Who's Stupid Idea Was "Stops Per Car"?

[pretzel_man]

may be locally created (not sure),,, but at least anymore is not locally controlled. Corporate level may not control things but center level does not either. They are dictated to. Problem lies that they have to react to it and rarely does a good job of it. Things may start with the best intentions, but never is translated correctly.

Please go ask your division manager if he / she is in control of SPC.

I have yet to find one that says no...

 

[tourists24]

Please go ask your division manager if he / she is in control of SPC.

I have yet to find one that says no...

where do they get their info from? they will pass it off I can assure you

 

[Re-Raise]

Should the center know they can hit the SPC target before they create it? Yes, of course.

You really think the management team at my center came up with this number? They are losing their minds trying to reach it just like we are as drivers.

 

[deleted9]

P-man,

The center I am on is currently paying out over $5,000 per week in over-9.5 grievance penalty pay, and has been doing so for several months now.










A driver in my loop ran out of DOT hours yesterday. Two drivers were sent back out from the building at 7:15 at night to try and make service on the package he didnt have time to deliver. Every other driver in the loop, myself included, worked at least 10.5 hours.





My building recently consolidated from 3 centers down to 2, and my loop was transferred to a different center on August 1st. Since that time, every driver in the loop has seen his/her stop count go up by an average of 25 stops per car, and his/her paid day has increased by an average of 90 minutes. Service failures have gone thru the roof, people are running out of DOT hours, people are working up to 14 hours a day, and people are getting hurt.





The only difference between now and one year ago....is that we have been transferred to a new center with a new SPC quota.





The new SPC quota isnt just flawed....it is completely and totally divorced from reality by several orders of magnitude.





Yes, I am sure there are "improvements" that could be made in the trace or in the dispatch....but nothing that will even come close to solving the underlying problem of the absurd and impossible expectations that are being piled upon us.







And making those "improvements" will take time and effort and resources....which my management team simply does not have. We are in a permanent and daily state of crisis, and our management is so busy running around putting out fires that they dont have the time to sit down and make any of the "improvements" to the trace or the dispatch that you claim are the solution to the problem.







My center is like the Titanic. Its slowly going under, and it wont stop until we fix the hole in the hull. The "improvements" you speak of are akin to trying to rearrange the deck chairs into neater and more orderly rows. There is nothing wrong with neat and orderly rows of deck chairs, but we need to solve the underlying problem



Over $5k a week for months not likely, that's over $1k a day, about 14 hours a day in over 9,5 grievances, considering you can only file after 3consecutive days of over 9.5 the math does not add up. Maybe they are being filed that doesn't mean there being paid.

 

[pretzel_man]

where do they get their info from? they will pass it off I can assure you

You really think the management team at my center came up with this number? They are losing their minds trying to reach it just like we are as drivers.

Ask your division manager....

 

[Re-Raise]

Ask your division manager....

I am sure he has a strong grasp of what our target should be at our center since I have never seen the man and couldn't even tell you his name.

Like I said , it is a man sitting in an office somewhere who just said raise the SPC division wide.

Just like you saying improve the loads. It is easy to say when you have no actual responsibility in making it happen.

 

[pretzel_man]

I am sure he has a strong grasp of what our target should be at our center since I have never seen the man and couldn't even tell you his name.

Like I said , it is a man sitting in an office somewhere who just said raise the SPC division wide.

Just like you saying improve the loads. It is easy to say when you have no actual responsibility in making it happen.

This is true.

Its easier for your management team to blame their issues on someone else. Let them tell their boss (division manager) that they cannot control their SPC target....

 

[UPS Lifer]

Wow this is frustrating.

Lets just say, hypothetically of course, that I don't care about the trace.

With my years of experience on my route I already make adjustments on a daily basis to run it in the most efficient way I can and in the shortest distance based on my commits and the stops I have each day.

Why don't you quit with the smoke and mirrors and man up and say what we as drivers already know.

Management has made the decision to put fewer drivers on the road and put more work on the remaining drivers.

Until you can concede this obvious point the rest of the conversation is moot.

I conceded that point back in post 134 and 136 (http://www.browncafe.com/forum/f6/whos-stupid-idea-stops-per-car-335488/index4.html#post775970). Please go back and check it out.

You and some of the other drivers are looking at this from your POV and how it affects you. Center managers and up, look at the numbers and how those numbers affect the center (division-district-region). You are just one part of the SPC equation. A smart manager will work on meeting the higher goal but will start chipping away at efficiencies to improve the SPC with the least harmful affect on the center. Your route may be set up right but there are other routes that can be improved. That is where the gains should come from.

Sober - If your route moved to another building then the route or routes needs to be reassessed and more than likely re-looped to take into account the new baseline. Nothing will change until a dispatch team reloops the new building. This should have been done prior to the move.

OH! There is a Management per employee ratio per operation in place for those of you who think you came up with some new thing to monitor.... AND the company has increased the ratio a number of times!!!

