Warning Letter!

[soberups]

Its the end of the year.

I would be willing to bet that your supervisor is just trying to generate a couple of last- minute warning letters in order to meet his annual quota and justify his job.

When he decided to follow you around, it was for the sole purpose of generating a warning letter. You were going to wind up getting one, regardless of what you did. If you didnt give him a reason to write one, he would have just made something up in order to justify the time he spent spying on you.

I wouldnt even waste time worrying about it. The letter isnt even worth the paper it is written on. At least when you look at yourself in the mirror at night you can take pride in the fact that you are serving our customers and generating the revenue that makes our company profitable. Imagine how disheartening it must be for your supervisor to have to stoop to such levels in order to justify his place at the corporate teat. He doesnt deserve your anger, he deserves your pity instead.

 

[thessalonian13]

So, If I deliver multiple stops to a building should I park in front of building and give a honk for each stop I have and start my deliveries or should I run out to truck and give a honk b$ each stop???

I'm so confused. Glad I don't do buildings often and can only imagine doing a sky scrapper in New York.

Just tape a brick on your horn

 

[dilligaf]

All this is so silly, I toot when I can, I knock when I should, there are times not to knock, and times not to toot. There are times when you have no choice but to back. I will not walk from the corner to some houses, where I know dogs could be out.
I was on a porch today, and 3 vacant falling down houses surrounded it. Had to get a sig, now we have to get a sig for finish line, and three strays came right to the porch while I was there. They were big dogs, but just hungry stray dogs I assume. But I was about wetting my pants for a minute. They let me back to my truck, but it does not help the blood pressure.
In a perfect Clarksville world this crap dont happen, hee in the real world it does.
Aside from alerting our customers we are there, common courtesy or personal safety sometimes takes ove. Send me a letter, I am going to stay safe.

LOL Tooner.

I've been cornered by dogs on a couple of different occasions. 2 were notable. 1 was at night (rural rte) customer home, dogs out in an unfenced yard. I knew the customer had dogs but I was not expecting them to be out. They dogs came around from the other side of the house and I was VERY loud in announcing UPS. The customer came right out and called the dogs. The 2nd one truly pissed me off. I will never deliver to this customers door again. They will walk out to the gate to get their packages. I walked up to the front porch (daytime and I didn't know the customer was around the side of the house). The dogs came around and cornered me by the porch, I hollered and the customer came around from the side of the house. The SOB did nothing to call the dogs off. I was pissed and I let him know it. I did have another one that was notable. 1 dog, daytime, unfenced yard. The dog actually bit my diad. I left a nasty note for the customer threatening to call the sheriff and having all of their packages will called forthwith. Never saw the dog loose again.

I don't worry to much about 1 or 2 dogs but when it comes to 3 or more I will do whatever is needed to avoid that. It's to hard to keep track of 3 or more dogs and the pack mentality becomes to prevalent.

As far as honking - I do when I know I need a signature. I knock when I have a perishable. If there are dogs barking - that is my doorbell and horn. Of course, if the dogs corner me I be beating on the door.....................

EDIT: All of the above happened as a driver but I did have another dog incident while I was preloading. Getting up at 1 or 2 am to be to work at oooooh so dark thirty, I walked out to my car one morning to head to work. I hadn't gotten in my car yet and I heard this growling behind me, IN MY OWN FREAKING driveway. It turned out to be the neighbors dog. I had a little talk with the neighbor, went something like this - That your dog? yeah. Your dog was in my driveway at 2am growling at me. The next time you won't have a dog because I will shoot it.

 

[dilligaf]

Encountered this situation once, only in feeders. Had annual ride, supe along, relayed trailers at a truck stop in middle of night. Trucks all over, which meant, sleeping truck drivers all over. My meet guy left trailers in between a couple other sleeping drivers. Now, I don't know how much noise he made when he unhooked (you can make alot when the fifth wheel pops up from under trailer plate) but I made it clear to supe that I wasn't gonna honk backing up to hook. He asked why. I then calmly said, "You know, I don't think I got this hooking up thing down yet. (Yeah, that's right, after over 30 years of doing it) Can you demonstrate, to a tee, just how I'm supposed to do it?"

He declined. I declined to hook horn. We hooked and got outta there. Nothing ever more said.

And I'm sure those sleeping drivers appreciated your attention to the situation. I know I would have.

 

[AKCoverMan]

I was once running a rural 4x4 route and noticed one of our oncar sups following me. I really did not change anything I was doing but it was fun to have stops where after the stop I had to turn around and come toward him and see him try to get out of sight LOL.

Anyway when he has finally observed enough he pulls up to me at a stop and goes over my performance. The one thing he really was on me about was a driveway he saw me pull out of. He said he could see why I had backed into it becuase there was no shoulder and it was a narrow road. But he said he should have still been able to see the nose of the package car from where he was parked so I had backed up further then necessary.

