4:42 is the preload start time

konsole

Well-Known Member
An insult is the best description I heard today when this was conversed with a few other teamsters. Over a decade is how long I have been with the company and as far as I recall back then the preload start times where either the same everyday, or 1 day was different by 10 minutes. For atleast a few years the start times where set to be as little as 5 minutes apart. So one day it might be 4:30 and the next day it would be 4:35. Upon seeing 4:42 on the schedule every teamster I talked to couldnt believe it and thought it had to be a typo. As far as I have heard it isnt a typo, so next week the preload will start at 4:42 Tues-Fri. In case you can't figure it out, the point here is not that the start time is too late or too early, its that now they are using single minute adjustments for the start times.

Stock market at an all time high, UPS stock reached an all time high about a week ago, which is higher then the peak in 2004, and yet christmas turkeys gone, water bottles and t-shirts gone, any sort of food or cook-out is basically extinct, and now management has been reduced to single minute adjustments for the start times. I'm not surprised they are stooping this low, but its comforting to know that others feel that this is an absurd insult, instead of giving a smirk and saying "well what are ya gonna do" Are other part timers seeing this behavior from management?

Our preloaders start anywhere from 5-10 minutes after the unload starts, so some of us would be starting at 4:57, are you kidding me? and if they punched in at 5:00 of course management would claim they are late.
 

Bagels

Family Leave Fridays!!!
Stock market at an all time high, UPS stock reached an all time high about a week ago, which is higher then the peak in 2004, and yet christmas turkeys gone, water bottles and t-shirts gone, any sort of food or cook-out is basically extinct, and now management has been reduced to single minute adjustments for the start times.

​Gee, I wonder what UPS's doing wrong to achieve such profitability!

It's happening all over the country. For years we started at the same time every day (expect on Wednesday, when it was 10 minutes earlier) -- and it was consistent year-round, sans peak/the weeks building up to peak. Now we have different start times each day of the week -- and it's fairly common for Wed./Thur./Fri. to be adjusted early in the week. We have a scattered start system in which some unload/SPA/sort teams, irreg drivers, small sorters, etc. start 3-7 minutes later than others. I agree it seems pretty petty to start, for example, a bulk driver 4 minutes after the sort, but if one bulk driver per building (that has bulk drivers) did this, you'd be saving close to a quarter million a year. Multiply by other employee groups.....
 
An insult is the best description I heard today when this was conversed with a few other teamsters. Over a decade is how long I have been with the company and as far as I recall back then the preload start times where either the same everyday, or 1 day was different by 10 minutes. For atleast a few years the start times where set to be as little as 5 minutes apart. So one day it might be 4:30 and the next day it would be 4:35. Upon seeing 4:42 on the schedule every teamster I talked to couldnt believe it and thought it had to be a typo. As far as I have heard it isnt a typo, so next week the preload will start at 4:42 Tues-Fri. In case you can't figure it out, the point here is not that the start time is too late or too early, its that now they are using single minute adjustments for the start times.

Stock market at an all time high, UPS stock reached an all time high about a week ago, which is higher then the peak in 2004, and yet christmas turkeys gone, water bottles and t-shirts gone, any sort of food or cook-out is basically extinct, and now management has been reduced to single minute adjustments for the start times. I'm not surprised they are stooping this low, but its comforting to know that others feel that this is an absurd insult, instead of giving a smirk and saying "well what are ya gonna do" Are other part timers seeing this behavior from management?

Our preloaders start anywhere from 5-10 minutes after the unload starts, so some of us would be starting at 4:57, are you kidding me? and if they punched in at 5:00 of course management would claim they are late.

