soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
I am on a fairly large center (60+ drivers) so at any given time there is usually at least one driver in the office on TAW (temporary alternate work--"light duty"). These are usually people who are taken off car for a few days to heal minor injuries such as sprained ankles etc. Its a win-win because they dont have to lose money being out on comp, and the company keeps its insurance rates down because these guys dont show as a "lost time" injury.
Often time these drivers can still drive, they are just on a weight or hours restriction. This gives them the ability to perform useful work such as shuttling misloads, late air, or running empty vehicles out to routes with containment issues.
One of the truly stupid rules coming down from IE is that these guys cannot ever deliver a misload themselves, instead they must meet up with the driver and give him the package...even if that driver must then break trace for 10 miles to go back and deliver it.
Why? Because a TAW driver who delivers one stop will show up on the WOR and drag the centers SPORH average down. So according to IE "logic", its better for a driver on a route to lose 20 minutes breaking trace than it is for a TAW driver to deliver the package for him.
I was on TAW once and we had late air from the airport. I had a NDA letter for a title company and was instructed to go to the title company and wait there to give it to the driver who was clear at the other end of his route 15 miles away.
These were title documents. I was there; I had the letter; I had a DIAD; I had every ability to make service on that package. The customer came out and asked me for it, she said her buyers were inside waiting to sign. I called the center and asked for permission to deliver the letter...and was told "no."
We kept 3 customers at a title company waiting 45 minutes for their important title documents until the regular driver arrived...all so some dipsh%t bean-counter from IE could take credit for looking better "on paper" by keeping the centers SPORH average higher by some insignificant margin.
The 45 minutes that the regular driver spent shagging the misload that I could have delivered for him meant that he needed help in the afternon from 2 other drivers, who had to break trace and add miles to their own routes. All 3 drivers were over 9.5, the customer was pissed that they had to wait for their title documents, and we owed them a refund due to the letter being late...but, by golly, at least we made that number look better!!!
It doesnt have to be this way. If there was anyone in IE with half a brain, they would allow each center to code TAW drivers in such a manner that any deliveries they did (subject to a limit of, say, 4 or 5 stops) would not count against the centers SPORH.
If you have a TAW driver and he is already being paid, already driving a vehicle, and is capable of delivering the work within his medical restrictions... there is no logical reason why he shouldnt be able to do so.
Of course, we are talking about IE...where logic is an oxymoron anyway.
Often time these drivers can still drive, they are just on a weight or hours restriction. This gives them the ability to perform useful work such as shuttling misloads, late air, or running empty vehicles out to routes with containment issues.
One of the truly stupid rules coming down from IE is that these guys cannot ever deliver a misload themselves, instead they must meet up with the driver and give him the package...even if that driver must then break trace for 10 miles to go back and deliver it.
Why? Because a TAW driver who delivers one stop will show up on the WOR and drag the centers SPORH average down. So according to IE "logic", its better for a driver on a route to lose 20 minutes breaking trace than it is for a TAW driver to deliver the package for him.
I was on TAW once and we had late air from the airport. I had a NDA letter for a title company and was instructed to go to the title company and wait there to give it to the driver who was clear at the other end of his route 15 miles away.
These were title documents. I was there; I had the letter; I had a DIAD; I had every ability to make service on that package. The customer came out and asked me for it, she said her buyers were inside waiting to sign. I called the center and asked for permission to deliver the letter...and was told "no."
We kept 3 customers at a title company waiting 45 minutes for their important title documents until the regular driver arrived...all so some dipsh%t bean-counter from IE could take credit for looking better "on paper" by keeping the centers SPORH average higher by some insignificant margin.
The 45 minutes that the regular driver spent shagging the misload that I could have delivered for him meant that he needed help in the afternon from 2 other drivers, who had to break trace and add miles to their own routes. All 3 drivers were over 9.5, the customer was pissed that they had to wait for their title documents, and we owed them a refund due to the letter being late...but, by golly, at least we made that number look better!!!
It doesnt have to be this way. If there was anyone in IE with half a brain, they would allow each center to code TAW drivers in such a manner that any deliveries they did (subject to a limit of, say, 4 or 5 stops) would not count against the centers SPORH.
If you have a TAW driver and he is already being paid, already driving a vehicle, and is capable of delivering the work within his medical restrictions... there is no logical reason why he shouldnt be able to do so.
Of course, we are talking about IE...where logic is an oxymoron anyway.
