Expensive Three Dollar Mirror

[scratch]

I busted a mirror with a tree limb Friday. It happened at 11AM after a heavy rain, the tree branch was hanging down a little more than usual and it pushed my right side mirror frame back and the bottom mirror broke on top of the hand rail. I called my Supervisor immediately to report it, I was just planning to write it up on my DVIR as usual. I went back to delivering, and a little later I get a call back from him and I was told to call my Center Manager, which I did. We have a new Division Manager who evidently goes about doing things differently than what was previously acceptable.

An hour after the tree limb incident, I am told to go back to the scene. My Supervisor and another Supe show up to take pictures and document everything. He takes pictures of the offending tree branch and the P7 mirror bracket. Meanwhile, my Center Manager is on the phone with our District Safety person to decide how this will be rated. At the end of the day, my Supe calls me and tells me to be at work fifteen minutes early Monday. He was told to report it to Liberty Mutual, so I am being charged with an accident. I will get a Safety Ride Monday over a three dollar mirror and a tree limb.

I told my Supe that I thought this was a little extreme. A three dollar mirror that a mechanic can replace in a couple of minutes. I said "UPS is going to waste a hundred dollars on something this minor"? He replies, "No, the Center will be charged $1500.00". Amazing. The Carwash and Preload break them all the time and don't report them. The driver gets the book thrown at him. Does anybody know where this $1500 figure comes from?

 

[pickup]

Here's how they come up with the $1500 amount. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqauSlnVB8

 

[pickup]

I busted a mirror with a tree limb Friday. It happened at 11AM after a heavy rain, the tree branch was hanging down a little more than usual and it pushed my right side mirror frame back and the bottom mirror broke on top of the hand rail. I called my Supervisor immediately to report it, I was just planning to write it up on my DVIR as usual. I went back to delivering, and a little later I get a call back from him and I was told to call my Center Manager, which I did. We have a new Division Manager who evidently goes about doing things differently than what was previously acceptable.

An hour after the tree limb incident, I am told to go back to the scene. My Supervisor and another Supe show up to take pictures and document everything. He takes pictures of the offending tree branch and the P7 mirror bracket. Meanwhile, my Center Manager is on the phone with our District Safety person to decide how this will be rated. At the end of the day, my Supe calls me and tells me to be at work fifteen minutes early Monday. He was told to report it to Liberty Mutual, so I am being charged with an accident. I will get a Safety Ride Monday over a three dollar mirror and a tree limb.

I told my Supe that I thought this was a little extreme. A three dollar mirror that a mechanic can replace in a couple of minutes. I said "UPS is going to waste a hundred dollars on something this minor"? He replies, "No, the Center will be charged $1500.00". Amazing. The Carwash and Preload break them all the time and don't report them. The driver gets the book thrown at him. Does anybody know where this $1500 figure comes from?

Maybe they try to collect that 1500 dollar amount from liberty mutual . 1500 - 3 bucks equal 1497 dollars profit.

 

[soberups]

Does anybody know where this $1500 figure comes from?

Your "district safety guy" probably pulled that figure out of his ass in order to justify his own job and look important. He will get to make some phone calls and write some reports, and he might even get to leave the office and go take some pictures of a tree branch with his brand new camera. After that there will be a meeting, and then probably some more phone calls to some other important people who, like him, apparently have nothing better to do with their time than to piss away half the day talking about a $3 mirror.

I break mirrors all the time. Sh%$ happens in the real world. We have a box of replacement mirrors sitting on a bench in our auto shop, and if you write it up on your DVIR the mechanic goes out there and sticks a new one on and calls it good. Its a $3 piece of glass with glue on the back. Life goes on.

 

[klein]

Well, atleast you can make a joke to your sup on Monday, when you check your mirrows every 5 seconds, say checking them to see if they are still attached ! LOL

 

[dillweed]

wow scratch, I'm sorry they're making such a mountain out of this. It's the way they are and we all know it but dammit, it still stings.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

My center is the same as Sober's--simply write the mirror up and it will be replaced.

Scratch, it sounds as though your new division manager is trying to make a statement. I am wondering what would have happened had you decided not to call and to simply write the mirror up in your DVIR.

 

[Jones]

Why did your sup even bother telling your center manager, and why did your center manager then feel the need to go running to the DM's office with the terrible awful news that one of his drivers had *gasp* "Broken a mirror!"
Charging you with an accident over this is the biggest load of BS I've seen in a while.
What a wonderful company we work for.

 

[PE Pro]

My center is the same as Sober's--simply write the mirror up and it will be replaced.

Scratch, it sounds as though your new division manager is trying to make a statement. I am wondering what would have happened had you decided not to call and to simply write the mirror up in your DVIR.