The drivers' day starts with the preload dispatch.... It always has and always will!

 

[iowa boy]

Please go ask your division manager if he / she is in control of SPC.

I have yet to find one that says no...

But isn't the SPC basically determined by someone above the center manager. To explain further, I was told before that the number of routes put on the road per day is based partly on estimated volume for the center. This decision on the number of routes is made by someone above the level of center manager. I was not told who makes this decision, but to me, this would seem to have a direct influence on the SPC number.

 

[Catatonic]

Originally Posted by pretzel_man
Please go ask your division manager if he / she is in control of SPC.

I have yet to find one that says no...

But isn't the SPC basically determined by someone above the center manager. To explain further, I was told before that the number of routes put on the road per day is based partly on estimated volume for the center. This decision on the number of routes is made by someone above the level of center manager. I was not told who makes this decision, but to me, this would seem to have a direct influence on the SPC number.

center manager reports to the Div Mgr

 

[Re-Raise]

But isn't the SPC basically determined by someone above the center manager. To explain further, I was told before that the number of routes put on the road per day is based partly on estimated volume for the center. This decision on the number of routes is made by someone above the level of center manager. I was not told who makes this decision, but to me, this would seem to have a direct influence on the SPC number.

The decision is a simple one to make by the dm on the target SPC............ MORE

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

>>So a fellow driver's desire to provide for his family is the one to blame? You blame the "bonus babies"? As a bonus baby who takes his lunch and break every day I blame the union clowns who hide behind the wording of the contract and who's life mantra has become, "I am not going to work hard and you can not make me."

You are lumping anyone that follows the contract AND methods into the same category as the extreme minority.

After 5 years I am sick and tired of having to do other's work because they feel "entitled". For every clown out there, dispatch has to then overload at least the 2 adjacent routes around the clown. When every cover driver in a center can run a clown's route stone cold blind and 100+ better than that clown THERE IS A PROBLEM!! And that problem is NOT the stops per car metric!

If you are doing your job by the methods then your complaint is valid. Otherwise you have no reason to complain.

Maybe the anger towards management's "stops per car" is misplaced. Maybe the anger being expressed is actually anger at management's refusal to, "cut the dead weight?"

How do you know that "dead weight" isn't just someone doing their jobs CORRECTLY??

 

[iowa boy]

center manager reports to the Div Mgr

Hoax, I know what you are saying, but I guessin that the decision for the number of routes comes from a higher paygrade than the Div. manager and he or she passes along the information to their subordinates.

 

[Benben]

You are lumping anyone that follows the contract AND methods into the same category as the extreme minority.

>>This was in reference to the poster blaming "bonus babies" for the current problems when they run an 11+ hour dispatchs 1-2 hours under. If the "bonus babies" weren't 2 hours under exactly how many more stops would the drivers around the "bonus baby" have to run? HELL, how many more stops would every driver in that center have to make, to hit the "stops per car" target for that day. This poster is very short sighted and hasn't thought things out to their logical conclusion, he/she is just blaming others who are working harder than himself for the current problems!!

"If you are doing your job by the methods then your complaint is valid. Otherwise you have no reason to complain."

>>I guess I am at a loss here. We deliver according to the methods. We are told how to do the job, it is a requirement to being a package car driver at UPS. If one is not following the methods set forth by the employer why should one feel entitled to be "gainfully employed" as a UPS driver? Every job has rules and proceedures to follow. Even the fry guy at McDonalds has to follow "the McDonald Fry Guy Methods." Not working hard and claiming its because you are "following the methods" is dung and you know it.

How do you know that "dead weight" isn't just someone doing their jobs CORRECTLY??

>>Because when any one of the 8+ cover drivers in the center runs the route their time is triple digits better than the usual guy. 1 or 2 being that much faster I can understand or even if everyone is just 50 ticks or so better, but when everyone who runs the route is at least an hour better thats called "dead weight."

"ones that are taking their breaks and calling for help,usually are the ones who have preload issues."

>>I think this hits the nail on the head. UPS has sunk a ton of cash into the PAS/EDD technology. I think the return on investment isn't being realized. So corporate is trying to push the issue and rather heavily handed demanding SPC metrics. We had a few higher-ups in the building one day last week when us drivers all arrived. Everyone's cars were nearly perfect in loads and imagine this, no-body needed help, only 2 misloads and the SPC target was met. A little extra work done in the AM would seem to save alot of work in the PM done by higher paid employees. Just my 2 cents

 

[UPS Lifer]

Hoax, I know what you are saying, but I guessin that the decision for the number of routes comes from a higher paygrade than the Div. manager and he or she passes along the information to their subordinates.

