Seasonal helpers '07: The nightmare before Christmas.

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

I refuse to use 2 boards...less mistakes...in the past I pre-recorded about 10 stops in the "helper board"..and that was the last time it was used..if the helper doesn't have a clue how to use the DIAD..can't clarify signatures..can't complete stops...how can I trust the helper to accurately record DR stops...
this peak is gonna be a real treat...had my 1st helper yesterday (3 weeks earlier than past years)..and the management team managed to screw-up the meet time...today I told management team, that I would contact them re: a meet time...they messaged me at about 10:15 AM, requesting a time and location....I told them the location and time (13:15)

at about 13:00 I get message from the Management team stating that my helper has been waiting for 30 minutes for me....I call them and state that I'm eating lunch, and I'll meet w/ helper @ 1315...obviously nobody reads the messages from the drivers IMO

went to the meet point@ 1315...guess what..helper had left....needless to say, I finished the route myself....a few other drivers in our center experienced similar problems w/ helpers not showing up

just keep telling yourself "the plan is working"...can't wait to see how screwed up things are gonna be in about3 weeks

There's a good 10-15 minute lag between sent messages and recieve messages in ODS, btw.

 

[2Slow]

There's a good 10-15 minute lag between sent messages and recieve messages in ODS, btw.

Sometimes, but not most of the time.
Want proof? Try this.
Send a message that you are sick and bringing your load in. Time how fast the little green light lights up...
(guaranteed to annoy the crap out of the boss)

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Sometimes, but not most of the time.
Want proof? Try this.
Send a message that you are sick and bringing your load in. Time how fast the little green light lights up...
(guaranteed to annoy the crap out of the boss)

Ha ha.. Yeah that might be true, I have noticed though (toying with ODS and talking with the clerks) that messages SENT from the center usually don't reach the drivers board until 10 minutes or so lag time. I think it really depends on where you are with the board and the reception signal qualities, etc

 

[Ridewithme38]

For $8 an hour what can you expect i've worked with 4 different drivers...sometimes 2 in one day, all the Drivers do is hand me boxes and point at a house I run every box(Always Between 200-290 stops)...the only time the driver has to leave the truck is to get a signature...I refuse to learn the diad....let the driver get out of his seat every now and then

Maybe if you guys would split the runs with us we'd be able to run a little faster...don't forget we're helpers making a third of what you make...from what i've heard they expect 40 stops an hour with a helper and only 20 with just the driver...good then you should be doin half the work

 

[upsgrunt]

For $8 an hour what can you expect i've worked with 4 different drivers...sometimes 2 in one day, all the Drivers do is hand me boxes and point at a house I run every box(Always Between 200-290 stops)...the only time the driver has to leave the truck is to get a signature...I refuse to learn the diad....let the driver get out of his seat every now and then

Maybe if you guys would split the runs with us we'd be able to run a little faster...don't forget we're helpers making a third of what you make...from what i've heard they expect 40 stops an hour with a helper and only 20 with just the driver...good then you should be doin half the work

You must remember that we do ALL the driving, all the sorting, and ALL the thinking. Driver helper is a dreadful job with low pay, but have you ever tried to think for two people for any length of time? It's not fun and drains you just like running. I always play the "my side/ your side" game" with my helpers. Anything on my side of the street I get and vice versa. Sometimes my helpers wonder why I go around the block so many time and end up on the same street.

 

[Brownnblue]

Really....power steering and lower steps? Wider Door openings? Automatics and urban sprawl couldn't possibly be a reason your doing more could it? Not even mentioning the diad.

Really..........
Heavier package weights.
Hi Tech packages such as computers or HI DEF televisions which are very popular with the general public, which are also heavy & difficult to deliver.
Greater access and popularity of getting heavy furniture delivered to residential areas.
Driver helper programs which bulk out the load so atrociously that selection is an impossibility.

Does power steering and automatics make the truck go faster, or does it just make the job more ergonomically manageable? Debatable.

Does urban sprawl bring with it other factors (such as traffic congestion or patterns) that negate an upward planned day? Does the planning of newer housing allow for more frontage of property then housing built in 1960s-1980s, and therefore take a longer time (more steps) to deliver the package. Do new and larger houses create a greater possibility of having heavier packages (see above) being delivered to it?

You are correct that DIADs in certain situations do speed things up. However for an average residential or small business stop the difference is negligible at best; some of us were very good at what we did on paper.

I'll go on, if you want to pursue this. There are two sides to every argument. Really, there are!!!!!!

 

[dillweed]

This is veering off subject just a bit but the other day I saw two driver helpers walking around after the sort and I had to laugh.

One had brown shorts on - they were not uniform shorts and it looked like he had just found some nasty brown shorts to wear with the rest of his uniform. He has a sad look on his face as he walked out the door to the parking lot. Guess he didn't pass the uniform test.

The other guy had some long, ridiculous, white undershorts hanging out the bottom of his brownie shorts. Was walking around with a real goofy look as if he couldn't even find his way around the center. Probably looking for the "out" door and couldn't remember where it was.

We do have good ones who try to please their drivers and I'm sure they are helpful but these two clowns just cracked me up.

 

[VTBrown]

You actually have to wonder if power steering actually speeds up your delivery sporh?

Puh...lease!

 

[Brownnblue]

You actually have to wonder if power steering actually speeds up your delivery sporh?

