You wont believe this PCM!

[spidey]

Has anyone really looked at the science behing this theory anyway? It would be very hard for excessive heat to damage any of the DIAD's electrical components, maybe if the temp exceeded 250deg. High humidity could be a more practical explanation for the DIAD malfunctioning, as condensation could effect some of the circuitry. Where is this taking place? Maybe someone with some electrical engineering experience could weigh in on this.

That's a great point. This issue here isn't management vs hourly or skipping lunches, it's about a very really problem happening right now that affects every one of our jobs and our customers.

Some DIADS are failing in the heat. That is a fact. That leaves the driver stuck, the customers stuck, the people at the center scrambling like crazy trying to find and prep replacements (most centers are allowed to have one or two extras on hand for every 60 or so DIADS in use. When the 4th driver in a 60 car center calls in with a dead one it's a panic.) By the time a new DIAD is brought to the driver he is behind and hot and pissed, so are his customers, so is the OMS being screamed at by the customers, the drivers and TSG.

Now, when they discover many, not all, but many of the DIADs that failed were left in the back of package cars, why shouldn't they PCM for you to not leave them in the back? Maybe even suggest that if you are going to spend your lunch somewhere air conditioned you take it with you? I know that hourly are programed to look at management as an attacking bear evey time they open their mouths, but think about it before you freak out. Do you want to be sitting on the side of the road in 100 degree heat waiting for a new DIAD? Yeah, that'll show 'em!

The "us vs them" crap is taking this company down just as fast as the bull hockey corporate pulls. This isn't an issue of being oppressed by the man, they are asking you to keep your DIAD cooler when possible. Take your lunch, take your board, ignore it till you're done.

 

[dannyboy]

no longer take that 1 hour and break and neither do I

Wiley, Guess you been retired longer than I. Hard to get used to it after 33 years. But now that I am affectionately

The parochial "boss" of the destitute

, I am lucky to even get a lunch break, much less a paid break.

Not trying to be a little disengenuous, old habits are hard to break. And the brown habit especially. Just like never taking a lunch break for the first 20. Which was the point I was trying to make.

So if you can find it in your heart to forgive a sinner like me

d

 

[toonertoo]

I agree we shoud try to protect our equipment, but Spidey, do you not also agree that people would be a lot more us vs them, if management would take into consideration that because of the heat all over the country, extraordinarily hot in some areas, and with Diads failing and all that maybe just maybe, we should consider the health and welfare of the hourly working in a package car so well suited to shield us from the heat!!!??? Maybe some 8 hour dispatches to get our people in able to get home and revive themselves for another day. As someone else stated on this thread, you should not be in the back for long periods of time. Granted, this is true assuming you have the perfect load, and a walkway to start with....Many of us dont..But to go from 100 in the cab to 120+ in the back, doesnt give you much reprieve. There is no ventilation in the back and God forbid we leave the door open for a small period of time to move some air. My diad quits and restarts 3 times a day, I assume it is the humidity, as well as the heat. Dont know much about electronics. And its only been 90-100 here every day. To keep the company running smoothly through a heat wave as well as a cold snap, what would it hurt a fortune 500 company to lighten the load and keep everyone coming to work with attitudes intact? Pizza at night doesnt quite help as we are mostly sick to our stomaches and just want to get somewhere cool to kick back and revive. I think if I had the money UPS does I could give a billion or two, to keep my outside work force as safe as possible, and at the same time serve the customer. And our customers would surely agree, as they are all concerned how we survive in the trucks. And it isnt just us its the bread guy, the dhl guy, the fed ex guy, the twinkee guy, the frito guy. We all ride around in these heat boxes in the summer, and freezers in the winter, its never been as bad as Ive seen it lately. Its called common sense, and respect.
I realize this isnt your department, but you seem to have a fair gauge on the situation.

 

[spidey]

do you not also agree that people would be a lot more us vs them, if management would take into consideration that because of the heat all over the country, extraordinarily hot in some areas, and with Diads failing and all that maybe just maybe, we should consider the health and welfare of the hourly working in a package car so well suited to shield us from the heat!!!??? Maybe some 8 hour dispatches to get our people in able to get home and revive themselves for another day.

I agree 100%. The problem is, and what I think is wrong with the company: The management people you see every day and the people you see walking through the center once a month in suits have no say on any of this. A center manager can't put another car on road or drop your stop count. They make the numbers or they find another job. It seems silly that an on road sup is out delivering water to people they are loading with enough work to kill them in this heat, but they are doing it because that is all they can do. This picture of managers sitting in an air conditioned office counting their money on the sweaty backs of hourlys isn't accurate. Management is being asked to make gold out of straw and if they can't they won't have income for their family the next day and another will be in their spot. When they tell you to drink extra water and help each other out and try to keep your equipment from failing they aren't barking orders, they are trying to get everyone in safely and keep their job another day. I know how hard you are working, and I know how badly it sucks for the people who have to send you out there. I assure you no one is getting any joy from watching anyone run in this heat.

