Breaking trace for lunch

[rayantonio1]

So our center was instructed to take and record a lunch under the threat of dicipline. And that our lunch hour stated when we broke trace and ended when we got back on trace. I got a warning letter for not following instructions. My question is can you drive the brown truck and be off the clock at the same time? What if you get in a wreak while you are driving to the place to eat or take lunch?[/QUOTE

 

[rayantonio1]

At least you received a warning letter and not a discharge for stealing time.

 

[pretzel_man]

But even if no one abused it, the company would still try to find a way to screw people out of their personal time.

It is never going to be possible to come up with a consistent, one-size-fits-all rule on this subject. There will always be exceptions or unique circumstances for different routes. What is reasonable to expect for a driver who has an urban route with multiple options for meals and bathroom breaks might not be reasonable for a guy who is out in the country and might need to drive a considerable distance in order to find a suitable place to take a meal break.

The company has every right to expect the driver to minimize the number of miles driven and to accurately record lunches and breaks.

The employee has every right to take his/her lunches and breaks at a suitable location, which in my opinion means someplace with a public restroom and heat during the winter. If no heat is available, an employee who eats his/her lunch while sitting in the package car has every right to idle the engine long enough to keep the heater in the car working.

If the company wants to take a hard line by forbidding any breaking of trace on the clock, then it should be required to rent porta-potties and position them along the route they are expecting the driver to follow.

If the employee is driving the vehicle, he/she is on the clock for purposes of insurance and liability.

With the exception of your first sentence, I absolutely agree.

If a manager says to drive while on lunch, I believe this is wrong. When a problem occurs (and it eventually will), there will be a knee jerk reaction in an opposite direction.

 

[Catatonic]

It was easier before the DIAD when you could take your lunch with Integrity and drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time.
Seems to be a Catch-22 situation.
Every person with Integrity knows you should start your lunch when you stop doing things related to doing your job and end your lunch when you start doing things related to your job.
Sometimes the good old days really are the good old days.

 

[brownman15]

It was easier before the DIAD when you could take your lunch with Integrity and drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time.
Seems to be a Catch-22 situation.
Every person with Integrity knows you should start your lunch when you stop doing things related to doing your job and end your lunch when you start doing things related to your job.
Sometimes the good old days really are the good old days.

driving is part of our job

 

[brownman15]

It was easier before the DIAD when you could take your lunch with Integrity and drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time.

still was illegal all driving time must be reported to dot. failing to do so leaves the driver and company open to fines from dot

 

[Jim Kemp]

I have mis-loads everyday and I always get a message to bring them to the correct driver. Care to guess where I meet the other driver? It always seems to be at a restaurant. Imagine that! Another thing that you can do is when they send you a message to call the center ASAP, I always respond that i don't have a phone and I will go find a phone, again care to guess where that phone is? And your lunch starts as soon as you hang up with them.

 

[Anonymous 10]

It was easier before the DIAD when you could take your lunch with Integrity and drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time.
Seems to be a Catch-22 situation.
Every person with Integrity knows you should start your lunch when you stop doing things related to doing your job and end your lunch when you start doing things related to your job.
Sometimes the good old days really are the good old days.

these times you speak of are long gone.

 

[Catatonic]

still was illegal all driving time must be reported to dot. failing to do so leaves the driver and company open to fines from dot

I drove over 55 in a 55 mph zone to get to my area too.
Damn, just a law breaker.

 

[TheBlack]

It was easier before the DIAD when you could take your lunch with Integrity and drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time.
Seems to be a Catch-22 situation.
Every person with Integrity knows you should start your lunch when you stop doing things related to doing your job and end your lunch when you start doing things related to your job.
Sometimes the good old days really are the good old days.

Are you saying that you agree with management. As you have stated that you "drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time"

 

[brownman15]

I drove over 55 in a 55 mph zone to get to my area too.
Damn, just a law breaker.

but the fine for that is not $1500 like dot hours of service fine and that is your choice. the fine is even higher for the company

 

[Catatonic]

Are you saying that you agree with management. As you have stated that you "drive to your lunch location on your lunch time as well as driving back to your area being on your lunch time"

I drove back in the 70's.

 

[DS]

Every person with Integrity knows you should start your lunch when you stop doing things related to doing your job and end your lunch when you start doing things related to your job.
.

This says it all.If you work in an office tower,your elevator time to the 3rd floor cafeteria is unpaid.
Same applies if you are a driver.Your drive to Arby's is your time and if you get into an accident
make sure it happens somewhere close to your delivery area.I'm like bubblehead,I bring my lunch
and its usually eaten in a spot on my way to my first pickup.I have no fast food places on my route and maybe thats a blessing.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I have mis-loads everyday and I always get a message to bring them to the correct driver. Care to guess where I meet the other driver? It always seems to be at a restaurant. Imagine that! Another thing that you can do is when they send you a message to call the center ASAP, I always respond that i don't have a phone and I will go find a phone, again care to guess where that phone is? And your lunch starts as soon as you hang up with them.

So the answer to the whole question: preloaders, encourage misloads, keep your drivers happy and at resturaunts for lunches.

