soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
This week has been an unmitigated disaster.
My route never even left the building all week. All the packages for my rural area were pulled off the car due to snow. I stayed in town and tried to help the in-town guys as much as possible. We were paged at 5:30 yesterday and told to stop and return to the building immediately. It took me 2 hours to drive 19 miles, and I brought hundreds of stops back.
As I write this, there are at least 3 UPS trucks full of packages that had to be abandoned out on route. There is a 2-day wait for a tow truck. I took a tow rope out on route with me, and had to get pulled out of cul-de-sacs and parking lots 4 times yesterday by guys with 4x4 pickups. I towed a fellow drivers package car out of a snowbank with my package car---twice.
We had a rain/freezing rain mix yesterday. Where the roads hadn't been plowed, there were icy 8" ruts from the tires. Its like driving across the surface of the moon. Crossing an intersection was like driving over a curb. The rain made all the ice and snow wet, and it was almost impossible to drive even on level ground. I spent an hour sitting at the bottom of a hill, with stuck vehicles going in both directions, unable to move until they got pulled out.
There are over 50,000 service failures stored at our building. All of our retain trailers are full, and we are running out of room to store the undelivered packages.
I own a 4x4 pickup, with chains. Every morning on my way to and from work I have pulled at least 2 people out of snowbanks and ditches. I actually pulled an elderly woman out of a snowbank with my package car, since I have a trailer hitch on it. She had been calling 911 and couldnt get any help. A couple of guys had stopped and were trying to push her, but her car was buried. I was chained up, with enough weight in the back of the pkg car that I was able to pull her out, facing backward into the oncoming lane of traffic. I dont know what UPS would think of a driver using one of its vehicles as an unauthorized tow truck, but it was an emergency and I didnt give a damn. It would have to make for good publicity at least.
The snow falls off of peoples roofs and falls into their driveways and when I would deliver a package I was mushing through snow up to my crotch. Most people around here dont even own snow shovels. One trailer park I deliver to had a total of 9 carport roofs collapse under the weight of all the snow and ice. This is the biggest snowstorm we have had in over 40 years.
I dont know when I will be able to deliver to my rural area. Its been 2 weeks since I have even gone up there. They got over 3 feet of snow and the roads are blocked by drifts. Its starting to melt at the lower elevations but it could be a week or more until I can get up there. There are hundreds of stops up there waiting for me.
On the plus side, we are having our first white Christmas ever. Im at home safe, with my family and my dogs. No one at our building got injured or had any serious accidents....a couple of minor fender-benders was about it.
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
My route never even left the building all week. All the packages for my rural area were pulled off the car due to snow. I stayed in town and tried to help the in-town guys as much as possible. We were paged at 5:30 yesterday and told to stop and return to the building immediately. It took me 2 hours to drive 19 miles, and I brought hundreds of stops back.
As I write this, there are at least 3 UPS trucks full of packages that had to be abandoned out on route. There is a 2-day wait for a tow truck. I took a tow rope out on route with me, and had to get pulled out of cul-de-sacs and parking lots 4 times yesterday by guys with 4x4 pickups. I towed a fellow drivers package car out of a snowbank with my package car---twice.
We had a rain/freezing rain mix yesterday. Where the roads hadn't been plowed, there were icy 8" ruts from the tires. Its like driving across the surface of the moon. Crossing an intersection was like driving over a curb. The rain made all the ice and snow wet, and it was almost impossible to drive even on level ground. I spent an hour sitting at the bottom of a hill, with stuck vehicles going in both directions, unable to move until they got pulled out.
There are over 50,000 service failures stored at our building. All of our retain trailers are full, and we are running out of room to store the undelivered packages.
I own a 4x4 pickup, with chains. Every morning on my way to and from work I have pulled at least 2 people out of snowbanks and ditches. I actually pulled an elderly woman out of a snowbank with my package car, since I have a trailer hitch on it. She had been calling 911 and couldnt get any help. A couple of guys had stopped and were trying to push her, but her car was buried. I was chained up, with enough weight in the back of the pkg car that I was able to pull her out, facing backward into the oncoming lane of traffic. I dont know what UPS would think of a driver using one of its vehicles as an unauthorized tow truck, but it was an emergency and I didnt give a damn. It would have to make for good publicity at least.
The snow falls off of peoples roofs and falls into their driveways and when I would deliver a package I was mushing through snow up to my crotch. Most people around here dont even own snow shovels. One trailer park I deliver to had a total of 9 carport roofs collapse under the weight of all the snow and ice. This is the biggest snowstorm we have had in over 40 years.
I dont know when I will be able to deliver to my rural area. Its been 2 weeks since I have even gone up there. They got over 3 feet of snow and the roads are blocked by drifts. Its starting to melt at the lower elevations but it could be a week or more until I can get up there. There are hundreds of stops up there waiting for me.
On the plus side, we are having our first white Christmas ever. Im at home safe, with my family and my dogs. No one at our building got injured or had any serious accidents....a couple of minor fender-benders was about it.
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
