Telematics anyone

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Do you get back a prompt answer? I've sent messages, the majority of which don't get answered.

It's funny you mention that. The morning OMS and I do not get along at all. I had a missed delivery scan at the college and I asked her to send me the 1Z so I could see if I had delivered it and just not sheeted it. (The college records every pkg in their system as well). It took me 3 separate messages and still no response so I called her boss, explained the situation, and had the 1Z within seconds. (Turns out I had delivered it but had failed to sheet so I added it to that day's delivery) However, if we don't answer her right away, she sends follow up messages.

Most of the time we get prompt answers to our messages. My only beef is that they send everything out "Response required" so I have started adding "No response required" to my messages.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Steve, it's Mother's Day--let us know how the "Quit Smoking" present went. Dave.

 

[dilligaf]

It's funny you mention that. The morning OMS and I do not get along at all. I had a missed delivery scan at the college and I asked her to send me the 1Z so I could see if I had delivered it and just not sheeted it. (The college records every pkg in their system as well). It took me 3 separate messages and still no response so I called her boss, explained the situation, and had the 1Z within seconds. (Turns out I had delivered it but had failed to sheet so I added it to that day's delivery) However, if we don't answer her right away, she sends follow up messages.

Most of the time we get prompt answers to our messages. My only beef is that they send everything out "Response required" so I have started adding "No response required" to my messages.

There are days when I wish I had a 'response required' button. It pisses me off to no end when I have to wait, in some cases an hour or more, to get an answer to an question. I have on occasion sent response required. Seems to make no difference. Hmmmm, wonder why that is?

Maybe my next tactic will be to send the following - When my ODS's become as important as you think yours are, then I will start responding more promptly. Wonder how well that will go over?

Our afternoon OMS is terrible about not thinking outside the box. Alot of it has to do with not having area knowledge but when the drivers try to explain that something cannot be done and why, she will not listen. And at times she can be downright nasty. She thinks that we are at her 'beck and call', this is especially frustrating on rural rtes.

 

[pretzel_man]

,, those magic omnipotent reports that you speak of,,problem is those centers are already tweaking numbers to keep the almighty corporate in Atlanta and the sacred stock owners happy,,,, {gotta justify the cost dont we} ,,,heck if a few centers have improved production i want more more more....pretzel,, can you tell me how many off area misloads on average a driver has weekly,,based on those reports????

Its interesting to me that when facts do not match the opinion you have, you choose to disbelieve the facts.

When you didn't like the information I provided, you chose to call me a corporate shill, accuse me of fabricating information, and challenged my credibility.

Maybe I'm providing accurate facts? I'm not challenging your experience. Remember, I said that some centers got worse. Maybe your center is one of them

As far as off area misloads go, I've never seen a report that shows the number of off area ones. Last time I looked, misloads averaged about 1 to 2 per driver per day. I don't know how many of those are off area.

If you read some of my other posts, I've said that this is one of the first things I address when I'm working with centers.

I believe that thinking people look at facts, analyze them, and generate an opinion based on the facts.

P-Man

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I believe that thinking people look at facts, analyze them, and generate an opinion based on the facts. P-Man

As opposed to having an opinion formed and then skewing the data to confirm said opinion?

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Steve, it's Mother's Day--let us know how the "Quit Smoking" present went. Dave.

I'll post it in the Mother's day thread, as well as the quit smoking.

 

[pretzel_man]

As opposed to having an opinion formed and then skewing the data to confirm said opinion?

Yes. Also as opposed to having an opinion and only recognizing facts that supports said opinion.

P-Man

 

[trplnkl]

There are many examples(not just within UPS) of stated opinions, ideas or programs that are supported by "facts" that are skewed or manipulated.
P-man, I'm not saying that the reports that you have access to are bad reports, but some facts are simply not included that could make a difference as to the overall picture. For example the misload portion. A misload that is, "right truck, wrong shelf" is usually just a minor inconvenience depending on circumstances. Where a "right shelf, wrong truck" misload is more than likely a bigger problem. By not defining these for what they are can make a satisfactory report look much better than the true picture.

I could tell you a story of manipulated reports that made a "company" hero out of a lying POS supervisor, but I will save everyone the agony of reading it.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

Here's a "fact" for everyone

The driver's morale is at an all time low since I've been driving 9 years ago. Just because we can be loaded to the tilt everyday, doesn't mean you should DO it everyday. I can understand the company not wanting to throw money down a sinkhole, but when you consistently bury a driver in 9.5/10 hours of work a day, the driver is the one that gets buried in the end.

