Bad weather in Ohio, your thoughts

[toonertoo]

Maybe someone in corporate will read this I hope.
Just a few thoughts I would like to bounce off you guys and gals....
The weather here has been terribly, awful. Its not like we learn this On area, we knew it for days. Does not UPS powers that rule, have a plan? It has sucked for weeks, the roads are still covered, packed, and barely driveable in some areas. Most of us could not get done today, and that was known when we left the building at 10am.
I thought, if I was in charge, a plan would be made by 5pm. Something like, go through the load, get out the air, the medicine, anything you deem important and however many you can do in the time before you need to get the air in, or air meets set. Especially when some drivers said, I will be out til 10pm...............
So whats a driver to do. After many years I am befuddled. Do I attack one section, do I pick out the stuff that is important? If I do the latter, and they decide I need to stay out, then I have more area to cover. To go back and basically do a redo.
Instead they send some new guy out with meets at 330, to give me work I cant go back to, and all priority.
Why dont they just have the new guy deliver it?
Why dont they tell us the plan so we can implement it and get to the important stops? While I know they are all important, on a day like today or last week or tomorrow, why dont we have a plan in place, WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS SOMETHINGS GOING TO GET MISSED, instead of telling us at 7pm to come in, when its going to take me a good 40 to get there, and the air trailer is pulling at 730?
If we are a service company, as I last thought we were, how about giving us the chance to service what is important. We are the experts, we do care, and we do know the difference between grandmas medicine and a basic that can wait.
Sorry for the rant, im just confused. What a way to run a railroad.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

For the same reason there's a sensor on the seatbelt, Drivers are uncapable of being trusted and to do the right thing.

I wish I was kidding about how they think

 

[toonertoo]

Yes I guess, but they do the wrong thing when it comes to service.
Let them sit behind their pcs looking at numbers, thats what they do. Let me provide the best service I can under trying conditions. Thats what I do, and I cant with inept planning.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

I guess we all know a few drivers in our own centers who could screw up an assignment like you mentioned.

In your scenario, basically UPS is screwing the neighborhood at the end of our routes. Unless you want to run your route backwards, I don't know what else they would say. I guess the best rule of thumb is go where you can get rid of the most stops, that's the number UPS cares about.

When winter weather approaches, I always do my hardest neighborhoods before it snows or after the people get home when they're doing their driveways.

I think pick and choosing what to deliver for the most part would be a bad idea. You waste more time and gas driving around for fewer stops.

 

[notlookingback]

I posted something similar in another thread regarding lessons UPS should learn from the peak weather.... Every center team should have a set snow plan. It's not rocket science to figure out ahead of time which neighborhoods are a lost cause in snow. Drivers & Sups should know which arterials will be sanded/salted/plowed and open for business. Centers should have a PAS snow plan queued up and ready in DPS throughout the winter. It's stupid to send all of your drivers out on their normal routes when you know some drivers will be 10% effective in the snow (bring back 90% of their stops) while others are up to 75% effective. It depends on the terrain. Send out all your drivers, but send them to the areas that are deliverable. Let your rural resi driver stay downtown and take work off the in-town business routes. No one's going to run the same SPORH when there's ice in every parking lot. At least you'll stay clean in the deliverable areas during the snow. Put the "lost cause" volume in retain trailers until the weather improves. Sigh.... I'll stop ranting now.

 

[trplnkl]

Maybe someone in corporate will read this I hope.
That's assuming anyone in corporate cares about how or why we get the numbers as long as we get them.

Instead they send some new guy out with meets at 330, to give me work I cant go back to, and all priority.
Why dont they just have the new guy deliver it?
Here that new guy is usually on the clock as a shuttle driver and can't deliver because they would have to pay them more. Most of the time they don't even have a DIAD to make deliveries with.
Why dont they tell us the plan so we can implement it and get to the important stops?
They don't have a plan because that would require forethought and that isn't allowed evidently. UPS management are fire fighters, not fire prevention personnel. Plus, if they had a plan, drivers would work the plan and not go beyond what they should to make service on as many packages as possible, in a safe manner.

Sorry for the rant, im just confused. What a way to run a railroad.

This reminds me of an old poem that I heard alot when I was kid, but it says alot about our situations with UPS.
It's not my job to drive this train
or say how fast it goes
It's not my job to drive this train
or make the whistle blow.

It's not my job to be in charge,
while hurtling down the line.
If anyone asks how things are,
My answer is "Just fine!"

I'm not allowed to say how fast
This railroad train can go
I don't know where we're going,
and I'm not supposed to know.

I'm not allowed to shoot off steam
Nor can I clang the bell
But let this old train jump the track
And see who catches hell.

Author unknown

 

[myback]

welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

 

[BLACKBOX]

In December we experienced horrible weather. My priority's went like this, business,perishables, then medicines. Everything else just had to wait till you could get to it.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

In December we experienced horrible weather. My priority's went like this, business,perishables, then medicines. Everything else just had to wait till you could get to it.

