tips on how to have a "positive" timestudy ride

[Coldworld]

Our center is having tyime studies, and I would like to hear from any of you who have ideas or tips on how I can maximize, and receive the best ride possible. I have a route that is half tight resi, and half country, I dont have two many businesses, about 15 and only have a few on route pick ups. I am usually 1 1/2 hours over now. Any suggestions????

 

[scratch]

Use the proper Methods, follow the Delivery Trace, drive the posted speed limit, and take your hour lunch.

 

[xracer]

All of those things that Scratch King mentioned work well when a supervisor does his annual ride but as far as time studies you can throw all of that out the window. The time study guy that rides with you does not car if you close your bulkhead door or latch the chain on your back door, those things are all figured into a general formula. They are there to count things like the average number of steps you take for each stop and the average speed that is appropriate for your delivery area. You can run an additional hour paid over standards playing the games of using proper methods and such but it will not effect your time allowances as far as the time study person is considered. We had a time study done several years ago in our center and the people that did the proper methods as compared to those who did not still lost great amounts on their time allowances. Just do your job and don't worry about THIER numbers..

 

[trickpony1]

So.....in other words, you're saying that whatever mood the time study guy happens to be in that day determines your expectations from then on?
You use the word "average" alot. I'm sure you've had some math in your formal education years and know what can effect and/or alter a statistical "average".

Some people believe that a time study is nothing more than a throw of the dice and a subtle means to intimidate the employee.

On "average", what is the statistical frequency of a route/run actually gaining time? I would be willing to bet that, more often than not, a route/run loses time rather than gains time.

What a coincidence.

Reminds me of the old "MAR". If you are given/allowed 10 minutes to do a certain aspect of your job and you do it in 8 minutes, guess what?....your new MAR for that portion of your job becomes 8 minutes.

Be sure to pre-trip and post-trip your vehicle since, last time I heard, that was part of your planned/paid day.

Have a safe, "average" day.

 

[over9five]

Pre-trip and post-trip are inside time. These amounts are already determined, too.

On your time study day, a lot of time is given for "alternate delivery attempts". IE if you have "not ins" (that need a signature), try a neighbor. If the neighbor is not in, try another neighbor.
In an office building, same thing. Business closed? Try leaving at the business down the hall.

Use walkways, don't cut across lawns. The time study guy counts steps. A route with longer walks gets more time. (Back door deliveries are longer walks).

Bring your lunch. They're counting miles, too. At lunch time, just stop where you are. You don't want any extra miles that day.

Well, that's all I can think of right now...

 

[Hangingon]

Stop at all stop signs, and yield signs if feasible. You get credit for full stops, but not rolling stops. The ones you just roll through UPS assumes you will do the same every day you are there and you don't get credit for that stop sign or stop light. Also, if you want to push it, come in early, set your car up stop for stop and that way they can not use their favorite reason to take away time from you, excessive sort time.

Oh just thought of another, when crossing to the other side of the street, remember to walk around to the rear of the truck and cross there, and if you have steps in a building use them within reason, remember the number of steps is one of the biggest parts of their studies.

 

[DS]

Just a few points that haven`t been mentioned yet.
Deliver to all your businessess in the morning,and go back later
to do the pick up if they are a daily.Do not take any shortcuts,mileage
is the most important element overall in your planned day.
Never run yellow lights.When doing resi`s,never walk on the lawn,
always use designated walkways.When doing driver releases,always
leave pkgs out of sight,out of weather,even if it means going around
to the back of the house and take the time to leave a notice if you leave it where they may not immediately find it when they get home.

 

[speeddemon]

get my check to me on time on Thursday, and that time study doesnt mean a thing. Those things are a joke.

 

[rushfan]

I agree. Ultimately,in my humble opinion, the studies favor the company, not the driver. They can always be changed. When I have mine, I'll continue to use proper, safe delivery methods. Who cares about the clock. Do your job right, you'll have nothing to worry about.

 

[Coldworld]

I know, Im not trying to turn 1.5 hours over allowed into 2 hours of bonus, just would like to know what they are looking for. nobody gets bonus in my center anymore, why dont they just get rid of it nationwide. What does the union think about the bonus system???

