I had the honor of being a helper this peak. First exposure to UPS. It was a learning experience to say the least. On the topic of production one thing I noticed with my regular driver was the amount of time "supervision" took away from him actually doing his job. 2- 3 times a week there was at least one call from a sup, usually in the 5-10 minute range for duration. One day the sup spent 20 minutes on the cell phone in a conversation the gist of which was why he wasn't working harder. Guess how many stops he made in that time. I'm a numbers guy and from the time I got on the truck until the time I got off were averaging 28-33 stops per hour, even when we had to do UPS Store pickups with 100+ pckgs. I can't say what the fella did when I wasn't on the truck, but we were busting our SPH goal every day when I was on board, and he was still getting regular supervision calls demanding he work harder.
Use the methods and follow ALL of the safety edicts. If you can demonstrate that you are doing these things, then by definition your SPOHR MUST be OK. If your numbers are still bad then the problem is with the time study-- not the driver.
... Never lose sight of the fact that when push comes to shove you can ALWAYS make your management more miserable than they can make you...
I could not agree more.I say bring it on.
They will cut routes and increase delivery stop counts and pickup stop counts on the remaining drivers.
My production has never gone up or down when a Sup rides with me.I must ask.....why does your productivity go up when a Sup rides you? Then down when they don't?
That just brings more crap from them.
That is why they are paid to do what they do. If everyone stayed flatlines in production when a sup rode them there would be little need for them.
I say bring it on.
The last time I had a sup ride my ass about SPORH, I told him I would commit to whatever number he was able to demonstrate to me.
He got on car with me the next day and took the drivers seat. I had a notebook of my own, and I started timing him with my wristwatch and documenting the flaws in his methods. I would talk to him and recite numbers in order to confuse and distract him while he was trying to concentrate on looking for addresses and finding his next stop. I pointed out to him whenever he failed to select a package in under 24 seconds, or whenever he took longer than 7.5 seconds to stop, secure the vehicle and open the bulkhead door. I kept a running total of hs SPORH and reminded him of it every few minutes to keep the pressure on. I documented and verbally confronted him every time he failed to use a proper safety method, or whenever he followed another vehicle too closely, or failed to curb his wheels when parking on a hill. After 3 hours of this he didnt know whether to shiite or go blind, and his SPORH was nowhere near what he expected from me. We wound up needing help from other drivers just to get our pickups done on time. He learned his lesson and never bothered me again.
If you are being harrassed by a sup over SPORH, all you need to do is turn his own tactics against him. Insist that he demonstrate to you what he expects from you, and when he tries to do so you can break him down and drive home the fact that he is totally incapable of doing the job as well as you can and that his expectations are not based in reality. He will then leave you alone and seek an easier target. Never lose sight of the fact that when push comes to shove you can ALWAYS make your management more miserable than they can make you. Its all a state of mind.
I must ask.....why does your productivity go up when a Sup rides you? Then down when they don't?
That just brings more crap from them.
That is why they are paid to do what they do. If everyone stayed flatlines in production when a sup rode them there would be little need for them.
One reason would be your customers. They see the sup following you and think you are in trouble. They don't want to see you get in trouble, so when you walk in, they drop everything to sign whereas when you're alone, they may finish with their customer before signing.
Another would be because the sup has massaged your load before you showed up. You know, deliveries set up stop for stop, lip loaded, and not a package out of place.
Also, don't forget that (due to PAS) they now know what deliveries (estimated) you're going to have days before the ride. Your load can be "evened out" so that you have very light days that just so happen to coincide with the days you will be ridden with. Packages can be removed from your day (not all packages that come in are commited to be delivered that day) and put in trailers for the next day if they are really wanting to get rid of you. I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't hide commited packages just to get rid of someone who is a real PITA to them.
There is no reason the union should allow an OJS ride to be used against a driver at all. The company holds all the cards and can manipulate the outcome on any given day.
That all happens less then you think. They can't get rid of you for these performance type issues unless you are grossly incapable of doing the job. Most of us arrive to work while the preload is still running (end) and the preloaders would tell us if anything was going on like that.
Actually the load massaging happened on all 3 of the 3 day rides I have had.
I'll admit, the third paragraph is mostly conjecture on my part.