What would you have done?

[nWo]

 

[Whither]

@PPH_over_9000 Nothing to worry about. Who cares if they pull you into the office to harass you about it? That'd give you the chance to stand up for yourself and point out that telematics shows you went above and beyond to find a detour, 'So why are bothering me about this instead of showing me the route I could've taken?' (as you openly write down notes of what's said, building ammo for an Art 37 grieve). To me it's no different than NI1-Dog. Of course I'd rather avoid the send-again but after a couple minutes, nope, on to the next one.

 

[Fnix]

Tell them you did not have phone reception and dont know the alternate routes because you are not familiar with the route. Next time if you end up in the same situation and you DO have phone reception try to find an alternate route. That way you will know the alternate roads plus save yourself another headache like this.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

So I'm on my most dreaded route. The loop ran 196 miles, averaging about 4-5mi per stop. Rural as hell, nothing makes sense to me but I do what I can to get it done.

Halfway through the day, I'm driving down a road that ends up closed due to road work. Like, completely closed, bunch of tractors and mountains of gravel right behind the closure signs. My stop is about half a mile past that point. So I turned around and tried to figure out an alternate route (this is an incredible weakness of the new DIADs, every time I opened the map feature and zoomed out, I would completely lose track of my current location like an idiot.) So, I backtracked about 7 miles trying to get close enough to get my DIAD to tell me to come from the other way. No go. In the end, I U-turned again, came right back to the road closure signs and called my supe before sheeting the rest of the stops I had down that road as "No Access."

When I return to the building, I walk into a phone call between the OMS and one of these customers who was currently calling in a concern. She kept saying that the road was open if I come from the other way, but I literally could not find that other way.

It's stressing me out and I'm just curious, what would some of you grizzled vets do in this kind of situation? Should I even be stressin' or am I just letting the job get the best of me?

Tell your dispatcher about the closure. Show them on a map. They can close that area off in the system and ORION will navigate you around it. That should keep you from coming from the wrong direction.

 

[DriverNerd]

We have a private island here that gets deliveries and the packages just get left on the office where the ferry takes you to the island.

We had a junior driver first time out there put the packages on a dolly and walk onto the ferry and rode the ferry to the island and started delivering. The private island spans 6 miles across.

The junior driver told me someone looked at him and told him “you got a long day ahead of you.”

He calls the center manager and he was pissed. The ferry only travels certain times of the day. He was stuck on the island for 4 hours. By the time he got back to the truck management already came and cleaned the truck out.

He got to the island around 5 o’clock.

Sounds like I would have done the same thing. If they're not going to tell you ahead of time, how are you supposed to know?! Our job is to deliver the boxes in the truck. I commend him on his work.

 

[burco8080]

you did every thing correct and your management team should stick up for you we can not always get to homes that we have no control over letter c in diad Emergency condition

 

[Jkloc420]

That was my package he didnt deliver

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Waze app is your friend.

 

[retired2000]

paper maps work every time

 

[PASinterference]

paper maps work every time

What's that? I handed one to a new guy a couple years ago. He looked at it like it was a Chinese dictionary. Said he had a phone. He's been on the same route for over a year and still has to stare at his phone all day.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

What's that? I handed one to a new guy a couple years ago. He looked at it like it was a Chinese dictionary. Said he had a phone. He's been on the same route for over a year and still has to stare at his phone all day.

One of our part-time cover drivers straight up told me he cannot read a map. I said “but you use Google or Apple Maps on your phone a lot right?” He said yes and when I told him that it was basically the same exact thing once you orient the map he looked at me like I had just grown six Golden antlers out of my skull.

 

[WorknLateHuh]

So I'm on my most dreaded route. The loop ran 196 miles, averaging about 4-5mi per stop. Rural as hell, nothing makes sense to me but I do what I can to get it done.

Dreaded route? 196 miles in the country with stops miles apart? I love those routes. Doesn't even feel like you're working... just driving around listening to music. I never understand why drivers hate them. Scared of a lil snow?

