Need some perspective

[Fourputt]

I now see two things... FedEx needs a union... and I can now understand the frustration of some FedEx employees on here. I need some perspective. First off, I worked for the gubment before, and it sucked. I love my new job. I have the best boss you could ask for and I enjoy (most of) my co workers. I was told I'd be given 3 weeks training with someone. I had 1 day. Today I drove alone. I was given a route the size of Rhode Island (literally). I was thrown out on my own and I worked 13 hours. I spent 3+ hours talking on the phone and texting my co workers, who had their own crap to worry about, who were nice enough to help me find these houses. There were 10 houses that had no address, no street name, no marking, and one was LITERALLY an abandoned shack on top of a hill with no markings, no road, and only a small footpath strewn with beer bottles to let me know something was up there. I spent 40 minutes on that one alone.

The terminal manager is a nice guy... but he was more concerned with one package I had to return. This package had a wrong address and I actually found the right address but no one was there of course. I busted my ass delivering 100+ packages all over this godforsaken jungle and through ghettos I didn't even know existed, but the thing the manager was concerned about was not 115 packages all safely delivered, but the one that was returned, even though the address was wrong.

I had NO training on how to load, how to run scanners, where my route is, what DOT regs are, hazmat stuff, etc. I had one day driving with a passenger doing an easy route. I've been winging everything and completely depending on my co workers who are nice enough to help me. I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water and I feel like they're expecting me to survive on my own to see what kind of stuff I'm made of. I'm not complaining, as I actually love the job itself... I just want to know if this is typical and if it gets better. If it doesn't, I will accept that because working for the gubment blows...but it sure would be nice!

Also... here's an interesting paradox I saw today... a fellow driver worked his ass off and drove for (x number of) hours. Anyway it exceeded the DOT regs for how many you can drive in a certain amount of time.... Anyway the manager pushes us to run, run, run and if you can't finish you get in trouble... but if you do finish but take too long you still get in trouble.

What should I expect? Thanks. I now feel like a true employee of Fed Ex.

What are the chances of getting on with UPS (union) as a driver after a few years?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Fourputt]

To add... I was so aggravated by this one house that I now look back and find it hilarious. This house was about 5 or 6 miles down a dirt road narrower than my truck. I scraped trees and branches the whole way. Then the road ended at a creek. I thought the address was wrong. I then noticed a glint off of a tin roof about a quarter of a mile away on top of a hill. I hiked up and saw a house that had all broken windows, no door, gaps in the roof, no markings, no road, etc. I thought it was abandoned. The path had rusted beer bottles. I called a fellow driver and said "There is no way anyone lives here, I'm returning this package". He says " No, someone lives there". Anyway, I did a driver release and selected "Front door". The irony is.... there was no door, just an empty space in the bricks. Not very funny, but I find it hilarious. The package probably had drugs in it. Just another day I guess.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

..

 

[Cactus]

They told you that you would have 3 weeks worth of training? That's a laugh 'cause this wonderful company is way too cheap to pay for training. By the way never trust anything that manager ever says again or the others for that matter. Fred likes managers who lie to their subordinates (part of the business model.) Sorry you hasd a rough day out there. They should've started you with an easier or part-time route. As far as UPS is concerned, you'd have some serious dues to pay before you become a driver, regardless of experience.

 

[Cactus]

You're an idiot.

I'm sure everyone here is in awe of your rude comments. Tell us about your very first day as a UPS driver and let us know just how perfect everything went.

 

[Nolimitz]

welcome to FedEx. It will get easier. Tomorrow will only be 12 1/2 hours. Any station manager that sweats a single return pkg is nuts. Stay far far away

 

[Fourputt]

Ive been called an idiot before. Maybe it's true. Which part of my post are you referring to?

 

[Mr. 7]

Dave,
Bad post.

Fourputt,
Are you an Express CRR? If so, that scenario doesn't seem right.

Aside from that re: bad addresses or houses with no number... Just today I del. a computer to a guy who's house has no # on it. I happen to be at this house about a month ago with another del. and I told the guy "Hey, I wasn't sure if this was the right address b'c I don't think there's a number on your house?" He was like "oh?"

I say to him today as he's signing for the HP computer "I think I mentioned that your house has no number on it last time I was here, any thoughts?" He was like "Yeah, I think I like it better that way" I said "Well, it makes it tough on us in the dark, during Christmas, tying to identify your house".

He was like "meh"

Guess what? Next time I have a pkg. going to that house, at 1629 I'll put a "can't find house #xxx" scan on it until he smartens up.

 

[Brown287]

That was a rough day. But anyone who has driven can relate. We have all had days like that. This forum is where we all come to swap stories cause anyone who has not driven just doesn't get it. But here, we all do. It will get easier as far as methods are concerned, but I drove for almost 8 years before I got my own route so there were a lot of days with "where the heck is this house?"
Hang in there. At the very least you will have great stories that we get to hear about.

 

[59 Dano]

Guess what? Next time I have a pkg. going to that house, at 1629 I'll put a "can't find house #xxx" scan on it until he smartens up.

I'd always put those scans on just before I cleared. Our effort to find their house shouldn't exceed the effort they make to be found.

 

[Cactus]

Fourputt, by the way your manager sounds like a typical clueless manager if he's sweating one package brought back to the station. Most of them couldn't do a simple P1 route to save their lives.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Fourputt, I want to apologize for my rude comment. Your story and your reaction to your situation seemed to be totally unbelievable as to border on being made up, especially in your second post. I have had several country runs in fairly depressed areas and have never encountered anything nearly as desolate as you described. It was just too hard to believe. Again, I am sorry. Dave.

