Pathetic games of hide-and-seek......

[Just Numbers]

Sober, Don't let it bother you. It may be part of a mandate from up above, you know so many drivers or every driver each qtr. who knows. But, on the otherhand, everything deals with cost and I think someone should be looking at increased mileage on expense accounts!!!

 

[brownboxman]

Sober you have made valid points that some here seem to want to overlook. Your record of employment should be enough. I cant understand those who want to make excuses for a management team that is being totally useless. It is continued harrassment and wont go away. Retirement is the only solution. It is the "New" UPS and the good ol days of feeling worth are gone for us. And by the way Hi from a Neighbor in Salem!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Top rate is at 2 years!

The new contract extended progession to 3 years.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Its funny how management doesn't have time to fix problems in the center but never has trouble finding time to follow us around.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Who cares. We all do what we're paid to do. If you want to change the system, you should have went into management and gotten Scotts job.

The company's making money hand over fist, they must be doing something right!

All I'm saying is don't let it bother you. Really, why should we care?

Good question.

Sober you have made valid points that some here seem to want to overlook. Your record of employment should be enough. I cant understand those who want to make excuses for a management team that is being totally useless. It is continued harrassment and wont go away. Retirement is the only solution. It is the "New" UPS and the good ol days of feeling worth are gone for us. And by the way Hi from a Neighbor in Salem!

This ain't your father's UPS! This is a public company now, not a Mom & Pop business. You don't get by based on how well you've done, but by the percentage of "their" numbers that you've reached, and even this doesn't give you the old "Get out of jail free" card.

Its funny how management doesn't have time to fix problems in the center but never has trouble finding time to follow us around.

Good point.

 

[Mick32]

Sober you have made valid points that some here seem to want to overlook. Your record of employment should be enough.

I wish it were that easy. Sometimes it's the drivers with the "cleanest" records who are doing things unsafe and dodging bullets. I'd rather find out that Driver A who has a clean safety record is driving around without a belt on by an on-area observation than by finding out after his luck runs out and he's seriously injured.
Maybe there are management types that like to fire people. That's not me. I've fired two people in 12 years, and they both did it to themselves, essentially. The observation is used, at least by me, to correct behavior, not to create discipline.

 

[SignificantOwner]

I have mixed feelings on these observations. On one hand I see the need for them because I find myself following up on accidents and injuries, many of which would have been avoided if methods had been followed. On the other hand the observation process is very inefficient, and I believe hazardous. It often takes quite a while to find the driver, and then they know my vehicle so they see me not long after I find them anyway. Most observers use their cell phones while observing - then they have the nerve to hang up and take a driver out of service for using their cell phone while driving. On the other hand we have too many avoidable accidents so we have to verify that methods are followed. I personally would like to see the on area observations outsourced (maybe liberty mutual?). I'd also like to see standards that specify the offenses that require immediate discipline (termination). Regardless of my feeling on them, look for the observations to continue. They're mandated from above and the mandate has been stepped up.

 

[soberups]

Its funny how management doesn't have time to fix problems in the center but never has trouble finding time to follow us around.

Fixing problems in the center involves work. It involves effort, and decision-making, and accountability.

Its a lot easier to just go play hide-and-seek for a couple of hours on your way home so you can write off your commute mileage on the monthly expense account. And "skilled" manager can probably bang off enough BS warning letters on his/her Blackberry in half an hour to meet his quota for the entire week.

Its a tough "job"...but I guess somebody has to do it.

 

[Signature Only]

Your at the top rate with a boat load of vacation time. In this economy, that puts a big bullseye on you. Firing you over failure to follow the methods will save UPS many thousands of dollars.

It seems to me that a lot of this so called "supervision/observation, is an attempt to force the older employees out. With 36 months required to reach top scale and the biggest wage increase coming in the last step; UPS would save a lot.

 

[beatupbrown]

Your at the top rate with a boat load of vacation time. In this economy, that puts a big bullseye on you. Firing you over failure to follow the methods will save UPS many thousands of dollars.

I think Whiskey has it right on!

 

[brownIEman]

The sad part..is that when I get OJS'd, my sup compliments me on my methods. My SPORH, mileage, over/under and % on trace is consistent whether I am supervised or not. The car has Telematics and I am 100% on seat belt usage whether I'm supervised or not. I'm not doing anything differently; they know it; their own records prove it; yet for some idiotic reason they are still compelled to waste valuable time and $$$$ trying to spy on me anyway.

It makes about as much sense as sneaking around the corner of your house and spying on the back yard to see if the grass is still growing.

So, since you do so well on your OJS rides, sups should never do an observation, because, as I am sure you well know, no driver EVER runs any different when a sup is on the car from when he is not.

Telematics tells a lot, but it does not tell everything. It would not tell that a driver picked up a passenger and drove around with them for a while.

