How to be a good driver helper - duh!

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
1. Get to work early every day - don't make the driver wait for you.

2. Don't wait for the coordinator to call you, ever - take them out of the loop if you can by working directly with your driver if you have an established route.

3. Finished with your route? Call and offer to work more, doing anything.

4. Follow your driver's lead, let her/him know you want to learn as much as possible and that you are there to make their job easier, whatever that looks like for them.

5. Learn as much about the DIAD as you possibly can, if your driver is open to teaching you (which can feel like a burden to some drivers) have them show you what to do on the board every time you encounter something new. If your driver doesn't have time to teach you everything you want to know suck it up and do the work.

6. Don't miss work, it is going to suck because you are going to be sore ALL THE TIME, but this is what you signed up for - get up, get coffee, eat breakfast and get your ass to work.

7. Don't entertain gossip between drivers - it might feel like you're making a friend but what you are really doing is showing that you're willing to trash talk - just don't do it.

8. Be nice to your driver, they are doing this job 52 weeks a year - have a little empathy.

9. Don't bitch about the small stuff - unless it's a safety violation or you are being asked to do something unethical.

10. Don't fall for the "we're gonna keep you on" speak, keep working your tail off and let as many people know that you'd like to earn a permanent position without begging for anything. Earn it, it won't be given to you.

I would have added more but this is just fine. Ignore all the negative posts about it.
 

Tired Driver

Sisyphus had it easy.
1. Listen to all instructions while driving to the next stop.

2. When I stop the truck, be standing beside it waiting to take the package.

3. Have your seat belt on before me.

4. Repeat 230 times.
 

brownette

@)>-%---
@ImmaBabyBrown;

All helpers in future years will be able to read this post and benefit from your life experience. New employees appreciate any advice they can get.

Thank you for your thoughtful tips. You are a noble soul to take such time to freely help others.
 

HBGPreloader

Well-Known Member
1. Get to work early every day - don't make the driver wait for you.

2. Don't wait for the coordinator to call you, ever - take them out of the loop if you can by working directly with your driver if you have an established route.

3. Finished with your route? Call and offer to work more, doing anything.

4. Follow your driver's lead, let her/him know you want to learn as much as possible and that you are there to make their job easier, whatever that looks like for them.

5. Learn as much about the DIAD as you possibly can, if your driver is open to teaching you (which can feel like a burden to some drivers) have them show you what to do on the board every time you encounter something new. If your driver doesn't have time to teach you everything you want to know suck it up and do the work.

6. Don't miss work, it is going to suck because you are going to be sore ALL THE TIME, but this is what you signed up for - get up, get coffee, eat breakfast and get your ass to work.

7. Don't entertain gossip between drivers - it might feel like you're making a friend but what you are really doing is showing that you're willing to trash talk - just don't do it.

8. Be nice to your driver, they are doing this job 52 weeks a year - have a little empathy.

9. Don't bitch about the small stuff - unless it's a safety violation or you are being asked to do something unethical.

10. Don't fall for the "we're gonna keep you on" speak, keep working your tail off and let as many people know that you'd like to earn a permanent position without begging for anything. Earn it, it won't be given to you.
"If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys"
Not to say that driving a package car is easy. But, the drivers are earning at least double of a drivers helper. So, when the company is paying $8.50 an hour (with no benefits) to work in the conditions most package helpers have to endure, you really can't expect too much.
 

bleedinbrown58

That’s Craptacular
Really....enough with the oh the poor :censored2: helpers only make 8 bucks an hour. They knew the pay rate when they took the job....no one pulled a fast one on them, and no one forced them to take the job. Waaaah...this job is hard, good grief...enough already. The fact that the OP, who probably thinks he's the greatest helper since hamburger, felt the need to post such a long winded ration of BS. The job ain't complicated...show up on time in uniform. Shut your mouth, and work as directed. Game over.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
"Don't get thrown in jail before your Start Time"

My Helper's girlfriend called the Center this morning, he was a "guest" of the local Sheriff after being pulled over for "a traffic violation". Since he drives a Nissan Altima, I doubt he was drag racing. I guess I tipped him too much and he stayed at the bar too long Sunday night. I had a different Helper today, that made the eleventh one on my car and three on my golf cart route this Peak Season.
 
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"Don't get thrown in jail before your Start Time"

My Helper's girlfriend called the Center this morning, he was a "guest" of the local Sheriff after being pulled over for for "a traffic violation". Since he drives a Nissan Altima, I doubt he was drag racing. I guess I tipped him too much and he stayed at the bar too long Sunday night. I had a different Helper today, that made the eleventh one on my car and three on my golf cart route this Peak Season.

Maybe it's you? :)
 

Rainman

Its all good.
Oh and… who is it that i am attempting to brown nose with my post? I'm too old and don't care enough about what anyone else thinks of me to try to brown nose anyone in UPS or anywhere else.

There are still people out there who want to work hard and do the right thing because that's who they are, not because they think someone is watching..

Return to your regularly jaded program now.
 

Rainman

Its all good.
Wow, you guys are so much fun. I posted this because I got tired of being asked and honestly couldn't believe some of the people that UPS hires for this job. Oh and yeah it's late for THIS season but I thought more of you would be more big picture - there is a next season you know.

Trying to navigate this forum is a little bit like trying to find the mispick in your truck that you don't know is there, so sue me for trying to make it idiot proof - you've seen the helpers they're a lot that fit into the idiot category - so it made sense.

Oh and PS - this is MY perspective as a first year driver helper, I've been doing this for 5 weeks now and really struggle to understand why so many people find it difficult. I realize that I'm not a twenty something - or actually even a 30 something anymore- so maybe that is why i feel like the smartest person in the room around most helpers (and lets face it, some drivers). The best part about being the smartest kid in my local class is that I don't have to work with a driver anymore - I do 2 golf cart routes for about 225 stops a day in an average of 6 hours.

Guess I'm learning that trying to be helpful isn't really the thing to do on this forum - I'll come back when I have something to bitch about….
Don't let these people get to you. Anytime someone does anything worth doing, someone will try to tear them down. The only people who don't get harassed are the people who never do anything. Go with what you believe.
 
I really don't give a rat's … what you drivers think of the original post, the truth is that if half of the helpers you got "stuck" with did the few helpful things mentioned here you might run out of some stuff to whine about.

I'm not some green behind the ears "oh this is my first job" punk. For someone like me who has 25 years in project facilitation this job is like a vacation for me, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to do it well. I happen to try to find some tips on what I was getting myself into and it wasn't out there (or I couldn't find it in all the whining about how all helpers suck). I thought since it was more cathartic for you drivers to rant about how everything about your job sucks (except when you're bragging about how much you make - which is just odd) I'd list some things that seemed pretty obvious to me but didn't appear to be that obvious to some of the seemingly challenged folks in my orientation.

Oh and it's hilarious how most of you assume all helpers are guys. mid 40's female here.
 
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