Question: Loading for a Cover Driver

[oldngray]

So loading in sequence makes no difference? I could just throw boxes randomly on their shelf and you'd have the exact same day?

You can have multiple stops with the same sequence number. PAL will often do that and to load stop for stop you would have to also read the address. For instance did you know that an x in the sequence number means load the street high to low instead of low to high? Few of my loaders had ever been told that. The only way you could load that street stop for stop is read the addresses.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I do not read the PAL labels or worry about sequence numbers. Just get them on the right shelf and fairly close to being in order and I will be happy.

 

[PT Car Washer]

Not really. The part timers could have voted down that contract but didn't. It was just an average contract for full timers which many did vote for (not by a large margin though) but as usual the majority didn't bother to vote.

It was not an average contract for FTers. The country was in an economic downturn. Unions were being busted across the nation. Classic UPS saying they can't afford any raises for the next 3 years, and we didn't have any raises that contract. PT was a smaller minority of the work force then. Most were FT.

 

[By The Book]

You can have multiple stops with the same sequence number. PAL will often do that and to load stop for stop you would have to also read the address. For instance did you know that an x in the sequence number means load the street high to low instead of low to high? Few of my loaders had ever been told that. The only way you could load that street stop for stop is read the addresses.

Preloaders that are driver helpers of the routes they load, can load a truck almost stop for stop, with the experience of delivering these stops. It certainly helps. I use the pal labels to locate parcels, and set up residential stops by Orion.

 

[oldngray]

It was not an average contract for FTers. The country was in an economic downturn. Unions were being busted across the nation. Classic UPS saying they can't afford any raises for the next 3 years, and we didn't have any raises that contract. PT was a smaller minority of the work force then. Most were FT.

There were more part timers than full in my local. Hub work is almost all part time.

 

[oldngray]

Preloaders that are driver helpers of the routes they load, can load a truck almost stop for stop, with the experience of delivering these stops. It certainly helps. I use the pal labels to locate parcels, and set up residential stops by Orion.

Most drivers would like their preloaders to spend some time as a helper to see what a difference the load makes, but many preloaders refuse or are unable to do that.

 

[TooTechie]

I do not read the PAL labels or worry about sequence numbers. Just get them on the right shelf and fairly close to being in order and I will be happy.

Agree. I don't even care if its close to being in order, but when I find a 3000 envelope in the middle of the 7000s and a 3950 at the very beginning of the 3000 shelf it shows the loader doesn't give a damn about the drivers.

My loader is 2nd best I've ever had. Stuff is usually roughly in order and bulk stops are in a different place everyday on the floor wherever there's room but he keeps everything together so it's fine with me. If he has to move something somewhere it doesn't go he writes the pal in big black marker.

 

[PT Car Washer]

There were more part timers than full in my local. Hub work is almost all part time.

In your hub. No disrespect but I believe time has clouded your remembering the way things were back then. It was some real hard times for Union workers. Deregulation of the trucking industry killed most Union trucking companies.

 

[Whargoul]

Load it by the PAL in order as much as you can and keep the same PALs together. Writing the PAL on the box is preferred but not every loader is skilled enough to do this. This way the driver can easily find the pkgs and also doesn't have to waste time sorting the entire truck because really that's the job of the preloader.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Writing the PAL on the side of the package is a waste of time.

Pulling the PAL labels and placing them on the side of the package is a waste of time.

Get them on the right shelf and fairly close to where they are supposed to be.

Let us know when you have to move a stop to the floor.

 

[ZQXC]

Writing the PAL on the side of the package is a waste of time.
Pulling the PAL labels and placing them on the side of the package is a waste of time.

That is done for the loader, not for you.
They need those reference points as they build the load.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Load it by the PAL in order as much as you can and keep the same PALs together. Writing the PAL on the box is preferred but not every loader is skilled enough to do this. This way the driver can easily find the pkgs and also doesn't have to waste time sorting the entire truck because really that's the job of the preloader.

That is done for the loader, not for you.
They need those reference points as they build the load.

 

[ZQXC]

Your point?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Did you read both of the posts that I quoted? The post by Whargoul clearly states that he is doing this to benefit the driver while you claim that is done to help the preloader determine shelf location.

At any rate, they could put multi-colored post-it notes on every package and I still wouldn't look at them. I use EDD and the address labels only.

 

[ZQXC]

I have no idea who Whargoul is, but he is mistaken if he thinks he's doing this for the driver. The PALs, and back in the day, sequence numbers are the only way you know where to place the next package.

If you are loading at warp speed and you enter a truck with 80 pkgs. on your left and 100 pks. on your right, how will you know where to place the three you are carrying, given there are no reference points.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The shelves on the pkg cars in my center are numbered.


Resident know-it-all.

 

[ZQXC]

The shelves on the pkg cars in my center are numbered.


Resident know-it-all.

They are numbered for every package location, seriously?

 

[Jones]

That is done for the loader, not for you.
They need those reference points as they build the load.

Correct. PAL stands for Preload Assist Label, not Driver Assist Label.

 

[jibbs]

Came in today, driver bitched again about the load yesterday. They really shouldn't have told me that before the shift started...


Easiest day I've ever had today. OHIO'd every single package, no crayon, no PALs.

At this point, I don't even care if I hear about a misload. "I'm doing the best I can" became my default response to everything this morning, and I think it's gonna be my new go-to phrase whenever I'm on the clock.


They want us to bust our ass and then grin and bear it as they talk ? I'll let 'em talk , but I'm not gonna be breaking a sweat at work anymore.

 

[PT Car Washer]

And another preloader sees the light.