If he had only known! So I told him..

He could not see the nose of the PC because I had not backed in. This particular driveway is a quarter mile long with three switchbacks up the side of a mountain. I drove up to the house; it is the only practical way to deliver the stop. Not only do you have to enter the driveway, the way its designed you really have to drive up and park nose in at the house, deliver, then back down the top leg of the driveway about 100 feet to a spot at the top switchback that has been made and plowed to back into to turnaround.

Sometimes blindly following the methods is not the safest way to operate; you have to use judgement in the real world. I certainly would not leave the PC on the road at this stop; I would be blocking the road for several minutes were I silly enough to hike that drive.

The sup said you were getting a warning letter; have you actually gotten it yet? I have been told of warning letters to come twice but they never happened; I suspect they were simply angry idle threats.

 

[toonertoo]

I just think from reading these posts, that if they cannot trust us to use common sense and driver judgement, then they should fire us all.
We can be trusted with thousands of dollars of merchandise, the UPS logo, and the 30 k truck, but not to make a decision on how to cross a street, where to park, when to toot, and notify of arrival and when to stealth up on the porch and be gone like a ninja in the night.
Im all about serving my customer, If I know they are old I wait and my numbers suffer. If I know they are in bed I call it ni1, so as not to wake and startle them, or I leave it at the kids house down the street, I actually got a thank you very much for that one. You really should not wake an 80+ yr old woman, in a bad neighborhood with a knock on the door.
That is the beauty of being a bid driver. I could just leave this pkg and its a good clean dr, but I know Shirley is on a walker, and it takes her a minute or 3 to get to the door. I know, as I can clearly see, that she is in her lift chair, shes getting up, shes getting her walker, now the long walk to the door. She cant get down and get her pkg off the ground. Do I leave it or do I wait? I wait. It is the human thing to do.

 

[chuchu]

Whether you know it or not, there is a LAW against "breaching the peace". Ask your local police officer or better yet an attorney. There is a law against it and you can be fined for doing it.

There is another reason not to bring attention to you leaving a package at a residence or a shipper release @ a closed business, office, etc......it is called theft.

There are areas where we will not sound a horn to let the neighbors know it's time to go UPS "shopping". Of course most driver sups never drove long enough to figure that out.

 

[chuchu]

I tap the horn as well on long driveways or when i had to park my package car at the end of the driveway (facing out due to no shoulder on the thin 2 lane roadway) The purple side never trained me to do so <shrugs> I sometimes tap the horn as I leave a DR stop, just in case they didn't hear me ring the doorbell/knock on the front door...

I did however saw 3 ups package vehicles that caused minor property damage in my delivery area this past peak season. 2 dually tire marks over the customers lawn & 1 package car skidding off the glazed concrete driveway and into a lightpole. The last one, the driver and helper were sitting in the car, waiting for a sup to verify and confirm ???

(i thought that the helper was there to walk the parcels while the driver stays on the street, setting up for the next stops?)

granted, this was a rural area with a mix of short & long driveways as well...

Maybe they should have just thrown the thing over the fence so they wouldn't have to get their pants cuffs muddy either. Duh. Don't have to worry about tapping the horn anymore.

 

[chuchu]

In NJ it is against the law to honk your horn unless it's to warn another driver (pending accident) I HAVE NEVER HONKED MY HORN AT A HOUSE, AND I NEVER WILL!!!!!!!! Ringing the doorbell and knocking is more than enough.

There is a LAW that says "You may NOT breach the peace" and you can be fined for sounding your horn and startling anyone. They can call the police and make a complaint against YOU and you will pay the fine personally.

Ask your local police dept about "breaching the peace" and/or even better yet, ask an attorney. UPS's rules do not superceed the law. File the grievance if they won't rescend the warning letter. You'll win.

 

[SeekYeFirst]

Is this spying common?

 

[menotyou]

Is this spying common?

Where do you work?

 

[chuchu]

We were told not to back into ANY residential drives unless that was the only way to turn around on a dead end street. So, one of our drivers parked on a 2 lane highway and walked off the stop.

Before he got back to the PC a 90+year old lady slammed into the drivers side of the truck and then went into the ditch and almost rolled over! The driver ran up to her car to see what shape she was in and the first words out of her mouth was "what did I hit?'. She never saw the truck before she hit it.

The accident was reviewed and the driver was NOT charged with an "avoidable" by UPS but he DID get a ticket from the State Patrol for PARKING ON A HIGHWAY!

Pick your poison well. If this lady would have died due to this accident what would UPS have done then? You fill in the blanks.

