Taking the "good" out of Friday
- Thread starter brownmonster
- Start date
UPS Lifer
Well-Known Member
Remember a lot of the plans are based on historical info from previous years....
Different parts of the country will have different types of holiday closing plans. If you are in a PU driven area, with more PU routes than delivery, there will be a closure plan to make sure all the open PU get covered.
This holds true for residential vs business delivery areas as well. Some centers or buildings are more weighted one way or the other. This will change the way they deal with closures or potential closures.
I am not saying this is right but there are some division and center managers that may believe that you will work harder to get home because of the holiday so they load you up knowing this is the case and on the other hand I have seen operations that do what they can to make the day as normal as possible for their folks.
Bottom Line - It has not changed in 35 years so don't let it get to you. It is part of the business you are in. Understand it and make the best of it!
Happy Easter!
iowa boy
Well-Known Member
But what gets me is that after 35 years no one seems to get any smarter about business closings. Here in my center, we had 400 plus send agains cuz no one (either drivers or management) took the time or effort to see who was closed and who was open. we were told all week that we were gonna be light cuz our main shipper was closed on friday, but nothing was said about the 40 or 50 other businesses that were closed as no one bothered to check with them.
It just blows me away that we could have cut our payroll by at least a third if some calls were made or emails were sent out, but then again after 35 years, why would we change anything now.
just my 2 pennies worth
UPS Lifer
Well-Known Member
Before the center asked for closure lists - I used to get them for myself so that I could figure out the best way to get my PUs and deliveries done.
I always had customers that told me they would be open and end up being closed when I got there. That was damn frustrating. .... Or they wouldn't commit, knowing all to well they were going to be closed!
I always had customers that told me they would be open and end up being closed when I got there. That was damn frustrating. .... Or they wouldn't commit, knowing all to well they were going to be closed!
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
I ended up with 149 stops, 400+ pkgs, and not one send again, whether paid, COD, or CLO-H. This was the result of 10-15 stops that I was able to deliver to alternate addresses and a return trip to a bulk stop that had been closed earlier in the day. Most of my co-workers were not as fortunate, bringing back varying amounts of CLO-H and other send agains which will just add to their day on Monday. 5 of the stops I was able to deliver were schools which they wanted to pull from the car. It will be nice to walk in Monday morning and just have that days volume to deal with.
iowa boy
Well-Known Member
This is also a very good point Lifer. What happened to a little bit of consideration for the drivers ( and im assuming you fit into the driver catagory also before you retired), when the drivers bend over backwords for the customers on their route every day?
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
Historical info is BS. With the technology they know exactly whats coming in. If you cut a 10 hour route and split it up it simply means you don't care about customers or your people. If it's a holiday why did I work until 7:30. It's plain and simple greed.
iowa boy
Well-Known Member
Come on, UPS greedy???
Seriously though, i think it is simple greed and stupidity on their part and dedication on your part. And also remember, that technology you speak is operated by ups management, do i need to say anymore about how smart the technology really is?
UPS Lifer
Well-Known Member
I did a lot of different jobs. I was a Teamster for 7 years, and the rest of the time I spent in management and 20 years as a grade 16 +.
I have gone through the route cutting just like you have as a driver. I had my days that I just wanted to rip the head off of a supervisor or manager.
I can remember a Xmas Eve and the following New Years Eve as a 20 year old wanting to celebrate like everybody else and bringing the New Year in at work because management cut the staff back to 1/3 of normal so a 4 hour PT job turned into an 8 hour job. Back then we didn't have cell phones to call someone up and let them know we couldn't make it to the party.
I just started to realize that this was the way the job was going to be and I could either accept it or quit. I chose to accept it. As I gained seniority in Teamsters and management, I used it to my advantage. I didn't deal with the Holiday BS anymore. That is what you have to do!
There are ways around it as a manager in an operation you can do what you can to try and get everyone off at the same time. There is no reason one person gets in at 5PM and another one gets in at 7PM. You can arrange meet points and get the drivers to help each other so everyone gets in. It does work. I made sure I put this practice in on special days. When your drivers know you really do care, they will do what is necessary and the numbers don't suffer. This practice takes experience and good relation building skills. It does not happen over night and can change in a moments notice if a new management team is implemented.
UPS Lifer
Well-Known Member
I did a lot of different jobs. I was a Teamster for 7 years, and the rest of the time I spent in management and 20 years as a grade 16 +.
I have gone through the route cutting just like you have as a driver. I had my days that I just wanted to rip the head off of a supervisor or manager.
