Respect to old timers

[Indecisi0n]

The thing that gets me is a lot of the "old timers" are the runners here. You would think it would be the new run and gun kids but its not. The older guys seem to still have this "get'er done" mentality from the good ole days. Times are a changing and so much be our thinking.

 

[toonertoo]

The thing that gets me is a lot of the "old timers" are the runners here. You would think it would be the new run and gun kids but its not. The older guys seem to still have this "get'er done" mentality from the good ole days. Times are a changing and so much be our thinking.

I don't know any older drivers in my center that are runners. But if they can still run, God bless them. Smooth and steady, maybe. Better allowances, possibly, not likely. Most of us are just trying to follow the rules as to not get fired, before we reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And stay off the radar, and keep the harassment away from us.

 

[serenity now]

I don't know any older drivers in my center that are runners. But if they can still run, God bless them. Smooth and steady, maybe. Better allowances, possibly, not likely. Most of us are just trying to follow the rules as to not get fired, before we reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And stay off the radar, and keep the harassment away from us.

smooth and steady is fast * fewer mistakes, fewer do-overs

find your pace and keep putting off stops baby

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The thing that gets me is a lot of the "old timers" are the runners here. You would think it would be the new run and gun kids but its not. The older guys seem to still have this "get'er done" mentality from the good ole days. Times are a changing and so much be our thinking.

You are confusing "runnin'/gunnin'" with "get'er done"---they are not necessarily one in the same.

"Get'er done" means you walk down the unplowed road or trudge up the unshoveled sidewalk to deliver the package. "Runnin'/gunnin'" means you EC the package. "Get'er done" means you use the triangle method and make the alternate delivery attempt(s). "Runnin'/gunnin'" means you make the attempt at the address only.

We have one cover driver who we call "Four O'Clock Rock" because it seems no matter what run he is on he is done by 4:00. Of course, the regular driver can count on having to run off all of the chasers he couldn't be bothered to deliver or the NSS/NSN's which, if he just put a little effort in to it, should have been delivered.

This company could use a lot more "Get'er done" and a lot less "Good enough".

 

[stink219]

I just wanted to say I have a new found respect for the drivers who have been doing it for decades. My truck was red tagged and I came in to a 1989 GMC 800 today. I could get used to the high ass step, having to punch the bulkhead door at every stop to open it, bogging down to a crawl on hills in any gear; dealing with the transmission and break not holding on hills, the annoying cargo light that turns the cab light on too...etc but having to wrestle that manual steering all day long....I dont know how you guys did it for all these years. Much respect!

We call the high step 800's Everest. After an 11 hour day in that baby you would have climbed to the highest summit on earth.

 

[Indecisi0n]

You are confusing "runnin'/gunnin'" with "get'er done"---they are not necessarily one in the same.

"Get'er done" means you walk down the unplowed road or trudge up the unshoveled sidewalk to deliver the package. "Runnin'/gunnin'" means you EC the package. "Get'er done" means you use the triangle method and make the alternate delivery attempt(s). "Runnin'/gunnin'" means you make the attempt at the address only.

We have one cover driver who we call "Four O'Clock Rock" because it seems no matter what run he is on he is done by 4:00. Of course, the regular driver can count on having to run off all of the chasers he couldn't be bothered to deliver or the NSS/NSN's which, if he just put a little effort in to it, should have been delivered.

This company could use a lot more "Get'er done" and a lot less "Good enough".

No I am not confusing the two. The old guys are literally killing themselves with todays numbers. When I ask them why they do it I am told "I want to service all my customers." While I respect that work ethic they need to understand they are being given unrealistic numbers. They are being setup to fail from the start but instead they are cutting corners to "get'er done." I know a driver with 25 years in and skips his lunch in order to get back the building by 8:00pm everyday. I have already told him, if you are setup to fail from the start then fail! You didn't create the problem so why are you killing yourself trying to fix it.

 

[soberups]

No I am not confusing the two. The old guys are literally killing themselves with todays numbers. When I ask them why they do it I am told "I want to service all my customers." While I respect that work ethic they need to understand they are being given unrealistic numbers. They are being setup to fail from the start but instead they are cutting corners to "get'er done." I know a driver with 25 years in and skips his lunch in order to get back the building by 8:00pm everyday. I have already told him, if you are setup to fail from the start then fail! You didn't create the problem so why are you killing yourself trying to fix it.

Awhile back when our center was having an impossible Stops Per Car metric jammed down its throat by corporate, I would occasionally get a hopeless dispatch crammed into my car.

Instead of getting frustrated, I would simply recognize the situation for what it was. They had to get the packages out of the building; they had to get the preloader off of the clock; they had to eliminate enough routes to look good on the report and placate some idiot manager in a cubicle 500 miles away; and since my car had room in it, I was simply a "septic tank" for those packages to be deposited into. Typical UPS, no big deal.

So...I would accomodate them. I would get those packages out of the building for them, and then take them out on route to a pup trailer that another driver had dropped for use as an air shuttle. I would unload the ones I couldnt make service on into the trailer, scan them as "missed", and put them into pre-record. I would then notify management that I had dropped them, and that they were free to dispatch another driver to get them if making service on them was a priority. Otherwise, they would come back to the building in the trailer that night and I could just stop complete them as missed and we could try again for tomorrow.

