bleedinbrown58
That’s Craptacular
You make me laugh
New Seasonal Driver Advice?
- Thread starter monkeymind
- Start date
barnyard
KTM rider
You make me laugh
I bought 20 of their stickers 1 year for stocking stuffers. My daughters have them on their computers and favorite coffee and water jugs.
That's what she said.
Shift Inhibit
He who laughs last didn't get it.
New drivers get really overwhelmed and stressed out by the total stop count/# of pieces... take a deep breath, don't focus on the entire day. take it 5-10 stops at a time, line the pkgs up in order if you have to. even right behind the bulk head door on the floor. Run those stops , then do the next 5-10...
Keep organized. As a seasonal expect you will get aty unorganized load because the route was created for peak so it was probably thrown together at the last second. Keep moving and don't sit around
.....Yeah, cauae trainwreck loads are just for the seasonal guys. Lmao.
Work quickly, but intelligently. Organize a section of the truck and work from there, repeat until the truck is empty.
If you can't find a package, look for no more tha 20-30 seconds. If you don't see it, move on, you can always deliver it later if you have found it
TooTechie
Geek in Brown
TooTechie
Geek in Brown
Seriously, they'll give new guys a lot of slack if they show they're trying. I have an experienced driver that is new to his bid route and after 3 weeks on his new route yesterday he had 25 missed business pieces, 10 pieces that were found on car that didn't even get a scan, 3 late NDAs and lots of missed savers and they didn't even give him a verbal when they called him into the office after PCM. They just gave him the "what happened?" and "we need you to pick up the pace" talks.
You've Got Mail
Well-Known Member
Fourth day of my route was yesterday with my supervisor. Still needed to be told which way to go, and he had to take over halfway through because I apparently drive too slow. Manual steering/transmission + key for the ignition/door = annoying. Living in a suburb sucks. I'd do better if I was delivering out where resi's are miles apart rather than inches or feet. Plan on studying google maps over the weekend to familiarize myself, maybe take my personal car to the route and really try to memorize it, but it's very difficult. I was never that good with directions. Also, doing anything with the diad besides DR'ing stuff is still alien to me. When I go out on my own, I'm screwed. I'll be out until it's so late that the sup or someone will have to come meet me somewhere. We've been averaging 150 stops a day. I only have had time to drink a little 20 oz bottle of water every day with one bathroom break, and that doesn't jive with me. When I'm alone, I'm drinking 20 oz every hour or two and pissing in the back of the truck.
Oh, and half the customers are jerks who think you're worse than the gum stuck to their shoe.
Oh, and half the customers are jerks who think you're worse than the gum stuck to their shoe.
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Shift Inhibit
He who laughs last didn't get it.
wow, I cant believe he didn't even scan the pieces he brought(as missed)... that would be a warning letter for sure in my building... not good for a 25 yr employee... sad
TooTechie
Geek in Brown
It's very normal not to know the flow of the loop after 4 days, especially if you're a new driver and don't have experience with other routes to get how routes are mapped out.
Also don't worry about driving fast right now. Worry about not hitting anything and getting smooth getting on and off the truck.
Schittbox trucks suck, but if you can master them then you can drive anything we have and you'll be even faster in the new trucks. I recently was upgraded from my 29 year old POS to a new 2013 P80X. It's like driving a luxury car. Sooo smooth. When I got my new truck it actually knocked 45 minutes off my day without trying. Just be thankful you're not delivering out of a uhaul. Climbing in and out of the back of the truck, not having shelves and no backup camera so you have to constantly be worried about hitting something...that would suck a lot more than an old package car.
Actually no. Close together stops when you're new gives you the opportunity to look like a superstar because once you get the smooth car routine down and get in your groove you can knock out a ton of work quickly, whereas when you are on a rural run with a lot of windshield time working faster doesn't change much because you're still at the mercy of road conditions, speed limits and overall safety. Once you're no longer new obviously windshield time is preferable because it's less strenuous work.
Ask your on-car to print you a copy of your manifest and then run the route stop for stop on the weekend in your personal vehicle. I did it when I was trying to make seniority and it was huge for me. Once you become an experienced driver you don't need to do this. The routes will just click once you master one.
