Current Flavor of the Month?

[tranham]

Robert, my friend, I hope you're joking. You use your cell for those instances? My goodnees! Think of the minutes you are wasting for UPS? 20-40 Minutes/month to call ahead for the COD's. At least 30 min/month for bad addresses, and another 30 min/months to check on your pick-ups. This alone accounts for 120 minutes of your plan. Don't forget, a 15 second call to your pick-up counts a full minute! These numbers don't include the time your sup calls you to go help somone and the time it takes him to explain it!

I'm sorry, I'm with Over95 and everyone else, you can't use your phone for UPS business, its what ODS is for. I have 1000 minutes for me and my daughter and I can ill afford to use 25-40% for UPS. Are you kidding me? I will make an exception and use a minute or two with another driver to set up a quick meetpoint.I get a 23% Verizon discount through UPS. Not saying that it justifys using the phone during work, but it does make up what it costs me in minutes, +/- 200 per month on a 1400 plan.

Other than this I don't want my supervisor calling me, ever. Send me an ODS message and I'll call the center. I also don't want yo be expected to call the center from my cell phone either.
Believe it or not, this was the protocol as little as 5 years ago. Now everyone has everyone's cell number.

That being said, my minutes are limited and I should not be held accountable if I can't call the center from a cell phone. Also, there should never be an instance in which you call a pick-up from your cell phone to ask if they have anything. Its my belief that we are paid by the hour. Why waste valuable cell phone minutes to call a pick-up so you don't have to go by when its our job to go by? Why waste the minutes and the labor time we earn regardless if they have something or not? Mostly its being selfish, wanting to get the job done and get home. It would be one thing if we were dispatched with 8.0 hour work a day. They send us out with 9.2-10 everyday.

Its our job to go by. We get paid good money to go by, so why not just go by?

Next, I would NEVER call the center with bad addresses: need suite, NSN, NSP, need Apt, etc, from my cell. Why wouldn't you use ODS for this?
Because I have been instructed to by the District manager through my center manager, as has the rest of the building.
The UPS opperation lived without cell phones for over 100 years so please don't think you need to use your own for them to function!

I have no issue with anyone not using their phone at work. Obviously UPS feels that it is in their best interest to let us take them with us. Imagine the uproar if UPS banned them like the hub employees do.

Robert

 

[brownmonster]

I use my phone once in a while for work purposes. I never call pickups to save miles. They pay me to stop, I'm stopping. Miles are money!

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Steve, there is more to life than money. I earn enough to provide me with a comfortable lifestyle. I enjoy getting home by 1830 daily. This gives me another 2 hours of daylight to do what I want.

I never said that this is the proper way to work and would never tell another driver that he/she needed to use their cell for work but, yes, it does make my day go faster.

As I said above, I consider my cell phone to be another tool to help me get my job done.

Work smarter, not harder.

BTW, your cover driver comment was out of line, brotha.

+1

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Calling pickups before driving by is only smart. The customer appreciates it and it saves time and miles. I don't see the big deal; if you want to call, call. If you want to drive to a pickup 19 times out of 20 and them tell you they have nothing, thats fine too.

**However, contact with the center and management team via cell phone is a bad idea, IMO. The diad has a message function, I personally would use it and not use the phone. However, if someone wants to go that route and use their phone for every applicable instance on the job, that's their business.

Too much holier-than-thou crap being thrown around in both sides of the argument.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Calling pickups before driving by is only smart. The customer appreciates it and it saves time and miles. I don't see the big deal; if you want to call, call. If you want to drive to a pickup 19 times out of 20 and them tell you they have nothing, thats fine too.

**However, contact with the center and management team via cell phone is a bad idea, IMO. The diad has a message function, I personally would use it and not use the phone. However, if someone wants to go that route and use their phone for every applicable instance on the job, that's their business.

Too much holier-than-thou crap being thrown around in both sides of the argument.

That's funny, I was going to say that your thinking is pretty wishy washy. Sleeve, driving to the pick up is what the methods call for. Pretend you're doing a time study. Do you want the time study to show that if you call your pick ups, COD's and such, you will be done by a certain hour each day, or would you rather show the route for what it actually is? If it's the former, I guarantee that you will have to run your butt off for the rest of your career, rather than a nice pace that your body will actually be able to handle through retirement.