 

[toonertoo]

Diili, yup the dog problem has gotten big.
Every morning we hear how many people have gotten bitten, and Im out there waving my hand saying, "ya happened to me and I didnt get bit" and yet I got reemed by almost everyone, for getting away.
sorry I got away, NOT.
Was mauled once, will never get attacked again. If I cant get away, the dog will smell it will get killed. If I can get away I will. I dont care if the Pope tells me I was wrong.
It all falls on the responsibility of the owner. I have large dogs, anyone on here or who knows me, has seen them. When I answer my door they do not claw and maul, to try and get out, they are sitting like I told them. I can get my pizza, my mail my pkg, and no one would even know I have a dog(s). They bark if there is someone outside, once I see who it is I tell them to stop and they do. They have done their job to alert me, I have done my job, to tell them it is Ok, Its a neighbor, its someone walking by, its a cat, and no you cant have it. I am the boss, I am the one who cares for them, I am the one who rules them. I love them like babies, I do not allow them to rule me.
People who have to have dogs to protect them I understand. People who have them and cant control them I dont. People whos lives are run by their dogs I dont get. Its my door, its my house, its my truck or car, you behave when you are in it. They have to be taught. They do not automatically know how to act.
And aside from the little bitey dogs with razor sharp teeth like the Jack Russell, its only a cute dog, if you have trained it to be a pet. Not a dominator.
So I will contine to listen to how to protect yourself from dog bite, but a long as the economy and general responsibility contine down the toilet, people will continue to not have control of their pets, and we will continue to get bit.

What I know is, it may get me once, it will be dead when I leave, if the person does not gain control quickly.
It was only a small attack, it affected me for years. And I will not be threatened ,I dont know what UPS policy is on that, but I know my policy, its all about me, and I will win.

 

[Re-Raise]

I did however saw 3 ups package vehicles that caused minor property damage in my delivery area this past peak season. 2 dually tire marks over the customers lawn & 1 package car skidding off the glazed concrete driveway and into a lightpole. The last one, the driver and helper were sitting in the car, waiting for a sup to verify and confirm ???

Right. You see dually tracks and you know it was a UPS package car that made them? How do you know the driver and helper were waiting for a sup? Did you actually pull up and ask them what they were doing?

If you pulled your stupid rental truck up to me after an accident , I would tell you to get out of my face and mind your own second rate business.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

chuchu, there is a big difference between tapping the horn to alert the homeowner and "breaching the peace".

The OP did the right thing and IMO the warning letter was not justified.

The only thing I may have done differently is tap the horn as I was approaching the house but certainly not when I was 15' away from the house.

 

[SeekYeFirst]

I noticed my pile of papers from when I was hired had an observation sheet where someone fills out if we are using the handrails, walking fast, and only having brief communication with customers. That's all I can remember, but there was more. My driver never filled that out. So unless someone was spying it never did get filled out. It makes you wonder.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I noticed my pile of papers from when I was hired had an observation sheet where someone fills out if we are using the handrails, walking fast, and only having brief communication with customers. That's all I can remember, but there was more. My driver never filled that out. So unless someone was spying it never did get filled out. It makes you wonder.

Makes you wonder about what? Supervisors do OAO's all the time. (On Area Observations) I work in a small center with a center manager/PDS/On-car so they must be creative when they do OAO's as we all know what kind of cars they drive. One day my on-car pulled up behind me at a stop in his wife's car.

 

[Dragon]

Oh! Evil me! Pulled into a rural, looped driveway the other day where it is physically impossible to get backed into, but which places my truck 15 feet from the customer's front window. Didn't honk my horn 'cause I didn't want to rattle the china in the hutch! Also, didn't know my sneaking little sup was spying on me. When he didn't hear the horn (at only that stop), he's giving me a warning letter. Folks, I am 97% in compliance with this policy, and hold off only when I know it it completely inappropriate to blow a dumb horn. You know, when I'm in front of a day-sleeper's house, an exhausted mother with napping babies, and such. Guess they are SOL now! My job now is to see how may complaints I can get, and show off my nicely framed warning letter.
This current management team is taking MY company to you know where in a hand basket.

Packmule what does the safety picture look like in your center? Injuries and auto crashed - did your center have a lot this year or was it a normal year? Please go read your safety board if you don't know the answer off hand.

 

[menotyou]

Packmule what does the safety picture look like in your center? Injuries and auto crashed - did your center have a lot this year or was it a normal year? Please go read your safety board if you don't know the answer off hand.

Packmule, while obtaining what Dragon asked for, you might want to obtain some more info. What does your dispatching look like. Are you being overdispatched? What's the average hours a driver is on the road? Are your drivers being taxed to the bone, causing a rise in accidents? Is preload overworked causing more injuries?

 

[Packmule]

We hear about accidents in the division everyday, but get thanked for not having much right in our building.