on the truck before start time

[dannyboy]

i did not want to hijack another thread.....

i know many of you get on the truck 10 minutes to some more than an hour before start time. to sort through, and get in order your stops the way you are going to run them.

several thoughts.

mat waters made a wonderful observation when he posted

The preload's pay is peanuts compared to a drivers overtime. Common sense tell's you that $$'s always trump PPH. That's why UPS will always be a 3 ring circus to those that work there!

in our center, and every other one i ever went to, the preload is run like they are the only money making/cost effected operation in the building. they will shave off 10 minutes of a preloaders time at $12 an hour at the end of the shift, and pay the three drivers he was loading $28 an hour to load the packages.

the ability to wrap up the sort and get all the packages loaded properly is a vital part of any drivers paid day. what screws up a load is not what happens in the first 3 hours, its what happens in the last 20 minutes of the sort.

as such, ups knows that many drivers will be in their car, on their own time, trying to get the mess fixed. so the fools, yes you are foolish, play right into managements hands and give the company many hours a week overtime pay. then, in my experience, those very same drivers feel like they have to skip at least part if not all their lunch to "make service". so in the end, ups comes up with $100-$200 a week in free labor each and every week.

and the driver feels like they cant do the job without both early am time, and skipping lunch.

and to talk with them, you get the feeling of talking to your two year old into giving up their blankie and passie. you get the same reaction from both, they cant do it.

the contract is plain on this matter. UPS will not allow drivers to work off the clock. but not only do they allow, they encourage it. it makes the company millions of dollars every year.

in our building, we had about 60% of the drivers in the trucks before start time. not only the rookies, but drivers that had been there 15 years or more. the company finally began to give out warning letters to anyone in an active work area that was not on the clock. the free work stopped.

guess what, service failures did not increase. production did not decrease.

bottom line is that the company has a legal and moral responsibility to not have you on the truck before start time. if you want to get there early and sit in your cab, shut the door. otherwise stay out of your truck before start time. it is a bad habit to get into.

d

 

[feeder53]

I get there 15 minutes before start time, as I like to clean the windows, and get my stuff set up so when start time comes I can just drive away. I have done this all my driving years and I can take my time and not feal rushed to do my pre-trip and look the equipment over. I do not feel I am giving anyone anything, I do it for myself. All the companies I drove for had a policy of no more than 15 minutes before your shift.

 

[dutchups]

Dannyboy, well spoken.
Works the same overseas....

 

[dannyboy]

that is your time, you are not moving packages or in a work area where you would obstruct those loading. so there would be no issue.

d

 

[wolfman]

feeder53,
that's all well and good until you slip and fall off the truck and get hurt(yea yea it won't happen to me!) ON YOUR TIME. then when you're getting disability and not covered by workers comp because YOU'RE ON YOUR TIME, sit and think about it. there is plenty of options for washing your truck in the ivis to justify the time.

 

[kingOFchester]

I can easily see both sides.

We all make choices in life, some good, some bad.

 

[jedster]

We have 3 drivers out of 20 in our center that get there an hour early and the rest usually are there a half hour to 15 minutes early. It doesn't bother me so much when they are in their cars, but I hate it when they keep walking up and down the catwalk next to our belt. That drives me nuts especially when it gets close to the end because most of us preloaders are more or less running to keep up at the end. There is a driver (car 7--I load 9-12--there is no car 8) that gets to work an hour early. Well he loads and organizes his car and then loads his bulk stops causing the rear entrance of the car to be blocked off. So then he thinks he can walk between 7 and 9 (less than 24" between the 2) and load his air stops at the front of the car. Well the only problem with that is I have my bulk stops stacked up partially closing the gap between 7 and 9 so he pushes the packages over and leaves them lay (blocking off our catwalk). He has done this to me a few times before also, doesn't say sorry or even offer to pick them back up and stack them somewhere else. I don't know what to do. He's just a cold blooded *****.

 

[Jones]

We have 3 drivers out of 20 in our center that get there an hour early and the rest usually are there a half hour to 15 minutes early. It doesn't bother me so much when they are in their cars, but I hate it when they keep walking up and down the catwalk next to our belt. That drives me nuts especially when it gets close to the end because most of us preloaders are more or less running to keep up at the end. There is a driver (car 7--I load 9-12--there is no car 8) that gets to work an hour early. Well he loads and organizes his car and then loads his bulk stops causing the rear entrance of the car to be blocked off. So then he thinks he can walk between 7 and 9 (less than 24" between the 2) and load his air stops at the front of the car. Well the only problem with that is I have my bulk stops stacked up partially closing the gap between 7 and 9 so he pushes the packages over and leaves them lay (blocking off our catwalk). He has done this to me a few times before also, doesn't say sorry or even offer to pick them back up and stack them somewhere else. I don't know what to do. He's just a cold blooded *****.

Stop loading his car, just pile all the packages in the middle. That way, when he comes in an hour early he'll have something constructive to do and you'll have more time to focus on your other loads. Make that ***** work for you.

 

[NaiveRapture]

I get to the center a half hour before start time, earlier if I can help it. I know I'm working for free, but the amount of aggravation I save myself is WELL worth it. Like today, I had several stops which had 5-10 packages and would be unloaded at a dock through the rear door. I had no RDL and RDR assignments, and so I reorganized all my bulk stops to the rear of the truck, with plenty of room to walk through, clearing up a lot of floor and shelf space, which made about FIFTY stops much easier to find. I'll give up a half hour of my morning for that anyday. In the past 15 months (length I've been driving) I don't think one of our 80 drivers has gotten injured while organizing his car before start time, and we have a LOT of guys there early.

