Who is responsible for checking oil in the trucks?

[Kis124]

We have a 22.3 that checks the fluids in the cars every day. He does that, then does his load/sort duty. During peak, they try to have 2 people do it

 

[oldupsman]

Around here, roadcalls are the equivalent of missed pickups. Mechanics and mgt. sure don't like them. Especially mechanics. I have been told a wrecker for a feeder can be $1000. But see- when you work till 8pm every night.....it gets old. Never saw a mechanic "happy" about a roadcall(32 years). Interesting.

Why? A nice spring day, sitting around changing tires when you can be out for a drive. Now, I grant you on a bad weather day they
did everything they could to solve the problem over the phone. But on the whole they didn't mind coming out.

 

[Indecisi0n]

Yes! I'm assuming you meant "were"(no disrespect implied" )

I did mean "were". If you were trained by UPS and given a method on how to go about it then so be it. I was not so I will not check the oil.

 

[want to retire]

I see what you're saying guy but in our building it was simply not my job as a driver in our district.
Honestly, if my center manager would have seen me lifting the hood before I left the building he would have
gone nuts. Strictly exterior pre-trip. And most guys didn't even do that. Pre-trip was one
those things that just was not enforced. In package. Feeder guys were much more diligent.
But again strictly exterior, never under the cab. We were a very pro-union building.
The mechanics saw anything underneath as job security. Drivers, keep your hands off.

Maybe it's a NorEast thing. The bottom line here is that if pkgs are missed for no oil in the engine.......the driver or the mechanic is going to fry. To me it is the same as a pilot(I'm both a pilot and airplane mechanic) not checking the engine oil(talking small planes)(or looking in the engine bay) before leaving the ground......dangerous and foolish. But hey, work as directed!

 

[want to retire]

I did mean "were". If you were trained by UPS and given a method on how to go about it then so be it. I was not so I will not check the oil.

Understood.

 

[want to retire]

Why? A nice spring day, sitting around changing tires when you can be out for a drive. Now, I grant you on a bad weather day they
did everything they could to solve the problem over the phone. But on the whole they didn't mind coming out.

You do know roadcalls are a bad thing right? It goes against the mechanic? And that service failures are a bad thing....right?

 

[oldupsman]

Maybe it's a NorEast thing. The bottom line here is that if pkgs are missed for no oil in the engine.......the driver or the mechanic is going to fry. To me it is the same as a pilot(I'm both a pilot and airplane mechanic) not checking the engine oil(talking small planes)(or looking in the engine bay) before leaving the ground......dangerous and foolish. But hey, work as directed!

I think you're right on about it being a northeast thing. Up here it's old school union.
Only the light bulb changer can change the light bulb.

 

[barnyard]

You do know roadcalls are a bad thing right? It goes against the mechanic? And that service failures are a bad thing....right?

Here, if we have a tow or a road call, we are questioned by the center manager to determine if it was avoidable. Package car tows run over $1000 in all costs and we have repeated PCMs on how to avoid them. We have even been told to avoid driveways that are not plowed in the winter. I did one route where the owners of a house had a really long driveway and never plowed it. He had lifted 4WD trucks and liked "busting through the snow." After the 1st snow, that customer had all their packages automatically will-called. center manager said "do not risk getting stuck in that driveway, I will not pay for a tow."

I have had 2 front flats and was accused of missing them on a pretrip. I check the front tires the same as I do the rears. There is no way I miss them on a pretrip.

I HATE road calls. Hate them. They add a minimum of 1 hour to my day and I would rather be at home than collecting OT.

 

[stink219]

It depends on the building, supplements/riders/addendums and or past practices.

 

[oldupsman]

You do know roadcalls are a bad thing right? It goes against the mechanic? And that service failures are a bad thing....right?

In 32 years I never saw a mechanic fired for too many road calls. And if my package car broke the service failures certainly
weren't my fault. The center manager was aware of my breakdown. It's his job to solve that problem. Again, old school union building.
You really gotta screw up big time to get fired.

 

[oldupsman]

We have a 22.3 that checks the fluids in the cars every day. He does that, then does his load/sort duty. During peak, they try to have 2 people do it

See, that's what I'm talking about. The mechanics here just would not allow that to happen.
That's their union job.

 

[Brownslave688]

The Driver! Feeder or package.

You've been around too long. Jk

 

[want to retire]

You've been around too long. Jk

Oh? How so?

 

[Dracula]

Fair enough. In our Hub(district), the words "improper pre-trip" get used alot. If your vehicle(feeder) say- burns up a front wheel bearing and causes two loads to miss service......your pre-trip will automatically be questioned(as it should really). I'm really surprised at your responses. Checking the oil in our vehicles(as drivers) is as automatic as wearing your seatbelt. Now, that doesn't mean everyone does a proper pre-trip. I have found plenty of dry dipsticks. My last tractor was using about 10 qts.(oil) a DAY! before they scrapped it. This went on for several months and left huge puddles and residue everywhere(yes, customers property....). Mgt. and mechanics just shrugged.

