tips on how to have a "positive" timestudy ride

[Time Study Observer]

My advice to you is to be honest with what you do. I was a TSO for a year and I can tell you that it shows when you do not give accurate picture. Some things to stress: Safety first! It does matter if you are safe and any TSO that does not stop you from being unsafe is not doing their job. Second, follow the methods that everyone has been taught. I keep hearing my way is faster - but it maybe only in the short run, or worse it is unsafe. Lastly, communicate with the Time Study Observer and let them know what you are doing next. It help if they can see your logic and give you credit for the good things you are trying to do.

Good Luck and Remember: Safety First period.

 

[boswharfs]

My favorite TS story:
Although the time studier counts steps, there is a maximum. A driver in my center about 15yrs ago was making a regular delivery to the side entrance of a house. He was about half way to the delivery point when he heard the stopwatch click. He turned and asked the time studier why he stopped the watch. The time studier said that the driver only got credit for a maximum number of steps at which point the driver delivery bagged the package and dropped in the lawn right where he was. The time studier asked the driver what he was doing, and the driver said he was out of steps. The driver walked back to the truck and told the time studier if he wanted to complete the stop he was more than welcome to, and then the driver sat in the truck and watched while the time studier did it. This driver was the only one in the center who actually gained time on the study. Everybody else got killed. BTW that was the last time we actually saw time studies. Now they just change the numbers over night by fiat.

 

[toonertoo]

TSO, tell me is there a difference between a time study with a p600 and one done in a P1000, as far as steps in car.

 

[speeddemon]

When is everyone just going to realize that the time studies will never be fair. Thay are not meant to be acurate. Its thier tool, not ours. Do your job, and forget about it.

 

[trickpony1]

"....if you ain't behind, you ain't working." I was told this once by a pkg car supervisor.

"...if you can get someone to do something for 30 days.....they will do it the rest of their life". I was told this once by a pkg car supervisor regarding why, during training and probation, supervisors don't necessarily come right out and tell the trainee to skip his/her meal period but the implication is made that if they want to make it in pkg. cars, working during your meal period is the way to do it.

I was in pkg cars in the early 80's. It appears the idealogy hasn't changed. I have talked to pkg drivers who tell me "...they (management) are never happy".

I agree with several other posters.....just do your job safely, follow their methods and CYA.

 

[Delivered]

Always try to practice these tips several days before your time study so you don't look like you are trying to get extra time. Let your customers know if they see someone with you not to help you at all. Load and unload all the packages by yourself. If you are at a business or resi and have a over 70 go and find someone to help you with it. Don't call customers ahead of time and tell them they have a COD, wait until you get there and wait for them to get a check.

Remember it's mgt's numbers they can make you look good or bad on paper.

 

[Hangingon]

And practice getting that key into the bulkhead door lock! I used to do ridealongs and it was funny seeing drivers try to open the bulkhead door at every stop. It was painfully obvious which ones did normally and which ones opened it once at the first stop and closed it once on the way back in.

 

[beentheredonethat]

I've done time studies a long time ago.But not a lot has changed on the fundamentals. Biggest thing is a UPS driver should always follow the methods, some are for efficiency, some are for safety, etc. But they are there for good reason. As far as doing a delivery, do what is right for the area. If you try to fool the observer by taking a longer walk then you should (going to back door, when side door was a good DR spot). The observer will and should give you credit for where you should have left the pkg. If you try to fool the observer, they won't give you the benefit of the doubt and will take away wherever they can. If you follow the methods and there's only a handful of instances where the observer thinks a shorter route would have worked, they will probably give you credit for what you did, since you follow the methods and the vast majority of the time you DR'ed where he\she would have also.

 

[trickpony1]

So, once again, it depends on the mood the observer happens to be in?

 

[jules23]

So, once again, it depends on the mood the observer happens to be in?

I've seen this comment a couple times...what does the TSO's mood have to do with anything? The TSO is REQUIRED to accurately capture the driver's day in the time study device. Emotion or mood shouldn't ever play apart.

