Underdispatch Or Over 10 Hour Writeups

[toonertoo]

I agree with a couple of the other posts. Work hard each day and you'll probably be fine.

The problem I see is that the hard work often includes trying to argue with the sups to cherry pick the stops you want rather than the stops that geographically make sense. It's a fun process to watch when I can make it out of the ivory palace in the mornings. I observe fault on both sides - driver and magement. I'd like to get out there more but there are a lot of beans to count so I have a hard time breaking away.

Actually you are correct, that we try to cherry pick, if telling the sup which stops to move because the sup may not know the area like we do, and it makes more sense to listen to us, than to move sometimes what they are trying to move. I always prefer a split which is closer than doing a tri county run. The old trusty dusty DOL would help immensely, and load charts for 3 levels, for those of us not on PAS would be a great tool also, after all its worked for 100 yrs. Sometimes newer isnt always better. But also it depends on the TEAM of drivers, if you have some gunners that only want the stuff they can sling from the truck to the porch, then the sup could have an issue. but at least in my center the sups know who those are, and who are just trying to help the bottom line. Everyones bottom line, service. So we can all have the jobs we have.

 

[tieguy]

Yes that is what we were told last Friday 12-29-06. If we come in and under dispatch or if we work 10 or more hours without calling in and getting help or permission for 10 hours then we are subject to a written warning. Our B.A. is saying work as directed, our steward is saying it is bs. We were told that this is the companies doing not just our center, it is district wide for the rest of the year until peak time is back upon us this coming year.Has anyone else been told this particularily in the Kentucky/Ohio district?

not a big deal. All they want you to do is to call if you come up too light or too heavy. Once you call the responsibility is in managements hands.

 

[speeddemon]

Not much emphasis on that here. Worked a 12 hour day this past Friday, and there were still 5 drivers out past me.

 

[hoser]

Yes that is what we were told last Friday 12-29-06. If we come in and under dispatch or if we work 10 or more hours without calling in and getting help or permission for 10 hours then we are subject to a written warning. Our B.A. is saying work as directed, our steward is saying it is bs. We were told that this is the companies doing not just our center, it is district wide for the rest of the year until peak time is back upon us this coming year.Has anyone else been told this particularily in the Kentucky/Ohio district?

Yet another non-issue blown out of proportion and shared with UPSers on BrownCafe:

Here's what management actually said:
"Hey guys, great work out there. We are seeing some drivers work 8 hour days, resulting in some drivers being on road for 12-13 hours. Furthermore, we see some drivers taking a bit longer than they should in order to pad hours. This is unacceptable, and we want full accountability. That's why, from now on, if you come in early without prior authorization, or you deliberately pad your stops so you work a longer day, you will be issued a written warning. We ran this by your steward who had no problems. If you have any questions, I ask you to direct them to me personally. I think this is fair and that none of you would have problems with this, being you're the best damn couriers in the industry."

How it's portrayed on browncafe:
"Hey, wow, those fetuses for lunch sure tasted great. Man I love this company and hate the people below me. That's why I beat up my wife, but being that isn't enough, I decide to take up my hatred on everyone else. I hate you all. And I want to make your life as difficult and miserable as possible, like mine. That's why, from now on, you are required to work 10 hour days. No more, no less. Anything more, I'll be doing whatever it takes to fire you. Because knowing that you have to tell your kid that he isn't going to play baseball this summer while you find a new job is going to give me all the more pleasure, that is, before I club a baby seal in the head. Hail Eskew."

Let's be realistic here. Contrary to popular unionist belief, managers say things FOR A REASON.

 

[mpeedy]

In our district some number cruncher decided we need to lower our send-agains. The plan put forth is to DR all non-DR apt. buildings, houses. I'm sure next month this will stop when the claims go out of controll.

 

[disneyworld]

I agree with a couple of the other posts. Work hard each day and you'll probably be fine.

The problem I see is that the hard work often includes trying to argue with the sups to cherry pick the stops you want rather than the stops that geographically make sense. It's a fun process to watch when I can make it out of the ivory palace in the mornings. I observe fault on both sides - driver and magement. I'd like to get out there more but there are a lot of beans to count so I have a hard time breaking away.

Then tell me if this makes sense. There is a bulk stop of about 100 pkgs that won't all fit on a route A. Instead of giving route B the overflow,they gave the overflow to route A and gave route B 90 pkgs off area that had to be done first thing in the morning so I had room to start my route. DUH

 

[westsideworma]

Then tell me if this makes sense. There is a bulk stop of about 100 pkgs that won't all fit on a route A. Instead of giving route B the overflow,they gave the overflow to route A and gave route B 90 pkgs off area that had to be done first thing in the morning so I had room to start my route. DUH

of course this makes sense...this is UPS, its not rocket science

I'm sure you know that supervisors are NEVER wrong...especially ones of the on-car and dispatch variety

 

[mittam]

Yet another non-issue blown out of proportion and shared with UPSers on BrownCafe:

Here's what management actually said:
"Hey guys, great work out there. We are seeing some drivers work 8 hour days, resulting in some drivers being on road for 12-13 hours. Furthermore, we see some drivers taking a bit longer than they should in order to pad hours. This is unacceptable, and we want full accountability. That's why, from now on, if you come in early without prior authorization, or you deliberately pad your stops so you work a longer day, you will be issued a written warning. We ran this by your steward who had no problems. If you have any questions, I ask you to direct them to me personally. I think this is fair and that none of you would have problems with this, being you're the best damn couriers in the industry."