They shove all the safety slogans down your throat thinking that this will keep all the drivers fit and safe while working 11 hours a day out of their truck. By the end of the day, you begin to tire and may do things that you shouldn't just to get through the last hour or two.

To make a point, look at a MLB pitcher. His mechanics are flawless while he pitches until he tires himself out. Around 100 pitches or so, a coach takes him out because faulty mechanics can lead to injuries. If UPS was running this team, they would leave the pitcher in to finish the game, blaming him if he gets hurt or burns himself out. This kind of treatment is not acceptable in any terms.

We have 6 drivers on comp/dis at the moment, with 3 coming off it 2 weeks ago. If IE can not find a correlation in THOSE numbers, then they are the fools. Until then, all the drivers just go out and work until WE finish the job, NOT when the sups say we should. It's funny how the ERI survey disappeared in the past 18 months because THOSE FACTS would be the ones UPS turns their heads from.

 

[trplnkl]

Here's a "fact" for everyone

The driver's morale is at an all time low since I've been driving 9 years ago. Just because we can be loaded to the tilt everyday, doesn't mean you should DO it everyday. I can understand the company not wanting to throw money down a sinkhole, but when you consistently bury a driver in 9.5/10 hours of work a day, the driver is the one that gets buried in the end.

They shove all the safety slogans down your throat thinking that this will keep all the drivers fit and safe while working 11 hours a day out of their truck. By the end of the day, you begin to tire and may do things that you shouldn't just to get through the last hour or two.

To make a point, look at a MLB pitcher. His mechanics are flawless while he pitches until he tires himself out. Around 100 pitches or so, a coach takes him out because faulty mechanics can lead to injuries. If UPS was running this team, they would leave the pitcher in to finish the game, blaming him if he gets hurt or burns himself out. This kind of treatment is not acceptable in any terms.

We have 6 drivers on comp/dis at the moment, with 3 coming off it 2 weeks ago. If IE can not find a correlation in THOSE numbers, then they are the fools. Until then, all the drivers just go out and work until WE finish the job, NOT when the sups say we should. It's funny how the ERI survey disappeared in the past 18 months because THOSE FACTS would be the ones UPS turns their heads from.

Can't argue with that....though some will try.

 

[pretzel_man]

There are many examples(not just within UPS) of stated opinions, ideas or programs that are supported by "facts" that are skewed or manipulated.
P-man, I'm not saying that the reports that you have access to are bad reports, but some facts are simply not included that could make a difference as to the overall picture. For example the misload portion. A misload that is, "right truck, wrong shelf" is usually just a minor inconvenience depending on circumstances. Where a "right shelf, wrong truck" misload is more than likely a bigger problem. By not defining these for what they are can make a satisfactory report look much better than the true picture.

I could tell you a story of manipulated reports that made a "company" hero out of a lying POS supervisor, but I will save everyone the agony of reading it.

Just a couple of points of clarification....

A few years ago, UPS added NDPPH as a measure thinking it was less prone to manipulation and would reward centers that reduced cost by eliminating duplicate stops.

Its not a perfect measure, but it is the one I was referring to when I mentioned performance improvements. Unless someone flat out made up numbers, I don't see how the report I saw could have been manipulated.

As far as I know, there is no misload report that shows a package on the right car but wrong shelf. All missort reports I've seen show packages delivered in a different car than what EDD had. They don't say if it was on a neighboring route, or across town.

I don't blame people for being skeptical at some information. I good healthy questioning is beneficial. But at some point, when the questions are answered, acceptance of the facts is the only way to move forward.

P-Man

 

[hellfire]

Here's a "fact" for everyone

The driver's morale is at an all time low since I've been driving 9 years ago. Just because we can be loaded to the tilt everyday, doesn't mean you should DO it everyday. I can understand the company not wanting to throw money down a sinkhole, but when you consistently bury a driver in 9.5/10 hours of work a day, the driver is the one that gets buried in the end.

They shove all the safety slogans down your throat thinking that this will keep all the drivers fit and safe while working 11 hours a day out of their truck. By the end of the day, you begin to tire and may do things that you shouldn't just to get through the last hour or two.

