DR Audit

[LeddySS98]

I had my second DR audit done on me Thurs, and I had to go up in the office to review the findings friday... Out of 10 houses they had a problem with two of them. The first being a box being on a porch with the floor mat on it cause you can still kinda see the outline of a box from the road, under the mat, through the porch rails... So it was a concern they had. And the second is a picture of a door with no package and it has the address written in at the bottom. They told me they stopped and interviewed the guy that lived their and he stated that I had just left the package on the front door.

I'm 1 month shy of hitting my 2 year mark driving, and it's a big joke with the fellow drivers because they go after me every chance they get.

I've had my fill of the harasment, and it might be funny to everyone else, but I'm sick of it. The fact that they stopped to interview someone for a DR audit, just shows how much they go out of there way to find something wrong with my work.

The picture of the house with no package has the address written at the bottom of it in ink. I got to thinking about it later that day, and when I drove past said address that day I was right... The house in the picture is not the house at that address. The house they took a picture of got a shipper released box of flowers, and it's arround the corner. SOooooo should I throw it back at them that if they cant keep there addresses right then how can they be out observing the drivers. Or is striking back a lost cause?

[toonertoo]

They often interview consignees. When confronted, I would tell the truth, you got the wrong house bub. I wouldnt worry, or look at it as harrassment. Its just what they do. Rest easy. Unless you get lots of follow ups, you must be doing something right

[HazMatMan]

I had a package left on my porch out in plain site. It was Emeril's deep fryer. Glad it wasn't stolen.

[bigbrownman]

Managers expect you to be perfect, you should expect them to be perfect as well.

[UpstateNYUPSer]

Originally Posted by LeddySS98

...The picture of the house with no package has the address written at the bottom of it in ink. I got to thinking about it later that day, and when I drove past said address that day I was right... The house in the picture is not the house at that address. The house they took a picture of got a shipper released box of flowers, and it's arround the corner. SOooooo should I throw it back at them that if they cant keep there addresses right then how can they be out observing the drivers. Or is striking back a lost cause?

I would simply take a picture of the house in question and place it on the appropriate supervisor's desk and walk away.

[slowdriver]

What do they want you to do bring back 15 or 20 send agains every day????/


Can we get the Fairtax Already

[soberups]

The best way to end this sort of harrassment is to stop doing any DR's at all, and just get a signiature for every stop. Then file grievances for being over 9.5, as you most certainly will be. A veteran driver once told me when I was a newbie; "When the heat is on...turn it UP." Never show weakness or fear.

[New Englander]

Originally Posted by soberups

The best way to end this sort of harrassment is to stop doing any DR's at all, and just get a signiature for every stop. Then file grievances for being over 9.5, as you most certainly will be. A veteran driver once told me when I was a newbie; "When the heat is on...turn it UP." Never show weakness or fear.

I wouldn't it will just escalate everything. I've seen it happen.

Best thing is to ask yourself some seriously tough questions as to why they are hounding you.

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by New Englander

I wouldn't it will just escalate everything. I've seen it happen.

Best thing is to ask yourself some seriously tough questions as to why they are hounding you.

And the answer is usually. It's just what they do, as Tooner said before.

[New Englander]

Originally Posted by trplnkl

And the answer is usually. It's just what they do, as Tooner said before.

I'm not on managements side. It's just that in my little world of UPS here where I am. I only see them go after the problem drivers.

The guy that comes to work, quietly does his job proficiently and then goes home. Thats not saying that they don't speak up when they need to nor are scratch drivers they just quietly pick and choose their battles.

If your one of the drivers who's name keeps coming up on one of a thousand reports - obviously they are going to try and correct it one way or another.

Trust me, I have not quietly picked my battles and it has shown.

[soberups]

Originally Posted by New Englander

I wouldn't it will just escalate everything. I've seen it happen.

Escalation is the key. You want to turn up the heat. At some point, your management will be forced to back off and seek an easier target. Watch a nature show sometime, the hyenas never attack a target that kicks or fights back, they gang up on the weak and crippled members of the herd instead.

[soberups]

Originally Posted by New Englander

Best thing is to ask yourself some seriously tough questions as to why they are hounding you.

All it takes is some I.E guy with his head up his **s to do a bad timestudy on your route. From that point on, you will be on managments "S.pecial H.igh I.ntensity T.raining" list, and will remain there until you knuckle under and skip your luch and breaks in order to meet their impossible expectations. Been there, done that. I won the war by making them more miserable than they could make me. Its a crummy way to run a business, but its their business to run.

[New Englander]

Originally Posted by soberups

All it takes is some I.E guy with his head up his ass to do a bad timestudy on your route. From that point on, you will be on managments "S.pecial H.igh I.ntensity T.raining" list, and will remain there until you knuckle under and skip your luch and breaks in order to meet their impossible expectations. Been there, done that. I won the war by making them more miserable than they could make me. Its a crummy way to run a business, but its their business to run.