Yeah, this is a warning to anyone who may be thinking about calling in every accident, "regardless of the severity". We get this in our department all the time with injuries. Please report all injuries, "regardless of their severity" and then when you do you are considered an unsafe worker, and sent a warning letter for your injury record. Oh wait , it is a letter of concern not a warning letter. My bad. They want to be able to say to report all accidents regardless of the severity to CTA but they really don't want you to report them all to CYA. When you CYA you upset the #s game apple cart.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

 

[mahmoud]

Does anybody know where this $1500 figure comes from?[/QUOTE]

All tier 1 accidents are automatically charged $1500 to the center no matter what the actual cost was, doesn't matter if it was avoidable or unavoidable. Tier 3 accidents are charged approx. $45,000. The number comes from the average cost of all similar tier accidents. Again, doesn't matter what the actual cost was or if it was avoidable or unavoidable. For example, any accident in an intersection is charged as a tier 3 automatically. I had a mechanic tell me to report mirror damage as cracked while adjusting.

 

[JustTired]

One day, i was going down the highway and seen a bird coming straight at the PC, At the last second it veered off, hitting my passenger side mirror, knocking it around and breaking it. That night when I got in I told one of the sups what happened. Next morning I was called into the office. We had just got a new center manager the very day the bird hit me. He didn't know me from Adam. He asked me if that was what really happened. I stood there looking at him for several seconds then said "I knew I should have gone back and picked up the bird." Then I turned around and walked out. Never heard another thing about it.

On a side note..........his attitude started an onslaught of grievances. He lasted about 3 months. Never seen him again.

 

[RoyalFlush]

There is a predetermined charge based on the average cost for a "reported" injury or accident based upon the severity rating. It works the other way around also. If it were a million dollar accident the center still gets charged the flat rate. If it's not reported (called in), there is no charge to the center. Minor injuries and accidents cost the center about 1,500. Severe type accidents and lost time injuries cost the center about $43,000. For injuries there is also an ongoing charge for each month out of work.

It's a double edged sword. If the employee or management person gets caught not reporting it under the wrong circumstance they face termination.

A lot of minor injuries and accidents don't get reported officially. The problem can come back to bite those involved if the injury or accident escalates to something more than originally thought. For example - the customer calls in the accident and it is found that is was not reported or if the employee seeks medical attention after the fact. Once it gets officially documented, some one is getting in trouble if it was not reported.

I've seen a lot of people (management and hourly) terminated for not reporting injuries and accidents that were not reported at the time and then later became known.

You're taking a chance either way.

 

[over9five]

Scratch, don't forget to give them some sales leads this week.

 

[over9five]

And make sure you grieve being charged with an accident. You have "Past practice" on your side.

 

[whiskey]

1500 sounds about right. But make adversity work for you. On your Monday ride, let your buddy help you with the boxes if he offers. Then hint that he should buy lunch, since you are tapped out. If he does spring for lunch, go to a very nice place. But my guess is, something will come up Monday morning and the ride will never happen.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Come on guys! These magic numbers were birthed from a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel! You all should know this buy now!

 

[cachsux]

I think the real problem here is how safe are we with a driver operating one of our vehicles who can`t remember that he was adjusting the mirror,to get the big picture,and the mirror cracked in his hand from being excessively tightened by the shop.

 

[over9five]

It's true. They do crack very easily while adjusting.

 

[browniehound]

Scratch, I truly feel sorry for you. I think its totally ridiculous that you lost all your safe drving time over a cracked mirror. In my center, a cracked mirror can just be written up on the DVIR and no accident charged. However, if you damaged the $10 (instead of your $3, lol) piece of metal that houses the mirror, then we are charged with an accident.

It still doesn't make sense to me. Why does UPS do this to themselves? I really don't get. For example, take small business owners that would hypothetically own 3 or 4 trucks. If one of his employees broke a mirror do you think he is going to call his insurance company for a claim?

No, he's going to fix his $3 piece of glass himself instead of getting a $50 surcharge for 6 years on his insurance bill.

Its the difference between $3 and $300. I don't get it. Its amazing to me that this company makes any money when I hear stories like this. If it were not for the efficiency built into all our routes because of stop density, I think the some (the minority) of idiots running the show would sink the ship in a hurry. Yes our labor costs are significantly higher than the competition, but Fed-Ex ground doesn't have the luxury of the stop density that UPS currently enjoys.

So the Fed-ex guy gets $27 bucks/hour instead of $29. It doesn't matter because the UPS driver is doing 10 more stops/hour than Fed-Ex ground. He's delivering 10 stops for $27 and I'm delivering 20 for $29. Which is more profitable?

I apologize for going off on this tangent, its just where my train of thought ran too, lol! I hope everyone can understand my rant? ha ha