How it's portrayed on browncafe:
"Hey, wow, those fetuses for lunch sure tasted great. Man I love this company and hate the people below me. That's why I beat up my wife, but being that isn't enough, I decide to take up my hatred on everyone else. I hate you all. And I want to make your life as difficult and miserable as possible, like mine. That's why, from now on, you are required to work 10 hour days. No more, no less. Anything more, I'll be doing whatever it takes to fire you. Because knowing that you have to tell your kid that he isn't going to play baseball this summer while you find a new job is going to give me all the more pleasure, that is, before I club a baby seal in the head. Hail Eskew."

Let's be realistic here. Contrary to popular unionist belief, managers say things FOR A REASON.

Hoser you must be management to write such a reply, or totally off the wall. No they did not run it by our steward, he in fact had a fit when he heard it at the same time we all heard. I haven't a problem with it as much as others, I do a fair days work for a fair days pay, I was just asking if this was something that was going on company wide as they told us. I figured a site such as this that hits nationally would give answers to the question if they all have heard the same thing. Talk about out of proportion your post went that way on both paragraphs. I agree with you that management does have these type orders for a reason and sometimes it may only be because of a few slackers. I agree there are a lot of managers that should not be there and also I agree there are a lot of drivers that should go, however I honestly started this thread with what management said. We were told by our center manager to ask our steward or BA if we had questions and they would be able to get with management for further answers.

 

[tieguy]

Hoser you must be management to write such a reply, or totally off the wall. No they did not run it by our steward, he in fact had a fit when he heard it at the same time we all heard. I haven't a problem with it as much as others, I do a fair days work for a fair days pay, I was just asking if this was something that was going on company wide as they told us. I figured a site such as this that hits nationally would give answers to the question if they all have heard the same thing. Talk about out of proportion your post went that way on both paragraphs. I agree with you that management does have these type orders for a reason and sometimes it may only be because of a few slackers. I agree there are a lot of managers that should not be there and also I agree there are a lot of drivers that should go, however I honestly started this thread with what management said. We were told by our center manager to ask our steward or BA if we had questions and they would be able to get with management for further answers.

mittam hoser does make a good point. You have some drivers working too short a day while others are working too long. Thus the new policy to address it. You did present it as if management was doing something bizzarre.

 

[brown bomber]

friends...my solution to this situation is to do everything that you can to look bad on paper...I'm presently delivering what was a 9.5 to 10 hr. day 4 yrs. ago..and now some days it's not 8 hrs...I do everything I can to get the daily double...UNDER 8 AND AN HOUR LATE..so far no write-ups,,no riders...occasionally I hit the trifecta..UNDER 8 HOURS, AN HOUR LATE AND LATE AIR
work slow...make more dough

 

[Griff]

mittam hoser does make a good point. You have some drivers working too short a day while others are working too long. Thus the new policy to address it. You did present it as if management was doing something bizzarre.

I'd love to know why we have some of the best business minds in upper management, yet we can't even have rational thought applied to the foundation of the operation and policies.

The drivers who supposedly work "too short a day" are almost always break-skippers and runners. I find it hard to believe many drivers in this country are going out with an under 8 dispatch all the time, while I certainly believe many are going out with a 10 hour day.

Does UPS even realize that we are a service based company? We do not make anything, we sell a service and that's it, yet every year our vision gets more blurry.

 

[farmerbrown]

Until Management works with the driver, you will have to continue justifying assanine policy changes with the company snow job. It must really suck living with that kind of compromise in your life. I have plenty of time to regret those new eight hour days we have been given as I come in 1.5 to sometimes 3.0 over allowed. Ice and snow, late feeder aircraft and meetpoints somehow fail to factor in correctly. I can't wait to be called in on my over allowed and discuss the worthiness of our "numbers". And yes Management do eat their young.

 

[hoser]

In our district some number cruncher decided we need to lower our send-agains. The plan put forth is to DR all non-DR apt. buildings, houses. I'm sure next month this will stop when the claims go out of controll.

UPS loves number crunchers/engineers. Just like how they calculated that it takes xx seconds to deliver a package to a resi. To think that engineers do time studies where the number of steps you take would be ridiculous when I was at FX.

 

[disneyworld]

mittam hoser does make a good point. You have some drivers working too short a day while others are working too long. Thus the new policy to address it. You did present it as if management was doing something bizzarre.

Wasn't PAS supposed fix all these problems? Perfect load,no more sorting, no more meet points

 

[westsideworma]

Wasn't PAS supposed fix all these problems? Perfect load,no more sorting, no more meet points

from what I can see at my hub all PAS did was increase misloads....its easier to learn I will give it that...but thats about all I can give it.

what PAS doesn't take into account is the size of said boxes in the load...and how many. I honestly believe that PAS is a great system...on paper. Maybe someday we'll figure out how to make it actually work in the real world.

