Some perspectives

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
Its bitter cold, taxes are done, 9am and got supper cooking already. So today I have a bit of time for some thoughts that have been brewing.

The first is that of the "runner/gunner" driver that many management posters here have never heard about.

Well for those of you that havent, here are a few of the signs.

The driver will be the first out of the building. He will most likely not be at the PCM, because he is on the belt tossing those stops off that will cost him some time today. You know, those stops he pulled off the shelf because he was in his car an hour before start time.

This driver will blow everyone off the road in his haste to get to the delivery area. As he makes the deliveries, he will deliver air at the same time as he delivers the ground. The regular drivers cant, because they actually start at start time, and actually attend the PCM.

HE will be seen running to the stop, and running back. On stops that he is not sure about, he will either just sheet them up as NS# or "get them close enough" and drop them off.

He is the type of driver that will be back in the truck pulling away before the doorbell stops ringing. And never ever takes a lunch, even though an hour is taken away.

As he makes the deliveries to business stops at 1PM, he will make the pickup, knowing full well he really should come back between 3-5, because they will send it out FEDEX if not. But he does not care, its all about him. Besides, how can he make a pickup at 4:30 when his package car has been back at the center since 4:15?

That is also the reason he will never ever be available to help out the driver next to him when they need help. Help to him is a one way street, meant only for help to be received, never given.

And what makes this behavior grow is the fact that this type of behavior is praised by the management team because he "turns out the numbers". You management folk know the type of driver I am talking about. The one that has had two roll aways in three years, and 6 other accidents over the last 4, but yet strangely, very little disciplinary action was ever taken.

Second subject is a bit different. I have read a lot of posts here over the last 8-9 years that have a lot of things in common. And that is a gross dissatisfaction with the job held at UPS.

It is true, we all need to verbally express our feelings or get rid of that burr under the saddle. IT puts a "face" on the problem that makes it real, gives us an outlet to express or dissatisfaction or pain that at times makes it easier to deal with.

But where do we draw the line? When does a complaint move from a mere expression of our dissatisfaction to become the very cause of our problem, a self fulfilling prophecy?

I have seen it too many times at UPS. Those drivers who spend their whole life being so negative about every single thing, that they never ever see anything else.

Kinda reminds me of a guy that posted here a while back. Everything in his life that was wrong was his mamma's fault. Here it is he is 18-19, and everything was an obstacle that was in his way cause of something his mamma either did or didnt do for him. He was a victim. He wanted to stay a victim, unless someone got him out of victimhood. Nothing was his fault or responsibility, it was always his mamma's fault.

If you show up for work with your hands grasping your ankles every day, what makes you think you will not be a target to get a good screwing? You want to be under the gun, its your comfort zone. I have found, with some few exceptions, that the drivers that garner a lot of negative attention, usually brought most of it upon themselves. Not always, but usually.

Try an attitude change. Quit letting the dissatisfaction with your job dictate how you will perceive your job.

Once your perception changes, so will the reality.

Enough ranting.

d
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
D excellent post! I have been unhappy at work for the last year or so. Not at my route because i enjoyed my customers and the route itself. I have been unhappy because no matter what i did i was a buck and a half to two bucks over everyday.

So i bid on to a new rout a little 3 weeks ago, and now I'm up early in the morning again, cant wait to get in to work and start my day. Why because now I'm no longer the piece of crap driver the operations report said i was, I'm now a scratch to bonus driver on a daily basis, using the same work methods. I do not go in my truck before start time, i do not run, cut corners and still take my lunch and paid breaks.

Some times like Danny said, we just need a little change, the driver who's route i took was on it for over 20 years, and too had become frustrated with his route. He is now on a residential route and is loving it to.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
Red

Funny you mentioned that. After being on a route for 7 years, I got bumped by a new hire. It seems they changed my route to a training route.

After about another 15 years on that one, I went into coverage driving for a few years. Then when they began to let drivers train drivers, guess what, I was the "trainer" because I had the area knowledge.

But after a few more years of coverage, I decided to go back to mostly one route, where I retired.