 

[dannyboy]

interesting responses

but it seems you gents are missing the point. it is not a suggestion that if ups wants, they have the option of letting you work off the clock or not.

let me repeat it more slowly

UPS will not allow drivers to work off the clock

hmmm, i dont see that option or choice you made as one of the choices.........

might just be me

d

 

[The Brown Santa]

Don't see what the big deal is. I don't even punch in until my start time. Why get there early and give them free labor. You KNOW if you take an extra 5 minutes on break you WILL be in the office for stealing time.

Today I had 300 packages in a P5. I just shrugged and left the building. It's their football, their field, let them make the calls. I don't sort anymore, I just search, if it takes 5 minutes...so be it. I didn't load it.

 

[UPSGUY72]

I don't touch any packages before my start time. I only go to my car to put my cooler in and get the car number if its different and mileage to input in the DIAD.

 

[scoobypanda]

I hate to answer a question with a question, but, why is it only "stealing time" when we do it?
I sort and organize my load all day......on the clock. I don't want the aggravation of a messed up load, so I take my messed up load out after my start time and I straighten it out ON THE CLOCK. How can anyone justify working off the clock to make their day easier? They try to fire people for stopping to grab a twenty from an ATM or grabbing a cup of coffee at 6 o'clock when the guy knows he has another 2 hours to go. Yet, they want to dispatch split guys before the pcm, let guys groom their loads, tell drivers to stretch or get water before they start. Nonsense. There is no excuse.
Gee Dan, thanks for getting me all riled up after another long day! When the layoffs are posted in January, God help the first clown I see "grooming" their load off the clock.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

I get to the center a half hour before start time, earlier if I can help it. I know I'm working for free, but the amount of aggravation I save myself is WELL worth it. Like today, I had several stops which had 5-10 packages and would be unloaded at a dock through the rear door. I had no RDL and RDR assignments, and so I reorganized all my bulk stops to the rear of the truck, with plenty of room to walk through, clearing up a lot of floor and shelf space, which made about FIFTY stops much easier to find. I'll give up a half hour of my morning for that anyday. In the past 15 months (length I've been driving) I don't think one of our 80 drivers has gotten injured while organizing his car before start time, and we have a LOT of guys there early.

I understand what and why you do this. The only thing that concerns me is that you actually get paid to do all the stuff you just said. Why come in early to do something you'll get paid to do later? You're paid to sort, put up with traffic, talk to customers with weird questions, leave the building packed to the gills and put up with everthing I haven't mentioned. You get paid handsomely to do all of that.

All you really need to do in the morning is come in, shoot the bull with the other drivers, listen to the PCM at start time, sort your air, pre-trip and go. You're cheating yourself out of good money, money that you'll be crying about at a later date, by getting into your car before start time.

 

[brownmonster]

You are still covered by workman's comp. You are a UPS employee hurt in a UPS facility performing your job. Just off the clock. I come in early so I can hang out in the truck and rub against my loader. She's all over the brownmonster.

 

[Cementups]

I don't touch any packages before my start time. I only go to my car to put my cooler in and get the car number if its different and mileage to input in the DIAD.

Is your truck number in your DIAD automatically everyday? I have to scana barcode in my truck every morning that autmatically inputs it in the truck number spot. I thought it was like this eveyrwhere.

Back to subject. I used to sort stuff out, but I stopped that a long time ago. Now when I get in, I go to the office anget my Diad(s). Then I go to my locker to get my satellite radio. I walk to my truck, scan the truck number, enter my start mileage (cause I'll forget later), strap down and hookup my radio and put my backpack in the back. then I go to the lunchroom and grab a chocolate milk and head back to the meeting area and wait for PCM. no touching packages since I'm nt getting paid. Even if my boss walks up to me and hands me a package I tell him to set it down and I will get it when I am on the clock.

 

[cachsux]

You are still covered by workman's comp. You are a UPS employee hurt in a UPS facility performing your job. Just off the clock. I come in early so I can hang out in the truck and rub against my loader. She's all over the brownmonster.

Actually your not,at least in our state. People who have fallen on their way through the building to punch in were placed on Dis,the ones who fell after punching in were put on comp.

 

[dannyboy]

BM

what cach says is true here also. had a driver punch out and exit the building. forgot his keys in the package car so went back in.

instead of going around the belt, he went over, caught his heel, and splintered his kneecap on the floor.

no workers comp. sorry.

workers comp is for people that are working, hence the name workers comp. and while you are indeed doing work for ups, guess what, you are not showing being on the clock at 8:15 when your injury occured. so you are out on disability, and not covered under workers comp. which is the way it should be.

ups will, within the next two years, regret they have not taken steps to stop this practice nation wide.

d

 

[outta hours]

10 minutes straightening,cleaning,loading,sorting,setting up,getting supplies,finding totes,hand carts,getting call tags,air manifests,filling out CSA tests,helper info, etc. before start times adds up to this:

50 min per week free labor
210 min. (3.5 hrs.) per month free labor = $ 99.89
2520 min (42 hrs.) per year free labor = $1198.68

So you are basically working an entire week for free by spending 10 minutes a day working before start time. Why would you give a thousand dollars back to UPS? There are those who "get it" and those who don't. Which one are you?

 

[705red]

You are still covered by workman's comp. You are a UPS employee hurt in a UPS facility performing your job. Just off the clock. I come in early so I can hang out in the truck and rub against my loader. She's all over the brownmonster.

Better get it before she qualifies for that free vision plan!