 

[LTFedExer]

I now see two things... FedEx needs a union... and I can now understand the frustration of some FedEx employees on here. I need some perspective. First off, I worked for the gubment before, and it sucked. I love my new job. I have the best boss you could ask for and I enjoy (most of) my co workers. I was told I'd be given 3 weeks training with someone. I had 1 day. Today I drove alone. I was given a route the size of Rhode Island (literally). I was thrown out on my own and I worked 13 hours. I spent 3+ hours talking on the phone and texting my co workers, who had their own crap to worry about, who were nice enough to help me find these houses. There were 10 houses that had no address, no street name, no marking, and one was LITERALLY an abandoned shack on top of a hill with no markings, no road, and only a small footpath strewn with beer bottles to let me know something was up there. I spent 40 minutes on that one alone.

The terminal manager is a nice guy... but he was more concerned with one package I had to return. This package had a wrong address and I actually found the right address but no one was there of course. I busted my ass delivering 100+ packages all over this godforsaken jungle and through ghettos I didn't even know existed, but the thing the manager was concerned about was not 115 packages all safely delivered, but the one that was returned, even though the address was wrong.

I had NO training on how to load, how to run scanners, where my route is, what DOT regs are, hazmat stuff, etc. I had one day driving with a passenger doing an easy route. I've been winging everything and completely depending on my co workers who are nice enough to help me. I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water and I feel like they're expecting me to survive on my own to see what kind of stuff I'm made of. I'm not complaining, as I actually love the job itself... I just want to know if this is typical and if it gets better. If it doesn't, I will accept that because working for the gubment blows...but it sure would be nice!

Also... here's an interesting paradox I saw today... a fellow driver worked his ass off and drove for (x number of) hours. Anyway it exceeded the DOT regs for how many you can drive in a certain amount of time.... Anyway the manager pushes us to run, run, run and if you can't finish you get in trouble... but if you do finish but take too long you still get in trouble.

What should I expect? Thanks. I now feel like a true employee of Fed Ex.

What are the chances of getting on with UPS (union) as a driver after a few years?

Thanks for the help.

Made up story...

 

[Artee]

Also... here's an interesting paradox I saw today... a fellow driver worked his ass off and drove for (x number of) hours. Anyway it exceeded the DOT regs for how many you can drive in a certain amount of time.... Anyway the manager pushes us to run, run, run and if you can't finish you get in trouble... but if you do finish but take too long you still get in trouble.

If you find yourself busting DOT hours the best thing you can do is park the truck and call your manager to come get you. If you are caught driving with no hours left it is a big fine for you and for FedEx. Last I heard it was like $10k each. Fedex takes it very seriously. We had a guy 2 peaks ago go over 14 hours. Big time trouble and a letter in the file. Lucky for him DOT didn't catch it. I am going to assume though that you work for ground and if that is the case FedEx probably has no legal responsibility. Its all going to be on you including the fines. I guess the moral of the story is don't bust DOT hours because the last person its going to help is you.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

Down here in the Land of The Lone Star, we do have areas like this....literally over the river, through the woods, turn left at the brown and white cow but not the black and white one, then when you leave the paved road it's only a "little ways on up there..". Hence, the "country mile" is in effect, and it is actually closer to 3-4 miles on dirt or gravel roads with all God's creatures crossing it....and best of all, a lot of times all this acreage belongs to one family.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Down here in the Land of The Lone Star, we do have areas like this....literally over the river, through the woods, turn left at the brown and white cow but not the black and white one, then when you leave the paved road it's only a "little ways on up there..". Hence, the "country mile" is in effect, and it is actually closer to 3-4 miles on dirt or gravel roads with all God's creatures crossing it....and best of all, a lot of times all this acreage belongs to one family.

While I've never delivered to extreme rural northern Maine, I know someone who volunteered a couple of years ago when verizon sent a massive amount of phones up there. He told me literally the address lines would contain stuff like Downtrodden mentions. Take a left at the really big rock, then a right at the big tree! Lots of driving on old lumber roads. All I can say is I'm glad my exteneded route isn't anywhere near as bad as those!

 

[big idea]

Fourputt, I want to apologize for my rude comment. Your story and your reaction to your situation seemed to be totally unbelievable as to border on being made up, especially in your second post. I have had several country runs in fairly depressed areas and have never encountered anything nearly as desolate as you described. It was just too hard to believe. Again, I am sorry. Dave.

Next time you post take a step backwards,a deep breath and think about for a moment.

 

[vantexan]

Fourputt, I want to apologize for my rude comment. Your story and your reaction to your situation seemed to be totally unbelievable as to border on being made up, especially in your second post. I have had several country runs in fairly depressed areas and have never encountered anything nearly as desolate as you described. It was just too hard to believe. Again, I am sorry. Dave.

I've worked in big cities and rural areas. I've seen some pretty convoluted country addresses over the years but have found in the last 10 or so years that most rural areas I've been in have gone to a logical 911 address system. But having worked in some large urban areas it does seem that people who grow up in cities have a bit of a bias about country folk. It's often assumed(just an observation from having heard many coworkers and others) that people in the country are less intelligent and/or sophisticated. Of course that doesn't apply to wealthy people with large country estates and all the toys. If a city person drives out into the country and encounters any problems it just reinforces the bias. What wouldn't bother a country boy in the least might be a real pain to a city guy. Different culture, different perspective.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Next time you post take a step backwards,a deep breath and think about for a moment.

I actually did. I guess I should have thought about it a bit longer.

 

[Doc Sorting Dude]

All of the experienced crr's will tell you, don't spend too much time on one address if you can't find it, let dispatch do the leg work. You only jeopardized the other packages commit times. If you're not the regular courier on that route, if you show you made an attempt thats good enough. Don't try to be super-courier, they'll just pound you with more stops.