 

[hoser]

Wasn't PAS supposed fix all these problems? Perfect load,no more sorting, no more meet points

like with any brand new technology (like playstation 3's), the technology is going to suck for the first little bit. then you give it time, and it works out well suitably. don't judge the system's future and purpose based on kinks in the first year.

from what I can see at my hub all PAS did was increase misloads....its easier to learn I will give it that...but thats about all I can give it.

now why are there misloads? is it because of poor data entry from the client? incorrectly inputted zip code, spelled a street wrong, just typed in "300 maple" when there is a maple st, dr, wy, vw, av, cr, mw, ht, in 4 different corners of a metropolis?
or is it because PAS is reading and assigning zip codes (ZIP codes were invented so USPS could sort their letters and packages) is flawed?

i'm thinking it's the former.

 

[westsideworma]

like with any brand new technology (like playstation 3's), the technology is going to suck for the first little bit. then you give it time, and it works out well suitably. don't judge the system's future and purpose based on kinks in the first year.


now why are there misloads? is it because of poor data entry from the client? incorrectly inputted zip code, spelled a street wrong, just typed in "300 maple" when there is a maple st, dr, wy, vw, av, cr, mw, ht, in 4 different corners of a metropolis?
or is it because PAS is reading and assigning zip codes (ZIP codes were invented so USPS could sort their letters and packages) is flawed?

i'm thinking it's the former.

its a little of both.

lets say two companies get electrical components from the same supply company. One located on 52 elm st the other 121 main or something to that affect. The shipping labels are correct however the pal labels will flip them. So the ones that actually go to 52 elm have a pal sending them to 121 main and vice versa. This sort of thing happens everyday. The tracking numbers do match though so its not the spa person putting the wrong sticker on its the system itself mucking it up. I believe these are called "system flips." Least thats what our supervisors tell us. Granted we (preloaders) are not held responsible for these ones but its still a disruption in service.

The out of sequence ones (which ARE charged to us) are simply the wrong pal on the box. The SPA people will scan a bunch and put them on the wrong boxes due to a box missing (fell off the side), a double scan, or just plain mental error. However, that throws off most of the packages in that particular batch that was scanned. Since the new hires are trained to look at the pal only, it gets loaded. Hell even people who did it the old way (before the wonderful PAS system) do it as sometimes there just isn't enough time to check it again especially when they're rushing you off the clock (though thats eased up a bit).

Another reason is there simply not enough time to check and recheck
for the above mistakes

Under PAS it is called for 180 pph (according to the cards they gave us) which is about average. yes I know there is no standard rate of productivity but I'm just saying what the card they passed out to us said. However in reality they want 200+ and will give you 5 cars to do when you previously had 3 and will blame you for not finishing on time. I don't care who you are, loading 5 cars takes longer than loading 3. You have to cover more ground (I know it doesn't seem like much but to follow "the methods" it is). It is next to impossible to stay ahead of the work area because by the time your cage reaches the last car, the next cage is halfway through the pull already. this pull did 1500-1600 pieces and they seemingly couldn't figure out A. why this preloader (not me) always needed help, B why there were so many misloads (the girl was rushed and harassed for not finishing on time) C figure out why she was so angry with them when they talked to her about it. When she slowed down her misloads went down or disappeared but got hassled for not wrapping....you can't win. I'm sorry but before PAS this was never an issue save for maybe when you were a newbie, after you learned your charts you were set.

I'm not saying it isn't a useful tool...it very well could be eventually, but at least from what I can see, its not there yet.

Also I have other friends that work at different hubs/centers that have been on it for over 2yrs and they STILL have misload problems. UPS has to realize this system isn't perfect and shouldn't go around pretending that it is. When I hear a manager or supervisor tell me other centers don't have these problems I laugh because I know it is garbage (isn't the internet wonderful?).

 

[disneyworld]

like with any brand new technology (like playstation 3's), the technology is going to suck for the first little bit. then you give it time, and it works out well suitably. don't judge the system's future and purpose based on kinks in the first year.


now why are there misloads? is it because of poor data entry from the client? incorrectly inputted zip code, spelled a street wrong, just typed in "300 maple" when there is a maple st, dr, wy, vw, av, cr, mw, ht, in 4 different corners of a metropolis?
or is it because PAS is reading and assigning zip codes (ZIP codes were invented so USPS could sort their letters and packages) is flawed?

i'm thinking it's the former.

I think it's going on 3 years thanks,maybe 4(can't remember). Haven't seen any improvement or management taking any feedback into consideration. THE DRIVERS KNOW NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mittam]

I think it's going on 3 years thanks,maybe 4(can't remember). Haven't seen any improvement or management taking any feedback into consideration. THE DRIVERS KNOW NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21/2 years here and it gets worse each week

 

[hoser]

really interesting, thanks for the insight

perhaps PAS should sort to zip code, the micro-sorting should be done by humans. i'm pro technology, but you can't technologize everything.
example:
United axes troubled baggage system at Denver airport
and if you're even more interested:
http://ardent.mit.edu/airports/ASP_papers/Bag System at Denver.PDF