How far out is too far?

[MC4YOU2]

Used to be that if you were an hour or more over allowed on a somewhat regular basis, you could expect some questions from your oncar or center manager. In our district there is an effort to bring that margin down to .50 or a half hour over allowed as an alert to go to the driver and pressure for better numbers. My feeling is that it is an unrealistic goal in the real world especially when so many routes are not given fair allowances to begin with.

I have never been one personally to lose much sleep over production, but this seems different, more like a general move toward no excuses for traffic, slow cod's, waiting for dock doors to be opened etc., and safety be damned along with customer service, with ever tightening expectations.

Is this happening elsewhere, or is it just the same as it ever was where you are? I'm pretty sure it's not just here.

 

[Dragon]

With the serious drop in volume, the use of PAS,ODSe and telematics alot of things are exposed. You are being supervised every minute of every day in an effort to control cost. Hope this answers your question.

 

[1989]

Have never had a problem with production. Days that I'm 6 hours over all that has every been said were some jokes.

 

[mattwtrs]

Have never had a problem with production. Days that I'm 6 hours over all that has every been said were some jokes.

I would guess that the over 6 hour day goes away by the next days report.

 

[wornoutupser]

There is a big push in my part of Florida over this and the drivers are pushing back.
They allowances are so bad here that we have had it. There stupid part is that you get chewed out but yet the bosses admit that there is no way to make it in private.
My building went on PAS within the last two years yet we never got the time studies. We are running on studies that are over 20 years old in some cases. Two runs did manage to get fixed just before PAS and they both GAINED about an hour each!
We have a chart in the boss's office that shows here every driver is in the discipline process for over allowed. It is pure harrassment and nothing else!

 

[feederdriver06]

Your job has too many variables that you have no control over. Don't worry about the numbers. The union doesn't recognize their bogus time study numbers. It does get frustrating have to answer questions on a daily basis though. I know. Been there. Thats why I went to feeders.

 

[NHDRVR]

Our building averages about an hour or so. Every day is different.

 

[whiskey]

There is a big push in my part of Florida over this and the drivers are pushing back.
They allowances are so bad here that we have had it. There stupid part is that you get chewed out but yet the bosses admit that there is no way to make it in private.
My building went on PAS within the last two years yet we never got the time studies. We are running on studies that are over 20 years old in some cases. Two runs did manage to get fixed just before PAS and they both GAINED about an hour each!
We have a chart in the boss's office that shows here every driver is in the discipline process for over allowed. It is pure harrassment and nothing else!

ditto

 

[Coldworld]

What seems to make everybody so mad is time is lost and there is no reason for it, especially if a building already lost time for being on pas. They can never tell you why routes are loosing time ...its basicially trying to do whatever with the numbers to lower the planned day to add stops and to stop paying bonus to people. Awhile back lifer or another sup on here gave a good post or two on the allowance and how they work, and not always fair.

 

[RobRoy]

If you are told that you are over by a on car sup more than once there is one simple reply. Please brown up and show me how. The ball is now in mgt's court.

 

[brownrodster]

Here, when they go an spy on a driver that is 3 hours over and catch him running his ass off and breaking every safety rule there is they actually take work off their truck...

 

[BIGBROWNLONGHORN]

At our building they tell them to skip there lunch and sort truck before start time

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Beats me why people even care about the allowances when we all know that they are skewed against us. We know it, they know it, everyone knows it. If you are striving in your work life to do "scratch," You are killing yourself.

I go by stops per hour. Even when I beat that by a wide margin, I am still "over." Maybe only .50, but over none the less.

 

[ups1990]

This thread is, far out man.

 

[soberups]

Complaining about a time allowance is like complaining about the odds at a casino.

The house makes the rules, and the house always wins. Gambling odds and time allowances are similar in that they were never intended to be fair or realistic in the first place. In a casino, they are mathematically and scientifically designed to extract revenue from the player and transfer it to the house; in UPS's case, they are mathematically and scientifically designed to create a "standard" that can only be met by working off of the clock. Either way, the house wins and you lose.

There is no way to win. You can only keep yourself from losing by refusing to play.

 

[dannyboy]

For the most part, most drivers lose a minute here and there. Whether its a COD, pulling over to the side of the road to show respect for a funeral, and the list is long. Some days, its a couple of the above, some days more. But it happens.

As long as you work by the book, not what management says, but by the methods, you should be fine. You work hard, you work smart, and work by the book. After that, the internal effected of you being over allowed is their problem. And they need to first admit there is a problem, then fix the problem.

The issue becomes like the one poster mentioned. You know that the routes are in need of a new study, but because of the economy and the cost of doing new studies, that wont happen anytime soon. So instead, they choose to ignore the faults, and continue in beating people over the head with bad production numbers.

That is not to say that there are drivers that just wont work to their potential, because there are. But when a driver is working at 95-99% efficiency, and gets beat by an hour, there is something wrong with the tool used to measure productivity.

d

 

[1989]

Complaining about a time allowance is like complaining about the odds at a casino.

The house makes the rules, and the house always wins. Gambling odds and time allowances are similar in that they were never intended to be fair or realistic in the first place. In a casino, they are mathematically and scientifically designed to extract revenue from the player and transfer it to the house; in UPS's case, they are mathematically and scientifically designed to create a "standard" that can only be met by working off of the clock. Either way, the house wins and you lose.

There is no way to win. You can only keep yourself from losing by refusing to play.

Ahhh, the old golden rule...He who holds the gold makes all the rules.

 

[Eclipz]

I guess were not at that point yet over here but I have a bad feeling this will change eventually. Sure, you will be questioned when you have minimal stops and get back late but no one has gotten into big trouble for it. As long as you don't miss any pickups or express you may take your time on the road.

 

[morgahorse]

I quit paying attention to how much I go over when I was covering a route once and was averaging 20 stops an hour and it said I was still going almost an hour over.

Now I just work safe and at a steady pace and do what I can.

If a sup says something to me I just shrug my shoulders and look stupid.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I go by stops per hour. Even when I beat that by a wide margin, I am still "over." Maybe only .50, but over none the less.

I quit paying attention to how much I go over when I was covering a route once and was averaging 20 stops an hour and it said I was still going almost an hour over.