Here's another way to look at it all. Let's say you do the route "your" way, and it is adjusted for "you". Then you have someone cover your route that doesn't use your "methods" and this poor person can't come close to the numbers you're giving them. Don't you see something wrong with that attitude? We're supposed to be TEAMsters and you guys are acting like the Lone Ranger.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

That's funny, I was going to say that your thinking is pretty wishy washy. Sleeve, driving to the pick up is what the methods call for. Pretend you're doing a time study. Do you want the time study to show that if you call your pick ups, COD's and such, you will be done by a certain hour each day, or would you rather show the route for what it actually is? If it's the former, I guarantee that you will have to run your butt off for the rest of your career, rather than a nice pace that your body will actually be able to handle through retirement.

Here's another way to look at it all. Let's say you do the route "your" way, and it is adjusted for "you". Then you have someone cover your route that doesn't use your "methods" and this poor person can't come close to the numbers you're giving them. Don't you see something wrong with that attitude? We're supposed to be TEAMsters and you guys are acting like the Lone Ranger.

You are 100% right about how something so simple can affect numbers. There is truth to that and I faced that same predicament last year, so I also know firsthand. You already know my story so I am surprised you would post what you did. The cover guy, which I had to "match" to qualify for FT, ran 19 SPORH on a route where he ran his breaks and lunches, called many pickups, basically blew it out. If not calling on phone, there's one stop where the owner left a sign outside his window if to pickup or not, for ex. The reason for this running and gunning was so he could drive the following year as a seasonal cover on this route because he enjoyed it and it was closest to the building.

I do not think that something like calling ahead on a pickup or two, in itself, is enough to swing the favor of numbers on a route so badly it could put a driver into the red.

Oddly enough, the "Teamsters" do not recognize numbers theorhetically, so your entire point should be moot anyway! Herein lies the problem; what you are saying is the Teamsters DO recognize numbers and therefore THAT gives the company complete leeway to ram it you know where. So that makes me think, is being the lone ranger the way to survive, be happy and get out alive? Because being a Teamster is sure you get you in trouble.

PPS there is a ME a team (sorry cant resist)

 

[stevetheupsguy]

You are 100% right about how something so simple can affect numbers. There is truth to that and I faced that same predicament last year, so I also know firsthand. I do not think that something like calling ahead on a pickup or two, in itself, is enough to swing the favor of numbers on a route so badly it could put a driver into the red. That is all I am saying.

And Oddly enough, the "Teamsters" do not recognize numbers theorhetically, so your entire point should be moot anyway! Herein lies the problem; what you are saying is the Teamsters DO recognize numbers and therefore THAT gives the company complete leeway to ram it you know where. So that makes me think, is being the lone ranger the way to survive, be happy and get out alive?

PPS there is a ME a team (sorry cant resist)

I wasn't talking about the Teamsters recognition of over/under or bonus. I was more stating that we as teamsters should stick together and not make routes so that they are hard on other drivers. Another thing is if you call a pick up and cut, say, 3 miles off your day. Then you do this for another 3 or 4 pick ups. That's 12-15 miles that you cut from the route, and that does screw up the "correct" allowance for that route. I'm not saying anything about going slow or fast. I'm just saying that I want the correct allowance for any given route, so that mgmt won't break anyones chops about how so and so can do that route way faster than you.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I wasn't talking about the Teamsters recognition of over/under or bonus. I was more stating that we as teamsters should stick together and not make routes so that they are hard on other drivers. Another thing is if you call a pick up and cut, say, 3 miles off your day. Then you do this for another 3 or 4 pick ups. That's 12-15 miles that you cut from the route, and that does screw up the "correct" allowance for that route. I'm not saying anything about going slow or fast. I'm just saying that I want the correct allowance for any given route, so that mgmt won't break anyones chops about how so and so can do that route way faster than you.