The best advice has already been given...to be studied accurately run your day using your methods exactly as you would any other day of the week. You do yourself no favors altering your behavior. The TSO needs to observe what your route is like to make sure the appropriate allowances are factored in. No one can fix what we don't know is broken.

 

[fmrtie]

The problem is that the TSO had little or no experience doing time studies. In fact most of them are college industrial engineering students working an internship or working as an IE specialist. Only a few of them knew anything about UPS before signing up, in fact most were still in diapers when UPS started using DIAD.
Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Tom Barnyard]

We have a route in our center that all our managers say is very "fat." It's very easy to do the route and be 1.5-2 hours under-allowed.

We were talking about routes in the breakroom the other day and that route came up. The guy that was delivering that route when the time study was done said that the key to getting a good time study was NEVER leaving a package in plain sight. He left almost all the resi stops at back doors and left a delivery notice in the inside of the front door (if there was a light "outside door'). He said that he also knocked on every front door and waited a brief moment to see if someone was home.

For resi signature stops, he tried at least 2 neighbors if the consignee was not home.

At the end of the day, the time study guy said that the driver had wasted 2 minutes during the day. He punched in from lunch on the way to the truck, then put his lunch bag in the back, that should have been done during break time.

The result was that a route that regularly went out with 95-100 stops plus 15 stop metro was said to have a 9.5 dispatch with 75 stops and the metro.

The center manager at the time went on a tirade, but there wasn't anything he could do about it......

Tom B

 

[jules23]

The problem is that the TSO had little or no experience doing time studies. In fact most of them are college industrial engineering students working an internship or working as an IE specialist. Only a few of them knew anything about UPS before signing up, in fact most were still in diapers when UPS started using DIAD.
Ignorance is bliss.

TSO's are trained on the system before they go out. It's not a difficult system to master. What does their age have to do with anything?

 

[jules23]

We have a route in our center that all our managers say is very "fat." It's very easy to do the route and be 1.5-2 hours under-allowed.

We were talking about routes in the breakroom the other day and that route came up. The guy that was delivering that route when the time study was done said that the key to getting a good time study was NEVER leaving a package in plain sight. He left almost all the resi stops at back doors and left a delivery notice in the inside of the front door (if there was a light "outside door'). He said that he also knocked on every front door and waited a brief moment to see if someone was home.

For resi signature stops, he tried at least 2 neighbors if the consignee was not home.

At the end of the day, the time study guy said that the driver had wasted 2 minutes during the day. He punched in from lunch on the way to the truck, then put his lunch bag in the back, that should have been done during break time.

The result was that a route that regularly went out with 95-100 stops plus 15 stop metro was said to have a 9.5 dispatch with 75 stops and the metro.

The center manager at the time went on a tirade, but there wasn't anything he could do about it......

Tom B

That's unfortunate when someone chooses to exploit the system...TSO's do get training, however, it is still up to the driver to run an honest route. The TSO is trained to observe what the driver does, not to know how his/her route.

There is a Time Study Supervisor, I'm not sure the exact rules, but I would think a center manager could get them to re-study the driver. Preferably with a former on car sup.

 

[Hangingon]

On our last major time study 2 routes gained time. The center manager at the time refused to accept it, and somehow those studies just disappeared. Of course all the routes that lost over 30 mins, and in one case over an hour and a half, he had no problem with.

 

[fmrtie]

TSO's are trained on the system before they go out. It's not a difficult system to master. What does their age have to do with anything?

There was a time when the people doing the time studies were former drivers and on car supervisors. People who knew the methods inside and out, backward and forward. Now, many of those folks doing the time studies have never delivered a single pkg. Tell me experience isn't more important than being able to master a system on a PDA. Things happen much faster in real life, out with the driver, than they do sitting in a classroom learning how to master the system while watching it on a video tape. Are you going to tell me the first time study that they do outside the classroom is going to be accurate. I wouldn't want to live with it.
Ignorance is Bliss.