The SPC is one indice of the entire Business Plan that is put together. IE and the Division Manager get with the center managers and come up with the plan. The district IE manager complies the entire district and either gets approval or rejection from the district manager and region IE manager. It is usually discussed in terms of percentage increase or decrease which will translate into a whole number. Some center teams lay down and go with the recommendations and others fight for what is realistic. Don't forget the division and district managers also need to live with what ever plan is agreed to. If it is too unrealistic, they will not make their numbers either.

It is IE district and region mgrs along with the operation managers and district managers that decide what kind of "numbers" the overall district and region will hit. SPC is a "driving" number... paid day and number of drivers are "driven" by SPC.

It starts out bottom up and gets tweaked from the top down.

 

[JonFrum]

Over $5k a week for months not likely, that's over $1k a day, about 14 hours a day in over 9,5 grievances, considering you can only file after 3 consecutive days of over 9.5 the math does not add up. Maybe they are being filed that doesn't mean there being paid.

Someone in Management in my building said that the days had to be consecutive as well. Can you tell us where this incorect notion is coming from?

ARTICLE 37. MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Section 1.
(c) . . . Drivers who choose to opt-in on the 9.5 list shall have the right to file a grievance if the Employer has continually worked a driver more than nine and one half (9.5) hours per day for any three (3) days in a workweek.

 

[soberups]

Over $5k a week for months not likely, that's over $1k a day, about 14 hours a day in over 9,5 grievances, considering you can only file after 3consecutive days of over 9.5 the math does not add up. Maybe they are being filed that doesn't mean there being paid.

If you are on the 9.5 list, then once you have worked over 9.5 hrs for any three days in one week, you are eligible to recieve penalty pay for all hours over 9.5 worked that week. The days do not have to be consecutive.

There are 98 drivers on my center, we are sending out about 75 routes per day.

The average paid day for my center is a bit over 10.5 hours. We are getting up to 50 grievances being filed per week on excessive overtime...so if everyone who files is working 10.5 a day, they are owed an additional $45 per hour ( the difference between overtime and triple time) for 5 hours, which is about $200 a week.

$200 x 50 grievances per week equals $10,000.

The lower figure of $5000 that I quoted is due to the fact that not everyone who files is averaging 10.5 per day, and we dont always get 50 grievances per week. Some people want the OT.

The math does add up.

 

[teresarice]

Ok I v been here 5 years and call me stupid but I m 47 been around enough to know this company is a pyramid scheme the bottom will fall out and some times it takes years but it always falls. Top of pyramid does nothing but has big ideas also has the knowledge the looks and usually the gift of tong and since birds of a feather flock together and there are powers in numbers they control us worker bees because really we just want to earn a days pay and go home to a nice drink and meal maybe a foot massage. Ok so the middle bees (managers and sups ) run back and forth trying to make the bottom steady only they cheat lie abuse harass and manipulate to make the king up on top happy this goes on and on with more demands and greed coming from top until finally the working bees wings and spirit begin to fall apart from abuse and physical exhaustion they begin to fall out of the pyramid so demands are broken and king tut finally falls from top. Well you get the picture. My theory is eventually IE will be no more and it will all turn around to are great founder who truly cared about us and his company and his customers. My hopes is someday we will be a happy family again and want to help each other out and not turn on one another like hungry wolfs . And IE or the top dogs are out on the street with a can as we drive by in are brown trucks we look at them and say get a job loser. Get some calluses on your hands bulg a disc or two and do it fast and safe and smile ass face

 

[Catatonic]

Ok I v been here 5 years and call me stupid but I m 47 been around enough to know this company is a pyramid scheme the bottom will fall out and some times it takes years but it always falls. Top of pyramid does nothing but has big ideas also has the knowledge the looks and usually the gift of tong and since birds of a feather flock together and there are powers in numbers they control us worker bees because really we just want to earn a days pay and go home to a nice drink and meal maybe a foot massage. Ok so the middle bees (managers and sups ) run back and forth trying to make the bottom steady only they cheat lie abuse harass and manipulate to make the king up on top happy this goes on and on with more demands and greed coming from top until finally the working bees wings and spirit begin to fall apart from abuse and physical exhaustion they begin to fall out of the pyramid so demands are broken and king tut finally falls from top. Well you get the picture. My theory is eventually IE will be no more and it will all turn around to are great founder who truly cared about us and his company and his customers. My hopes is someday we will be a happy family again and want to help each other out and not turn on one another like hungry wolfs . And IE or the top dogs are out on the street with a can as we drive by in are brown trucks we look at them and say get a job loser. Get some calluses on your hands bulg a disc or two and do it fast and safe and smile ass face

What's Plan B?

 

[BCFan]

Plan B is load the wagon and to heck with the mule...... the more stops I have the more hours I work ...that in turn means mo' money....which means mo' money my wife has as disposable income....that means she is happier....that means I am happier....really a great plan...that keeps me from changing a tire on some jack-legged wet behind the ears newbie supervisor with a tire tool from my car..... everybody wins its a great day ....i love a great plan to come together BC (not bitter companion)