Management is well aware of each driver and his/her idiosyncracies and methods which they do the job. Every driver gets a ride along , as we know. Therefore I do think that if MANAGEMENT does not plan ahead, it is their problem. That is the Teamster way, let management worry about it. If you get a 14 hour day because some idiot can do it in 10 by unsafely neglecting every possible method, that is not the 14 hour drivers fault. Let management do their job. If they don't, too bad, more cash.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Management is well aware of each driver and his/her idiosyncracies and methods which they do the job. Every driver gets a ride along , as we know. Therefore I do think that if MANAGEMENT does not plan ahead, it is their problem. That is the Teamster way, let management worry about it. If you get a 14 hour day because some idiot can do it in 10 by (using a cell phone to cut out miles) [-]unsafely[/-], neglecting every possible method, that is not the 14 hour drivers fault. Let management do their job. If they don't, too bad, more cash.

MGMT is aware? You lost me at those 3 words.

Okay, it's official, I'm confused!!!

 

[over9five]

Calling a p/u customer tells that customer that you don't want to go there. They feel sorry for you, and give our package to the Fedex driver.

The customer pays for the p/u, you get paid to go there. Be a professional.

 

[Jones]

Calling a p/u customer tells that customer that you don't want to go there. They feel sorry for you, and give our package to the Fedex driver.

The customer pays for the p/u, you get paid to go there. Be a professional.

Exactly.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Safety! To make matter worse, I had to go to the work comp Dr today because of pain in my shoulder/back. She says it's a muscle spasm, though all I know is I couldn't lift my right arm to save my life.

 

[SWORDFISH]

One of our driver that does the stuff Sleeve is talking about and even more extreme got a ride w/ the time study guy last week. It was hillarious because he is normally done and gone before I get in. Instead he was not only not in when I got in but he had so many stops left that they had to send another driver out to help him finish by 830 by having to run the route the right way. I used to drive his route when he was out for awhile so I know the route very well. Im still laughing to see how much longer it takes a person to do a route the right way vs doing it the wrong way. The very sad part is so many people do the job the wrong way that the routes just keep getting cut and most centers seem to have a layoff list of people that end up resigning because they never get work anymore due to these people that cannot do the job correctly.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Calling a p/u customer tells that customer that you don't want to go there. They feel sorry for you, and give our package to the Fedex driver.

The customer pays for the p/u, you get paid to go there. Be a professional.

Not always. I had a p/u on my route that the customer PREFERRED I called. I of course made every p/u attempt as a new driver and she said that she shipped so infrequently and the shipments weren't always ready at the +/- 15 pickup time, that she preferred I called ahead. She and I had a very good relationship.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Calling a p/u customer tells that customer that you don't want to go there. They feel sorry for you, and give our package to the Fedex driver.

The customer pays for the p/u, you get paid to go there. Be a professional.

As if a bonus baby gives a damn about being professional. Or service, safety, methods, taking lunch. Well, you get the idea.

 

[All Day]

Not always. I had a p/u on my route that the customer PREFERRED I called. I of course made every p/u attempt as a new driver and she said that she shipped so infrequently and the shipments weren't always ready at the +/- 15 pickup time, that she preferred I called ahead. She and I had a very good relationship.

Did you have your sup put a note in the board so all cover drivers also knew what the customer had requested?

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Did you have your sup put a note in the board so all cover drivers also knew what the customer had requested?

Please tell me when it's officially my job to make the sup do his job, because it ain't happenin.

 

[whiskey]

Safety! To make matter worse, I had to go to the work comp Dr today because of pain in my shoulder/back. She says it's a muscle spasm, though all I know is I couldn't lift my right arm to save my life.

Sounds like nerve related damage. Time to rest. Your no spring chicken anymore. Rest and longevity go hand in hand.

 

[moreluck]

Sounds like nerve related damage. Time to rest. Your no spring chicken anymore. Rest and longevity go hand in hand.

Can you say, "Lazy Boy recliner"?

 

[tieguy]

Sounds like nerve related damage. Time to rest. Your no spring chicken anymore. Rest and longevity go hand in hand.

Did I just see you overule the doctors diagnosis of muscle spasm to determine it was nerve damage?