 

[scratch]

The union does not like the bonus center. It encourages the driver to skip lunch, run, speed, in other words, to work unsafely. the company is going to find a way to change their numbers anyway. Just worry about the numbers on your paycheck. I didn't know they still did the old style Time Studies anymore. Every one I did a long time ago, whatever I did on it, the Center Manager had final say. Nothing was ever taken off me.

 

[brown_blood]

The time studies currently being performed are for PAS implementation. They want to break all the routes in a center down so that IE can reloop. They are looking at things like number of steps per stop, numbers of left turns, traffic lights, stop signs, and the like. Also looking at stop densities if you have office buildings and/or apartment buildings. In theory, the person performing your time study is supposed to study only your route, not you. They will tell the person doing the study that a good time study can be performed without a driver present. Also, keep in mind that the person doing the study will almost never be a management person, usually an intern, or an office admin.

 

[speeddemon]

There are so many variables on a rural route to take into consideration. It is impossible for PAS to include them because it cannot think. We are getting PAS next year. Looks like Im going to be rich.

 

[mattwtrs]

What a thread!! On area mileage and walks to the delivery point are big factors. Use of hand cart is important too. Last study a long time ago involved an multi floor office building. I had only envelopes and light small boxes for delivery and 4 call tags. The time study guy asked why I was getting my hand cart out? I replied," You'll see." The call tags were for the 3rd floor and the packages weighed over 30lbs each. I completed 3 of the tags so there was 90lbs on the cart leaving the building as opposed to less than 20lbs going in. I told him the deliveries were light that day and he did check previous delivery records and that building was usually 15 packages or more between a 6 stop average. I also had the customers make sure the overhead doors were closed where I back inside because the doors are only left open for 3 months all year long. Bottom line was the allowance changed in the my favor and I was no longer on the radar screen for paid over!

 

[sendagain]

Just do your job the way you normally would, but without the clever devices you've learned over the years. What took weeks or months of route experience to discover shouldn't be built into the route as though those movements were the most logical path from day one. Still, the years of making bonus pay are gone forever.

 

[Hangingon]

One good thing, more of our drivers are taking their lunch now, and the true numbers are emerging. Since so few routes are bonus routes, if you skip your lunch all you are doing is giving the company $36 out of your pocket, and not really coming in any earlier since they just put more stops on to make sure you don't get in early.

 

[danlin]

Go into every one of your pickup stops and see if they have anything even if the UPS NO sign is out. Don't worry too much about THEIR numbers though.

 

[handrail_hank]

One thing I have always done on time study days is to never sheet or scan package or packages as I am walking to the delivery point or DR stop. This is unsafe as you are not looking where you are walking .Once you are at the DR point, be sure to leave package out of sight out of weather and ring and knock and call out "UPS" before returning to the package car. I don't know if this helps much but I did gain about 25 minutes this past year on a study.

 

[Omegaman]

Do not ever come in early and set up your truck stop for stop as a previous post stated. If you have excessive sort time daily, UPS must make allowances for it. If not, UPS must eat that time. Stop worrying about chasing THEIR numbers. Do the job the proper way following all their methods and take your full lunch. You need not be concerned with anything else. Their numbers will never be anywhere close to reality.

 

[dannyboy]

One thought about bonus.

There are very few centers that are still on bonus, and even fewer drivers that make any money on bonus.

It was a thought that would have allowed drivers that wanted to skip lunch and get in early, do so without losing money.

But like anything else that started out as a fairly good idea at UPS, it was quickly prostituted into a tool management used to reward those drivers it liked and punish those it did not.

As drivers began to only break even on numbers, even when skipping lunch, they then began to take lunch. That made the drivers all of a sudden be an hour over, where before they were beating or at least even with standards. Now we have an interesting situation.

Driver all of a sudden is a hour over each and every day. When before the driver was scratch. There is nothing that will focus attention on a driver faster than this type of fluctuation in performance. Now we have rides, and sups following drivers around with stopwatches. Take a minute longer for lunch than you put in the board, that is stealing time.

Over all, bonus was one of the worst things UPS has ever done for/to drivers. IT could have been great, but then they let management have at it.

d

PS on a time study, I have seen a driver send a letter (ground of course) to 4 or 5 of the worst stops on his route. This was to counter the problem of those really bad stops never being on the car the day of the time study, but yet the next day there are more than usual.

Many of the time studies here were done by kids in school to learn IE. It gave them hands on experience while letting ups get time studies done cheap. IT also boned the drivers, but who cares.