So a change like that, while in some cases traumatic, will change a perspective like you posted.

d
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Great post Danny. Makes stop and think about my own situation. I think I have a pretty good outlook day to day. I like my job, but I get tired of and bitchy about mgt. Generally speaking I like my sup. But I don't let him get away with BS. He doesn't much like it but to bad. Just the other day he was violating my seniority and I called him on it. He changed the dispatch because of it. That's all I wanted.
One of the biggest problems we have right now is a ft driver that has taken over the safety co-chair. This driver never goes out on rte any more. He basically has a ft driving job in the office. Starts at 8:30 and is home by 5.

As far as the runner/gunners go, I had to laugh. We have one that fits your description to tee. He has had numerous accidents and injuries and is currently out on injury. We actually have several drivers that are runners. But this one in particular is the worst. All of his injuries he has claimed off the job when everyone knows that they were job related. Even he has admitted as much yet cried foul when they screwed him.

705 I am guessing you are in an area that bids yearly on rtes. I can see an advantage of being in that situation. If you get bored with a rte you can change it yearly if you so choose. We don't have that here. Once we bid on a rte we are on it until we choose to vacate it. Once vacated we go back to utility driver until another rte opens up. Obviously if a rte is vacated it is put up for bid and then there may or may not be another rte that opens up. Kind of the snowball effect. It is hard to predict, though, just what rte may open, so needless to say rtes are rarely vacated. Most of our rtes only open up through attrition, like retirements or terminations.
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
705 I am guessing you are in an area that bids yearly on rtes. I can see an advantage of being in that situation. If you get bored with a rte you can change it yearly if you so choose. We don't have that here. Once we bid on a rte we are on it until we choose to vacate it. Once vacated we go back to utility driver until another rte opens up. Obviously if a rte is vacated it is put up for bid and then there may or may not be another rte that opens up. Kind of the snowball effect. It is hard to predict, though, just what rte may open, so needless to say rtes are rarely vacated. Most of our rtes only open up through attrition, like retirements or terminations.
No its the same here dil, we had a lot of drivers go in to feeder here so routes have opened up. When a route is up for bid any driver is allowed to bid it as long as he/she has not used their 3 successful bids in a year.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Red, I sure wish some of our rtes would open up. We have 2 drivers that could retire any time but won't. LOL I am looking at being a utility for at least several years. :dissapointed:
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
Red, I sure wish some of our rtes would open up. We have 2 drivers that could retire any time but won't. LOL I am looking at being a utility for at least several years. :dissapointed:
We have about 75 drivers in my center and over 400 just package in my building. One of the perks of being in a big building.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
Red

In our area, the bid is up every year, usually in the spring.

The areas get bid by seniority. Those biding coverage do just that, cover.

Any one quits or goes into feeders or management, the run goes up for bid. If the winner of that bid has a bid route, that route goes up for bid. And the third time that happens, UPS gets to fill the unbid route, which is usually the next senior driver.

That way, if you want off that route, and you have enough seniority to bid another, you can.

It would suck being in a place that never bid routes unless someone moved on.

d
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Great post Danny. Makes stop and think about my own situation. I think I have a pretty good outlook day to day. I like my job, but I get tired of and bitchy about mgt. Generally speaking I like my sup. But I don't let him get away with BS. He doesn't much like it but to bad. Just the other day he was violating my seniority and I called him on it. He changed the dispatch because of it. That's all I wanted.
One of the biggest problems we have right now is a ft driver that has taken over the safety co-chair. This driver never goes out on rte any more. He basically has a ft driving job in the office. Starts at 8:30 and is home by 5.

As far as the runner/gunners go, I had to laugh. We have one that fits your description to tee. He has had numerous accidents and injuries and is currently out on injury. We actually have several drivers that are runners. But this one in particular is the worst. All of his injuries he has claimed off the job when everyone knows that they were job related. Even he has admitted as much yet cried foul when they screwed him.

