Right hand turns?

[filthpig]

What's up with every customer I see saying something about us only making right turns? They've never mentioned it where I work. And just how is that feasible in the real world anyway?

[dannyboy]

What you are posting is in regards to ads that UPS is running showing people just how green we have become. We are saving a ton of fuel and time by not waiting for the traffic to clear so we can make a left turn.

And like most people that can think for themselves and have a clue, they want to know how?

And just how is that feasible in the real world anyway?

Who said anything about feasible? We do it because IE said it could be done, and no one can argue with IE. They know everything. Including that you should never have to make a left hand turn again, only right hand turns.

d

[UpstateNYUPSer]

There has been a great deal of media coverage of how UPS plans its routes to minimize left hand turns, which in turn allows us to right hand turn (on red, if safe to do so) which minimizes idling time/waiting time. How is this feasible? Out in the middle of nowhere--it is not. However, I would imagine in the larger cities this may indeed be something that IE is using in planning its routes.

[dilligaf]

Funny thing is, I have been doing this right along whenever possible. I was taught to do that at an old job I had and I do it in my personal vehicle as well.
The sad thing is, UPS will morph this idea into something bad. There will be an accident somewhere and the driver will be blamed for not making a right turn. It is always about placing the blame on someone else, even when it's the company's idea. They will take this to an extreme, to the detriment of the driver.

[browniehound]

Quite frankly, I'm sick of hearing this from our customers and certainly don't have the time to explain the concept to them. In my mind its very simple, you do the route in a loop making as few left hand turns as possible.

If Joe Public were to go out and run 7 errands, I believe he would do it in the most efficient manner and avoid as many left turns as possible.

When the idiots start saying "How do you guys do it without making any left turns" my blood begins to boil. Then I calmly say that we make as few as possible and tell them to picture their day around town running errands and how they probably set up the most efficeint route. Then I leave them with "Thats what UPS tries to do, same as you would, its just common sense" (something I find more rare by the day!).

[trplnkl]

I usually just laugh and tell them it's just a joke.....like racing the big brown truck.

Y'all do know that two wrongs don't make a right? Well, I'm here to tell you, three lefts do.

[toonertoo]

I have heard it too, from the documentary on some station. I always go right when I have a chance. Especially if a pain in the butt is waiting across the street to tell me he doesnt have his money order yet, and I just drive by, continuinng to deliver to the right

[scratch]

I was off work this past week, and caught a story about this on the CBS morning show. I just saw the end of the story, but the reporter was talking to a UPS Driver in a big city about this topic, which is how we save fuel. She ended her story by saying that we turn the engine off at every intersection we get caught at a red light too. I just had to laugh, thats a new one on me.

[UPS GIRL]

I'm attempting to figure out how I'd do my mostly resi route full of dead-end streets using only right hand turns in my P500. Huuummmmm......I should bring that up with my sup for a good laugh....

BTW, I was told never to back-up either, since I don't have a rear camera. When I asked how I was going to do my deliveries to loading docks on my route, I was told I would have to back-up. Hummm...

[New Englander]

Originally Posted by UPS GIRL

I'm attempting to figure out how I'd do my mostly resi route full of dead-end streets using only right hand turns in my P500. Huuummmmm......I should bring that up with my sup for a good laugh....

BTW, I was told never to back-up either, since I don't have a rear camera. When I asked how I was going to do my deliveries to loading docks on my route, I was told I would have to back-up. Hummm...

We were backing up LONG before there were cameras in our trucks

[dannyboy]

Nothing new in the concept of running one side of the street, then running the other. Drivers have been doing this since UPS began.

What is new is that IE came up with this idea. And now they are telling the driver to run the loops like they want you to, without exception.

Problem is that the guys doing the looping, and the IE guys that came up with the plan, have a real limited knowledge of what the average driver does each day.

I can see in some cases, how running one square block, then moving onto the next square block, could save time over running the streets one at a time. But either way, most UPS drivers 20 years ago, delivering in town, made 95 right turns for every 5 left turns. Those in the country still deliver the stops as they come, with as few left turns as possible, but running them in sequential order.

That is the way it always has been.

Its just that IE has to justify their existence, and come up with all sorts of "new" and wonderful ideas..............

Just think, $250,000,000 to create a new delivery order at UPS.

I am in the wrong business.

d

[New Englander]

At least they are asking something new right now. Not the stupid typical stuff we here at every other stop. You know, "Do you have air conditioning?"

[john346]

I certainly can see it in the cities, but out here, I'd have to go a long way to get to a right turn to get me back to where I needed to turn left. SO, thankfully, I'm in a rural area, with not too much traffic. When I get to the three way intersections to the left, I wait till all of the traffic has cleared & preform a flawless 270 degree turn to the right, and VIOLA! Straight ahead form there. See? I'ts a workable plan.

[No such person]

My grandmother (who's only car was a Studebaker Lark), claimed that in 47 years of driving she never made a left hand turn.

[8Years2Go]

Three RIGHTs make a LEFT

[local804]

alot of No Turn on Red here in the Apple.

[Baba gounj]

See UPS can get good media coverage.
Come up with a silly story line & everyone will repeat it , even if its not true.
( they highlighted that silly tale on that National Geo. show , demonstrating how to save fuel by using a P12 to make a single stop ).

[dino]

Originally Posted by No such person

My grandmother (who's only car was a Studebaker Lark), claimed that in 47 years of driving she never made a left hand turn.

To the grocery store, the beauty shop, the church,and then return home.

Did that car have the push-button auto. transmission?

[filiperuvian]

seems like people who work in IE are the ones who couldn't hack it as drivers. can you tell i'm a little bitter?

[mathematics]

Originally Posted by filiperuvian

seems like people who work in IE are the ones who couldn't hack it as drivers. can you tell i'm a little bitter?

Everybody hates IE, but without us the company wouldn't have cost goals in order to be productive. Do you think a company which employs approx. half a million people could be profitable without people analyzing how we spend money?? could you do your personal finances without ever looking at your account balances and checking transactions??

AND WE CAN'T ALL BE DRIVERS. why do so many people cry that people in suits are only there because they can't hack it as a driver? it's quite funny.

A big reason why people resent IE is because of lack of communication. Would you feel differently about IE people if they came out and taught/explained methods? Most IE people (i say most because there are people in every function that really aren't any good), do know how to do the job. You can't devise work methods without knowing how to use them and explain why they are more productive/safe than another way of doing the job. I am an IE person who came from the night sort operation. I can see why people don't like IE. IE people are supposed to come out to the operation and work with FT Sups, PT Sups, and Hourlies to show them how to use methods. how many times do you see that happen, though? if it happened more, i bet people would start to hate IE less.

There is a new initiative for IE supervisors to give PT supervisors and FT supervisors training on proper work methods. I know when i was a PT sup that i was never taught any methods.

[satellitedriver]

I sometimes turn off my pkg car and get out and push it down the road. When people stop and ask me if I need help, I say "no,it is UPS's new plan to save gas".