Agree completely. This is really UPS's problem for not having a uniform policy company-wide. I have never driven a vehicle without pre-tripping it. Checking all fluids, checking tires, steering, making sure lights, flashers windshield wipers are all working properly, is what I was trained to do. I can't imagine having someone else being responsible for the safety of the vehicle I'm driving.

 

[Dracula]

want to retire,

Do you know where I can find the asked for documentation?

Integrity---- I am at the core of who we are and all we do!!!!

How are you doing strengthening your core?

Sincerely,
I

I used to have a copy of the UPS required pre-trip for package cars. It was quite a long document (8 to 10 pages if I remember correctly) that was given to every new driver. Someone else asked when you did this pre-trip...Right after your start time, obviously, hence, PRE-trip.

 

[Dracula]

Around here, roadcalls are the equivalent of missed pickups. Mechanics and mgt. sure don't like them. Especially mechanics. I have been told a wrecker for a feeder can be $1000. But see- when you work till 8pm every night.....it gets old. Never saw a mechanic "happy" about a roadcall(32 years). Interesting.

Ditto. Our mechanics were always irritated to make road calls.

 

[oldupsman]

I used to have a copy of the UPS required pre-trip for package cars. It was quite a long document (8 to 10 pages if I remember correctly) that was given to every new driver. Someone else asked when you did this pre-trip...Right after your start time, obviously, hence, PRE-trip.

In all my years I never saw a printed copy of a required pre-trip list. Didn't even know that one existed.
And I can honestly tell you that near the end of my career, in a 50 car center, maybe 3 or 4 of us did a pre-trip
before leaving the building. The rest were up in the car, shut the doors and gone. And no one ever said a word.
In fact the young guys would just look at me, chuckle and shake their head as they went flying out the building.
And I never heard of anyone ever getting discipline of any kind for not doing a pre-trip.

 

[Dracula]

Well, like someone above said, it must be a NorthEast thing. Here in the Midwest, we're are as union as anyone else, so I don't know. Any driver that doesn't check his fluid levels is only asking for trouble. In the past, we've had drivers get suspended when their motors blew and it was determined that it was because a lack of motor oil. Here, lazy, runner/gunners are the only ones who neglect to pop their hoods.

And I truly don't understand how feeder drivers just check their tires. The driver has to sign off the DVIR stating that he personally checked the safety of his vehicle. It's a federal law. How do you guys walk around that?

 

[oldupsman]

Well, like someone above said, it must be a NorthEast thing. Here in the Midwest, we're are as union as anyone else, so I don't know. Any driver that doesn't check his fluid levels is only asking for trouble. In the past, we've had drivers get suspended when their motors blew and it was determined that it was because a lack of motor oil. Here, lazy, runner/gunners are the only ones who neglect to pop their hoods.

And I truly don't understand how feeder drivers just check their tires. The driver has to sign off the DVIR stating that he personally checked the safety of his vehicle. It's a federal law. How do you guys walk around that?

To be clear Drac, I'm an old package guy. So everything I'm talking about happens in the package car centers.
I know that the feeder guys are much more diligent and do everything they need to do required by law.
But package car? I've blown a motor on the job. As far as I know nobody even checked why the motor blew, nobody
cared why the motor blew, and the idea that I could have been disciplined in any way, shape, or form for the blowing
of the motor would just be silly. Honestly I never had a center manager care about a blown motor. All they cared about
was finding another car for the next day.

 

[barnyard]

I've blown a motor on the job. As far as I know nobody even checked why the motor blew, nobody
cared why the motor blew, and the idea that I could have been disciplined in any way, shape, or form for the blowing
of the motor would just be silly. Honestly I never had a center manager care about a blown motor. All they cared about
was finding another car for the next day.

Wow. A center manager that did not care about a blown motor. I cannot even imagine that. We have had PCMS where the center manager told us the cost of replacing a motor. $2000 for the old GM 4.3 and $12000 for a diesel (cannot remember which chassis he was referring to.) I have no idea what one of the newer gas engines would cost to replace, we have not had to replace any of the newer gas motors, so cost has not come up.

Maybe pretrips were stressed so much by us because of the POS trucks we have. When I 1st started driving, I was 'loaned' to another center for 5 or 6 weeks. I blew a motor there and the supe asked me if my center had so many dying trucks. He said that at their center it was a fairly regular occurrence and that a good pretrip could sometimes prevent a road call.

It's pretty easy to tell when I motor is heading south. If it is way down on power, using more than a qt a week and needing coolant constantly, it is probably not long for this world. The mechanics say that they are under pressure to wring every mile of life out of a motor, while eliminating on road break downs.