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

[deleted9]

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.

I stand corrected it is not consecutive days

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

>>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!!

You just don't get it. I am the original poster and this has been thought through logically with all drivers in mind. Unlike bonus babies who only think of themselves via the constant goal of getting off as early as possible and how much bonus they'll get for doing it. When IE sets a SPC target for a center they do so with a center's recent "numbers" in mind. If you bonus babies are constantly running an hour or two under then why not raise the SPC? Thats why management is forced to pile on the stops with less routes. And how could you possibly know how hard I'm working?? Get a clue!

>>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.

Again...how do you know that everyone else isn't working hard? Check this out......if a driver is running under by and hour or less then its because one of two reason.....They are running and/or skipping lunch or the route has really good allowances. If that is the case they will eventually be reduced and there goes most of the large bonuses. We recently lost allot of time and it pretty much exposed who was running and skipping lunch because when someone else runs their routes and does the job correctly they can't "beat the route" even though they had always previously made a little bonus. Can you guess why the time was taken away.....? Because someone noticed that our center was being paid ALLOT of bonus. So, like I said before...the bonus babies are cutting their own throats but it affects all of us in the end.

 

[Calibrio]

The PDS IS responsible for area trace. If you are a driver and have issues with your area trace, get with your supervisor or center manager to have it fixed. This is typically a straight-forward process and should take less than a week to resolve. Also, ask your PDS about reserved shelf positions. Sometimes the RDO just needs to be addressed, and not necessarily the area trace. Ask yourself these questions: Is a bulk stop at the bottom of my trace but my first delivery? Is bulk on a shelf and not at the Floor 1-4, RDL or RDR locations in my car? How can I utilize both the floor and shelf space more efficiently for both the loader and myself?

 

[Re-Raise]

The PDS IS responsible for area trace. If you are a driver and have issues with your area trace, get with your supervisor or center manager to have it fixed. This is typically a straight-forward process and should take less than a week to resolve. Also, ask your PDS about reserved shelf positions. Sometimes the RDO just needs to be addressed, and not necessarily the area trace. Ask yourself these questions: Is a bulk stop at the bottom of my trace but my first delivery? Is bulk on a shelf and not at the Floor 1-4, RDL or RDR locations in my car? How can I utilize both the floor and shelf space more efficiently for both the loader and myself?

This thread is about cutting routes to meet a stops per car metric.

How they load my truck or how it is traced in my board doesn't impact my day as much as cutting the route next to mine in the loop and adding 2 towns and 50 miles to my day.

 

[soberups]

The PDS IS responsible for area trace. If you are a driver and have issues with your area trace, get with your supervisor or center manager to have it fixed. This is typically a straight-forward process and should take less than a week to resolve. Also, ask your PDS about reserved shelf positions. Sometimes the RDO just needs to be addressed, and not necessarily the area trace. Ask yourself these questions: Is a bulk stop at the bottom of my trace but my first delivery? Is bulk on a shelf and not at the Floor 1-4, RDL or RDR locations in my car? How can I utilize both the floor and shelf space more efficiently for both the loader and myself?

That may be true in Clarksville, or IE world, but in the real world the average PDS is trying to do the work of 3 people and getting such issues resolved is virtually impossible. And as far as the RDO is concerned....when your management is forced at the last minute to eliminate routes in order to meet an impossible SPC metric, there isnt time or space to make sure the work gets transferred correctly or loaded in an orderly fashion. The only thing that matters at that point is getting "the packages out of the building and the preload off of the clock." As long as the numbers match and everything "looks good on paper"....the pile in the back of the car is the drivers problem.

 

[curiousbrain]

That may be true in Clarksville, or IE world, but in the real world the average PDS is trying to do the work of 3 people and getting such issues resolved is virtually impossible. And as far as the RDO is concerned....when your management is forced at the last minute to eliminate routes in order to meet an impossible SPC metric, there isnt time or space to make sure the work gets transferred correctly or loaded in an orderly fashion. The only thing that matters at that point is getting "the packages out of the building and the preload off of the clock." As long as the numbers match and everything "looks good on paper"....the pile in the back of the car is the drivers problem.

There are days where, as a preloader, I am pretty much told exactly that: throw it in the truck right now, get the hell off the clock, and let the driver figure it out. It is pretty ridiculous. When this happens, I try and wait outside for the driver (if they haven't shown up already) and let them know that the truck is a nightmare; some are more understanding than others.

I can see all sides of the issue, with my side being that it frustrates me to no end when I do not have the time to properly load the truck.

 

[fairday]

It was the the brainchild of a individual who has never gotten their hands dirty, clothes rung with sweat, cuts on their hands, bumps on the head or ill tempered customer rants, wait, thats your your modern day operations mgr. There is your answer.

 

[Calibrio]

Cutting routes is always a difficult, especially for the Drivers. The BEST thing a PDS can do to meet the SPC requirements set by IE is to base the dispatch off of trailer percentages. Planning based on this will yield the "best" results as far as load quality and delivery area is concerned (I do believe this is what is frustrating you, as a driver, this frustrated me as well). If the dispatch comes in "heavy," then adding an additional route is far more effective than cutting. If cutting routes in your center is happening often, then your management team may have some serious issues with planning.

 

[Calibrio]

Trust me, the PDS has plenty of time to resolve dispatch issues. If this is not happening in your center, get with your management team. If the PDS has to work extra hours to resolve these issues, then that absolutely SHOULD happen. As a driver, ask your manager if you can come in early to work on any issues you may have with your route (area trace, RDO, etc.). There is a solution out there, management needs to be aware of it and is obligated to make any necessary changes.