 

[toonertoo]

I realize it isnt mgmt in my center or anyone elses doing this to them directly.

When I say MGMT I am talking about the dweebs who ARE sittting in air conditioning, who are NOT taking into account the heat, (just look at ST LOUIS or The QUEENS in NYC,) these are the ones who should lose their jobs as they cannot GET THE BIG PICTURE. The water in the morning helps, but it would help a whole lot more, if just for a day or two or a week, or however long it lasts, we all were just allowed to work together to get the job done. I dont want to see anyone in trouble for ignoring orders, or die from heat exhaustion either. If we could just get through the things that affect us all, we could go back to bickering about everything we have, us vs them since the beginning, when its over. From what I saw on Friday, I will be EXTREMELY suprised if we do not have 1/2 the force call off. I saw people who were totally drained, given 2 more hrs work than th 10 hr day they had Thursday because some pencil pusher said so. I saw people losing control our of sheer exhaustion and frustration. Mgmt and hourly alike. Sending out help in the afternoon and telling us to give the helper what we need to be in , not under or over, and the person doing the helping getting slammed. We arent dipatchers we are drivers, it isnt our job to dispatch it should be done in the AM. When it comes to survival animals will eat each other................or their own. I never saw anything as out of control. People saying they couldnt do it, mgmt saying do it or else Ill give you so much work you wont see your family all night for a week. (which for people with youngsters really hurts) Thats not the way a Friday or any day should start out. Talk about safety and then send people out spitting fire, justifiably. For instance a guy has a 87 del stops, 8.9 on Thursday, and he is like .20 late, how can you justifiably send him out with 120, and tell him to be in under 9.5. it cant be done and shouldnt be attempted, but thats what we are expected to do. Do the math, its not close, its not safe, and any attempt to achieve that goal is ludicrous. And Im not talking about me, I just call at 2 say it isnt looking good, and here is what is going to occur, through my best attempt. I do my best, and I do as well as the guys younger than me, but my advantage is my life accepts the hours as my kids are grown and gone, I get home I havent missed anything, I can take a cold shower, have a cold drink, and watch TV in the cold living room. I dont have anything else demanding my attention. And I dont have the guilt of missing this or that which only compounds the stress. I wish someone in the Ivory tower would realize what they are doing to the morale. Yes we get great pay, but we work for every penny. There may be a line 20 miles long waiting for our jobs but you will be lucky to get a 1/4 mile of people to make it and stay. And to ask for a little consideration, and now that it may be over, too late to get it, is not too much to ask from any employer.

 

[over9five]

Wow, Tooner! Freakin excellent post. That's exactly how it is, and exactly why management/hourly co-operation will never be what it could be.

 

[scratch]

We have had a big increase in accidents lately, and most are the new drivers who have no experience working out in extremely hot weather. Most of these accidents are minor, but we had a new guy hit a wheel lying on the interstate Thursday and it ripped the whole front axle off the p7. He hit the concrete wall and was lucky to have only a dislocated leg. You have to be careful in this hot weather, it really zaps the energy out of you. After twenty plus years of this, I just take it one day at a time, I know it won't last forever and will eventually cool off. Thank God my customers like me, I get offered bottled water all during the day.

And yes we are over dispatched too. Routes are busted out everyday and they can't understand why everyone is over nine five. Its pure insanity.

 

[over9five]

"I assure you no one is getting any joy from watching anyone run in this heat."

Maybe not joy, but I believe upper management gets some depraved satisfaction in making us work hard and late in this heat, and a sense of "paying us back" for making too much money by keeping us away from our families till 9 every night. I wonder if they high five each other when a driver drops from heat exaustion?

There's really no need for this. The companys' raking in millions. Put in another route.

Actually, maybe it is joy...

 

[DS]

I have to agree with over9 , tooners post,was [mad]RIGHT ON![/mad].The problem is not our immediate management team,its the ones way up there with thier ipods doing lunch with the teamsters honchos,talking golf,and praising PAS.
They must be blind to not see the problems they are causing with thier unreasonable production analyst tactics.But it`s been the same for so long It would probobly take a [evil]NEW UNION[/evil] to induce a few changes in the way we get treated,maybe the OUR PACKAGE CENTER can help bring in the necessary changes.

 

[yeldarb]

Involving a new union, wouldnt that make a work stoppage imminent in 2008? The Teamsters wouldnt cooperate if there was strong support, and I have no idea how UPS will respond. I havent given it much thought, but I couldnt fathom it going smoothly. Could I be missing something?

