Peak and the newest lame excuse.

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Peak has barely started and as usual we are short drivers. We had to break another area today because someone got hurt. We were already running too few areas before this happened. I commented to a Supe that we really need to run so and so area this time of year. He said we don't have enough drivers because we haven't had time to train any. Are you kidding me? Twice in the last few wekks I observed 2 Supes in a car running off misloads and another time I was stopped for an observation by a Supe and the center manager in the same car. Sit back and watch the fun begin!
 
Didn't have time to train any drivers??? They've had since last December to train drivers. I guess 12 months just isn't enough time. The next time they ask for a sales lead, tell them you didn't have enough time to do the training on sales lead cards.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
I heard UPS here is having a hard time hiring drivers. You figure it would be easy with such high unemployment, but people would rather sit home and collect.

However, we have 2 of those windowed PCs, and both were in the yard this week with trainers and driver wannabes.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Our center has done a good job in training several of the hub employees to be Peak drivers. There are also a couple of preloaders who were casuals who will be driving during Peak.

We do have a FT driver who will be retiring Dec 1st. The Union told him they would be picking up the tab for his health care which was the only thing holding him back. The center team did not count on this happening and are scrambling to cover his area for Peak.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Our center has done a good job in training several of the hub employees to be Peak drivers. There are also a couple of preloaders who were casuals who will be driving during Peak.

We do have a FT driver who will be retiring Dec 1st. The Union told him they would be picking up the tab for his health care which was the only thing holding him back. The center team did not count on this happening and are scrambling to cover his area for Peak.

HERE, everyone waits till Jan 1 because they will get all next years vacation pay if they do. It's a good incentive to work that last Peak!
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
HERE, everyone waits till Jan 1 because they will get all next years vacation pay if they do. It's a good incentive to work that last Peak!

Yeah, that is usually what happens here too, but this driver is constantly harassed about production and I think he sees this as his way of getting even. You are right, wait a month and get an extra $4K or more in vacation pay.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah, that is usually what happens here too, but this driver is constantly harassed about production and I think he sees this as his way of getting even. You are right, wait a month and get an extra $4K or more in vacation pay.

He's an idiot. How can you possibly care about harassment if you have 4 weeks left!
 
Yeah, that is usually what happens here too, but this driver is constantly harassed about production and I think he sees this as his way of getting even. You are right, wait a month and get an extra $4K or more in vacation pay.
Or he could hang around for a couple of months and keep telling then this is his last month. Then be can keep coming back and playing with then. We have had a couple of guys like that and it's kind of funny. The look of desperation on the managers face when they come back for another month priceless.
 

raceanoncr

Well-Known Member
HERE, everyone waits till Jan 1 because they will get all next years vacation pay if they do. It's a good incentive to work that last Peak!

Hmpf...not me! I went out, earning exactly one DAY vacation. They paid it a week after I was gone.

To me, NOT a good incentive to work that last peak!

Have enjoyed my last 8 weeks more than any other time in my life.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Our vacation is accrued from our seniority date. Doesn't matter when you go. We have a guy retiring the Wed. before Thanksgiving and then he's gonna work the Friday after for the double time. Beautiful plan.
 

Coldworld

60 months and counting
Our center has done a good job in training several of the hub employees to be Peak drivers. There are also a couple of preloaders who were casuals who will be driving during Peak.

We do have a FT driver who will be retiring Dec 1st. The Union told him they would be picking up the tab for his health care which was the only thing holding him back. The center team did not count on this happening and are scrambling to cover his area for Peak.

So the retirement package doesn't cover healthcare but the union is picking up the tab for this employee...am I reading this right???is this a common practice??what makes this driver receive this??
 

FracusBrown

Ponies and Planes
Yeah, that is usually what happens here too, but this driver is constantly harassed about production and I think he sees this as his way of getting even. You are right, wait a month and get an extra $4K or more in vacation pay.

He should get most of the vacation. 2011 vacation is earned in 2010. He should get a prorated amount based upon hours of service in 2010.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
Back to the original topic....

The most frustrating thing about peak for me isnt the workload or the weather or the long hours. It is the chaos and stress that are a direct result of managements failure to plan.

It happens every year; I will have 3 or 4 hours of stops all lined up and ready to bust off, only to get a panicked message from the center telling me to go to the local UPS store or other customer shipping location because "their pickups are super heavy and the regular driver cant contain them".

So I break trace, fight traffic, and make my way across town in order to make service on a pickup that any new hire in a rental truck could do just as easily. My 17 years of area knowledge are wasted, and I wind up having to force 400 or 500 cubic feet of pickup volume in over the top of the 4 shelves full of stops that I have lined up and ready to deliver. And for the rest of the evening I am stuck crawling over or around the bulk volume in order to reach my deliveries.

Newsflash for management people; peak season happens every year in December. Lots of people go to the UPS store to ship gifts and we need to have a plan in place to handle this volume instead of waiting until 15 minutes before their closing time to figure out where the hell we are going to do with it.

I dont mind being given 13 hours worth of work. What I hate....is being given 10 hours worth of work that winds up taking 13 because I am spinning my wheels, driving in circles, and putting out fires that are a direct result of managements failure to plan ahead.
 

Braveheart

Well-Known Member
We have cover drivers working as helpers.

We have cover drivers working as helpers here too.

How criminal of UPS to pay them helper wages at peak but cover rate the other 9 months!

We ALL need to demand the union put it in the next contract that all cover drivers are on the road before helpers are hired. They can put them in golf carts but they need to pay them their cover rate.

We are the union and we need to start telling the damn union what we want in the contract!

These non-union dues paying helpers are even being used while cover drivers sit at home.

They are taking our overtime as well!
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
We have cover drivers working as helpers here too.

How criminal of UPS to pay them helper wages at peak but cover rate the other 9 months!

We ALL need to demand the union put it in the next contract that all cover drivers are on the road before helpers are hired. They can put them in golf carts but they need to pay them their cover rate.

We are the union and we need to start telling the damn union what we want in the contract!

These non-union dues paying helpers are even being used while cover drivers sit at home.

They are taking our overtime as well!
We got cover drivers working as helpers here, but our cover drivers are regular FT and are being paid top driver rate. Two drivers working together can obviously murder a route, but there's no way it can be cost effective.
 
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