pkg handler - air driver - driver?

wolf4747 · 09-06-2008, 05:29 AM

Hey guys,
I searched for this but didnt see the answer.
Told someone I was putting my time as pkg handler to get a shot at driving, they suggested going for air driver first, said it would be easier to get in and it would take time off the progression for driving? Didnt have time to get an explanation, I assume this is different than picking up saturdays to get used to the trucks and diad. Can anyone explain this option for me?
thank you.

But Benefits Are Great! · 09-06-2008, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf4747

Hey guys,
I searched for this but didnt see the answer.
Told someone I was putting my time as pkg handler to get a shot at driving, they suggested going for air driver first, said it would be easier to get in and it would take time off the progression for driving? Didnt have time to get an explanation, I assume this is different than picking up saturdays to get used to the trucks and diad. Can anyone explain this option for me?
thank you.

Go for driving Saturday Air regardless - it is great practice, experience, and a little extra ching.

It does not affect the timing of getting a route, getting to drive during the week at all, it does not "speed things up" to the best of my knowledge.
However, the actual experiece of driving, DIAD work, is invaluable.

UpstateNYUPSer · 09-06-2008, 03:47 PM

Saturday driving also allows you to learn a lot of the streets and delivery locations, which can prove to be invaluable when you begin to cover drive.

upsguy72 · 09-06-2008, 06:26 PM

The only thing A Saturday Air job will do is let you use the DIAD a little if you good around computers the DIAD won't be a big deal. As far as learning the routes not really to good becasue your only delivering air and not going to be driving a normal route. If you had the chance to go full time or air I'd take full time. Your still going to have to do the 30 days driving probation period either way. I'm doing my 30 days right know after only 12 months as a preloader.

But Benefits Are Great! · 09-06-2008, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upsguy72

The only thing A Saturday Air job will do is let you use the DIAD a little if you good around computers the DIAD won't be a big deal. As far as learning the routes not really to good becasue your only delivering air and not going to be driving a normal route. If you had the chance to go full time or air I'd take full time. Your still going to have to do the 30 days driving probation period either way. I'm doing my 30 days right know after only 12 months as a preloader.

I believe the original poster was wondering if taking a Saturday Air delivery job would speed up the process in getting into full time driving. Both myself and Upstate stated that, if nothing else, doing the Saturday Air would give great experience, which I firmly believe.

Going full time or air, its not one or the other. Do air while waiting to go full time route.

Also, I am very, very good with computers, and the DIAD kicked my ass in the beginning. I would venture to say computer experience has no affect on DIAD ability (much to my dissappointment) so much so that I question if you have ever seen a DIAD? The only way to get comfortable with a DIAD is to use one.

LiL"Comet" · 09-06-2008, 07:21 PM

Most definitely the more experience you have the better, before I went to driving school for about 3 weeks I would to go to my center and help fuel trucks for about 3 or so hours on Saturday, putting them in and out of line up help me a lot. (of coarse it depends on where you are and if you would be able to do this i knew going in every Sat. I had to be very careful of what I was doing) At driving school I had a lot more time behind the wheel that gave me confidence where everyone else was really scared about everything. I know going in I was going to be driving a 1300 truck which is what I guess made me want to get as much experience as possible. I never got the chance to be an air driver because I was an OMS...

UpstateNYUPSer · 09-07-2008, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upsguy72

The only thing A Saturday Air job will do is let you use the DIAD a little if you good around computers the DIAD won't be a big deal. As far as learning the routes not really to good becasue your only delivering air and not going to be driving a normal route. If you had the chance to go full time or air I'd take full time. Your still going to have to do the 30 days driving probation period either way. I'm doing my 30 days right know after only 12 months as a preloader.

This is not necessarily true. I cover for the Saturday driver every now and then and our Saturday delivery area covers all of the city and a few of the outlying towns so, while I know the city inside and out I don't know the outlying towns so I always learn a few new streets each time I work. In fact, I brought my GPS in just for the heck of it and it saved me on this one road which I just could not find.

The big thing is getting the DIAD down. Saturday air is not loaded into EDD (in my center) so you have to manually enter all of the addresses. Deliveries are usually straight forward but you may have some unique situations (indirects, multiple left ats) that may come up.

Baba gounj · 09-07-2008, 12:23 PM

Take it from me; I am the most senior air driver in ENE.......If you want some extra cash now and/or ever plan to go full time driving then Sat Air work is invaluable .
As for learning routes, all knowledge is useful ...one learns the way around many different areas, very helpful should you end up as a cover driver.
To do the work one has to learn the DIAD, better to do it now, before they upgrade it again.
If anything a couple of Saturdays will educate you & help determine if full time driving is right for you.
.......................
Many of the full time drivers I see everyday did in fact begin as Sat drivers.
............
AS I have always stated " the best way to become a good air drivers is to go out there & get lost "

Service Failure · 09-07-2008, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baba gounj

AS I have always stated " the best way to become a good air drivers is to go out there & get lost "

That's exactly right. The way we do it, eams for our center are kind of given at random because some peoples zip codes don't recieve anything. It really helps with area knowledge. The thing with saturday is that you are given more than enough time to run your air so during that time you can use it to learn all the surrounding streets and how numbers run. Don't just go to the location and deliver. Take the time to read street signs and check out the numbers. As of late they've been giving splitting zip codes so that everyone is pretty much taking 2 zip codes every saturday which sucks but the more you know the better i guess haha.