Puh...lease!

Actually, I would say, from your point of view, that the argument that an automatic would increase sporh holds considerable more weight than does power steering.

But to address this particular quote, yes, I did wonder. Since it sounds like you consider me to still be in the Preoperational phase of genetic epistimologist Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development and therefore not yet capable of logical thinking or reasoning, perhaps you address the issue in the simplest of terms.

My point in my first post was that there are factors in the course of an average day that make the job more difficult than it was twenty years ago, and perhaps the factors that management think make the job easier and more productive are negligible and debatable.

Thaaaaaa-nnnnnnkkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

[Dump and Run]

Actually, I would say, from your point of view, that the argument that an automatic would increase sporh holds considerable more weight than does power steering.

But to address this particular quote, yes, I did wonder. Since it sounds like you consider me to still be in the Preoperational phase of genetic epistimologist Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development and therefore not yet capable of logical thinking or reasoning, perhaps you address the issue in the simplest of terms.

My point in my first post was that there are factors in the course of an average day that make the job more difficult than it was twenty years ago, and perhaps the factors that management think make the job easier and more productive are negligible and debatable.

Thaaaaaa-nnnnnnkkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

This is funny brown. I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down and I'm sure the others that do the job do too, but you know how the guys with ties are ALWAYS right (not). So let's just pat them on the head and let them keep thinking they are.

 

[Brownnblue]

This is funny brown. I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down and I'm sure the others that do the job do too, but you know how the guys with ties are ALWAYS right (not). So let's just pat them on the head and let them keep thinking they are.

Thanks, that's nice of you to say.

 

[Foamer Pyle]

VTBrown, the only advantage to having both diads on the car is, diad 3 is much faster. I put 10 stops in diad4, throw it in the back of the car and use diad3 all day. If you can't beat em, out think em.

 

[VTBrown]

No...the advantage is that you are supposed to be dropping your helper off with the handcart and a streets worth of work or less...etc

Then delivering on your own while the helper is out delivering.

The only reason you guys can't make two diads work better is because you don't understand how to use your helper.

 

[VTBrown]

Actually, I would say, from your point of view, that the argument that an automatic would increase sporh holds considerable more weight than does power steering.

But to address this particular quote, yes, I did wonder. Since it sounds like you consider me to still be in the Preoperational phase of genetic epistimologist Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development and therefore not yet capable of logical thinking or reasoning, perhaps you address the issue in the simplest of terms.

My point in my first post was that there are factors in the course of an average day that make the job more difficult than it was twenty years ago, and perhaps the factors that management think make the job easier and more productive are negligible and debatable.

Thaaaaaa-nnnnnnkkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Your going to tell me that an old manual steering, gas P1000 on a rural type route is just as efficient as a power steering version?

You can use all the fancy and sophisticated lingo you want......it does not cover the fact that delivering with the equipment we have today versus yester-year is much more efficient.

 

[upsgrunt]

No...the advantage is that you are supposed to be dropping your helper off with the handcart and a streets worth of work or less...etc

Then delivering on your own while the helper is out delivering.

The only reason you guys can't make two diads work better is because you don't understand how to use your helper.

You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself! Have some self confidence and remember no one is better than you; or is it you are better than everyone else. What size UPS hat do you wear anyway?

 

[VTBrown]

You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself! Have some self confidence and remember no one is better than you; or is it you are better than everyone else. What size UPS hat do you wear anyway?

It has nothing to do with that donkey.......there are drivers here in my center that can post better numbers then myself.

Though forgive me for pointing out the obvious to those of you who fail to see it.

Half of most UPS drivers problems are because they fail to even look at a situation as anything but contrary to their set in stone beliefs.

You all can freaken keep crying over helpers or you can try and make it work. It was the same with PAS.....deal with it.

 

[upsgrunt]

You just never quit putting people down, do you? When you say things like "you guys", "you all", and such you do realize you are separating yourself from basically everyone else. You can try to help without being so damn condicending and without the inflated ego.

 

[brianbrown]

This week we all got a message saying no one is to be over 9.5 from here out, that it must be approved by 2pm if we are going to be over. To me that is just another head game management is playing to try and get us to speed up and skip lunches and break. Come on Peak is started next week.

I think its a great ideal if they can get us in by 9.5 but i have never seen that happen during peak especially if the weather turns bad. I think i have seen the best one but management always seems to come up with a better one. They also said we should run double our sporh with a helper........Please.......

 

[VTBrown]

This week we all got a message saying no one is to be over 9.5 from here out, that it must be approved by 2pm if we are going to be over. To me that is just another head game management is playing to try and get us to speed up and skip lunches and break. Come on Peak is started next week.

I think its a great ideal if they can get us in by 9.5 but i have never seen that happen during peak especially if the weather turns bad. I think i have seen the best one but management always seems to come up with a better one. They also said we should run double our sporh with a helper........Please.......

Whats the problem?
Message in that you'll be over then go about your normal day.

The dispatch is their problem, not yours.

 

[VTBrown]

You just never quit putting people down, do you? When you say things like "you guys", "you all", and such you do realize you are separating yourself from basically everyone else. You can try to help without being so damn condicending and without the inflated ego.

Nope...you attacked me with your original post.....duh.
I've no problem replying the same way.

Perhaps you can grow some thicker skin and not let someone on the internet get to you.