In my center, a sheet was passed out to every bid route. This sheet showed what management though would be acceptable on that route.

It showed:
The average mile driven on the route.
The average inbound and outbound of the route.
The SPORH they that was acceptable.
The Paid Over they thought was acceptable.
The total stops they considered a 9.5 day in regards to all above.

You know what? Being a cover driver it was all pretty fair. Some routes were expected to be 1.5hrs paid over.

Now if your one of those drivers who can't match what the multiple cover drivers do - you've got a problem. We have a couple of those. I'm not talking about the burner cover drivers only either I'm grouping them together.

They have every excuse in the book as to why they on some days are so grossly out of line on it. Crap....we've got senior drivers who can't properly follow delivery release procedures and wonder why they are a target.

They understand you are going to have a bad day - they do. They just do not want them strung together.

[BrownSuit]

Originally Posted by soberups

Escalation is the key. You want to turn up the heat. At some point, your management will be forced to back off and seek an easier target. Watch a nature show sometime, the hyenas never attack a target that kicks or fights back, they gang up on the weak and crippled members of the herd instead.

Instead of constantly looking for a conflict or a fight with your management team, why not try to work together? If every time you look for a fight and argument then that's what your going to get.

If you come in looking for a fight or to "escalate" the situation, that's exactly what's going to happen.

Just as you may sometimes screw up a DR, your management team might screw up and take a picture of the wrong house.

There is no need to fight it or leave picture lying around with the correct address. IF it comes up again, and that's big IF, let them know in a kind way that it wasn't the correct house.

Otherwise, get over it. It sounds like they are done with the DR Audit and are going to move on. The healthy thing would be for you to move on as well.

They are trying to help you, it may not be coming across that way, probably because they've been dealing with soberups types who "escalate" everything.

Think about it, if every time you pulled somebody in to go over performance numbers, no matter who measured them or what your benchmark is, and you get somebody "escalating" it, what would your response be?

I deal with performance numbers and have to explain those numbers every day, usually multiple times a day. If I "escalated" it every time that happened, I'd be looking for a new job. They just need to be able to speak to your numbers to their management. Don't let it ruffle your feathers and it won't.

[Cementups]

12 years of driving and I have never had a DR audit. I'm waiting for the day.

[bigbrownman]

I don't think stopping DR'ing packages is the key, turn it around on management. Do like the instructional video, follow your methods. Find a safe place to leave the package out of site, protected from weather etc etc, then leave an info notice on the front door explaining where you left it. I know it will slow you down, and it puts you in a spot where you will be working longer hours. That is where being an Article 37 driver comes in handy. Just be consistant, Like Brownsuit said, work with management, and they will have no choice but to work with you. And always remember, you get paid by the hour, not by the package like some other companies.

[old brown shoe]

Seems odd when they ride with you they just want you to throw it on the front porch and go but when they do a audit if it can be seen from a helicopter at a 45 degree angle from above it is a bad DR. It all depends on the area you deliver and how safe it is. I worry more about a dishonest customer who gets a package and denies it than it being stolen. All other carriers leave them at the front door and none of us have any problems and neither do our customers.I deliver in a very safe area and it would be diffrent if it was not this way.

[tvick]

when I first started driving, I was running 3 hrs. under everyday and they did a DR audit on me. The other drivers told me it was because I drew attention to myself by working too fast. When I told my sup about it, he had a heated conversation with the loss prevention rep.
They actually went out and took video of a couple of stops that they thought I DR'd. The funny thing about it was that they pulled a split off my route that day and someone else had delivered those stops, that someone else was my sup. HAHA, no problems since!

[rod]

Originally Posted by old brown shoe

Seems odd when they ride with you they just want you to throw it on the front porch and go but when they do a audit if it can be seen from a helicopter at a 45 degree angle from above it is a bad DR.

Not really odd- just business as usual :-)

[Griff]

Originally Posted by bigbrownman

Managers expect you to be perfect, you should expect them to be perfect as well.

That's right, so the OP should start keeping very detailed records about this type of stuff. Once there's a clear pattern of harassment or overly supervising, go after their throats in the same way they go after yours. They do have a right to do their job, but they must be doing it fairly and without bias.

[ol'browneye]

A few years ago, my CM had a few of us lined up outside his office. When I got called in he showed me a picture of a NDA pkg sitting behind a pkg car on the dock. On the picture was written my truck #. He told me this pkg had been found in my car last night during unload. I looked at it. It was a box with a very old type NDA sticker on it, the kind where you peeled out the center barcode, and you couldn't read the label, it was too small! None of my shippers used this kind of NDA label and since I couldn't read the label to see what shipper it was from, I just said "That's just a picture of a box with my truck # on it. How do yo