 

[mrbill]

The diadd cant handle the heat but YOU have to?
Thats their problem.
Make the package cars cooler and we and the diadds will survive!!!!!!!!1

 

[danlin]

Its amazing how hard Ups makes it to deliver boxes! We have routes in our center that you can not take a lunch till 5pm. Then we have a Union Stewart who take 2 to 3 hours lunch a day and delivers 30 to 40 stops (his route is in a very rural area). Kinda makes you wonder if hes cuttin deals or sumthin coz they dont say anything to him.

If you have people that are on routes that don't take lunch until 500 that is those drives fault...There is contract language that allow 1 hour lunch to be taken anytime between your 4th and 6th hour. Just ask the state of California .Use the contract that we walked for 15 days in 1997, don't let UPS use you. By the way it is stewarD not stewarT

 

[dannyboy]

I agree with Danlin

The routes are to be set up that each driver can and should take lunch during the lunch time period. Now that being said, if you have a day once in a while where you get slammed, then I could understand not taking your lunch before 5. But that would be the rare exception and not the rule.

And if you really wanted to be a stickler to the contract, then the proper thing to do would be to notify management that you will be taking your lunch and you can not make service to the business stops you have. That will put the issue on their backs to solve.

My preference would be to handle the occasional heavy day by taking your lunch later. You can never tell when that consideration will come in handy. But then again, depending on management and their response to your reaching back and getting the job done, (as we know, some use drivers that try and help out without being "problem children") you might have to call them each time. So each situation and case needs to be carefully thought over before committing to an action.

But there is no excuse for this being a daily occurrence. It just shows poor planing.

d

 

[tieguy]

This shows how these threads can get over worked. Anyone could certainly understand why the drivers hearing about the diad board being overheated in the back of the package car would chuckle thinking "what about us".

If you're really concerned about working too many hours then making sure your board does not overheat in the back of a package car would be in your interest. waiting on a new board or switching to paper would definitely slow you down and extend your day.

 

[dannyboy]

Tie

I would think that most drivers, at least the ones that I know, try to take care of the company equipment like it was their own. I do know of some that could care less, but usually they do not last long.

As you say, diad trouble equals more time on road.

What I still can not understand is managements refusal to cut hours. In many cases working more hours than at peak.

As tooner said, it is understandable to work till after dark at peak, when the sun sets at 5:30, but to be dispatched to work till 8 or 8:30 just about every day.......why? And before you launch into "its cheaper to pay you and four other drivers a bunch of overtime than it is to put another driver on road", yeah I know its cheaper. But is it the right thing to do.

Remember, our founders prided themselves on doing the right thing, no matter the outcome. So for a few extra bucks a year to the bottom line, has UPS prostituted itself into not doing the right thing by its drivers?

d

 

[DS]

Yes Danny they are our pimps

 

[dannyboy]

You cheap **** you!!!!!!!!!!

Make sure you stick a lot of money away, you wont allways have your stunning beauty!

I know, I have a lot of room to talk.

d

 

[JD in MA/CA]

Lunch? Lunch?

 

[beentheredonethat]

Tie

As tooner said, it is understandable to work till after dark at peak, when the sun sets at 5:30, but to be dispatched to work till 8 or 8:30 just about every day.......why? And before you launch into "its cheaper to pay you and four other drivers a bunch of overtime than it is to put another driver on road", yeah I know its cheaper. But is it the right thing to do.

Remember, our founders prided themselves on doing the right thing, no matter the outcome. So for a few extra bucks a year to the bottom line, has UPS prostituted itself into not doing the right thing by its drivers?

d

To a large extent I agree with dannyboy and tooner on this. I think going heavy on the pd day and cutting a driver is definitely cheaper in the short run. But, I think it is probably more expensive in the long run. There's a point of diminishing returns where fatigue sets in. Not just fatigue from one day of a heavy dispatch but day after day of it. Also, more importantly once a driver gets tired, he\she is more prone to get injured which isn't good for either the driver or the company. It does make sense to have some routes in the center to be known as heavy dispatch routes. Let's face it, in every center there are always going to be some drivers that want the extra hours. Also, it also makes sense for centers that have routes that have a huge to\fr to get on area. It makes sense to have those routes planned at a higher paid day, since if you add a driver in an area like that you add another driver having a huge to\fr which is nothing but cost to UPS. Area's that are tight and have a small to\fr should be planned to be a lower paid day, drivers wanting a lower paid day should bid on those routes so everyone comes out happier. That's my 2 cents.

 

[mrbill]

Makes for a good idea so it will not happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!