Good? Friday

[cancun]

UPS has always in my opinion overmanaged Good Friday, 4th of July, week between Christmas and New Years, and Christmas Eve. I realize(and I am a retired manager) that these are key operating days and you cannot give the business away. That being said though it has been my experience in the centers that I have managed that our drivers are willing to go out for a short day, get the job done and MORE than willing to work pay actual. The customer does not suffer, deliveries and pickup times remain in most cases seamless, the drivers are off the street early. Upper management doesn't trust the center level teams to manage the business which is a shame. We know how to do it better in most cases, we have relationships with our drivers that works both ways. We took care of them on these days and they in turn did what they had to do to get done early on these holiday operating days. It was a win win for everyone. Just my opinion.

[mattwtrs]

Originally Posted by cancun

UPS has always in my opinion overmanaged Good Friday, 4th of July, week between Christmas and New Years, and Christmas Eve. I realize(and I am a retired manager) that these are key operating days and you cannot give the business away. That being said though it has been my experience in the centers that I have managed that our drivers are willing to go out for a short day, get the job done and MORE than willing to work pay actual. The customer does not suffer, deliveries and pickup times remain in most cases seamless, the drivers are off the street early. Upper management doesn't trust the center level teams to manage the business which is a shame. We know how to do it better in most cases, we have relationships with our drivers that works both ways. We took care of them on these days and they in turn did what they had to do to get done early on these holiday operating days. It was a win win for everyone. Just my opinion.

That's why I used to try & schedule vacation, optional holidays during Holy Week when I was on a metro trip. If I was on a rural trip the 10-15 business stops I had usually had someone around or I had a key with a signature on file for.

The time worked days were few & far between cause someone had to hang out for letter boxes.

[helenofcalifornia]

UPS is on Twitter? Who would have thunk? (Follow Poozer 2000 to his Twitter page and then check who he is following.)

[iowa boy]

Originally Posted by helenofcalifornia

UPS is on Twitter? Who would have thunk? (Follow Poozer 2000 to his Twitter page and then check who he is following.)

I got the wrong stinkin' job. I could work for corporate and set up and update the UPS Twitter page. Must be the same "person" that monitors this and other websites all day.

[UPSNewbie]

Originally Posted by iowa boy

I got the wrong stinkin' job. I could work for corporate and set up and update the UPS Twitter page. Must be the same "person" that monitors this and other websites all day.

You mean the UPS/Porn Quality Assurance Agent?

[DS]

Originally Posted by UPSNewbie

You mean the UPS/Porn Quality Assurance Agent?

Ha...probobly..the IQACM Internet Quality Assurance Corporate Monitor.

We also get today as a paid holiday here in Canada.
Everything closed except the fish n chip shop,where we had lunch.mmmmmm

[brownboxman]

Here is a West Coast Catholic, christian, UPS service provider view of this discussion. After 20 years I know better than to not schedule this day off to be able to make the services I want to attend. I like Cancun's thoughts on it and cant decide whether Tieguy is really trying to be cute or what. The unfortunate thing is that there are very few of us who can schedule this very important day off. So would it be so terrible if this corporate giant could have some understanding on this important day for a very large part of the workforce. It could go a long way toward healing some of the wounds created by the forced overtime of late. Today at our center we recieved an all page about 3 pm stating that help was needed in half of the loops, that there were many drivers going to push over 12 hours. I was lucky and was done in a little over 10. (Too late to attend any services). The moral at out center is as low as I have seen it, one of the shop stewards said there were 6 grievances ready for the CM's desk Monday. I know the feeling is the same in a good portion of the management staff. We can not continue as a well run company with this amount of unhappiness. So, note to upper level mang, be very careful you are planting some very unhealthy levels of discontent, this house of cards may tumble.

[leastbest]

I had an 8 hour request. Punched off at 5:30 and it was a great day. Got to take my lunch and breaks on the shore of Lake Erie playing the guitar.

[covemaster]

Originally Posted by tieguy

just commenting on what I know grunt. they always try to get us to cut much deeper then 10 percent on good friday. that coupled with the win/win line may not have been intended as malicious as it sounded.

And the fri of Memorial Day,day before 4th of July,fri of Labour Day wkend, Weds. of Thanksgiving weekend and lets not forget the anal pounding they enjoy so much on Christmas Eve!! Ohhh and the extra splits you get on Friday before your vacation!! Load em up!! he wants to get out early!!!!