I always tell everyone not to do any work off the clock, even looking at google maps because the company should be paying you, but in the following I'm a bit of a hypocrite:
After two months on my current route I did a virtual drive-through one night after work on Google maps street view because I was having a really rough time learning the residential. I had never had this problem before on any other route after my first route. It's just an odd route.
This time of year with it getting colder you shouldn't be super thirsty, although it's good to stay hydrated year round. Don't worry about the diad. It will come with repetition. You probably shouldn't be getting 150 stops. They're supposed to start you around 60% of the route then work you up to normal full volume, but sadly that rarely happens. They think if they just keep the sup on the car and doing union work with you for an extra couple of days that they can keep it heavy. Although heading into peak season any route is going to be heavy. They should be sending neighboring drivers to take work off you if you run into problems in the beginning if they're not reducing the dispatch.
Nah, most customers are decent with a few jerks thrown in. Bear in mind you're trying to go fast and limit your interactions so you look good to sups. The customers don't know that and are probably used to chatting a bit or a more laid back interaction.
TooTechie
Geek in Brown
He's not 25 year, he has about 10 years in I think, but yeah I was thinking the same thing yesterday. When I took over my new route (which is similar to his and right next to his) I would have a couple of missed business pieces on the days they loaded me up too heavily or if a business was in the middle of a resi neighborhood and I didn't know it was a business, but I never had missed NDA or savers unless I let them know about it ahead of time. I thought for sure he was going to get a warning letter because the center manager must have got chewed out over that one in the morning. I have no clue how he didn't scan all the packages on his truck. It's one thing if occasionally something falls into the send agains or pickups.
HEFFERNAN
Huge Member
I will say that I can't believe how much knowledge is needed nowadays delivering here compared to just 10-15 years ago.
With all the number hiding, telematics, added workload because of EDD/PAS, Orion, I can understand how a new hire can feel so overwhelmed.
Never be afraid to ask questions with your fellow drivers and driver supervisor, because there is never a dumb question in the driver ranks.
With all the number hiding, telematics, added workload because of EDD/PAS, Orion, I can understand how a new hire can feel so overwhelmed.
Never be afraid to ask questions with your fellow drivers and driver supervisor, because there is never a dumb question in the driver ranks.
I Am Jacks Damaged Box
***** Club Member (can't talk about it)
tiredofbrown123
Well-Known Member
im a new ft hire. and i was at a residential friday, it was an air saver. it was also sig required. it was after the commit time of 3pm and i hit inside delivery cause i always do since verizon requires it to say inside delivery for some stupid reason. and if i forget they get mad. plus i have to re-sheet the stop which is a pain in the . anyway, when i did it said that it was late but i didnt know that because i was told residential savers are end of day . my center manager wasnt thrilled but said just make sure i dont do that again. said he wouldnt give me a warning letter this time but i can get in big trouble for that. also i was late with a saver that was actually on someone elses route and i never had it before. my center manager told me that the road was off a road that im kinda familiar with so i thought it was a residential. didnt get in trouble for that either. but i think if they are gonna give you a warning letter then you should at least get a verbal warning first. there is too much stuff to know and too much to get in trouble for! im afraid to spend any money cause im afraid ill get fired lol
. anyway, when i did it said that it was late but i didnt know that because i was told residential savers are end of day . my center manager wasnt thrilled but said just make sure i dont do that again. said he wouldnt give me a warning letter this time but i can get in big trouble for that. also i was late with a saver that was actually on someone elses route and i never had it before. my center manager told me that the road was off a road that im kinda familiar with so i thought it was a residential. didnt get in trouble for that either. but i think if they are gonna give you a warning letter then you should at least get a verbal warning first. there is too much stuff to know and too much to get in trouble for! im afraid to spend any money cause im afraid ill get fired loltiredofbrown123
Well-Known Member
oh and that business was not off the road he told me it was off of. it was way off my route. like 10 minutes or more away from my route .
tiredofbrown123
Well-Known Member
cool man, i told my sup that i would just use inside delivery for everything so i wouldnt forget and he agreed thats what i should do.
BUCN85
Well-Known Member
Don't worry about being fast. Just be safe. Ha....ha
MassWineGuy
Well-Known Member
I was welcomed and well received by most full time drivers. There are jerks everywhere. DOn't let them get you down. Chances are good all the other drivers dislike them, too.
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