wondering

[cachsux]

In the old,old days once a month they would sacrifice a virgin and the delivery gods would tell us how to do the routes. That went away because it was harder to find virgins that worked at UPS. The few that remained ran for their lives or got fired for drinking on the clock.

 

[Anonymous 10]

I follow trace like a good Teamster should.

 

[Cementups]

Gee, back in the day, I knew what everybody drove, so if I saw them in town I could give them their package right there. I also knew every nook, cranny, alley, dirt road, two lane track and cow path in a 2 county area. If I didn't know where you lived in my delivery area, you didn't live there!!

I still do that. My customers even know my habits and where to track me down if they are looking for something.
Everybody knowing me drives the cover drivers nuts cause they see people waving at them all day and the person in the car just waves cause they think it's good ole' me in the UPS truck.

 

[tarbar66]

To any one born after the Reagan years, Believe it or not the UPS man used to have a MAP {look it up on wlkepedia} WE used a map to gain area knowledge!! We memorized certain houses or business that constantly got a pkg to help learn street numbers. This may be hard to believe,but we used our skull.Information didn't pop up on a screen. We then got out of the Brownie walked at a brisk pace to the customers door,rang bell said hello UPS pkg from ,,, may I please have a signature,said thanks have a good day{christmas time we said thanks,Merry Christmas when it used to be O.K to do that.)We would write down on a time card amount of pkgs,stops,P/ups & pieces.ALL without a calculator..I know this seems drastic & primative but we all had to do this.To top it off ,we all played sports when we were kids out in the streets & parks till supper time with real kids.No XBOX baseball for us & No Madden football.... We also bent the brim of our baseball hats that actually fit our heads along with pants that fit our waist!!!

Adding up the pages of delivery records was the easiest part of my day. I hated the cash COD's. Too much cash on some routes, no safe in our cars like I was told the some metro drivers had.

I like your style. Physical activity as a kid prepared me well for my days in package.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I follow trace like a good Teamster should.

I follow trace when I can but break trace if I need to. Work smarter, not harder. (Being a good Teamster has nothing to do with it.)

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Our DIADs contain the delivery information (EDD) which we download before leaving the bldg each day. This EDD is set up stop for stop and we simply follow that.

To get back to the bldg after we are done we simply turn the DIAD upside down and we reverse our route.

I follow trace when I can but break trace if I need to. Work smarter, not harder. (Being a [-]good[/-] Teamster has nothing to do with it.)

I fixed it for you, though I like and mostly abide by the idea of not breaking trace, I do see your point.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I fixed it for you, though I like and mostly abide by the idea of not breaking trace, I do see your point.

Steve, do me a favor. Don't fix things for me. I wrote good Teamster because that is what I wanted to write and was in reference to what 'lil Joe Union wrote. I'm fairly certain I can put words together to form sentences and sentences together to form paragraphs and paragraphs to form pages which then form complete thoughts without your help. Thank you. Dave.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Steve, do me a favor. Don't fix things for me. I wrote good Teamster because that is what I wanted to write and was in reference to what 'lil Joe Union wrote. I'm fairly certain I can put words together to form sentences and sentences together to form paragraphs and paragraphs to form pages which then form complete thoughts without your help. Thank you. Dave.

I thought long and hard about what you said, and I apologize.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I thought long and hard about what you said, and I apologize.

No harm, no foul.

 

[raceanoncr]

Back in the "good old days" we had to rely on our brains and knowledge of the delivery area.

No wonder I wasn't ever any good at that!!!

 

[code5]

To each their own. While I don't work off EDD, it is getting more controlled about how I run my route. While each employee is different I still like the old fashion way where I could do my route how I see fit as long as the numbers and customer service didn't fail. I did it very well for 15 years. You would get the odd page asking if you needed a hand, if you think you will plan or if you had any late air. I got letters of recognition, rewards both tangable and intangable all the time.

Now I feel like I'm coddled like a little baby. How many done, how many left pages pretty much on the hour, make sure to do your businesses before your resi's and so forth. I'm not an idiot and can do stuff on my own. This system has no rewards other than a paycheck.

Alas, every employee is different. Some people need that type of direction to be moderately successful. I just wish I wasn't simply stereotyped as one of those drivers. Sigh!