[UpstateNYUPSer]

I had my normal Friday dispatch and was able to deliver all but 6 packages (1 stop). The dispatch sup had pulled me aside on Wednesday and asked me if I had any adjustments and I told him no. The CM then took it upon himself to pull all of the schools off of the car even after I told him that the janitors would be there. Sure enough, drove past the first school and they were outside raking; in fact, I saw activity at all 4 of my schools and let my CM know that his was a poor decision as those pkgs could have been delivered, so I will have those in addition to my regular load on Monday.

We had a number of call in's as some of the guys were getting an early start on their vacations and they had to pull some of the preloaders who drove at peak up to cover drive for the day. In fact, my loader will be covering an area all next week so it should be a fun week for me.

[browniehound]

Originally Posted by tieguy

I think most regions get you to try to cut more then 10 percent for good friday. So in sups case its possible that he was sincerely saying that he was cutting less and taking care of his people and that they took care of him in return. thus the win/win comment.

They cut the baseline and then added it at the last minute here. It was unusually heavy this friday. The 5 routes in my loop were "in the red" or over their max stop count.

My question becomes "why not just plan to include the baseline?" The dispatch sup. must know at 4 A.M. that the volume will warrant the extra route.

Why not have the preload load the extra route? Instead, they have 6 or 7 drivers drop 10-20 stops on the belt for the added driver to load after 830.

To me, this debacle will wipe out any cost gains by cutting the route or adding the route. I call it a debacle because we now have 7-8 drivers wasting 10 minutes each transfering the work. Then the driver recieving the work is wasting an hour just getting his work and setting it up.

What is the center team afraid of? To me, it appears they are trigger shy. They don't want to add the route for fear of it being too light. Problem with that is the technology can tell them it will be heavy and it can't be stated that they didn't know the volume was coming.

What I'm trying to say is in the spirit of saving money UPS shoots itself in the foot. At least, they do it in my center.

If it were my own business I wouldn't tolerate these practices from my managers. If I were a center manager, an extra driver would be put on road only to make service on business packages that would otherwise be missed.

My thinking is I would rather have 5 drivers at 10 hours or add the baseline from the beginning instead of building a route on-road. Think about the money wasted in this instance?

Think about it for a second. Our drivers are "supervised" for 3 days at a time somedays. On these rides, the sup. is looking for seconds in our routine to save time. I understand this. If the sup saves 5-10 seconds at each stop, the savings can be significant when added over 170 stops.

I agree with that logic, but that all goes out the window when UPS adds a route "on-road".

Just think of the waste in this case! OJS' are looking to cut seconds yet UPS managemet allows minutes of OT to be wasted transfering work?

I say either add the route on the pre-load or cut it and keep it cut. When you add a driver at the last minute UPS is only shooting itself in the foot.

The driver meeting other drivers to take work will negatively affect all drivers across the board. What am I missing?

[brownmonster]

Complete disaster. Broke a route in a 4 man loop. 2 of us left at 745 other was still nowhere to be seen. Place is run by complete morons. They failed the customer, failed as an employer and failed as a mgmnt team.

[Hoaxster]

Originally Posted by brownmonster

Complete disaster. Broke a route in a 4 man loop. 2 of us left at 745 other was still nowhere to be seen. Place is run by complete morons. They failed the customer, failed as an employer and failed as a mgmnt team.

Something to be said for consistency.

[Spiderman]

2 1/2 hours overtime yesterday, glad I didn't make plans. Lately, I don't even think about what will happen. I get to the building, just before start time, change into my browns, and then I deliver till I'm done, whatever time that may be. My motto is starting to be, you can't break water, I just go with the flow.

[upsgrunt]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

2 1/2 hours overtime yesterday, glad I didn't make plans. Lately, I don't even think about what will happen. I get to the building, just before start time, change into my browns, and then I deliver till I'm done, whatever time that may be. My motto is starting to be, you can't break water, I just go with the flow.

Or it could be "you can't break water, so you might as well break wind"

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by upsgrunt

Or it could be "you can't break water, so you might as well break wind"

LOL, I did a little of that, too.

[big_arrow_up]

Several of us brought back stops because a 10.5 day gets a driver a warning letter. Its funny because they dispatched a bunch of us with 11 hour days and then went into a panic around 4pm trying to figure out how to get everyone in before 8:00. The most pathetic thing about all this is how certain drivers get babied and go out with a normal day's work while the rest are loaded up like it's peak. Screw that. I say don't worry about pandering to those guys. Let them do their jobs like everyone else.

