it on his computer first. The way that NDA's are dispatched is crazy too, I will usually take two or three off the driver next to me, since my trace takes me by them in the morning while he is many miles away. I thank God every day for my Preloader, she is just like Aspenleaf, she cares about her job and certainly makes the difference in my day. She is right about the Safety Quizzes, they should be done before or after the Sort.

 

[aspenleaf]

scratch_king good to hear there are other preloaders who care! And yes last minute add/cuts kill us all and make a mess for preload and then you drivers. Next time I see the safety lady I will just have to tell her to bother me some other time. Then she can try to write me up. After my drivers leave I will take her quizzes. Unless she drags me down to the office I do have a choice of what I do (even if it is the wrong one). I'd rather have her upset with me than 4 drivers who can't leave due to packages not being loaded. She needs to understand that the trucks being loaded are more important during our shift than the quizzes. Quizzes can be done at other times; while loading can only be done at certain times. She could also print the quizzes out and run along side me and ask the questions and then fill them out herself on the computer.

 

[scratch]

I will say something else about an observation I have made over my thirty years at UPS. This will probably tick a lot of the guys off, but the lady Preloaders seem to do a better job than the guys. I am on a 90-95% residential route, and she loaded it stop by stop for years before we went on PAS. I never worried about missorts. If I had a street that was miss spelled and she wasn't sure it was mine, she would stack it outside and let me look at it. She puts the street # on the side of the lip loaded boxes, and puts a "down arrow" on the side if I have a large one on the floor. The guys we have, including the Preload supervisor are horrible. They just walk by the Package Car and throw stuff in. I have to go through my whole load if she is out, another problem now is that several different people will be loading the same car, and you can't tell who put the missorts in. I used to have a great male Preloader, but that was many years ago. I have had three women loading my car over the years, and all were good.

 

[aspenleaf]

I have thought the same thing about us lady preloaders. I do the arrow thing and hold packages that I question for my drivers. Must be a gal thing. I never toss stuff and my drivers can find any package and it will be in order unless of course I had to move it due to it being bulk (but I leave them a note if I do tell them in person). Chicks kick butt on preload in my center!

 

[over9five]

Scratch & Aspen, I agree about women pre-loaders. Much better than men. One exception I had was a 14 year driver who bid 22.3. He was awesome, but went back to driving the following year.

Aspen, as a driver, I'd rather you took the quiz when management told you, and run late. We (drivers) certainly don't care if you're not wrapped due to that. Late airs mean nothing to us. It's too bad the customer gets ripped off, but that's UPSs problem, not ours or yours.

All I'm saying is don't make the companys problem yours!