705 I am guessing you are in an area that bids yearly on rtes. I can see an advantage of being in that situation. If you get bored with a rte you can change it yearly if you so choose. We don't have that here. Once we bid on a rte we are on it until we choose to vacate it. Once vacated we go back to utility driver until another rte opens up. Obviously if a rte is vacated it is put up for bid and then there may or may not be another rte that opens up. Kind of the snowball effect. It is hard to predict, though, just what rte may open, so needless to say rtes are rarely vacated. Most of our rtes only open up through attrition, like retirements or terminations.

Is his name Steve?
 

MonavieLeaker

Bringin Teh_Lulz
Is his name Steve?


roflbrothel.gif
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
Things happen in life and at work to change your perspective.
Iam 1 to 2 late every day. We dont get to rebid til someone dies, retires, or gets fired. More of the latter lately.
I was thinking of a guy who hurt his back shoveling snow and I envied him for a minute, coz he didnt have to go to work. Or the guy who mgmt said stabbed himself, when he reported being robbed and stabbed and drove himself to the hospital. At first, if he really did get stabbed and mgmt concluded that, is so wrong. If he really did stab himself, to get out of working, how stressed must have he been.
Every day they tell me to pick it up a little (lot) and somedays I honestly try to work faster, and then I find myself making mistakes. I know I am doing everything right and the numbers are not there, where they "should be". All things being equal, I do my best, maybe I cant do it anymore, or maybe the numbers are wrong.
If I get fired for violating some UPS code, so be it, I"ll adjust, til then I just show up every day, get beat to death, but I get it done, no accident injury or service failure. And everyone loves me. What more could you want?
I stay under the radar, as I dont cause trouble, I just show up, do what they give me and come home. I dont know how else to do it.
As far as being late, its not like Im hanging out in my beloved truck, having lunch with some hot guy on my route, or even conversing with a friend. From the minute I get in my truck, Im dreaming of home, with my husband, and my dogs, and maybe a free moment to phone a friend. It just takes longer than some masterminded genius thinks it should. If I could do it faster, trust me I would. Life is short, and I want to be home.
 

old brown shoe

30 year driver
Ive done several routes over the years. The last one I was on had the worst allowances. So I was always the least best in our center. No one could do better on it than I could, but that still wasn't good enough. I worked my hardest and laid low until another route came up and bid it. Now I'm off the radar and the poor guy who took my old route is the worthless slug. We stay on our bid routes until you bid another or retire. I feel for the person who is on a route with bad allowances because I've been there. They always need the 11 hour day to get your 9 hour plan day.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
Ive done several routes over the years. The last one I was on had the worst allowances. So I was always the least best in our center. No one could do better on it than I could, but that still wasn't good enough. I worked my hardest and laid low until another route came up and bid it. Now I'm off the radar and the poor guy who took my old route is the worthless slug. We stay on our bid routes until you bid another or retire. I feel for the person who is on a route with bad allowances because I've been there. They always need the 11 hour day to get your 9 hour plan day.
Amen
 

longlunchguy

Runnin on Empty
Great original post,Danny! I never saw you when you visited our center. But I know the guy you're talking about. He is probably at the building RIGHT NOW. Even though start time isn't for an hour and a half. Tooner... hang in there, spring's coming.
 

bigbrownhen

Well-Known Member
Wow! It must be a requirement to have a runner in every center. Funny how we all have at least one. I used to burn it up when I first started, as alot of us do. Then you realize its never good enough, so you do the best you can and work safe. I love my job. I just got my own route this year, one I used to cover alot, so have a good relationship with customers. The pressure from those up the food chain gets old, you just gotta let it all slide at the end of the day.(Not always easy) Im lucky to have my hubby to sound off to, he keeps me grounded.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Is his name Steve?

I was wondering how he had all that time to take photos.........

d

Funny enough, his name is actually Steve. I had to laugh at the coincidence and many times have been tempted to mention something to STUG about it, but I see daily that STUG is actually on rte (from posted pics). LOL



I just found this thread, thanks to Hoax. Thanks for the plugs, and thank you Monavie for the tear spilling laughter. Thanks d, for that great post that started it all.
 
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