 

[UnionStrong]

Dreaded route? 196 miles in the country with stops miles apart? I love those routes. Doesn't even feel like you're working... just driving around listening to music. I never understand why drivers hate them. Scared of a lil snow?

I never had a route with that many miles, but I always liked the rural routes. Less traffic, nice spots to sit and take lunch, nicer people as a rule, light pick ups. You had to be careful in winter, but you get used to it. I was always an outdoor guy so it never bothered me.

 

[Sissy Brown Short Shorts]

Man this guys sweating about a huge road closure. I EC deliveries when a dude is blocking the road going down a manhole and I can see the house maybe a minute walk down the road.

 

[PPH_over_9000]

Dreaded route? 196 miles in the country with stops miles apart? I love those routes. Doesn't even feel like you're working... just driving around listening to music. I never understand why drivers hate them. Scared of a lil snow?

Because the stops are hidden-- addresses are out of order, GPS doesn't work, mailboxes can be up to half a mile away from the driveway, and there's maybe two places to stop and use a bathroom or grab something to eat.

There's like a 50/50 chance I'm going to play special investigator trying to find any given address, and half the time the addresses are weird as hell. For example, 1234 Holly Rd is actually off of Berry Lane, which doesn't even connect to Holly Rd. Those are fake street names, but I sheeted that stop up as NSN twice before I was able to talk to someone that could help.

You're right, they're probably sweet routes if you know the area. If you're ignorant, though, it can be incredibly stressful.

Man this guys sweating about a huge road closure. I EC deliveries when a dude is blocking the road going down a manhole and I can see the house maybe a minute walk down the road.

I was moreso worried about the customer call I walked into. The OMS was talking to the customer and saw me walk in, and basically pulled me into the conversation. It... it didn't go well, lol.

 

[AKCoverMan]

Friend that
They can either come pick it up or wait until we can get there

Yeah!! Screw those customers expecting us to actually deliver.

 

[AKCoverMan]

We have a private island here that gets deliveries and the packages just get left on the office where the ferry takes you to the island.

We had a junior driver first time out there put the packages on a dolly and walk onto the ferry and rode the ferry to the island and started delivering. The private island spans 6 miles across.

The junior driver told me someone looked at him and told him “you got a long day ahead of you.”

He calls the center manager and he was pissed. The ferry only travels certain times of the day. He was stuck on the island for 4 hours. By the time he got back to the truck management already came and cleaned the truck out.

He got to the island around 5 o’clock.

Priceless

 

[AKCoverMan]

Man this guys sweating about a huge road closure. I EC deliveries when a dude is blocking the road going down a manhole and I can see the house maybe a minute walk down the road.

Not like we’re paid enough to give a right?

 

[UnionStrong]

One of our part-time cover drivers straight up told me he cannot read a map. I said “but you use Google or Apple Maps on your phone a lot right?” He said yes and when I told him that it was basically the same exact thing once you orient the map he looked at me like I had just grown six Golden antlers out of my skull.

Always carried a street map book in my cooler. IMO looking at a map gives you a better overview of an area making you learn it quicker. But those days are gone. I’m gonna go trim my antlers now.

 

[AKCoverMan]

@PPH_over_9000 Nothing to worry about. Who cares if they pull you into the office to harass you about it? That'd give you the chance to stand up for yourself and point out that telematics shows you went above and beyond to find a detour, 'So why are bothering me about this instead of showing me the route I could've taken?' (as you openly write down notes of what's said, building ammo for an Art 37 grieve). To me it's no different than NI1-Dog. Of course I'd rather avoid the send-again but after a couple minutes, nope, on to the next one.

We can chat in office as long as you want. $1 per minute.

I actually prefer them just let me talk to cust myself but I’ve been in customer contact jobs my whole life. I’m usually much better with customer than 20yr old part time Supe anyway.