telematic is lurking in the background

[soberups]

If a driver is following methods, has a good work pace, has a good load, has a good trace and dispatch and then is still overallowed then work measurement is the problem.

P-Man

And it is a problem that will never be fixed.

Instead...there will be production rides...and lock in rides...and AM meetings with a shop steward...and over 9.5 grievances...and Art 37 over-supervision grievances...etc etc.

We will expend huge amounts of time and money and energy and hard feelings on what amounts to a childish pissing match....even when we know that the work measurement is the problem. We are fighting over a flawed statistic when we should be fighting to take volume back from the competition.

A certain percentage of drivers will simply knuckle under and work through their lunch rather than endure the harassment. I would bet that IE has even calulated that percentage out to at least 5 decimal places, if not more, and factored it all in to the operational plan.

 

[tracker2762]

Conversely, with all of that in mind, how can any driver possibly be underallowed while working by the methods?
With UPS being the safety driven company it claims to be, why would they reward a driver who is obviously short cutting the methods with bonus at time and a half?
It's these type of hypocrisies, on both sides of the issues, that destroy this company's credibility.

Focus A lot of driver's have too many distractions.( phone, cigarettes, radio, women etc) I find that a minor delay in the morning snowballs throughout the day. Soon you find yourself out of time to get development done before pickups.
Yes there are drivers that go from stop to the next until their done. I don't see a lot of customers during the day so it's easier to just keep going.
I don't see it as short cutting the methods but performing them. I am rewarded for working the way I was trained. If they want to pay me time and a half to drive home eat dinner and take a shower, that's fine with me Also I am sure there are plenty drivers who don't short cut the methods and make bonus.

 

[Bubblehead]

As you say, work measurement is intended to measure the amount of work.

Work measurement is stated to be accurate to 95%, 95% of the time. Using your analog of a scale, even at its best, it will be off 5% one way or another 95% of the time.

Taking it a step further .... Work measurement isn't intended to measure how much work a driver has, but how much work a driver SHOULD have. Using the scale analogy, its intended to measure how much meat is on the scale, not just how much weight is on the scale. Work measurement ignores the "fat".

For instance, if you sort your load, you will be overallowed. If you have a poorly loaded car, you will be overallowed. If you have a bad trace, you will "likely" be overallowed. If you have a bad AM or PM plan, you will be overallowed.

My first assignment was in I.E. over 30 years ago. The discussions went on back then whether "normal" "Fat" should be included in the allowance. If they did put it in, then it would more accurately measure a driver. It would also then "condone" these ineffective activities.

The company has chosen for all these years to not put these inefficiencies into the work measurement. The single biggest problem I see is trying to make the driver solely responsible for overallowed.

If a driver is following methods, has a good work pace, has a good load, has a good trace and dispatch and then is still overallowed then work measurement is the problem.

P-Man

Conversely, with all of that in mind, how can any driver possibly be underallowed while working by the methods?
With UPS being the safety driven company it claims to be, why would they reward a driver who is obviously short cutting the methods with bonus at time and a half?
It's these type of hypocrisies, on both sides of the issues, that destroy this company's credibility.

Don't assume someone is cutting corners if they follow all of the methods and are still underallowed. There are many factors that could come in to play. It may be something as simple as how fast they walk. It could be area knowledge. It could be the amount of time they spend bsing with customers. It could be knowing that traffic is usually heavier in this area at this time so maybe I should save that area and deliver it when I know the traffic will be lighter. It could be delivering air and ground together and still making the commit time. It could be saving a stop by delivering a consignee's personal package along with their commerical delivery. It could also be the time spent preparing the DOL for the EDD team to ensure that when we went live with EDD that it was a smooth transition.

I am not naive and I do realize that we have runner gunners who do not follow the methods but make their boss look good by making the numbers look good. Runner gunners support your argument.

It could come down to the simple fact that some people are better workers than others.

Focus A lot of driver's have too many distractions.( phone, cigarettes, radio, women etc) I find that a minor delay in the morning snowballs throughout the day. Soon you find yourself out of time to get development done before pickups.
Yes there are drivers that go from stop to the next until their done. I don't see a lot of customers during the day so it's easier to just keep going.
I don't see it as short cutting the methods but performing them. I am rewarded for working the way I was trained. If they want to pay me time and a half to drive home eat dinner and take a shower, that's fine with me Also I am sure there are plenty drivers who don't short cut the methods and make bonus.

Upstate and Tracker, the point I was trying to make was in reference to Pretzel Mans post, that I took to mean, that allowances reflected a perfect trip, without "fat".
With that in mind, I was pointing out the theoretic impossibility for a driver to achieve bonus while working by the methods.
I find the whole program to be a hypocrisy in light of UPS's so called commitment to safety.
I have been doing this job long enough to know how bonus is achieved.
I'm not hating on the player, I'm hating on the game.

 

[pretzel_man]

Upstate and Tracker, the point I was trying to make was in reference to Pretzel Mans post, that I took to mean, that allowances reflected a perfect trip, without "fat".
With that in mind, I was pointing out the theoretic impossibility for a driver to achieve bonus while working by the methods.
I find the whole program to be a hypocrisy in light of UPS's so called commitment to safety.
I have been doing this job long enough to know how bonus is achieved.
I'm not hating on the player, I'm hating on the game.

I did not say perfect....

It is measured per the methods. There is no method for resorting your load. Lots of drivers are underallowed and follow methods and work safely.

I have said before that the measurement is not perfect.

It is more accurate for a center than for an individual driver. Its more accurate for an average week than for a single day.

Just because its flawed, that does not make it worthless like some here would like to believe.

P-Man

 

[MC4YOU2]

I did not say perfect....

It is measured per the methods. There is no method for resorting your load. Lots of drivers are underallowed and follow methods and work safely.

I have said before that the measurement is not perfect.

It is more accurate for a center than for an individual driver. Its more accurate for an average week than for a single day.

Just because its flawed, that does not make it worthless like some here would like to believe.

P-Man

I don't see anyone saying that time measurement is worthless, only that the " method" by which it is administered can be.

My center has drivers at both ends of the scale, under and over. What we do not have is anyone who is following methods, safety, service standards and achieving an "acceptable" level of production. We do have underallowed drivers who have found the "sweet spot" somewhere between what they are expected to do and what is actually good safe methods given the real world scenarios we all work in. When you can hide bad habits to achieve a semblance of peace with the numbers and discipline vs reality and corner cutting, drivers will almost always go the easy less harassing route. Its human nature. No one really likes to fight every single day. If that's not intentionally figured in the "big picture" then we are all living a dream. I have been told this by corporate "trainers" who came through here 10 years ago to attempt to rethink the old plan and try to reprogram the drivers as a more thoughtful more service focused. They tried and were shut down by those who did not see the production results anywhere. You can only cut your way to profitability so far, because once the fat is gone, (and folks its been gone for awhile) all the rest is trimming into the vital organs of the beast.