 

[The Milkman]

To any one born after the Reagan years, Believe it or not the UPS man used to have a MAP {look it up on wlkepedia} WE used a map to gain area knowledge!! We memorized certain houses or business that constantly got a pkg to help learn street numbers. This may be hard to believe,but we used our skull.Information didn't pop up on a screen. We then got out of the Brownie walked at a brisk pace to the customers door,rang bell said hello UPS pkg from ,,, may I please have a signature,said thanks have a good day{christmas time we said thanks,Merry Christmas when it used to be O.K to do that.)We would write down on a time card amount of pkgs,stops,P/ups & pieces.ALL without a calculator..I know this seems drastic & primative but we all had to do this.To top it off ,we all played sports when we were kids out in the streets & parks till supper time with real kids.No XBOX baseball for us & No Madden football.... We also bent the brim of our baseball hats that actually fit our heads along with pants that fit our waist!!!

Good old maps and some senior driver tips helped me when I first started. After time things fell in place with area knowledge. Driver release limited us with customer contact as well as NDA commit times that made you alter your rte, first it was 3pm whittled down slowly to 10:30 am..The old peaks without diads were crazy. trying to write with a frozen pen, trying to see all types of shipper #'s that were light on the ink and trying to read them in the old 600's with very poor light made things difficult and if your clipboard got wet the carbon paper and top sheet got wrinkled up..Ah...the good old days when we had to think for ourselves..Here's a map..You are on your own

 

[Dustyroads]

Thirty years ago, I was covering rural areas, and one day the center manager told me I would be going on a particularily remote route, in fact, it ran the most miles in the center. In those days, a sup never went with a cover driver to show them a route. I asked if he could get me a map of the area, and the center manager said sure, I'll go get you one. A couple minutes later he came back with a roadmap of the STATE! Thanks alot.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

Each night they give you exactly what your route will be, then you have to totally memorize your route the night before then come in 1 hour early to be tested. If you pass with a 95% or above you get to run the route that day. Once you pass a route test 3 consecutive times you don`t need to be tested on that route again.

There are definitely some posters on this thread that come in an hour early.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

Steve, do me a favor. Don't fix things for me. I wrote good Teamster because that is what I wanted to write and was in reference to what 'lil Joe Union wrote. I'm fairly certain I can put words together to form sentences and sentences together to form paragraphs and paragraphs to form pages which then form complete thoughts without your help. Thank you. Dave.

You forgot about forming thousands of posts.

 

[satellitedriver]

Thirty years ago, I was covering rural areas, and one day the center manager told me I would be going on a particularily remote route, in fact, it ran the most miles in the center. In those days, a sup never went with a cover driver to show them a route. I asked if he could get me a map of the area, and the center manager said sure, I'll go get you one. A couple minutes later he came back with a roadmap of the STATE! Thanks alot.

Maps?
I was a 2month rookie swing driver in 87'. No maps available for the route. My sup said to start down the road and follow the mailboxes.
I did.
I got all the deliveries off-(how, I still do not know)- and was lost in the woods about 70 miles out.-(I knew North , South, East and West)-I had to stop at a bar on a dirt cross road and asked directions back to the city where my center was located.
15 clicks under that day and I have been faking and fading it ever since.
Those were the days when the loaders knew the routes and were held accountable for the load.-( and took pride in their job)-.
My rant continues;
Instead of personally accountability-( of the ole' days)-, now accountants make the CEO account for the accounts, of share holders.
Drivers are now held accountable, for not meeting the numbers that the accountants count upon.
Plus, drivers must get new accounts, so that the accountants can have new accounts, to count on.
UPS is just a service company.
Service should apply to the customer, not self-serving needs.


Disclaimer;
I am an employee and share holder of UPS.
I truly fear for the future of UPS, if this micro-managed techno approach is the future focus.

In summation,
If Ups's focus is only upon us,then,
Foc Us

 

[dilligaf]

Sat, I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like having to learn a rural rte without a map. Hats off. I had a hard enough time learning ours with a map. It took me 6 months of doing it regularly to even come close to learning it. Now I know it almost as well as the regular driver. Even to the point of being able to do it in the dark without to much problem.

It's funny though, how easy it is to get lost even with a map. BTDT.