Its really this simple....they pinch you for 2 minutes at start,you pinch them for 10 to finish. Play the game. I do. And I play to win.
 

hatoya

Member
consider yourself lucky. here at fedex ground we have a new start time every friend'ing day!

it's either 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, or 4:00am .. and it's 15 minutes earlier for unloaders..

you're released at the managers discretion and i think they give those *******s bonuses for keeping your hours under x amount of hours so they'll do everything they can to get you off the clock asap
 

Norma

Active Member
Just think of all the planning that went into that start time. They had to factor in load arrival and departure times, traffic conditions and the weather.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic. The 4:42 time was obviously meant to 'wow' somebody. Our sups are trying way too hard to look smart.... and failing.

Take the start time combined with the brilliant idea of bagging Surepost small packages AFTER they reach the truck. We are just another brilliant idea or 2 away from total disaster.

B.T.W. 42 minutes = exactly .7 hours. Unfortunately there is no cost savings whether the number rounds to 1 place or 50 places. The computer take the same amount of time and energy.
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
B.T.W. 42 minutes = exactly .7 hours. Unfortunately there is no cost savings whether the number rounds to 1 place or 50 places. The computer take the same amount of time and energy.

This is what I was thinking. Starting you at 4:42 would be 4.70 in UPSland. They may be trying to round their numbers with their numbers.
 

brownIEman

Well-Known Member
Its really this simple....they pinch you for 2 minutes at start,you pinch them for 10 to finish. Play the game. I do. And I play to win.

every time I was in a preload where ther idea came in to pinch minutes on the start time to recover pph, it was due to the fact that the operation was already being pinched on the back end by employees as described. just something to think about.
 

Bagels

Family Leave Fridays!!!
every time I was in a preload where ther idea came in to pinch minutes on the start time to recover pph, it was due to the fact that the operation was already being pinched on the back end by employees as described. just something to think about.

I believe that all employees should express honestly & integrity. I cringe when I see employees spend the first several minutes past start fiddling with their radios, employees who take additional time beyond break to return to their work area, employees who use the potty at the end of the sort while on the clock, etc.

But to suggest that every time management pinches the start time it's to recover time is nonsense. There's plenty of managers who do so -- rightfully -- in effort to improve production (not necessarily because it's failing or declining ... but perhaps to earn a reward, etc.) And in my decade-plus career, I've worked with managers will will doctor time cards, call break over after 8 minutes (even when there was no problem with returning to work beyond break, etc.)
 

ORLY!?!

Master Loader
Wow, what a great thread! It feels as if I'm in a circle of fellow preloaders at my building. Theres some great post in this topic, from the new guys to the regulars, hats off to all of you.

As I see it, its just another one of these add-ons this year to save the company money. Such examples I posted about a few weeks ago about corner stoning packages, to save drivers the long walk back into the car for packages. This is nothing different amoung a long line of things to come for weeks, months perhaps even years. The big guy up top has got ideas, and he will invoke them as he and his buddies seem fit. He says " Dance puppets, dance! ".

As said in here, its a micromanage of time. And also as said in here, dont worry about the time, but what you'll make ( dollar smart ). They want 2 mintues off normal start time, you take 10 more at the end of the day. They got a problem with it? Then this is what needs to be said, other then production matters, which it will be. ( also, the .70 cent raise plays a factor, your saying " thats not for months! " yet it does because it will save that much in months to counter, thusly saying at the end of the year they still have record profit, again. ).

They bring you a steward, they question you, and they will. You say " Look, I came in here and my cages / belt was blasted when I showed up. There was no way of coming back form the mess they made me because no one was here to stop it. ( If a sup starts working because of it =) ) I came in and a soup was working due to the mess they created. "

Also say, if one has cages, " I came in early ( and you should 10-20 mintues, just to witness the bull ), and my cages were already full and could do anything about it. " Also, " it has gotten warmer, I'm not getting heat stroke due to them increasing our work load and rolling our start time back " Also add "which is also against OCHA terms of work place conditions" offer to file paper work to OCHA for this with our union. They will turn a different shade of green. Its a 35,000 dollar fine. Theres a lot of ways of dealing with this.

