Christmas Peak Plans Disaster

ozlander · 12-26-2007, 09:55 AM

Even though the weather in Kansas was ice and snow, the planned peak was the worse in 25 years. We were flat hammered day in and day out for the final two weeks..we were undermanned and womaned, not enough vehicles as usual. They actually moved out start time to a later time, can you believe that, during peak...Due to the chance that air maybe arriving later than usual. They limited us to 12 hrs a day on some days..other days..less..but would give us 14 hrs of work each day...of course..A new manager and a new side kick that were totally unfamiliar with the area drew up the game plan for peak...What a freaking mess..they finally admitted that it was a record year for peak in the Kansas district and that it was poorly planned...Duh....you just figured that out, drivers helpers were in short supply, because they never contacted them..Even on Christmas eve, they dispatched most of us with over 10 hrs of work, thank goodness there were alot of closures..I know it was planned that way...but getting in after 6pm on eve..was no fun either...You realize that at peak you bend over for them, its just something you do, but to be dispatched with14 hrs of work each day and have to bring it back andhave have rural routes you can't get to for days, it just keeps snowballing you...they didn't care....So, finally its over, for another year..we survived, but it makes one wonder, why as UPSers we really do hate "the season".....

atatbl · 12-26-2007, 10:24 AM

Why did they take the other manager out right before peak?

ozlander · 12-26-2007, 11:26 AM

This current manager was brought in when we all went to PAS...which would be october of a year ago..he was a newbie then and was still learning the area, thus he didn't have anything to do with the center until after the first of the year...He even abuses his other managers, always ready with a smart ass answer when ever you ask him something..customers hate him, employees hate him, his own management staff even hates him...........But his numbers are looking good I hear.....lets hope so...maybe its time to move on!!!!!!

ihadit · 12-26-2007, 01:59 PM

Its amazing how nothing ever changes! Our building had 23,000 more pkgs than forecasted for Dec. 24 no one seems to take responsibility as usual. Absolute chaos! Today was almost as bad, dispatch totally unorganized, Saturday early am pkgs still floating around since Monday with no service crosses or apparent reasons for service failures noted! The number fudging continues....HEY CORPORATE ARE YOU AWAKE AT THE WHEEL....THE SHIP IS STARTING TO FLOUNDER AGAIN. Maybe the management moves in January will help!!!!!!!

longlunchguy · 12-26-2007, 03:21 PM

management moves in January?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss....Roger Daltrey

tups · 12-26-2007, 03:56 PM

Good thing UPS has been at this for 100 years or who knows how bad things would have been.... HA! Today we had a light load all up and down the belt, however the dispatch and loading didn't even begin until 7:20 am. They brought in only 3 pre-loaders per belt ( we have 5 in my building) and the pieces didn't start coming down until 7:30 am. On top of that every car was already loaded with the send agains they never pulled off from Monday which never made it into EDD. We left the building at 9:35 am. I can't imagine how many late airs we had in our center today, me included. Although I only ended up with 90 stops and made 9.5 doing 2 routes. But 5 routes cut and combined, 5 drivers on my belt either given the day, or sent home. What a joke! Like I said, good thing UPS knows what it's doing after 100 years.

trouble maker · 12-26-2007, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozlander

Even though the weather in Kansas was ice and snow, the planned peak was the worse in 25 years. We were flat hammered day in and day out for the final two weeks..we were undermanned and womaned, not enough vehicles as usual. They actually moved out start time to a later time, can you believe that, during peak...Due to the chance that air maybe arriving later than usual. They limited us to 12 hrs a day on some days..other days..less..but would give us 14 hrs of work each day...of course..A new manager and a new side kick that were totally unfamiliar with the area drew up the game plan for peak...What a freaking mess..they finally admitted that it was a record year for peak in the Kansas district and that it was poorly planned...Duh....you just figured that out, drivers helpers were in short supply, because they never contacted them..Even on Christmas eve, they dispatched most of us with over 10 hrs of work, thank goodness there were alot of closures..I know it was planned that way...but getting in after 6pm on eve..was no fun either...You realize that at peak you bend over for them, its just something you do, but to be dispatched with14 hrs of work each day and have to bring it back andhave have rural routes you can't get to for days, it just keeps snowballing you...they didn't care....So, finally its over, for another year..we survived, but it makes one wonder, why as UPSers we really do hate "the season".....

Hey Oz,
LOL, sounds like your ctr was run with the same management that mine was. Word for word, the exact same way.

25yrvet · 12-26-2007, 07:01 PM

".... won't get fooed again" The Who, with Roger Daltrey

Same stories as previously mentioned, not center mgt's fault---Regional mgt's fautl!