To make a point, look at a MLB pitcher. His mechanics are flawless while he pitches until he tires himself out. Around 100 pitches or so, a coach takes him out because faulty mechanics can lead to injuries. If UPS was running this team, they would leave the pitcher in to finish the game, blaming him if he gets hurt or burns himself out. This kind of treatment is not acceptable in any terms.

We have 6 drivers on comp/dis at the moment, with 3 coming off it 2 weeks ago. If IE can not find a correlation in THOSE numbers, then they are the fools. Until then, all the drivers just go out and work until WE finish the job, NOT when the sups say we should. It's funny how the ERI survey disappeared in the past 18 months because THOSE FACTS would be the ones UPS turns their heads from.

dead on man,,you notice how how pretzel has nothing to say about this,, guess he never read a report about it.................................

 

[pretzel_man]

dead on man,,you notice how how pretzel has nothing to say about this,, guess he never read a report about it.................................

Different than you, he quoted facts (drivers on comp / dis) and stated his opinion on what that means.

I can't argue with that.

On the other hand you chose to disregard facts presented in favor of your opinion.

While I have a different opinion that Heffernan, I can't provide any information to dispute what he says.

P-Man

 

[HEFFERNAN]

There was a reason I had "facts" in quotations. There is nothing factual I can give to show how morale has turned. The ERI was the closest thing UPS had in being able to measure this. This has been gone for 18 months in our centers.

Like I had stated, I am not against UPS making money. The last thing I would want is to be working for a company hemorraging money. But being in South New England where telematics has been in use for less than 5 months, the downturn in the drivers morale is overwhelming. We all like to make money, but to be driven into the ground day in day out week in week out will cost UPS much more.

The simple enjoyment of working hard fades as you are forced to do it all the time. Even when you work hard enough to come in early that one day, you know damn well tomorrow UPS will fix that glitch and have you work later. I guarantee every single driver will spend time on comp as a right of passage as a UPS driver.

The reason P-man has a differing opinion than myself is that he is not the one working full bore 50 hours a week. Pretzel_man is a great asset to this website but sometimes "facts" can't be quantified on a spreadsheet.

 

[pretzel_man]

There was a reason I had "facts" in quotations. There is nothing factual I can give to show how morale has turned. The ERI was the closest thing UPS had in being able to measure this. This has been gone for 18 months in our centers.

Like I had stated, I am not against UPS making money. The last thing I would want is to be working for a company hemorraging money. But being in South New England where telematics has been in use for less than 5 months, the downturn in the drivers morale is overwhelming. We all like to make money, but to be driven into the ground day in day out week in week out will cost UPS much more.

The simple enjoyment of working hard fades as you are forced to do it all the time. Even when you work hard enough to come in early that one day, you know damn well tomorrow UPS will fix that glitch and have you work later. I guarantee every single driver will spend time on comp as a right of passage as a UPS driver.

The reason P-man has a differing opinion than myself is that he is not the one working full bore 50 hours a week. Pretzel_man is a great asset to this website but sometimes "facts" can't be quantified on a spreadsheet.

Heffernan,

There is another reason I have a different opinion. I have no doubt that what you say is true. No doubt that its true for your building.

I've said many times that poor management will do poor things. The buildings I work in are not the same. The experience there is different.

Maybe this is why some buildings have done very well and other have done much poorer.

I feel that I'm looking at a wider picture and am talking about the general results.

P-Man

 

[HEFFERNAN]

Heffernan,

There is another reason I have a different opinion. I have no doubt that what you say is true. No doubt that its true for your building.

I've said many times that poor management will do poor things. The buildings I work in are not the same. The experience there is different.

Maybe this is why some buildings have done very well and other have done much poorer.

I feel that I'm looking at a wider picture and am talking about the general results.

P-Man

In no way am I arguing with you or calling out your expert knowledge of the numbers. Just wanted to show that sometimes a lot of a good thing will bite you in the ass. In post 27 of the thread, I outlined the process the district took with telematics. The problem isn't keeping bulkhead doors closed or seat belts on. After a while, everyone gets into the simple groove of it and it has become an afterthought to the process.

It has become turning every single route into a lean 10 hour day with a SPOHR maxed out to the tilt. The problem isn't the one day you have to go the extra mile. It's the continuous pedal to the floor every day that will churn out a beaten up crew of drivers. The price may become higher than Atlanta thinks.

