This saves money? - Brown Cafe

ol'browneye · 10-24-2009, 08:34 PM

We had a situation Friday that just left us shaking our heads. The sad thing is this stuff happens everyday.

At the last minute, the top brass decided we had to cut a split car. The problem was all the routes had left the building or were leaving. So instead of having a driver deliver this route, they had a driver shuttle all of these stops to other drivers. He spent 11.5 hours shuttling on Friday when he could have run these stops in 8-9 hours. Add to that the time the other drivers had to take to meet him and then to run these extra stops, management added over 10 hours to the payroll and most of that at the overtime rate.

All of this to lower the number of official routes the center ran that day! They wasted a lot of money but I guess they can say they met their numbers for the day. And those numbers will show they saved money!

I remember other posts about cutting routes in another thread but I did a search and could not find it. Let's make this thread about other ways UPS says they are saving money, but really aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for saving money in tough times but cutting off ones nose to spite the face is just wrong! Or as some others here have put it, "UPS likes to step over a dollar to pick up a dime!"

Hoaxster · 10-24-2009, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ol'browneye

All of this to lower the number of official routes the center ran that day! They wasted a lot of money but I guess they can say they met their numbers for the day. And those numbers will show they saved money!

Don't get me wrong, I am all for saving money in tough times but cutting off ones nose to spite the face is just wrong! Or as some others here have put it, "UPS likes to step over a dollar to pick up a dime!"

One of the many things that is bad about Centralized control ... doesn't work any better in corporations than it does in governments.

brownmonster · 10-24-2009, 08:54 PM

Un I mean not unbelievable.

scratch · 10-24-2009, 09:06 PM

A little over a week ago, one of the Louisville planes landed late, so we had late air. The other Center in the building starts at 8:30, so they hit the road and got their late air stops shuttled out to them. My center starts at 8:45, and the Airport feeder pulls into the building after our PCM, just as we are leaving. The decision was made to hold us, and it took 50 minutes to run everything down the belts. So instead of leaving the building on time and delivering most of the air on time, we had over 450 late pieces. We had about 50 drivers standing behind our packages cars wasting almost an hour for packages to trickle down the belt. It evidently never occurred to the people in charge to stick some more people in the unload to get this stuff sorted faster. I gave up trying to understand UPS reasoning a long time ago.

browniehound · 10-25-2009, 03:32 AM

This is more evidence supporting my argument I made in a previous post. I made the argument if it were not for the volume and stop density that UPS enjoys, the company would be driven to bankruptcy by some of its business practices at the center level. There is so much efficency built into the routes that a monkey could make money running a UPS center.

Events like the one posted above happen in my center on most mondays of the year. They cut the split route on the preload, but then send a driver out to collect the cut stops from 7 drivers and deliver them.

How can the company preach "saving a mile","no left hand turns" or excess idling when being penny wise with those action is negated by being pound foolish with the indesicion of how many routes to run. So UPS saves $10 in fuel with the above practices but will spend much more than that to have a driver meet 7 other drivers to collect work.

I understand its all a numbers game, but when those numbers dont reflect reality or are not productive, then they are useless. You would think company owners (management) would do what is profitable for the stock price and not what makes their numbers look better. Isn't that the purpose of the employee stock program?

There is another (relatively new) number that the center has to answer to. Its called packges deliver by another route. In other words, if i have to take 15 stops from another driver to keep him under 9.5 on road it hurts their numbers.

But, if we transfer the work before the day-sort starts we can give the sup. the PAL numbers and he can change them in the computer so that those packages are delivered by the same route. What I don't get is, "it is what it is"? Yeah, you made some numbers but the same action was made that would have hurt your number, so how does this help the business? Do you follow me? Those 15 stops were still delivered by another driver even though you changed it in the computer so it was delivered by the correct driver on paper. If that isn't "cooking the books" then I don't know if it ever existed.

Its things like these that make me shake head at the fact the company is 100 years old. Like I said, a monkey could make money if given the reins of a UPS center.

I also believe, that if the center manager didn't have to make certain numbers and just did what was good for the business, it would be more profitable.

NHDRVR · 10-25-2009, 04:41 AM

Having heard many of the under-his-breath comments our CM makes I wonder sometimes if they know damn well that the move they are being told to make is going to fall apart. The guy that runs our dispatch is told, for example, that 78 runs are going out today. That's it. So if belt 3 needs a run thrown in, too bad. So when they have to cut a route I don't doubt that there is some type of satisfaction when the decision backfires.
Reminds me of a CM we had once...that guy cared less about the cardboard than the drivers. He was actually a pleasure to work for.

NHDRVR · 10-25-2009, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by browniehound

This is more evidence supporting my argument I made in a previous post. I made the argument if it were not for the volume and stop density that UPS enjoys, the company would be driven to bankruptcy by some of its business practices at the center level. There is so much efficency built into the routes that a monkey could make money running a UPS center.

Events like the one posted above happen in my center on most mondays of the year. They cut the split route on the preload, but then send a driver out to collect the cut stops from 7 drivers and deliver them.

