Bid vs assigned

[john346]

I've been scouring the contract trying to get where any language is pertaining to any guidelines for areas, and what powers we as drivers have in protecting our routes or areas. I'm specifically wanting to find what & why we bid on routes. One route appears to be better than others, so we bid it, get it, and they change it with adding a ton more stops. Is opting "in" the only recourse we have in saving our home life?

I'd be remiss in saying hello to my center manager who knows my posts, so howdy T.

 

[john346]

Nobody has anything out there?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

OK, I'll give it a shot, but my answers will be based on my experiences at my center.

The center I work in has a mix of city and country runs. Drivers bid their areas based upon whether they want more miles and fewer packages or fewer miles and more packages. I prefer the latter. I have noticed that as our drivers get older they tend to bid the high miles/low packages areas, aka retirement runs. I stay in the city for several reasons: first, my condo is on my area and, second, I am not the best driver in the snow and the city takes care of their roads much better than their country counterparts.

The second part of your question had to do with mgt changing your bid route significantly shortly after you bid it. Was the change 50% or more? If so, you do have some rights under the contract and should grieve these changes; if not, opting in is an option but a better option would be for you to make sure that you are following every method, not taking any shortcuts and then letting the chips fall where they may when you are constantly over 9.5.

Finally, if nothing changes you always have the option of bidding off of that area, but that will not solve the problem as the next driver will have to deal with it.

Howdy T!

 

[over9five]

The problem with the OPs post is the phrase "our routes or areas", which implies that the driver owns the route. You guys have to get that notion right out of your heads. They're UPS's trucks, UPS's customers, and UPS's routes. You can bid on a route every year, but UPS can change their route every day if they want.
File or enjoy the OT. I choose the latter.

(Hi T!)

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Over, as far as I am concerned, Area 25A, Lane 22, SLIC 1290 is my area. I have taken ownership in that area. The DOL is set up the way that I run the area, the pickups and commit times are the way that I want them, and, yes, these are my customers. For example, I have a plumbing supply company that I used to deliver to only on Mondays. I would get there usually around 9:45am. The driver on the area that would deliver there the rest of the week wasn't getting there until 3pm or later. They are also a pickup and would turn their deliveries around and (hopefully) get them out the same day, which they can do if they get their stuff by 9:45 but cannot if they get their stuff at 3pm or later. I went to the dispatch sup and asked him to put that stop on my area daily. It is a dock delivery, they average 10-20 pkgs per day, it takes less than 5 minutes and they appreciate that I took care of them.

There was a thread earlier in which a driver, who turned out to be a cover driver who was thrown on a route blind, who boasted that he pissed off a large corporation who in turn filed a national complaint. I had posted, thinking that he was the regular driver, that he needed to take ownership of his route.

You are, of course, right that UPS does own the route and that these are their customers but until we all get the mindset that these are our routes and these are our customers we will continue to hear stories such as those posted above.

Wassup T?

 

[dilligaf]

Over, as far as I am concerned, Area 25A, Lane 22, SLIC 1290 is my area. I have taken ownership in that area. The DOL is set up the way that I run the area, the pickups and commit times are the way that I want them, and, yes, these are my customers. For example, I have a plumbing supply company that I used to deliver to only on Mondays. I would get there usually around 9:45am. The driver on the area that would deliver there the rest of the week wasn't getting there until 3pm or later. They are also a pickup and would turn their deliveries around and (hopefully) get them out the same day, which they can do if they get their stuff by 9:45 but cannot if they get their stuff at 3pm or later. I went to the dispatch sup and asked him to put that stop on my area daily. It is a dock delivery, they average 10-20 pkgs per day, it takes less than 5 minutes and they appreciate that I took care of them.

There was a thread earlier in which a driver, who turned out to be a cover driver who was thrown on a route blind, who boasted that he pissed off a large corporation who in turn filed a national complaint. I had posted, thinking that he was the regular driver, that he needed to take ownership of his route.

You are, of course, right that UPS does own the route and that these are their customers but until we all get the mindset that these are our routes and these are our customers we will continue to hear stories such as those posted above.

Wassup T?

Bid drivers that take care of their rtes, as you do, make my job so much easier. Especially going out on a rte blind. One of the things that I have noticed here in my area, is that many of the bid drivers do not keep up with the little things. Gate codes, making sure that a gate code is noted on every street in that area. Special delivery notes. IE: This business goes here, this resi is handicapped, please wait for them to answer the door, etc. I can't tell you how many times I have been yelled at by a customer because the bid driver does 'this' and I don't. I don't because I DON'T KNOW. I had a business delivery a few days ago, to the front door. To the best of my knowledge, the delivery has always gone to the front door. Come to find out the bid driver does take it to the front door and then proceeds to walk it through the store to the stock room. I did the same that day but it will be the one and only day I do it. In MPO, the bid driver is padding his time and risking damaging something on the store floor. I will do what I can to take care of my customers (I agree with you on this Dave. Whatever rte I am on, that rte and those customers are MINE.) within the guidelines of delivery methods. Of course there are a few exceptions for special needs customers.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

To add to what Dilli is saying, going the extra step for the customer is only in relation to how well they treat me. Treat me like a person you get the little extra. Treat me like a delivery boy and you get the bare minimum.

 

[john346]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. Our center is in a car cutting frenzy, so all of the drivers are going out heavy daily, so my question was for all of us. Thanks again, and thanks also for saying howdy to T!!!

 

[jalnar]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. Our center is in a car cutting frenzy, so all of the drivers are going out heavy daily, so my question was for all of us. Thanks again, and thanks also for saying howdy to T!!!

Make sure you know were your work is going and if senority is in your favor when they bust the route follow your work. If it goes to 5 drivers junior to you you can take your pick. They will stop busting loads

 

[DenverBrownDotCom]

Bidding routes, and route maintenance are two different projects. Production is based on "demonstrated performance". Hours are controlled by using nine-five, and 8 hour request language. If you don't file, you take what management gives you, and lump it. The company's performance levels are subjective, and they will force you to do whatever they can get away with. Any route can be made into a quality route from a driver's perspective. It just takes the will to fight it out with management.