The bad roads,

[Schlepper]

Mostly for you rural area guys and gals out there, do you encounter any extremely bad roads on your route that you have to service? My route covers a pretty large zip that encompasses a great deal of rural area. These roads are unpaved, sometimes barely van-width, rutted, washed-out, washboarded, steep, and impassable in the rain. I have one road on the route that turns into 3 or 4 inches of soft mud any time it rains making it impossible to deliver. I'm curious to see what others out there encounter in terms of unfit, non-county-maintained roads. The ones where there are 20 battered, unlabeled mailboxes at the end of the road, and it's a roll of the dice every time you have a stop down one.

 

[SmithBarney]

we have a guy who seems to get stuck weekly in the sandy soil... our swings never get stuck.

Time to start getting creative delivering, ask FX for a cell phone so you can call customers to meet you.

 

[LTFedExer]

Down south I had to deal with red clay. When it got wet, it was so slippery, you could easily slide into the ditch. I had the ok from my manager to Dex any packages that I couldn't attempt due to dangerous road conditions. I used to call some regular delivery customers and let them know where I'll be at certain times so they can meet me.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Down south I had to deal with red clay. When it got wet, it was so slippery, you could easily slide into the ditch. I had the ok from my manager to Dex any packages that I couldn't attempt due to dangerous road conditions. I used to call some regular delivery customers and let them know where I'll be at certain times so they can meet me.

Did you ever get mud in your tires?

Mud In Your Tires - YouTube

 

[HomeDelivery]

as a swing driver, if i can't find alternate roads that are paved during those rainstorms... i'll have to code it as a weather delay & let the regular driver deal with it when he returns.

 

[whenIgetthere]

I have roads which are impassible when it hasn't rained for a while, the dirt turns to sand, worse than driving on the beach. When it rains, it firms the roads up again for a couple of months.

 

[Schlepper]

Is weather coding at the driver's discretion at Express? I tried to code 82 a stop once because the road was completely washed out, got a call 10 minutes later telling me that "code 82 was not in effect that day" and it needed to be changed.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Is weather coding at the driver's discretion at Express? I tried to code 82 a stop once because the road was completely washed out, got a call 10 minutes later telling me that "code 82 was not in effect that day" and it needed to be changed.

My station anything like DEX 84 etc. requires calling the manager first.

 

[LTFedExer]

Did you ever get mud in your tires?

Mud In Your Tires - YouTube

Great movie.

Is weather coding at the driver's discretion at Express? I tried to code 82 a stop once because the road was completely washed out, got a call 10 minutes later telling me that "code 82 was not in effect that day" and it needed to be changed.

Typically..no. FedEx won't let you do anything 'at your discretion'. I was able to tell my manager I MIGHT not be able to get to certain stops because of 'unsafe road conditions' while still in the station.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

We are allowed to use EC at our discretion.

Some drivers use it more than others.

 

[Mr. 7]

What's EC?

 

[SmithBarney]

Emergency Conditions
Early Commit
Eager Commie
Eye Chart

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Emergency Conditions

It is supposed to be used only for those addresses that cannot be accessed due to weather related issues.

There are some mgt teams who use it as a dispatch tool.

There are some drivers who use it for their personal convenience.

 

[59 Dano]

Down south I had to deal with red clay. When it got wet, it was so slippery, you could easily slide into the ditch. I had the ok from my manager to Dex any packages that I couldn't attempt due to dangerous road conditions. I used to call some regular delivery customers and let them know where I'll be at certain times so they can meet me.

Red clay is the work of the devil. Stop me if you've heard this one before.. Red clay with just enough gravel to make it look passable and you don't realize that it's not passable until about 5 seconds too late or until you try to make it back up that hill.