 

[cino321]

Most of the drivers around my area meet up at restaurant for our lunch hour, and we pick different locations everyday. I usually break off trace 5 minutes before my lunch our starts, and go back to my area 5 minutes before my lunch hour ends.

It's more of a social call. I refuse to have lunch in my package car, it is not a sanitary eating facility with heat or air conditioning, and certainly does not have restrooms.

 

[soberups]

With the exception of your first sentence, I absolutely agree.

If a manager says to drive while on lunch, I believe this is wrong. When a problem occurs (and it eventually will), there will be a knee jerk reaction in an opposite direction.

There may be exceptional situations where it isnt wrong.

A perfect example occured one year during peak when I needed an emergency dental procedure. My dentist was able to fit me in on short notice, but it meant breaking trace and driving about 15 miles to get to his office during a time frame outside of the normal lunch period. My only other option was to call in sick a week before Christmas day.

In this exceptional situation, it was in the best interests of both the company and myself for me to come in to work and then drive the 15 miles to the dentist and take my lunch at 4:00. The procedure itself took about 1/2 an hour, and I spent another 40 minutes driving there and back. That adds up to an hour and ten minutes....so after it was all said and done I put an hour lunch plus a ten minute break starting from the time I broke trace until the time I got back onto my route.

In this situation, I was basically using a company vehicle for personal reasons so it was only fair for the time I spent driving to be subtracted from my lunch. This is completely different from a normal workday where I might be breaking trace simply to use a restroom. UPS has made a business decision to provide delivery service to rural areas, and driving to a bathroom is part of the cost of doing business in such areas.

 

[menotyou]

So our center was instructed to take and record a lunch under the threat of dicipline. And that our lunch hour stated when we broke trace and ended when we got back on trace. I got a warning letter for not following instructions. My question is can you drive the brown truck and be off the clock at the same time? What if you get in a wreak while you are driving to the place to eat or take lunch?

File your rebuttal grievance in 10 calendar days from the date on your write-up and MAKE SURE you file against not following instruction. What was the instruction that you did not follow? Where is it in your contract?(Make them supply that information. Not you.) Do not forget to file. The next write-up will be an Art 7. Thats how they do it up here. Once on Art 7, its almost impossible to get off.
Use as few words as possible!!!!!!

 

[Jim Kemp]

So the answer to the whole question: preloaders, encourage misloads, keep your drivers happy and at resturaunts for lunches.

I don't encourage anything, seems to be a fact of life at our center. We have mis-loads everyday and we always get the same responce from the mgt. "you go bring it to the driver". Mis-loads have gone thru the roof since we have been on pass. We even had a preload sup that was gonna show the preload how to load 4 cars and not have any, he only had 3 that day.

 

[TheBlack]

File your rebuttal grievance in 10 calendar days from the date on your write-up and MAKE SURE you file against not following instruction. What was the instruction that you did not follow? Where is it in your contract?(Make them supply that information. Not you.) Do not forget to file. The next write-up will be an Art 7. Thats how they do it up here. Once on Art 7, its almost impossible to get off.
Use as few words as possible!!!!!!

Ha Ha, the instruction that i did not follow was, get this...Not following a supervisor's instruction. In that we were instructed not to break trace and to drive to lunch on the clock. Thats what I was told on Thusday that I and 3 other drivers were getting a warning letter for. I talked to local's bus. agent today and he is coming to our center this week and says he is going to file the grievance for us. Althought I am not quite sure for what as he would not say on the phone. Yes same here we have ten days to file. And refreash my memory about art. 7 as my contract book is in my locker.

 

[Bubblehead]

There may be exceptional situations where it isnt wrong.

A perfect example occured one year during peak when I needed an emergency dental procedure. My dentist was able to fit me in on short notice, but it meant breaking trace and driving about 15 miles to get to his office during a time frame outside of the normal lunch period. My only other option was to call in sick a week before Christmas day.

In this exceptional situation, it was in the best interests of both the company and myself for me to come in to work and then drive the 15 miles to the dentist and take my lunch at 4:00. The procedure itself took about 1/2 an hour, and I spent another 40 minutes driving there and back. That adds up to an hour and ten minutes....so after it was all said and done I put an hour lunch plus a ten minute break starting from the time I broke trace until the time I got back onto my route.

In this situation, I was basically using a company vehicle for personal reasons so it was only fair for the time I spent driving to be subtracted from my lunch. This is completely different from a normal workday where I might be breaking trace simply to use a restroom. UPS has made a business decision to provide delivery service to rural areas, and driving to a bathroom is part of the cost of doing business in such areas.

I think I would have just taken the day off.
I don't share Sobers' view of peak as being the "Superbowl" of the UPS season.
My Superbowl will be the last month of my 30th year when I'm burning my 7 weeks of vacation.
Don't get me wrong (I'm a HUGE fan of Sober), it's obviously an intense month or two, but I approach it as any other.
I take it one stop at a time by the hour.
Whether it's December or June, if I have to see a health care professional, that comes before the packages.
I'm confident that Sober got permission in writing or in front of a witness before he took this liberty.
There was a day when I felt the kind of dedication Sober does, but those days are long gone and for good reason.