28 yr female driver terminated

A story I was made aware of today.
This Driver has 28yrs of service at UPS.All or most,in a rural town of Missouri.Everyone in town knows her and seems to love her.
Her mistake was to sign customers name to diad(a resi delivery) and leave pkg. Customer did not find pkg and called to find whereabouts. She was told it was delivered and signed for by addressee. When she said no, she was addressee and had not signed for it. Ups investigated and found Driver had "forged" signature.
The local newspaper made it headline news and devoted at least 3 pages to this story, including letters to the editor from townspeople demanding UPS reinstate her.
I have seen the actual newspaper and it is truly amazing how much the people of this town like this driver. I mean 3 pages devoted to her in a 10 page newspaper. I hope she wins in 2 state. (lets hope central states can at least get this done)
I'd like to see all your thoughts on this subject,}

WOW. 28 years of service, man oh man. I wonder what was in the package. Alot of the signature required are alcohol,or medication. The way UPS looks at it is "what if" a kid ate the pills thinking it was candy, and what if the kids drank the booze and got really sick.I hate to see this happen but what in Gods name was the driver thinking. We all dont do everthing by the book, but this one I think is a no brainer.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but NEVER EVER sign someone else’s name to the DIAD. If you’re compelled to leave a signature required package, sign your own name and that isn’t a good thing either.

I hope the driver can get the customer to make an appearance at the panel hearing.

Must have been a blonde!

not saying this was the case, but was it a signatured required package. we had a driver fired several years ago for signing for pkgs which actually could have been driver released. we all know that a signature always gives you a greater time allowance than a dr. was she accused of padding her time allowance or signing for a package that required a signature.

The number of years is irrelevant!
If you don't follow procedure....if you break the rules....you pay the price. Period, the end!

Very true ML

We have had drivers fired for the same thing. I would bet it is the No 1 discretion drivers do, for their customers. Often a signature required is for a person least able to sign, the way I was told to do it was print their name and then your initials, never sign, but to DR never ever. Make sure it is in their hands, and that they want you to because they cant. No matter how much your heart is in the right place, this person you are trying to help will not pay for your loss. Blonde maybe, 28 yrs, surely gray. We have had guys do it, and I make sure I tell all the rookies, DO NOT DO IT. It will bite you in the butt.

Talk to the old timers that delivered before driver release and you hear alot of stories of signing for people. I have no fear of send agains so there is always tomorrow. Bosses don't bother you about your 2.3 send again average with all the signature required pkgs.

I believe the term we used for signing for packages was "knob"...

more like "door knob"

"Must have been a blonde!"

"The number of years is irrelevant!
If you don't follow procedure....if you break
the rules....you pay the price. Period, the end!"

My goal in life is to retire so I can sit back and judge all who are still working in what is an everchanging work environment. I would like to hear more facts before I lynch the woman.

I deliver to several salons, and if a person is in the middle of giving a perm I have no problem signing for them. They appreciate it and it also saves me time. On the other hand, I would never sign for a signature required package at a residence if they were not home. However, if they are there and very old or sick and unable to, I would do what is necessary to get the package in thier hands.

Dammor....."On the other hand, I would never sign for a signature required package at a residence if they were not home."

You said it yourself......YOU would have the common sense to know you shouldn't break procedures. WHY? Because there are consequences.

This is why we work so hard because some forge signatures or falsify sdn, etc and post good numbers. Management considers this a no no but looks the other way for liked drivers versus boat rockers. If drivers followed the written-unwritten rules management would have to hire more drivers. Would you like if your mail was delivered to your next door neighbor who you didn't know?

Never forge anothers signature. If, and it is a big if that you need to do it, like say the customer left you a signed note and directed you to leave pkg in a safe place. Sign back porch and type in back porch under clarify. Yes it is still wrong, but the consequences a far less. The forging of anothers signature is Taboo.

Last time I checked we could make 3 delivery attempts and if the package still can't be delivered it can be postcarded for 7 days! If they can't make arangements after 10 days SOOO Sorry! I would hate to tell my family that daddy lost his job because I signed for someones package of depends!
When I would cover for this one paticular driver and I handed the diad to them for a signiture they would look at me like what is this contraption? The driver was signing everyones name to save time. This company wants you to walk across hot coals for them but want to terminate you if you get burned!

mannbrn: nobody ever told me to forge anything at UPS to save time. That was the crime - the punishment was what I would expect!

proups I'm not saying what she did was right by any means! I agree with slaveups that drivers like her are hurting the drivers that follow policy and try to play by the rules. If she indeed do this she needed to be possibly warned not to let it happen again but not terminated. Everyone needs a second chance to do whats right!

I have a very nice young man who is legaly blind and who helps train blind people on my route.One day I had a high value package of 20 grand for him. Blind or not I made him sign as best he could. When it comes to residentials, if a signature is required you better be there. I hope she gets her job back. arch

Anyone know the details yet? Thought not.

"This is why we work so hard because some forge signatures or falsify sdn, etc and post good numbers."

Sorry Slave, but I am not quite sure what your beef is here. These so called forgers are making you work harder because the have better numbers?
Last time I checked we were not in competion numbers wise. We are paid by the hour.

It has been pointed out very clearly here that even if you are delivering to a person with NO
arms, hands, or legs, and even being in the midst of a heart attack, you are not allowed to sign for the heart pills without risk of termination.

I'm glad ya'll cleared this up for me. The old folks on my route will see a new improved me tomorrow. Sign or die. That's my new motto.

Dammor, thats the way I see it. the ones required to sign are the least able. If its for a person who bounds to the door for their jewelry or electronics thats one thing. But if it is elderly, or handicapped, take their life saving drugs away since they are unable with their knarled hands to sign, especially when we are worried about taking longer than our allowance allows to get someone from next door who can. Ill do it my way, I wont sign for a person who isnt home but if someone finally answers the door and you have waited since you know they are handicapped, which some drivers wont know or wont wait. Then you have already lost your allowance, but you have provided a service. Forging is done in their absence, not in helping them secure a delivery. Printing their name, and "cant sign" or your initials afterward is not forging. And we may be the only person they see all week. And what an impression we would leave, "sorry, sucks to be you, if you cant sign Im leaving" Get fired for that I doubt it, lose time, yes. Not everyone adheres to our clock, but need our service. I doubt that makes me run faster, but I can sleep at night.

tooner,

I agree. Stay as you are and sleeping will never be a problem. I intend to do the same.

If you sign for some greasy hands mechanic that OK's it and he claims he never recieved the pkg he might just get his pkgs RTS'd from then on.

Great minds think alike

I rememeber in my rookie years as a pkg-car driver, before I went into feeders, I used to, on rare occasions, sign for business stops as a convience for my customers, but never for residential stops. I stopped doing those (helping the customers signings) when someone in my center lost their job by signing for a jewerly store pkg. Remember you pkg-car drivers, we leave a paper trail that last at least 6 to 7 yrs after delivery. For those who can sleep at night and keep doing the some signings on a daily basis, here is some words of advise: Dont do it! Its not worth it!