I enjoy your posts and keep on spreading your one-of-a-kind knowledge on the website !

 

[DS]

Heffernan,


I've said many times that poor management will do poor things. The buildings I work in are not the same. The experience there is different.

Maybe this is why some buildings have done very well and other have done much poorer.


P-Man

Hef has some good points,and so do you pretz,but the one thing that bothers me to no end,and I don't think I ever would have realized it if not for the browncafe,is that there is no set way of dealing with certain inadequacies in operations.You can have a hitler type center manager that fires people for not pulling in a mirror,and in another center the center manager that would just have a talk with him.There should be at least some form of guideline for consistency in ethics in a company that has flourished for over 100 years.

 

[pretzel_man]

In no way am I arguing with you or calling out your expert knowledge of the numbers. Just wanted to show that sometimes a lot of a good thing will bite you in the ass. In post 27 of the thread, I outlined the process the district took with telematics. The problem isn't keeping bulkhead doors closed or seat belts on. After a while, everyone gets into the simple groove of it and it has become an afterthought to the process.

It has become turning every single route into a lean 10 hour day with a SPOHR maxed out to the tilt. The problem isn't the one day you have to go the extra mile. It's the continuous pedal to the floor every day that will churn out a beaten up crew of drivers. The price may become higher than Atlanta thinks.

I enjoy your posts and keep on spreading your one-of-a-kind knowledge on the website !

Heff,

Thank you.

I agree with you. To me, maxing out a route is the lazy person's way to improve performance.

I've outlined before what I teach for improving performance. Basically get rid of the operational defects.

Get rid of misloads, put every package in the correct shelf and position, improve the load quality, improve the trace, dispatch tighter areas.

When this is done, time spent sorting in the vehicle reduces, miles reduce, and managment time fixing urgent issues reduce.

This is not easy to do, but the results are real and sustainable.

Best of luck to you,

P-Man

 

[Dustyroads]

Perhaps it's different at different centers, honestly, we aren't on telematics yet, however, here, there are no reports generated that show the number of off car misloads that occur, unless they are missed. If I chase the guy down working next to me and give him the misload belonging to him, or if I go onto his part of the loop and deliver it, no report is generated. Some days, I run a stop or two for the guy next to me, if it's on the edge of his area, maybe 8 or 10 miles for him, and just a couple for me if I have something on that edge of my area, and no report is generated, even though those are in his board in EDDs. The only thing that generates a report here, with respect to misloads, is a MISSED package. We call every misload in, and 90% of the time, we're told to go deliver it. I've checked with my loader, repeatedly, the next day, they were not even told that they misloaded a package, unless of course, the package ends up MISSED.

 

[dilligaf]

In no way am I arguing with you or calling out your expert knowledge of the numbers. Just wanted to show that sometimes a lot of a good thing will bite you in the ass. In post 27 of the thread, I outlined the process the district took with telematics. The problem isn't keeping bulkhead doors closed or seat belts on. After a while, everyone gets into the simple groove of it and it has become an afterthought to the process.

It has become turning every single route into a lean 10 hour day with a SPOHR maxed out to the tilt. The problem isn't the one day you have to go the extra mile. It's the continuous pedal to the floor every day that will churn out a beaten up crew of drivers. The price may become higher than Atlanta thinks.

I enjoy your posts and keep on spreading your one-of-a-kind knowledge on the website !

Great post Hef. And if I may expound upon your maxed out 10 hour day................. They leave no leeway for problems that occur on-road. Misloads are one of the problems that should be happening, but there are others. Customers are the biggest one. I had several ODS p/u's yesterday, more than I have had in the last month. At one, the customer was saying how easy it was for him because I brought the GSD and filled it out. I felt like telling him just 'how' easy it was for him but not for me. The GSD's take time that I DON'T have. That is just one example.

Then there are break downs. Most of which could be prevented with proper maintenance. The truck that I am driving this week has a really bad clutch. A new clutch was installed in Apr and it is so out of adjustment that it slips climbing a hill. And starting out on a hill, ******. I burned it so many times yesterday. This is partly the regular drivers fault because it hadn't been written up. It got written up yesterday and reported to the office that it was a possible break-down.

I could go on and on but the point is, they have us so maxxed out that there is no room for errors.