In general, how disciplined are drivers?

[TampaCRG]

I've been a small package customer service rep (tampa call center) for over a year now, working from tracking up to the international preferred team. A consistent call when I worked in the domestic part was an irate customer saying they tracked their package and there was a "No such #" or some similar scan indicating the driver was unable to locate it. They swear up and down the address is correct, and that the driver in their area is sub-par and is lazy. I never believed it, but just out of curiosity, does it happen where a driver will just use the diad to simulate an attempt and just bypass a delivery to save time / effort, or is it just rude customers lying?

 

[grgrcr88]

With all the technology in place at UPS, if some one tried such a thing they would be nailed to a cross in the office for everyone to see. No way, can a driver nowadays sheet a package away from its intended location without throwing up all kinds of red flags to management.

What I have found more often than not, especially with the new PAS/EDD system, is that the computer labels the package wrong so it goes to the wrong truck. In these situations some drivers will use the PAL adress when sheeting as a bad adress. This could lead to an irate customer, if the shipping label is correct but it is PAL Labeled wrong and sheeted incorectly as Bad Ad. It should be sheeted by the shipping adress as MISSED and given to a clerk or sup upon return to building so it can be correcred in the system. That is if it cannot be properly delivered.

 

[TampaCRG]

That's interesting. See, all of us customer service reps know all the technicality of service, but no idea of how things work on the inside unfortunately, and it fascinates me to be honest.

 

[grgrcr88]

Technology has ruined customer service by the "Service Provider". We are no longer able to make decisions on our own as to how best serve. We can only do as EDD tells us!!!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Technology has ruined customer service by the "Service Provider". We are no longer able to make decisions on our own as to how best serve. We can only do as EDD tells us!!!

While it is true that there is not much that we can do with a bad pal, there are ways that an experienced driver can use PAS/EDD to their advantage. EDD is just another tool to help us do our job--it is still up to the driver to do it in the most efficient manner possible.

For example, EDD has you delivering to a school between 1415 and 1445 but you know that the buses are in the school yard and you have been asked to avoid that area during that time. Delivering around that area and then making the school delivery is more efficient than sitting in traffic and upsetting the school staff.

Blaming PAS/EDD for lack of customer service is a cop out.

 

[The Blackadder]

I have to say some cover drivers my eat stops to avoid them, this has happened with a few in my building. But most all drivers on their own route dont avoid stops or just eat them. Why would you, you are just getting it back tomorrow. I have seen things like a package going to pine st but being addressed to pine rd. The costumer gets mad at UPS but we did not put St, when it should be Road.

One draw back to numbers being the most important thing at UPS is that if a driver does have trouble finding an address or has a bad address s/he wont spend any time trying to fix it, why would you waste 5 mins to fix it, if it will just make you look worse on paper tomorrow?

A little of topic but now we are told if we have a bad address and sheet it up but then later they find the right address and we can get it done, we now have to go back in and delate the 1st attempt. This means you lose credit for the first attempt. So basically if I drive 5 mins to make an attempt to what turns out to be a bad number, I wont get credit for the attempt and it will make me look worse on paper.

So what has started to happen is that drivers are putting bad address off to the side and not sheeting them until later giving UPS less time to fix the error and less chance of having to go back that day, this does not help customer serivce. But it does help you look good on the all important PAPER.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I have to say some cover drivers my eat stops to avoid them, this has happened with a few in my building. But most all drivers on their own route dont avoid stops or just eat them. Why would you, you are just getting it back tomorrow. I have seen things like a package going to pine st but being addressed to pine rd. The costumer gets mad at UPS but we did not put St, when it should be Road.

One draw back to numbers being the most important thing at UPS is that if a driver does have trouble finding an address or has a bad address s/he wont spend any time trying to fix it, why would you waste 5 mins to fix it, if it will just make you look worse on paper tomorrow?

A little of topic but now we are told if we have a bad address and sheet it up but then later they find the right address and we can get it done, we now have to go back in and delate the 1st attempt. This means you lose credit for the first attempt. So basically if I drive 5 mins to make an attempt to what turns out to be a bad number, I wont get credit for the attempt and it will make me look worse on paper.

So what has started to happen is that drivers are putting bad address off to the side and not sheeting them until later giving UPS less time to fix the error and less chance of having to go back that day, this does not help customer serivce. But it does help you look good on the all important PAPER.

I guess we all have to decide for ourselves if "acceptable" is good enough. What you described above, although "acceptable", is not good enough in my book. I could care less how I look on paper. If I have a pkg with a bad address and there is a phone number either on the pkg or in the phone book I will call and try to get the correct address. This is getting harder to do as more and more people are dropping their land lines and the phone companies will not list cell phone numbers unless you pay for an additional listing.

I disagree with deleting the first attempt. Sure it looks better on paper to do so but it is more accurate to keep it as it will show the progression of the package.

 

[The Blackadder]

I argee I have called my times to find out the correct address, I hate when it turns out to be the a help line to the shipping company, not much help.

I think most drivers want to find the address and get it off, not all but most. The cover guys have it tougher no doubt and I dont really blame them.

But when UPS goes out of its way, like with telling us to delate the 1st attempt (which then makes us look worse on paper) I also see why some have giving up on trying and just take it back in for an address correction.


The job is hard enough without UPS trying to make up look bad.

Anyway that is my 2 cents.