And finally, management MUST maintain the appearance of even handedness. If your sup follows a slug in you center who does some of the stupid crap that was described earlier, and files the paperwork for a termination, you can bet the union during the process is going to ask to see who else was subjected to observations. Then if as you would like, you were never observed, that will be used as evidence that poor sluggo was being targeted, and would be used by the union to attempt to stonewall the process. Which in turn would wind up costing the company many times more than it would have cost to have the sup do a couple days worth of observations on you.

 

[Catatonic]

And finally, management MUST maintain the appearance of even handedness. If your sup follows a slug in you center who does some of the stupid crap that was described earlier, and files the paperwork for a termination, you can bet the union during the process is going to ask to see who else was subjected to observations. Then if as you would like, you were never observed, that will be used as evidence that poor sluggo was being targeted, and would be used by the union to attempt to stonewall the process. Which in turn would wind up costing the company many times more than it would have cost to have the sup do a couple days worth of observations on you.

Excellent point and it is not just the Union ... this has to be followed for non-union employees as well. Performing these seemingly non-valued added tasks are just part of being in management, you accept it or go crazy.
And as always, "It is what it is."

 

[beentheredonethat]

Just call the cops and descibe their vehicle to them saying you are being followed by a suspicious car that may be stealing pkgs, for their sake they better have valid ID and not have any pkgs in their car!

Raw, this is just wrong. What if a real emergency occurred, and the police were working on this call in instead of being able to get to a real emergency. You may think it's funny, but if a delay like this cost someones life, how would you feel? Or would you just blame the mgmt person for doing their job, which by the way is legal to do.

 

[Old International]

Gee, I called the cops on the center manager one day. He was in a rental, and I didn't reconize the car. Cops came, detrained him, asked me if I knew him. I almost said no, but told the truth, so they set him free. For some reason, I was never followed again by him.

 

[SignificantOwner]

It seems to me that a lot of this so called "supervision/observation, is an attempt to force the older employees out. With 36 months required to reach top scale and the biggest wage increase coming in the last step; UPS would save a lot.

The observation process is an attempt to reduce an expense - accident and injury expense. The only employees I've been asked to force out are the ones that refuse to follow the required methods, and that's only after I ensure proper training.

 

[tieguy]

It seems to me that a lot of this so called "supervision/observation, is an attempt to force the older employees out. With 36 months required to reach top scale and the biggest wage increase coming in the last step; UPS would save a lot.

its been my experience the older guys do a better job on methods and the younger ones take the shortcuts.

 

[Raw]

Raw, this is just wrong. What if a real emergency occurred, and the police were working on this call in instead of being able to get to a real emergency. You may think it's funny, but if a delay like this cost someones life, how would you feel? Or would you just blame the mgmt person for doing their job, which by the way is legal to do.

I would feel very bad!

 

[soberups]

The observation process is an attempt to reduce an expense - accident and injury expense. The only employees I've been asked to force out are the ones that refuse to follow the required methods, and that's only after I ensure proper training.

(a) Pathetic attempts to "spy" on people do nothing to reduce accident and injury expenses...especially when the people being spied upon were doing the job safely back when the person doing the spying was popping their zits in the mirror in Junior High School.

(b) The money being wasted on paying a management person to drive around and spy on people....could instead be spent on things that actually would reduce accidents and injuries. You could try fixing the dispatch, correcting the bogus time allowances, updating the unsafe package cars that lack power steering, or any number of other bona fide improvements to the equipment or the facilities. The problem with that...is that it does nothing for the job security of the management person who must justify his career by inventing and perpetuating problems instead of solving them.

 

[Work right slow and safe]

We are a telematics center. We spent something like $250K to wire the system up. Why spend that money only to turn right around and spy on people who are 100% compliant?

I understand that the sup and manager are "only doing what they are paid to do." My question is...who is the idiot who is paying them to do it, and why are we still paying him?

At my center I talk with the guys in the shop all the time . They have been working hard and fast to install the new system into the trucks. One day I was walking by and see one of the guys from the shop red tagging a truck so i walked over to him. To see what was going on with this truck and he stated that they installed the new system in the truck two weeks ago and now the truck is going to the junk yard>. I saked him what was wrong with it he stated it was to old but still running good so i said are you going to take out the new system and he said no it has to go with the truck.. what a wast of money

 

[NHDRVR]

Just call the cops and descibe their vehicle to them saying you are being followed by a suspicious car that may be stealing pkgs, for their sake they better have valid ID and not have any pkgs in their car!

I did this exact thing in Londonderry, NH up near the airport. It must have been my 2nd or 3rd year driving and I was spoken to the next morning about it. They, my on-road and center manager, said that before I call the police next time I should call the center to make sure I am not being followed.....

Yeah, if I think my safety is in jeopardy I will call my center 1st.....clowns