 

[soberups]

Trust me, the PDS has plenty of time to resolve dispatch issues. If this is not happening in your center, get with your management team. If the PDS has to work extra hours to resolve these issues, then that absolutely SHOULD happen. As a driver, ask your manager if you can come in early to work on any issues you may have with your route (area trace, RDO, etc.). There is a solution out there, management needs to be aware of it and is obligated to make any necessary changes.

The solution...is for IE to base the SPC quota on reality instead of forcing the entire operation to chase an impossible metric right off of the edge of a cliff.

My center paid out $54,000 in 9.5 grievances last year. The regional labor manager intervened and forced IE to back off and lower the number. So far this year we have had rational dispatches.... until last week, when the number went right back up again and routes started getting chopped. Last Tuesday we dispatched 2 fewer delivery routes than the total number of pickup routes for the center. Some of the pickups got missed....and others got "serviced" at 9:00 AM by a driver who had to break trace by 20 miles just to get there during business hours. Everybody in my loop worked 11+ hours, and I was delivering business stops 6 hours after their normal delivery time and apologizing and making excuses all day for the utter incompetence with which my operation is managed. Unlike them, I cant just hide behind a desk with a stack of reports on it; I have to go out in the real world and actually face the customers who we are screwing over.

I dont mind working hard and I can accept any number of challenges. But it is really hard to maintain a positive and professional attitude when your management team has intentionally set you up to fail.

 

[packageguy]

I heard from a district manager, if drivers want to be out there for eleven hours,
than put the work on the truck. they will be held accountable.

 

[browniehound]

I understand cutting a route looks good on paper but does it really same money in reality? For example take a town with 6 routes and a baseline. The cost of the baseline hypothetically would be 9 hours of labor and 8 gallons of fuel. If you cut it you save in the to and from miles but not the on area miles, so the savings would be 3 gallons of fuel or $10 at most. Now, on the labor you don't save anything because those stops have to be delivered by a driver and I would argue you are paying more because that driver is earning OT wage because its extra work. Now you have 6 drivers working and extra 1-1.5 hours at OT pay instead of 1 driver earning straight time to do the work. This doesn't even include the extra time and miles spent to break for schools and businesses the baseline usually does.

What am I missing here? How does it save money?

 

[packageguy]

You are missing nothing, what you just said is true. We tell our p a l supervisor this everyday. Best part is they break up the route and there are 3 drivers in the same area at the same time .

 

[Anonymous 10]

You are missing nothing, what you just said is true. We tell our p a l supervisor this everyday. Best part is they break up the route and there are 3 drivers in the same area at the same time .

Thats called logistics.

 

[HomeDelivery]

OMG, starting to sound like FedEx

but at least you get the OT pay; that's the only plus i'm reading on this thread

 

[whiskey]

Stops per car gives dispatch a ballpark for the day. Of course, the scale is tipped in favor of excessive stops.
If there is work for 50 drivers, 5 drivers are sent home and the work is then done by the remaining 45 drivers. This "short handed" philosophy works and has been handed down from many UPS management generations.
Tomorrow morning, in your building, drivers will be sent home in their browns. Some will be senior drivers who can afford to take the day off. Or will use up a sick day or optional to make up the difference. And some will be junior drivers with little or no seniority and they will lose a days pay.
This will happen tomorrow morning in your building. This is how we do business. This is how we have always done business.
And if the drivers can't do the work piled on their trucks, supervisors will deliver Teamster packages. This will happen tomorrow in your building.
Where was I?

 

[browniehound]

You are missing nothing, what you just said is true. We tell our p a l supervisor this everyday. Best part is they break up the route and there are 3 drivers in the same area at the same time .

So its this way were you are too? At least UPS is consistent, lol. We have drivers delivering stops less the 30 yards from each other at the same time. Good grief!

 

[menotyou]

How would you like to be a the only stop sign in town just to see 3 other UPS drivers, all wondering what the other is doing?

 

[SignificantOwner]

Trust me, the PDS has plenty of time to resolve dispatch issues. If this is not happening in your center, get with your management team. If the PDS has to work extra hours to resolve these issues, then that absolutely SHOULD happen. As a driver, ask your manager if you can come in early to work on any issues you may have with your route (area trace, RDO, etc.). There is a solution out there, management needs to be aware of it and is obligated to make any necessary changes.

I don't trust you on this one. Most PDS's are focused more on preload PPH than dispatch. They also don't have the system rights necessary to make all the required territory changes. To think that they can keep 100 plans up to date with customized RDOs and shelf/floor assignments while spending half their time supervising the operation is very optimistic. I'd like to see us dedicate the dispatch sups to dispatch, then maybe I'd be a little more trusting.

 

[soberups]

I don't trust you on this one. Most PDS's are focused more on preload PPH than dispatch. They also don't have the system rights necessary to make all the required territory changes. To think that they can keep 100 plans up to date with customized RDOs and shelf/floor assignments while spending half their time supervising the operation is very optimistic. I'd like to see us dedicate the dispatch sups to dispatch, then maybe I'd be a little more trusting.

+1

My PDS is trying to do the work of three people. He has been set up to fail by those above him. Dispatching the optimum number of Stops Per Car is an admirable goal, just like any other metric, but the bottom line is that under some circumstances it simply is not a realistic goal and the local management needs to have the authority to "respond to changing conditions" rather than being forced to chase that number right off the edge of a cliff.

UPS has some good people managing its local operations. We need to let them manage.