 

[jules23]

There was a time when the people doing the time studies were former drivers and on car supervisors. People who knew the methods inside and out, backward and forward. Now, many of those folks doing the time studies have never delivered a single pkg. Tell me experience isn't more important than being able to master a system on a PDA. Things happen much faster in real life, out with the driver, than they do sitting in a classroom learning how to master the system while watching it on a video tape. Are you going to tell me the first time study that they do outside the classroom is going to be accurate. I wouldn't want to live with it.
Ignorance is Bliss.

I doubt very much it would be accurate, but that's why new TSO's are supposed to go on training rides. It should be former drivers, on car sups, at least someone who knows methods and has delivered a package at some point in their career, etc., but I don't control who gets picked. Each person in the situation has to take responsibility for their actions. It's up to the person doing the time study to learn the methods, etc. especially if they don't have package experience. Ignorance may be bliss, but we all pay for it in the end.

 

[beentheredonethat]

So, once again, it depends on the mood the observer happens to be in?

No, As I said before. The observer should record what should happen not neceessarily what the driver does. (Are all the observers perfect no, no one is). What I was saying is that nothing is black and white. If the observer sees that you are continually trying to do something that doesn't make sense, like deliverying to rear door when side door was a valid DR spot. Attempting an Alt del when a DR would have been acceptable etc etc. This is when the observer should notate what you did and what you should have done and the observer should give you credit for what should happen. Also, a long time ago, the observer couldn't go out and take their own studies until they were qualified. To get qualified you went out 3 on a car (2 observers and the service provider). You couldn't take your own measurement until you and the lead observer had time studies that matched (or came extremely close). Not sure how they do it now, since 3 on a car isn't allowed.

 

[ups_vette]

Allow me to clear up some misconceptions some drivers appear to have about time study.

The Time Study Observer is to document exactly WHAT the driver does as it occurs. The only time the Observer is to interfer with what the driver does is when the driver is doing something illeagle or unsafe.

The most important stept in doing a time study comes after the driver's day is completed. This is when the time study is analyzed and a comparason is made between what the driver ACTUALLY did compared to what the driver SHOULD have done by using the proper methods.

The driver who goes to the rear of a house releases a package and then goes to the front door and knock and waits is NOT using the proper methods and will not be allowed the time to walk to the front door and knock. The proper method for a driver release is to go directly to the place the package will be left and return directly to the car.

The driver who parks in front of a stop, selects a package, walks to the stop and delivers, returns to the car, starts up the car and moves 20 feet to the next stop will not be allowed the time for starting and stopng the car. The proper method is to deliver both stops from the one park car position.

The driver who makes several trips into several stops with multiple packages will not be given the planned time for all the trips. He will be given the time for removing a carry aid, selecting the packages, walking with the carry aid, and replacing the carry aid. The proper method calls for the driver to use a carry aid when required.

There are many many more examples of a driver trying to "beat" the time study when the Time Study Observer is along.
However, it is the Time Study Analyst who determines the allowances for the area. It is the Analyst who evaluates what the driver ACTUALLY did compared to what the driver SHOULD HAVE done.

I think you will agree that regardless of what experience the Observer has or hasn't had, the Observer can tell when the driver is driving the car, or is parked and selecting packages, or is walking to a stop, or at the point of delivery.

A qualified Analyst can go over any time study, stop by stop, line by line, and determine if the driver used the proper methods in evey instance. This is how the allowances are determined.

 

[dannyboy]

Vet

That is all nice. But the analyst is not observing the driver. And the rookie pencil pusher is not qualified to make a yes or no evaluation of what the driver did unless he knows methods.

As for your post, yes I agree with most of the examples. Problem is, there are many times that the package is not safe in the main area where the customer enters the home. Therefor you must leave the package where it is safe, and then leave a delivery notice where the customer will find it. In your example, you posted it back wards in a manner that I have never seen a driver attempt.

Bottom line, it really does not matter at the end of the day. It is a benchmark number that should not vary much each day. It is also a number that should give the center manager and delivery sups the ulcer, not the driver, should the number be such that it is unattainable.

d