Flow Count~..!?

[High Side]

I believe the flow count when I unload means how fast or how many boxes I unload per minute. At my hub, sometimes the SUPS will monitor unloaders with a stop watch and count your progress. Is this a legitimate thing that is supposed to be done by management? I recall when I was trained they said I had to unload like something like 1200-1600 boxes an hour? I thought the contract says a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay and that SUPS are meant to supervise the worker not the workers working performance. Can management do anything to a worker they feel is working to slow? I bet they feel every union worker is working to slow. Am I being a worried narcissist about this subject because when they do this counting and timing thing it really annoys me and my ego.

[cwmaxxout]

Steady safe pace is the only thing required, Safety first!!!

[Mike Hawk]

Ignore them, they will always push you harder to make themselves look better, work at a safe steady pace and don't kill yourself.

[sx2700]

How many threads about a "fair days work for a fair days pay" are we going to have going at the same time?

[omgitsnick]

It happens at every onlien forum, its just the way communties work. why dont someone just throw up a faq and delete the forums all together?

[sx2700]

Originally Posted by omgitsnick

It happens at every onlien forum, its just the way communties work. why dont someone just throw up a faq and delete the forums all together?

Thanks for the update captain obvious. If you'd been around for more than 3 days you would know that there are always threads going for this particular topic. Later....noob

[drewed]

its is legitimate, if i have employee A that can get through said trailer in 45 mins and its takes employee B 58minutes , employee B should be doing something different.
UPS does have standard of work where in no way should it take more than that amount
exp it shouldnt take longer than an hour to either upload or download a plane if it takes longer than said amount, theres a issue with the work itself that is being done

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by drewed

its is legitimate, if i have employee A that can get through said trailer in 45 mins and its takes employee B 58minutes , employee B should be doing something different.
UPS does have standard of work where in no way should it take more than that amount
exp it shouldnt take longer than an hour to either upload or download a plane if it takes longer than said amount, theres a issue with the work itself that is being done

Sorry, I call BS on that. There are many factors that can and do change the amount of work that can be done in a said amount of time, UPS just doesn't want to admit that fact. Before I will accept that premise, ALL variables must be exactly the same. Identical twin workers, same hight, weight and physical strength. An unloader that is 6'2'' tall weighs 210 with no fat apparent can unload faster that one 5'6'' and 185 lbs with baby fat. The load would have to be identical also, one trailer of 1,200 pieces may have three times the irregs as the next trailer of 1,200 pieces.
And please spare me the "national average" crap, I aint buying it.

[drewed]

Originally Posted by trplnkl

Sorry, I call BS on that. There are many factors that can and do change the amount of work that can be done in a said amount of time, UPS just doesn't want to admit that fact. Before I will accept that premise, ALL variables must be exactly the same. Identical twin workers, same hight, weight and physical strength. An unloader that is 6'2'' tall weighs 210 with no fat apparent can unload faster that one 5'6'' and 185 lbs with baby fat. The load would have to be identical also, one trailer of 1,200 pieces may have three times the irregs as the next trailer of 1,200 pieces.
And please spare me the "national average" crap, I aint buying it.

its not a national average, its an average developed by the local ie dept.

Im not saying the variable need to be the same in the determination, your examples fit my example perfectly. Im not saying e.mployee by anymeans and in someways he could be better than employee A but to that unload trailer as a sup i would of course send employee A into the breach first, and have employee B run iregs, split a belt something else

[DS]

Originally Posted by trplnkl

ALL variables must be exactly the same. Identical twin workers, same hight, weight and physical strength.

I totally agree drewed,ideally you should have a complete crew of Michael Phelp's's loading like a bat out of hell for $8.50 an hour.Unfortunately a lot of us are far less average than the national average.
I always have to laugh when they talk about "your average day" as a driver because I don't think in 18 years I've ever had one

[Sac Hub Sorter]

I had the sup clock my pph..very high something above 1400 an hour...It`s nice to sort an amazon trailer...it`s all in how you tweak the numbers.. =)

amazon = small packages / big numbers

[Nitelite]

I'm glad that helps your epeen. Get some time in and you will realize it doesn't matter.

[brownIEman]

Is taking flow count appropriate? Of course it is. And of course it matters.

This sup is a manager in the business and has responsibilities. When the sort starts, he is responsible to pull reports and find out how much volume his sort will be running that day. He will be responsible for letting his boss know from time to time when the sort will be finished processing that volume and go down. In order to do that, he needs to know how fast the operation is processing volume. How would you all suggest he do that, a ouija board? I would recommend he use flow counts, but what do I know, I am in IE.

If he does counts and finds the flow rate is not fast enough, which will jeopardize the down time, which in turn will jeopardize the subsequent sorts and ultimately service to our customers, he is responsible to do something about that. Again, what would you suggest he do, jump in and start unloading himself? I didn't think so.

Fair days work does not mean going as slow as you feel like.

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Originally Posted by sx2700

Thanks for the update captain obvious. If you'd been around for more than 3 days you would know that there are always threads going for this particular topic. Later....noob

Is this really necessary? Especially the noob part. lol Noob... welcome to 1998

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

Originally Posted by Sac Hub Sorter

I had the sup clock my pph..very high something above 1400 an hour...It`s nice to sort an amazon trailer...it`s all in how you tweak the numbers.. =)

amazon = small packages / big numbers

congrats

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by brownIEman

Fair days work does not mean going as slow as you feel like.