How can the company preach "saving a mile","no left hand turns" or excess idling when being penny wise with those action is negated by being pound foolish with the indesicion of how many routes to run. So UPS saves $10 in fuel with the above practices but will spend much more than that to have a driver meet 7 other drivers to collect work.

I understand its all a numbers game, but when those numbers dont reflect reality or are not productive, then they are useless. You would think company owners (management) would do what is profitable for the stock price and not what makes their numbers look better. Isn't that the purpose of the employee stock program?

There is another (relatively new) number that the center has to answer to. Its called packges deliver by another route. In other words, if i have to take 15 stops from another driver to keep him under 9.5 on road it hurts their numbers.

But, if we transfer the work before the day-sort starts we can give the sup. the PAL numbers and he can change them in the computer so that those packages are delivered by the same route. What I don't get is, "it is what it is"? Yeah, you made some numbers but the same action was made that would have hurt your number, so how does this help the business? Do you follow me? Those 15 stops were still delivered by another driver even though you changed it in the computer so it was delivered by the correct driver on paper. If that isn't "cooking the books" then I don't know if it ever existed.

Its things like these that make me shake head at the fact the company is 100 years old. Like I said, a monkey could make money if given the reins of a UPS center.

I also believe, that if the center manager didn't have to make certain numbers and just did what was good for the business, it would be more profitable.

Good points here...

Your comment about 'cooking the books', in my opinion, doesn't work anymore because the PAS system is designed to allocate work based on stop count/pieces and it doesn't care where the work came from. So it isn't about hiding stops on routes. In our building they want an average of 120 stops per car. Bottom line. Corporate doesn't care how it happens as long as it does...

klein · 10-25-2009, 04:56 AM

I seen it all , too. Got to shake your head often, on what kind of decisons are made, just to make thier numbers to look better.

Who has it right , considering 24 hrs of workload ?
Fedex that will send out 3 trucks with 8 hrs each and no OT, or UPS with 2 trucks, and 8 hrs OT (with late air, and misses) ?

We all know, UPS books look much better with 2 trucks.

And, some wonder why UPS shares won't rise.
Trust me, insiders on Wall Street know it all.

talkwith · 10-25-2009, 05:46 AM

To a certain degree, we need to be sympathetic with management right now. As some of ya'll said, they are being forced to do things that even an inexperienced supervisor knows is idiotic. On the other hand, they are still unwilling to listen to experienced drivers advice on making the splits more efficient. I don't think they realize how much easier their jobs would be if they implemented the suggestions of the drivers. Instead of despairing of the lack of common sense above them they need to try and make the best of a bad situation. These decisions are driving away customers and employees and UPS will soon be forced to come to terms with that reality and stop blaming FedEx for all their problems.

Brown287 · 10-25-2009, 09:35 AM

Ive said it for years, if you witness a day in a UPS building you would be convinced that at all times we have some secret government agency looking in on us. Every UPSer knows exactly whats going on at UPS. From the lowest unloader all the way to the top. So really who are we fooling? A driver shutteling packages all day so that it doesnt "appear" as a car on road, news flash UPS it is a "CAR" on road! I understand saving money but moves like that dont save money, so you would think that someone would step in and say that STOP THE MADNESS. Maybe that could be a new position at UPS, a "Madness Officer". JUst a thought.

big_arrow_up · 10-25-2009, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ol'browneye

We had a situation Friday that just left us shaking our heads. The sad thing is this stuff happens everyday.

At the last minute, the top brass decided we had to cut a split car. The problem was all the routes had left the building or were leaving. So instead of having a driver deliver this route, they had a driver shuttle all of these stops to other drivers. He spent 11.5 hours shuttling on Friday when he could have run these stops in 8-9 hours. Add to that the time the other drivers had to take to meet him and then to run these extra stops, management added over 10 hours to the payroll and most of that at the overtime rate.

All of this to lower the number of official routes the center ran that day! They wasted a lot of money but I guess they can say they met their numbers for the day. And those numbers will show they saved money!

I remember other posts about cutting routes in another thread but I did a search and could not find it. Let's make this thread about other ways UPS says they are saving money, but really aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for saving money in tough times but cutting off ones nose to spite the face is just wrong! Or as some others here have put it, "UPS likes to step over a dollar to pick up a dime!"

I'm sure all of this was done to keep from having one extra "full service provider" show up on a report somewhere. The driver that shuttled all of those stops was probably some how "ghosted" on those reports. Some managers have a rather rare skill of being able to do that. The driver may have been paid as a driver should be paid but on paper he/she did not exist.

upsguy72 · 10-25-2009, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klein

I seen it all , too. Got to shake your head often, on what kind of decisons are made, just to make thier numbers to look better.

Who has it right , considering 24 hrs of workload ?
Fedex that will send out 3 trucks with 8 hrs each and no OT, or UPS with 2 trucks, and 8 hrs OT (with late air, and misses) ?

We all know, UPS books look much better with 2 trucks.

And, some wonder why UPS shares won't rise.
Trust me, insiders on Wall Street know it all.

Most of FED EX driver are independent contractors that they aren't getting paid overtime anyways no matter if they work 10 a day.

brownrodster · 10-25-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by big_arrow_up

The driver may have been paid as a driver should be paid but on paper he/she did not exist.