Tooner's question is did you do this on your own knowing you were getting called back to the building early. Or was this by managements request?

Also honestly, I can't tell if what I'm delivering is medicine or vitamins. Just because it rattles when you shake doesn't make it medicine.

 

[User Name]

Yesterday I made two air meets, then made a pick up that required me to go back three successful because boxes were big and couldn't fit more than 130 in a p500, three trucks, then went back to the building got different board made meet with another driver to take some pu pieces so he could have room to move around. Then made two delivery stops. Finally made 7 drop box pu and returned to the building. 8 hours, r u kidding me. Hey I don't make the decisions I just work as instructed.

If I would haver run a split route I think I would have been more successful, but it pays the same.

Just glad I did it safe and didn't get stuck or run into anything. Peace out

 

[BLACKBOX]

Or was this by managements request?

Exactly. Per management, businesses pays the bills. After that you can pretty much tell what you have left. Perishables are well marked and you basically know who on your area have regular med dels. You just do the best you can before long they'll call everyone in early because of safety issues. What I return with is management problem not mines.

 

[dilligaf]

For the same reason there's a sensor on the seatbelt, Drivers are uncapable of being trusted and to do the right thing.

I wish I was kidding about how they think

Heff, I wish you were too. It's a sad day, we drive their vehicles with 100's of 1000's of dollars worth of products and they have to 2nd guess our decisions all the time. Wouldn't it be amazing to hear, just one day, 'Go out, do what you think is right, and get yourself back in here'.

 

[mattwtrs]

Up until maybe 5 years ago when bad weather conditions (snow & ice) happened in my center extra trips were added. I think there was one clean up or split that had work from 2 loops that worked out to 4 garbage loads. We were lucky enough to have center manager's that left the OCS & preload make the plans & keep them on file.

The top seniority driver & sometime shop steward would usually talk to the new division manager on his or her first visit to let them know we could take care of the customers if they didn't micromanage. His talk worked cause we would only see a DM 5 or 6 times a year at the most.

 

[mattwtrs]

Heff, I wish you were too. It's a sad day, we drive their vehicles with 100's of 1000's of dollars worth of products and they have to 2nd guess our decisions all the time. Wouldn't it be amazing to hear, just one day, 'Go out, do what you think is right, and get yourself back in here'.

I did hear that a few times in 35 years! Back before UPS went public!

 

[over9five]

Tooner, you have to lose your good attitude. You care too much!!! Our job doesn't pay you one cent more than the driver who doesn't care.
If no-ones suggesting a plan for the current weather/road situation, it's not your problem. I would deliver my route in the order it is set up. I wouldn't deliver anything that might get my car stuck. I would start my pickups at the regular time. Send a message "I will miss X stops to make the air door".

Work as directed. Don't let their lack of planning get you down, it's not your problem.

 

[toonertoo]

Tooner, you have to lose your good attitude. You care too much!!! Our job doesn't pay you one cent more than the driver who doesn't care.
If no-ones suggesting a plan for the current weather/road situation, it's not your problem. I would deliver my route in the order it is set up. I wouldn't deliver anything that might get my car stuck. I would start my pickups at the regular time. Send a message "I will miss X stops to make the air door".

Work as directed. Don't let their lack of planning get you down, it's not your problem.

You are all right!!
So I gave my good attitude a day off to spend at home.

 

[trplnkl]

You are all right!!
So I gave my good attitude a day off to spend at home.

Atta gurl...I'm proud of ya.

when I first read your thread tittle "Bad weather in Ohio, your thoughts", the first thing in my mind was....I think I'm dang glad I don't live in Ohio.

 

[mattwtrs]

You are all right!!
So I gave my good attitude a day off to spend at home.

I'm proud of you too! Just think how you are helping out a cover driver from working the reload for 3.5 hours.

 

[toonertoo]

I'm proud of you too! Just think how you are helping out a cover driver from working the reload for 3.5 hours.

Im such a team player

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I also have the day off today, partly to help out my cover driver but mostly because we got 8" of snow yesterday and I was out shovelling until 10:30.

Out center had a 1915 curfew last night. Our start time is 9:15 but they were wrapped up and we were ready to go by 8:45 which, in the past, they would have let us start early but one of our more vocal union boys put in a grievance about the staggered start times and now we can't leave before our start time. What was happening is the drivers that were in the bldg were allowed to start early and then those who would show up later would start when they got there. There were some days where the start times could differ by 1/2 hour depending upon the preload. Yesterday would have been an ideal to start early as the snow was just starting to pick up in intensity and the extra 1/2 hour would have been nice. I can see both sides of the issue but it is still frustrating to sit for 1/2 hour because of a nuisance grievance.