rookie questions

[idahoguy]

The center Im in went for about 20yrs with the drivers being able to flop and switch routes anytime there was a better route to run than the route they had bid on. Before I was hired on there was a griev filed by someone without much seniority that the drivers should not be able to flop routes, this makes it so the bottom drivers are not always driving the tuffest routes b/c the seinor drivers have the best rts and most vacations. So guy that filed has went on to feeders but where Im sitting is not 2 bad. The seinor drivers have went to the union to get it switched back with no luck but now there is talk of being able to vacate a route and I am wondering if there are other centers that drivers vacate routes.

Also the manager we had had a policy of when a route came up for bid there were only allowed to be three different bids and after the third bid he said he was allowed to assign the 4th route to put a end to the bidding. I have not seen anything in the contract that says this is ok. Is he right?

[over9five]

"..after the third bid he said he was allowed to assign the 4th route"

That is how it goes here, too.

[retired2000]

first off i would like to know what a better route is? i have never seen one of those.
we have bids ever two years here so drivers can bid on a "better run"

[helenofcalifornia]

Retired, you mean every 2 years all package routes go up for bid? Dude, there would be a lot of angry drivers where I work if that was how it worked here!

[yeldarb]

I agree. I would be chapped if I was bumped off my route. I think that would kill morale even more. I take pride in meeting my customers needs. When I am on vacation, I always hear about the cover driver, but the customer knows the stresses with being coverage, so they try to be patient with them.

[GoSlowEarnDough]

Rookie im not sure if I understand your question but you are able to leave the route that you are assigned to and go back to utility.

Also there should be a weekly bid sheet for all routes that will not be driven by the assigned driver. You should be selecting these routes by seniority order. These should be the routes that are open for the whole week.

i hope this helps

[idahoguy]

GoSlow when u say leave a "route that your assigned" is that a route youve bid or thats been assigned by management?

we dont have the bid sheet for the vacations, they are ran in order of seniority. weve just gotten a new manager and he suggested the bid sheet idea too. we only have 15 rts in our center so its pretty easy to look at the vacation schedule and see which rt youll be running fairly accurately for the whole year

i was courious about the 4th rt being assigned b/c a feeder driver had told me there was nothing in the contract about it and i Have never seen this in the contract myself am i just missing it?

[Dutch Dawg]

.....we have bids ever two years here so drivers can bid on a "better run"

I can't begin to imagine the chaos that would create if every delivery route in a building held potential to have a new driver come May every other year.

You must be talking feeder runs?

[scratch]

We always go down the seniority list and bid Package routes every two years. If a better route comes up, you bid on it and roll somebody off. I got rolled off a "Gravy" route once. I was lucky to get and keep my current one the last ten years, although the gravy is getting a little thinner each year. I have never understood why certain senior drivers would stay on the same heavy commercial routes for 15- 20 years. They usually will have to go out on disability of some type or go into Feeder to keep working. Bid on something better, it only takes a few weeks to learn a new route!

[retired2000]

yes, every two years all the feeder & all package car runs plus 32 full-time inside jobs go up for bids. it is done by senority so alot of the jobs never change. but, every once in awhile there is a mess made if one senior person decides to change his or her job. we use to do it very year.