Nor does it mean going as fast as you possibly can for 4 hours. The human body was not designed to work at maximum capacity all the time.

[trplnkl]

Originally Posted by drewed

its not a national average, its an average developed by the local ie dept.

Im not saying the variable need to be the same in the determination, your examples fit my example perfectly. Im not saying e.mployee by anymeans and in someways he could be better than employee A but to that unload trailer as a sup i would of course send employee A into the breach first, and have employee B run iregs, split a belt something else

I must apologize Drewed, I misread what you had typed. When you said "employee B should be doing something different"
I read that as different in work methods or speed not as another assignment/duty.
Now when you followed with." UPS does have standard of work where in no way should it take more than that amount
exp it shouldnt take longer than an hour to either upload or download a plane if it takes longer than said amount, theres a issue with the work itself that is being done"
I took that to mean (again) with the unload methods and speed more than the type, size and weight of packages. I don't advocate that the employees be allowed to piddle around and mosey through the shift doing as little work as possible, but I sure don't think it's right to stand over them cracking a whip hollering " faster you fool, faster".
Sorry

[sx2700]

Originally Posted by IDoLessWorkThanMost

Is this really necessary? Especially the noob part. lol Noob... welcome to 1998

Yes...It really is necessary. If you're going to start leaving smart ass comments 3 days after you register when you don't know what's going on then you are going to get a smart ass comment in return. What's it to you anyway? Are you jealous that you weren't the first one to flame the guy?

[High Side]

This thread has evolved quite interestingly! I am hard worker and I don't slack, it's just not in my work ethic to slack. However, some trailers take longer than others especially if said trailer is a 53 footer with irregs and smalls up the whazoo. Still, a 5' 6"- 135 lb. dude with a strong work ethic can only do so much. Add to that, the machines SUPS think we should be, can't always work to 100% potential. I put effort into my job even if it’s as a lowly unloader at UPS. Believe it or not I still care about my job. Because of this I do get offended when a SUP tries this flow count malarkey. I guess it comes down to the usual argument that has union guys against management and their insatiable expectations. I guess its either put up or shut up, theres no in between.

[theloader]

As a loader, I think that when the sups push us too hard our productivity probably goes down. If I work at a break neck pace for two hours I'm going to be a lot slower for the next two. Working at a steady pace will get as much or more done over the night and won't be so brutal on the employees. Rushing us also causes other problems. Last night they were bitching at the pick-off to hit a couple trailers harder. So he ends up stacking boxes on the belt/chute which means more boxes falling off our rollers which in turn means we have to shut the chute occasionally and go thru the slow process of clearing the floor. A reasonable steady pace would allow us to do more in the end. It's a shame they don't realize that...

[mr_bennet]

I've only been working at UPS for 9 days now, but it seems like they could make things easier on the workers but they choose not to so they can save more money. Every trailer could have 2 people working it. That way you don't run one person into the ground.

I agree with the poster above about the slow steady pace also. They told me my goal was to work up to 200 packages and hour. If thats the case send me 50 packages every 15 minutes. Don't send me like 150 in the first 2 hours and then drop like 300 in the next 2.

[drewed]

Originally Posted by mr_bennet

I've only been working at UPS for 9 days now, but it seems like they could make things easier on the workers but they choose not to so they can save more money. Every trailer could have 2 people working it. That way you don't run one person into the ground.

I agree with the poster above about the slow steady pace also. They told me my goal was to work up to 200 packages and hour. If thats the case send me 50 packages every 15 minutes. Don't send me like 150 in the first 2 hours and then drop like 300 in the next 2.

yea ideally it would be that way, but some places build trailers in waves of volume so trailer A will be busy for those first 2 hours and it would be slow for trailer B then it would be flipped the next two hours, its like that system wide

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by High Side

I believe the flow count when I unload means how fast or how many boxes I unload per minute. At my hub, sometimes the SUPS will monitor unloaders with a stop watch and count your progress. Is this a legitimate thing that is supposed to be done by management? I recall when I was trained they said I had to unload like something like 1200-1600 boxes an hour? I thought the contract says a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay and that SUPS are meant to supervise the worker not the workers working performance. Can management do anything to a worker they feel is working to slow? I bet they feel every union worker is working to slow. Am I being a worried narcissist about this subject because when they do this counting and timing thing it really annoys me and my ego.

Its real easy. Just come in tommorrow and tell the sup that you have decided you have been working too hard. Tell him you're not doing it anymore. Tell him you read that fair days work for fair days pay thing and your interpretation is that it means you can sit on your rear in the cafeteria for 15 mins of every hour. Tell him you will also be turning your extendo off anytime you start feeling a sweat break out. Good luck

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by trplnkl

Nor does it mean going as fast as you possibly can for 4 hours. The human body was not designed to work at maximum capacity all the time.

Go to a health spa and watch people push theirselves to their maximum abilities. Watch those same people work at ups and you would hear them crying how the boss is working them to hard.

[PAUPSER]

The best advice I can give is just work to the best of your ability and be safe! UPS uses illogical number under unrealistic conditions, because yea you might get 1500pph unloading smalls, but it’s a little hard to get that same number out of a different trailer say a flatbed or a split level that has a lot of packages weighting in excess of 70pds or more. Lastly from my years of personal experience when I was unloading is just set a safe speed and stay with that speed everyday and never work faster then the day before! This may sound sad and it is but its true! Nothing is ever good enough or fast enough for UPS. If you work fast one day, they expect you go to even faster the next and so forth! And the only thing you get rewarded with is a bad back and more work!