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[soberups]

Originally Posted by coldworld

They focus so much on pickup times being in range, hey how about deliveries too...this is where we have an advantage against fedex and right now its being put to waste....

A simple fact that often gets overlooked....is that we are not paid to deliver packages, we are paid to pick them up. The "bean counters" number one priority will ALWAYS be to make service on the pickups, because that is where the revenue comes from.
We dispatch about 200 routes out of a building that was theoretically designed for 120 routes and was not even adequate for that. I.E. will NOT enlarge the building as long as it is capable of unloading and sorting the pickup volume it brings in. As far as the delivery end of things? Tough shiite, they will continue putting up tents and jury-rigging MDU's and temporary load platforms, out in the rain if necessary, to get the cars loaded for delivery. Pickups are all that matter.

[JustTired]

Originally Posted by 1989

Who does UPS work for? The customer, right? Then who is the customer? The shipper not the consignee. Although in some cases the shipper and the consignee are one in the same. There is no reason to have a consistant delivery time for the corner beauty salon or the census bureau who are not ups customers. Besides many of the big ups customers do have their own delivery times.

I don't know your position with the company, but I'm guessing it is on the management side by your comments.

I don't really believe we "work for" either. Or maybe we work for both. But , having said that , I make no distinction between the words "customer and consignee". They are all customers as far as I'm concerned. Let's face it. Without a consignee, we won't be picking up or delivering anything. They are as much, if not more, our customer than the one actually shipping it.

Someone orders something and expects it to be delivered to their door in a decent condition. They generally expect the shipper to decide what company is appropriate to accomplish this. In turn, the shipper tasks us to do the job and has the same expectations as the person actually receiving the item. If the person receiving the item is unhappy, it's more than likely that the shipper will be unhappy also.

That seems to be the major difference in perspective between the delivery driver and management. The delivery driver sees the delivery and pickup point as the customer, while most management sees only the shipper as the customer. At least that's the perspective I get.

[pretzel_man]

I think that Corporate is finally understanding what our drivers have known forever. Consignees are important!!

I hear them talking a lot about "consignee pull". Its the understanding that while shippers are sending UPS the money, consignees make many of the shipping decisions.

Look at some of the changes that have happened in the last few years.
- Quantum View
- Combined / scheduled delivery
- Special commit times for certain customers

These were designed to service the consignee. The list is not large because its not easy to do.

Consignee pull is something they talk about a lot now. I guess we'll see what comes of it.

P-Man

[coldworld]

Originally Posted by soberups

A simple fact that often gets overlooked....is that we are not paid to deliver packages, we are paid to pick them up. The "bean counters" number one priority will ALWAYS be to make service on the pickups, because that is where the revenue comes from.
We dispatch about 200 routes out of a building that was theoretically designed for 120 routes and was not even adequate for that. I.E. will NOT enlarge the building as long as it is capable of unloading and sorting the pickup volume it brings in. As far as the delivery end of things? Tough shiite, they will continue putting up tents and jury-rigging MDU's and temporary load platforms, out in the rain if necessary, to get the cars loaded for delivery. Pickups are all that matter.

true, but if the larger pickups start to complain that they are getting deliveries 3 hours later someone better start to change things away or customers could go bye bye.

[1989]

Originally Posted by JustTired

I don't know your position with the company, but I'm guessing it is on the management side by your comments.

I don't really believe we "work for" either. Or maybe we work for both. But , having said that , I make no distinction between the words "customer and consignee". They are all customers as far as I'm concerned. Let's face it. Without a consignee, we won't be picking up or delivering anything. They are as much, if not more, our customer than the one actually shipping it.

Someone orders something and expects it to be delivered to their door in a decent condition. They generally expect the shipper to decide what company is appropriate to accomplish this. In turn, the shipper tasks us to do the job and has the same expectations as the person actually receiving the item. If the person receiving the item is unhappy, it's more than likely that the shipper will be unhappy also.

That seems to be the major difference in perspective between the delivery driver and management. The delivery driver sees the delivery and pickup point as the customer, while most management sees only the shipper as the customer. At least that's the perspective I get.

Granted without the consignee there would not be a shipper. It is not feasible to deliver every stop at the same time everyday. You must be flexible as a driver.

If you expect to be at all your businesses at the same time everyday you lose that flexibility and the customer will suffer. A flexible driver will serve the customer with few exceptions. All I am saying is if you work smart the customer will be taken care of.

[UpstateNYUPSer]

1989, I have to respectfully disagree with your portrayal of a flexible driver. Customers, especially the larger ones, appreciate and, yes, expect their delivery time to be approx. the same each and every day. I would say that I deliver most of my commercial stops +/- 30 minutes, usually less than that, with few exceptions from day to day. More and more commercial customers carry little or no inventory and use as their "just-in-time" inventory system and changes in delivery times can disrupt their operations.

Now, I do agree with you that drivers need to be flexible in order to better serve their customers, whether it be earlier delivery times, later pickup times, or whatever their needs may be.

I have also noticed, and I am sure that most of us have, that once you do a "favor" for a customer than it is no longer a favor and it will become something that they will expect. For example, you break off to deliver a pkg to a customer because they asked you for this "favor" the day before. Now they want all of their pkgs to be delivered earlier.

[filiperuvian]

As much as i distrust management, you gotta remember that we (package drivers) are paid pretty well for what we do. Well that's my opinion. So i think the company's gonna do whatever they can, and implement whatever tech they think will help in ensuring that they get what they pay for.

[ramjam]

You have no idea what is coming...We have it in our "smallest state" building and it is horrible...

[UpstateNYUPSer]

As has been mentioned many times before, the advent of new technology will only affect those not following the methods. Do your job, do it the way that you were taught, and they could mount a camera on your forehead and you would still have nothing to worry about. It is really just that simple.