Way to go Steve, encourage other drivers to do the same. Communicating via the DIAD is the proper way. It not only provides a detailed record of conversations, it also allows the driver to continue to work without delay. Drivers do not have the time (nor given credit for) to arrange movement of add/cuts. Sounds like a dispatch problem to me. We as drivers are questioned about EVERY minute of our day, some on this site have even said supervisors were requesting they clock out to use the restroom. Upstate...do you clock out when you use the potty ?...Enough is enough. Drivers need to band together to follow the methods EXACTLY as management wishes. Cell phones are only (as they say in our PCM) a distraction.
Cell phones used while driving are indeed a distraction and illegal in many states. Cell phones simply make me a more efficient driver. Let's takes Steve's example of meeting a driver for an add/cut. Steve would rather have the OMS set up the meet point through a series of ODS messages. I can only imagine the messages:
Steve, can you meet Dave at Taco Bell at 1500?
No, I am doing pickups--I can meet him at 1600.
He will be doing his pickups then--you need to meet him at 1500.
I can't--tell him 1600.
Do you see how inefficient that is? Now, if the OMS asks that you contact the other driver to set up a meet, you can call that person and figure out where he will be
at a time that is convenient for you, meet him, take the work and be on your way. When I am asked to help out our downtown driver, I will simply call him and ask him where he will be in 5 minutes. I find him, back up to his rear bumper, we move the work, he goes on his way and I go on mine. He is not delayed nor does he have to alter his route to meet me at a specific time. I am only briefly delayed as I drive to meet him.
Most of the time I know before I leave the bldg that I will be asked to help Eddie out and will tell him that I will call him to set up the meet. The reason that the work is not moved prior to leaving the bldg is I am usually bulked out or there is not enough time to move the work prior to start time.
It is your choice as to whether you choose to use a cell phone or not. I know that I has made me more efficient.
I will tell you that there is one customer who I wish I had never given my cell phone number to. I was having lunch with my daughter in Albany yesterday and one of my customer's called. I should have just let the call go to voice mail but I answered. I knew exactly what she wanted--she wanted to know where the cover driver was. I told her that I was having lunch with my daughter and that I would see her on Monday.