 

[PASinterference]

Yeah it seems like corporate's only intentions lately are making a driver look bad on paper.

 

[Catatonic]

Yeah it seems like corporate's only intentions lately are making a driver look bad on paper.

Absolutely ... there is a weekly conference call on this Thursday's at 9 a.m. Eastern.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

EDD/PASS CAN cause service failures. If a bad address comes down the belt and is scanned the system will guess and put the closest thing it can find on the label. If a driver ends up with that package in his 7000 or 8000 section but the correct address was for a business on a route 80 miles away then that is a service failure that can, and should, be blamed on the system. In no way, shape, or form is it a cop out.

 

[Nimnim]

Yeah it seems like corporate's only intentions lately are making a driver look bad on paper.

Given the state of uniforms I'm willing to say it's not only on paper.

 

[Shortimer]

I want to give you an actual situation. I deliver North Drive and driver next to me delivers North Road, same town. Once or twice a month, pkg come addressed perfectly to North Drive and EDD/PAL flips address to same # on North Road.
Driver sheets as NSP/NSN knowing that the address is flipped but mangement tells him to bring it back for correction & not to deliver (even though it is < a 2 mile r/t for him to make service). Cnee tracks the pkg, callls 800# & I get the pkg the next day with DIRECTIONS on it even though I have delivered these same houses countless times. I have discussed this w/ management & they tell me our preload did not make any mistakes,, it was the way the pkg PAL off the feeder. They know this by looking at the PAL . If address is centered on PAL then not our fault, if address all the way to left margin on PAL then it was input by local preload employee. Of course I do not want to hear that because I am not the "lazy" no good SOB that is not doing his job.

 

[whiskey]

Summer vacation cover drivers are famous for "stuffing" parcels. They can get very creative with how they sheet them up. Whatever, then they hand them to the clerk at night when they get back to the building. The clerk, when seeing it was a good address, usually gets mad. But the normal route driver, whose been on the same route for many years, knows where every address is and would never not make service. Well, maybe not never.

 

[pretzel_man]

EDD/PASS CAN cause service failures. If a bad address comes down the belt and is scanned the system will guess and put the closest thing it can find on the label. If a driver ends up with that package in his 7000 or 8000 section but the correct address was for a business on a route 80 miles away then that is a service failure that can, and should, be blamed on the system. In no way, shape, or form is it a cop out.

Arrow:

I have personally looked at 1000's of these and what you say can happen but....

This happens rarely and is generally NOT how these "flips" occur.

When a customer sends a package without a valid address, the system will do its best to figure out what they meant. This pass is incredibly accurate. As you say, sometimes (rarely) it gets it wrong. It depends on the street number, zip, city, etc. that they send and if there are multiple choices.

If its ambiguous as in the case you mention (meaning that it could be one of two or more choices), the system does not guess. It sends it to a person to figure out. In the case of a package with PLD, this generally happens before the package gets to the preload. That "pre corrections" person may pick the wrong address. They are supposed to use other tools that help determine.

If the package was not sent with PLD, a data capture operator keys in the address.

The two biggest ways these flips happen is that these people pick or enter the wrong address.

The third way it generally happens is that someone put in an address alias incorrectly.

I realize that from a drivers perspective they all look the same and all have the same impact. In ALL cases however, the cause is not sending a "valid" address to UPS. If the shipper send a validated address, the system never makes a mistake (actually, I did see it happen once long, long ago but that was corrected).

P-Man

 

[Brown287]

Im still trying to get over the fact that there Drivers that find packages that are mis-palled to a shelf that they were at 80 miles ago. Now thats some area coverage.

 

[NHDRVR]

I consider myself to be a good driver. Not great, not perfect, but one who tries to do the job the right way. I do it this way because I feel it's the right thing to do for me and the few customers I see on a daily basis. Sorry, but I don't do it for "the shield", for my boss, or because I think my stock value will increase. 90% of us are trying to get through the day without another tweaked muscle or rolled ankle and are looking to the weekend.

That's about as disciplined as I choose to be...

 

[The Blackadder]

Absolutely ... there is a weekly conference call on this Thursday's at 9 a.m. Eastern.

I would love to know a good reason why if I make a real attempt on a stop that turns out to be a bad address, and then later I am giving the right address I have to delate the 1st address and lose the time for that stop. And then make an attempt at the correct address basically only getting credit for 1 stop even though I made two attempts. Not one mgmt person in my building can give us a reason for it.

 

[Catatonic]

I would love to know a good reason why if I make a real attempt on a stop that turns out to be a bad address, and then later I am giving the right address I have to delate the 1st address and lose the time for that stop. And then make an attempt at the correct address basically only getting credit for 1 stop even though I made two attempts. Not one mgmt person in my building can give us a reason for it.

It is what it is and it was like this over 30 years ago when I drove ... like Sober says, "Let management worry about the numbers, it's not your problem."

 

[browniehound]

I would love to know a good reason why if I make a real attempt on a stop that turns out to be a bad address, and then later I am giving the right address I have to delate the 1st address and lose the time for that stop. And then make an attempt at the correct address basically only getting credit for 1 stop even though I made two attempts. Not one mgmt person in my building can give us a reason for it.

You get paid by the hour and not by the stop. Why should you care if you get "credit" for the stop? I don't understand. They can tell me to void all 150 stops for all I care...