After the second or third time I did this, they quit using my car as a holding tank for dead stops and found someone else to deal with them. Its a lot easier to deal with the BS when you realize that you are just the messenger.

 

[satellitedriver]

No I am not confusing the two. The old guys are literally killing themselves with todays numbers. When I ask them why they do it I am told "I want to service all my customers." While I respect that work ethic they need to understand they are being given unrealistic numbers. They are being setup to fail from the start but instead they are cutting corners to "get'er done." I know a driver with 25 years in and skips his lunch in order to get back the building by 8:00pm everyday. I have already told him, if you are setup to fail from the start then fail! You didn't create the problem so why are you killing yourself trying to fix it.

Killing themselves?
How the hell have they survived the last 25yrs?
I never skip my lunch and I refuse to work past 10PM.
Work ethic is the key.
If the company is stupid enough to pay me for their failures in planning, then I am stupid enough to bank their money.
Who are you to tell another person how they should run their life?
If they chose to skip lunch ,that is their business.

 

[sendagain]

I drove a 57 for awhile when I first started driving in 78. It had a plywood floor in the cargo area which caught fire when a mechanic had installed the muffler with the seam facing upward. When the muffler blew, the hot gases burned through the floor and started a small fire in the packages. I drove it straight to the mechanic, who ran for a fire extinguisher while the hub began to get very smoky. I always brought 'em in.

 

[soberups]

I drove a 57 for awhile when I first started driving in 78. It had a plywood floor in the cargo area which caught fire when a mechanic had installed the muffler with the seam facing upward. When the muffler blew, the hot gases burned through the floor and started a small fire in the packages. I drove it straight to the mechanic, who ran for a fire extinguisher while the hub began to get very smoky. I always brought 'em in.

Imagine what our equipment would be like today if there were no DOT safety requirements, ergonomics laws or contractual language regarding power steering in package cars. We would be lucky if we even had seat belts or functioning heaters, and the windshield wipers would probably have a bungee cord attached to them that we pulled on ourselves so that the company could save $40 on the cost of an electric wiper motor.

 

[Coldworld]

The thing that gets me is a lot of the "old timers" are the runners here. You would think it would be the new run and gun kids but its not. The older guys seem to still have this "get'er done" mentality from the good ole days. Times are a changing and so much be our thinking.

I drove a 57 for awhile when I first started driving in 78. It had a plywood floor in the cargo area which caught fire when a mechanic had installed the muffler with the seam facing upward. When the muffler blew, the hot gases burned through the floor and started a small fire in the packages. I drove it straight to the mechanic, who ran for a fire extinguisher while the hub began to get very smoky. I always brought 'em in.

LOL!!!!

 

[tarbar66]

loved the older 800 when the e/brake was up against your knee and the Shift stick was almost out the passenger door !!

Funny how I can remember a lot of the car numbers I drove back in the 70's & 80's. The Ford P-800 you described we had one in my center,#42776.

 

[cosmo1]

42673 is still stuck in my head. As I remember, the steering wheel was offset enough that you actually had to sit facing a little to the left.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

Killing themselves?
How the hell have they survived the last 25yrs?
I never skip my lunch and I refuse to work past 10PM.
Work ethic is the key.
If the company is stupid enough to pay me for their failures in planning, then I am stupid enough to bank their money.
Who are you to tell another person how they should run their life?
If they chose to skip lunch ,that is their business.

With all due respect (knowing full well how unpopular I am with most people here), in my opinion, it is every UPSer's business when another skips lunch. The ramifications are clear to any reasonable individual.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

With all due respect (knowing full well how unpopular I am with most people here), in my opinion, it is every UPSer's business when another skips lunch. The ramifications are clear to any reasonable individual.

I fully agree although I do disagree with when that lunch must be taken.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

I fully agree although I do disagree with when that lunch must be taken.

Everyone is aware of your views on the contract and the union in general. You "earn" all those benefits- nobody negotiated them.

 

[JackStraw]

If skipping (or cutting) my lunch means I get to see my son's baseball game it's a no-brainer.

 

[Dracula]

If skipping (or cutting) my lunch means I get to see my son's baseball game it's a no-brainer.

And it's a no-brainer for your dispatcher to make a note of this and "adjust" your daily dispatch. Who would have ever thought?

 

[soberups]

If skipping (or cutting) my lunch means I get to see my son's baseball game it's a no-brainer.

What are you putting in the DIAD?

I've been there and done that with the kids ball games, school functions etc. I have burned thru a few lunches myself over the years when I had no other reasonable alternative.

However.......

If for whatever reason you are going to skip lunch, then you at least need to grow a pair and put zero lunch in the DIAD so that no records are being falsified and you are being paid for all hours worked. If this means taking some heat from your management team, then man up and take the heat. Otherwise, you are screwing your self and the other drivers in your center over.

 

[728ups]

If skipping (or cutting) my lunch means I get to see my son's baseball game it's a no-brainer.

Our dispatcher LOVES guys like yourself. have fun with the extra splits you'll be running