[helenofcalifornia]

Is it Scratch or Over that is keeping track of the good sayings? Add "You can't break water, just go with the flow." I smell another classic.

[Dizzee]

Originally Posted by upsgrunt

Or it could be "you can't break water, so you might as well break wind"

Originally Posted by helenofcalifornia

Is it Scratch or Over that is keeping track of the good sayings? Add "You can't break water, just go with the flow." I smell another classic.

Ewwww....

[UPSNewbie]

Originally Posted by helenofcalifornia

Is it Scratch or Over that is keeping track of the good sayings? Add "You can't break water, just go with the flow." I smell another classic.

I think it was Rod.

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by browniehound

They cut the baseline and then added it at the last minute here. It was unusually heavy this friday. The 5 routes in my loop were "in the red" or over their max stop count.

My question becomes "why not just plan to include the baseline?" The dispatch sup. must know at 4 A.M. that the volume will warrant the extra route.

Why not have the preload load the extra route? Instead, they have 6 or 7 drivers drop 10-20 stops on the belt for the added driver to load after 830.

To me, this debacle will wipe out any cost gains by cutting the route or adding the route. I call it a debacle because we now have 7-8 drivers wasting 10 minutes each transfering the work. Then the driver recieving the work is wasting an hour just getting his work and setting it up.

What is the center team afraid of? To me, it appears they are trigger shy. They don't want to add the route for fear of it being too light. Problem with that is the technology can tell them it will be heavy and it can't be stated that they didn't know the volume was coming.

What I'm trying to say is in the spirit of saving money UPS shoots itself in the foot. At least, they do it in my center.

If it were my own business I wouldn't tolerate these practices from my managers. If I were a center manager, an extra driver would be put on road only to make service on business packages that would otherwise be missed.

My thinking is I would rather have 5 drivers at 10 hours or add the baseline from the beginning instead of building a route on-road. Think about the money wasted in this instance?

Think about it for a second. Our drivers are "supervised" for 3 days at a time somedays. On these rides, the sup. is looking for seconds in our routine to save time. I understand this. If the sup saves 5-10 seconds at each stop, the savings can be significant when added over 170 stops.

I agree with that logic, but that all goes out the window when UPS adds a route "on-road".

Just think of the waste in this case! OJS' are looking to cut seconds yet UPS managemet allows minutes of OT to be wasted transfering work?

I say either add the route on the pre-load or cut it and keep it cut. When you add a driver at the last minute UPS is only shooting itself in the foot.

The driver meeting other drivers to take work will negatively affect all drivers across the board. What am I missing?

I think you have a lot of good questions and ideas you should pass on to the preload manager or dispatch sup.

[brownmonster]

They will give you a blank look and do what the DM tells them.

[pickup]

Originally Posted by leastbest

I had an 8 hour request. Punched off at 5:30 and it was a great day. Got to take my lunch and breaks on the shore of Lake Erie playing the guitar.

thread hijack alert. I see in your avatar you are playing a banjo (it looks like a 4 string one). And as you mention above , you were playing a guitar(six string instrument). Is it hard jumping back and forth from one to the other? I can safely assume that for any given chord (for example:a C chord) , the fingering position would be one way for the guitar, and another for the banjo. Do you find yourself sometimes doing the wrong position sometimes? I play the guitar by the way, but not the banjo so I am just curious.

Do you have one of those backpack guitars for your package car (small, no large body) so that it doesn't take up too much room?

[UPSNewbie]

Originally Posted by pickup

thread hijack alert. I see in your avatar you are playing a banjo (it looks like a 4 string one). And as you mention above , you were playing a guitar(six string instrument). Is it hard jumping back and forth from one to the other? I can safely assume that for any given chord (for example:a C chord) , the fingering position would be one way for the guitar, and another for the banjo. Do you find yourself sometimes doing the wrong position sometimes? I play the guitar by the way, but not the banjo so I am just curious.

Do you have one of those backpack guitars for your package car (small, no large body) so that it doesn't take up too much room?

I can play a violin (4 strings), but not a guitar.

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by brownmonster

They will give you a blank look and do what the DM tells them.

you never know that blank look may be thier realizing that there is a better way of doing things

I think you have a lot of good insight , hope you can find someone that listens.