What's your center's plans for kwanzaa?

magoo57 · 12-26-2007, 07:25 PM

"Won't get fooed again" . Tell the truth/
It's the opening to CSI: Miami

25yrvet · 12-26-2007, 11:00 PM

Sorry.... not enough sleep & too cold medicine FOOLED not fooed---did the 'foo fighters' have a song by that title?

pkg-king · 12-28-2007, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozlander

Even though the weather in Kansas was ice and snow, the planned peak was the worse in 25 years. We were flat hammered day in and day out for the final two weeks..we were undermanned and womaned, not enough vehicles as usual. They actually moved out start time to a later time, can you believe that, during peak...Due to the chance that air maybe arriving later than usual. They limited us to 12 hrs a day on some days..other days..less..but would give us 14 hrs of work each day...of course..A new manager and a new side kick that were totally unfamiliar with the area drew up the game plan for peak...What a freaking mess..they finally admitted that it was a record year for peak in the Kansas district and that it was poorly planned...Duh....you just figured that out, drivers helpers were in short supply, because they never contacted them..Even on Christmas eve, they dispatched most of us with over 10 hrs of work, thank goodness there were alot of closures..I know it was planned that way...but getting in after 6pm on eve..was no fun either...You realize that at peak you bend over for them, its just something you do, but to be dispatched with14 hrs of work each day and have to bring it back andhave have rural routes you can't get to for days, it just keeps snowballing you...they didn't care....So, finally its over, for another year..we survived, but it makes one wonder, why as UPSers we really do hate "the season".....

That sounds terrible, I feel sorry for you. Am I alone in saying we had a 9.5 cutoff through peak? We weren't aloud to work over 9.5, if we were going to go over they pulled the work off and added splits.

brown bomber · 12-28-2007, 08:35 PM

hey gang....guess what I'm still using a helper..I scheduled off on 12/26 (my route was combined w/ another) but the last 2 days, THURSDAY 12/27..and FRIDAY 12/28...I used a helper

the first day it was a preloader, who worked as a helper throughout the peak season...today it was pkg. car driver who would have not worked due to low seniority

is this same thing occurring elsewhere ??? or is this something that we will be dealing w/ on a more frequent basis???? are we going to be using helpers during non-peak periods???

Brown Dog · 12-28-2007, 09:02 PM

wow, what a disaster that sounded like for you ozlander. We weren't too much better. Although I was averaging over 11hrs I did manage to "clean" every day, not so with many of my fellow drivers. Several kept bringing back the same pkgs for several days. We weren't allowed to go over 12hrs just like it is throughout the year. I worked 11.67 today. We were told to not sheet any pkgs as missed but instead as "emergency conditions" not quite totally true but I guess it looks better in the books.

pkg-king · 12-29-2007, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brown bomber

hey gang....guess what I'm still using a helper..I scheduled off on 12/26 (my route was combined w/ another) but the last 2 days, THURSDAY 12/27..and FRIDAY 12/28...I used a helper

the first day it was a preloader, who worked as a helper throughout the peak season...today it was pkg. car driver who would have not worked due to low seniority

is this same thing occurring elsewhere ??? or is this something that we will be dealing w/ on a more frequent basis???? are we going to be using helpers during non-peak periods???

Our new supplement says helpers can be used until Jan 1. I've heard of some supplements that read year round helpers, is that true?

12-30-2007, 05:07 PM

UNDER 9.5 AT PEAK!!!!??? Where the Hell r you? - Need some pkg drivers???

In our ctr we experienced all of the above and then some. To begin we had some hot shot tie tell us how good Christmas would be this yr. Professed to have hired lots of seasonal drivers and even more helpers. Luckily we all knew immediately it was a lie. We did see a few extra helpers but net gain in drivers BIG FAT ZERO! My thinkin on that type stuff is --- I know you're blowin smoke up my a$$$ so I'd rather you didn't even darken the door We know it'll be the same as the past 100 years, so don't piss us off more than we already will be when the pkgs hit the fan. Just get the hell out of the way and we'll do the best we can.

You know the bottom line for UPS ---- they got their 250 million pkgs /sec delivered and that's all some charaacter in ATL cares about. Remember, when this company's stock went public customer service went missing, cooperation btwn mgmt and employees took the same route and it became all about the BOTTOM LINE!!!!!! And they're proud of it too.

If John Q public actually knew the antics we go through to satisfy the masters of the Peter Principle they would be astounded. One customer told me one night at 9 "I'm sorry you're out so late Please let your mgr know I'm not very proud of UPS right now" Think my mgr or any tie in this outfit would really give a rat's a$$$ if some resi delivery "wasn't very PROUD" of them right now.

For as much planning as supposedly goes into peak each yr maybe a little less replication of previous mistakes and some more new proactive thinking and a little less micro managing and a few new ideas i.e. listening and understanding and god forbid implimentation of some hourly input would go a long way for some of us

Like some else said here in another thread And i've always believed this and told a few mgrs ---This is a great job once you get out the dr in the morning and before you come through it again at the end of the day. You work with some of the best people you can find and meet and get to know an abundance of wonderful folks that you get to serve every day but those 15 mins on each end of the day ---you can't let em get to you.

One other thing that got us through I told some guys no matter how bad it is here (some places start peak way earlier in the yr) someboby's always got it worse