Also, I'd like to add, for me it was 10 mintues they took off the start time. So I feel your pain as well, but as stated above is they way we should deal with this. Play the game is right, play to win, even if its small wins here and there. Also, get together with your fellow preloaders after/ before shift and start telling them to play the game. Its going to take a massive effort to kill this and other things to come. I am sorry if the drivers hate not getting started on time, but that is the point! This will make a point, day in and day out.

This is unethical, unfair, unsafe and perhaps against the law as well. And its only going to get worse in time. Heads up UPS!
 

konsole

Well-Known Member
I believe that all employees should express honestly & integrity. I cringe when I see employees spend the first several minutes past start fiddling with their radios, employees who take additional time beyond break to return to their work area, employees who use the potty at the end of the sort while on the clock, etc.

But to suggest that every time management pinches the start time it's to recover time is nonsense. There's plenty of managers who do so -- rightfully -- in effort to improve production (not necessarily because it's failing or declining ... but perhaps to earn a reward, etc.) And in my decade-plus career, I've worked with managers will will doctor time cards, call break over after 8 minutes (even when there was no problem with returning to work beyond break, etc.)

Why do you feel its proper for the shift to be run with a boot camp mentality? Never allowed to adjust their radio a few minutes into the shift? Never allowed to come back from break a minute or two after the belts start? Never allowed to go to the bathroom for 1-2 minutes just before they clock out?

If you meant that you cringe when you see people doing these things consistently then yes I agree with you on that, but to get upset when an employee does these occasionally is going to do nothing but create senseless hostility. A certain level of freedom needs to be given to the employees to do these things once in a while, and to deny them that is to deny people of basic human needs. A good manager understands and provides a little bit of breathing room for their employees, take away that breathing room and you reduce employees desire to produce for the company.

I'm not really understanding your theory on the start time being changed by such a small amount, because as you say, its meant to improve production or to earn a reward. I'd like you to elaborate on that one.
 

Random_Facts

Well-Known Member
Our hub runs the same way, every day it's a new start time, I think they do that here, so the lady that you never see, has a job to announce it every day. Monday 3:45 am, Tuesday 3:50 am, Wednesday 3:45 am, Thursday 3:55 am, Friday 3:57 am. Ironically a lot of people forget from day to day, and have to end up calling someone else to see what it was. If I got a dollar for someone calling me asking the start time, I would have enough for a months work of pay. Keep it the same, how hard is that?
 

UPS Preloader

Well-Known Member
A boot camp mentality will only cause most of us to slow down. I know for a fact that it has a negative affect on me. Work at a safe steady work speed and when your done, your done. If you don't finish on time it's not your fault. To repeat a quote I saw on the BC years ago: "If the plan fails, the plan fails. We are just the messengers."
 

Bagels

Family Leave Fridays!!!
Why do you feel its proper for the shift to be run with a boot camp mentality? Never allowed to adjust their radio a few minutes into the shift? Never allowed to come back from break a minute or two after the belts start? Never allowed to go to the bathroom for 1-2 minutes just before they clock out?

You really perceive these activities to be acceptable, even though you're being compensated for your time?
 

ORLY!?!

Master Loader
You really perceive these activities to be acceptable, even though you're being compensated for your time?

As you were saying in your last post, yea I've been around soups that will change start times and shave minutes off people to justify a fake made up number, to that given grace period they think you've took 1 - 2 minutes for the bathroom or to look good to those higher up on the feeding chain. What is outrageous is this is common practice and illegle.

I see people writing their times down each night. Sure, that can help, and soups will claim they cant change the times until you have clocked out. Which I think is bogus, they lie all the time, why would this be any different. So writing them down is pointless, they are shaving 2, 3, 4 ( or a lot more ) minutes on each person, or selected persons each and every night, again illegal.

The sad part about this is they are supposed to be supervision, and thats it. They shouldnt be given tools of management to change anything. They should only observe and find ways at making our jobs easier, not harder.
 
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