I can remember a Xmas Eve and the following New Years Eve as a 20 year old wanting to celebrate like everybody else and bringing the New Year in at work because management cut the staff back to 1/3 of normal so a 4 hour PT job turned into an 8 hour job. Back then we didn't have cell phones to call someone up and let them know we couldn't make it to the party.
I just started to realize that this was the way the job was going to be and I could either accept it or quit. I chose to accept it. As I gained seniority in Teamsters and management, I used it to my advantage. I didn't deal with the Holiday BS anymore. That is what you have to do!
iowa boy
Well-Known Member
Lifer, just glad you were able to make it thru to the end and not lose your sanity both as a Teamster and as a management person. I have been doing this long enough to i know i have a long bumpy road ahead, but its the older generation (not being offensive), and listening to their rants about this company, that makes this job "different" (not gonna say enjoyable), as you just never know what the company will come up with next and that you shouldn't be surprised about their decisions.
UPS Lifer
Well-Known Member
If it were not for my wife as a support mechanism and those folks at work that I had a close relationship with, it would have been much more difficult.
This forum does act as a support mechanism for a lot of folks out there. But it can't give you the human contact you need for support. Sometimes it just takes someone to show you in their eyes that they really care about what you are going through and they are there for you!
I wish I would have had this forum when I was younger to give me more perspective on the issues out there.
Thank You Cheryl and the rest of the moderators for all your time and effort to make this a special place for UPSers and exUPSers to enjoy and learn from.
This forum does act as a support mechanism for a lot of folks out there. But it can't give you the human contact you need for support. Sometimes it just takes someone to show you in their eyes that they really care about what you are going through and they are there for you!
I wish I would have had this forum when I was younger to give me more perspective on the issues out there.
Thank You Cheryl and the rest of the moderators for all your time and effort to make this a special place for UPSers and exUPSers to enjoy and learn from.
UPS Lifer did you retire before the holiday closing check list was put in the Diad p/u's? I thought that was one tool that was long overdue. It only worked well if the correct info was entered and implemented. Too many times after Christmas you would find the extra drivers didn't care & you would end up with 150 send agains from 10 stops that should have been held and you would end up tripping over them all day.
Brown Dog
Brown since 81
My "Good Friday" was a busy one. We cut out several rts and I ended up with an extra section and had to scramble to get the closed noon off in time. Yes, it was hectic, but like UPS lifer says, you know it going in, so stay calm, adjust, make the best of it. I would have liked to have been done early, but it wasn't to be. It was a typical GOOD FRIDAY. The pay is good and the weekends are great.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
You are better off not entering the stops as closures, because IE will use the closures to eliminate even more routes. If I know the place is gonna be closed i sheet it as closed holiday and unload it onto the belt before leaving the building in the AM. Otherwise you wind up with two pickup routes being assigned to one car, routes being assigned an impossible number of bulk stops, and other ridiculous situations that result in service failures. Sometimes we have to protect management from its own stupidity.
brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
I would love to have a route where I could unload closures in the A.M. before I leave. The truck happens to be full with half of the route next to me. The bottom line to this whole thread is that the good friday holiday is and will always be used as an excuse to cut routes. Like Lifer says, that's the way it is. Lifer worked for a company that had no competition. Lifer had 5 to 1 stock splits because we were the only game in town. Now there is competition. Time to change. Dinosaurs become extinct.
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Elmers Glue
Guest
Hey Iowa Boy, how do you like being in the Missouri District now?? Make sure you are doing everything correct is all I can say from what I've been told!!
upsdude
Well-Known Member
Every year its the same thing, 1office out of 20 in a building is closed on Good Friday and the dispatch supervisor closes the whole building, leading to very angry people calling in to ask where their payroll is, which leads to the driver getting asked why he closed the whole building,which leads to very long lines of angry people at the customer counter asking what closed holiday means when they were open or what closed holiday means when the address was a apartment building or a private house. which leads to the clerks going thru all the skids of closed Friday packages to find the package.
Glad in off this friday!
Exactly, same thing here.
They hound us for a known closed list for days in advance, we provide it, and they screw it up. The dispatch sup claims the system won’t allow him to select individual business from a multi unit building. Then why the hell do you close the entire building? I give them a blank sheet and pull my closed stuff the morning of.
BTW UPS, if in your mind every business is closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, why are YOU open?
BigBrownSanta
Well-Known Member
That one's easy, UPS couldn't get the union to agree to having those days as paid holidays.
lol.
upsdude
Well-Known Member
I had a new kid all shook up Friday morning. He felt like you know what, looked like it too. LOL. Anyway, he was asking to go home and it looked like there would be no problem. I told him to really think about going home sick because of the holiday. Told him he would not be paid for the weekend if he missed work Friday. He walks over and asks the sup if his going home would screw up his pay. LOL.
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