Our center has drivers sit inside and grade safety papers. These drivers would be utilized in this fashion. On paper as a safety guy for the day. But in reality they are shuttling missloads, etc... I've always referred to our "safety comittee" as the "missload comittee."

dragon · 10-25-2009, 05:06 PM

Scratch,

We had about 50 drivers standing behind our packages cars wasting almost an hour for packages to trickle down the belt.

I know you could nothing about leaving the building, but did you at least get in your cars and start sorting, checking for misloads? Please tell me you did not stand around and do nothing in your car and just stood there waiting on a package to trickle down.

Before you answer - please leave out anything about the cars were too full - preloader had a crappy load - etc, etc.

evilleace · 10-25-2009, 05:19 PM

Well if the cars were wrapped then they probably were to full to get into, as far as getting into the car if you are waiting on packages seems like a bad time to go searching through the load.

over9five · 10-25-2009, 05:29 PM

Not only that, Scratch's center is on PAS/EDD. There are no misloads and the car is already set up stop for stop.

evilleace · 10-25-2009, 05:31 PM

Well of course I thought that was self explanatory over.

UpstateNYUPSer · 10-25-2009, 05:32 PM

Dragon has an excellent point--we are always instructed to go through our cars for misloads if we are waiting for the air.

tarbar66 · 10-25-2009, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scratch

A little over a week ago, one of the Louisville planes landed late, so we had late air. The other Center in the building starts at 8:30, so they hit the road and got their late air stops shuttled out to them. My center starts at 8:45, and the Airport feeder pulls into the building after our PCM, just as we are leaving. The decision was made to hold us, and it took 50 minutes to run everything down the belts. So instead of leaving the building on time and delivering most of the air on time, we had over 450 late pieces. We had about 50 drivers standing behind our packages cars wasting almost an hour for packages to trickle down the belt. It evidently never occurred to the people in charge to stick some more people in the unload to get this stuff sorted faster. I gave up trying to understand UPS reasoning a long time ago.

Late air dispatch used to be a PITA for the small extended centers, 20-30 drivers. Finally in my last 5 years there was 3 or 4 different plans that were put on paper that even a 5th Grader or an OMS could make happen. The plans were driven by the late air arrival times. All the drivers pickup logs had a copy of the plans so if you were in a different loop that day there was little chance for a screw up.

Sounds like the big metro boys need some help.

pickup · 10-25-2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brown287

Ive said it for years, if you witness a day in a UPS building you would be convinced that at all times we have some secret government agency looking in on us. Every UPSer knows exactly whats going on at UPS. From the lowest unloader all the way to the top. So really who are we fooling? A driver shutteling packages all day so that it doesnt "appear" as a car on road, news flash UPS it is a "CAR" on road! I understand saving money but moves like that dont save money, so you would think that someone would step in and say that STOP THE MADNESS. Maybe that could be a new position at UPS, a "Madness Officer". JUst a thought.

orangputeh said once or twice and I am growing , every day, more convinced that "it all makes sense if aliens are running ups" . Maybe aliens that feed on the emotions of bewilderment and despair.

scratch · 10-25-2009, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon

Scratch,
I know you could nothing about leaving the building, but did you at least get in your cars and start sorting, checking for misloads? Please tell me you did not stand around and do nothing in your car and just stood there waiting on a package to trickle down.

Before you answer - please leave out anything about the cars were too full - preloader had a crappy load - etc, etc.

My car was already checked for missorts by a Preload Supervisor. We did set up our first sections stop for stop, but that only takes few minutes. I only noticed four Preload employees waiting to unload and sort the late load, they should have put some drivers in there to speed things up. During this wait, I got a total of two Next Day Savers. Most of the late air on my belt went to one car. I am a residential driver, so there was plenty of empty space in my car. I seldom see blown out cars anymore, thats how it was all the time when I started driving Package 25 years ago. We had more service failures due to being held in the building than if we had been allowed to hit the road and get the air already there delivered on time.

hurricanegunner · 10-25-2009, 07:33 PM

When we were put on the PAS/ED system, we were ordered to no longer go into our trucks and "manicure" the load. We were told it was no longer allowed as we have a system that does away with misloads. Some drivers still do it, but not me. I just send a message whenever I find a misload.

rocket man · 10-25-2009, 09:14 PM

Good post.

raceanoncr · 10-26-2009, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon

Please tell me you did not stand around and do nothing in your car and just stood there waiting on a package to trickle down.

Before you answer - please leave out anything about the cars were too full - preloader had a crappy load - etc, etc.

I just stood around and did nothing in my car and I just stood there waiting on a package to tricle down.

The cars were too full-preloader had a crappy load-etc.

ol'browneye · 10-27-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon

Scratch,

We had about 50 drivers standing behind our packages cars wasting almost an hour for packages to trickle down the belt.

I know you could nothing about leaving the building, but did you at least get in your cars and start sorting, checking for misloads? Please tell me you did not stand around and do nothing in your car and just stood there waiting on a package to trickle down.

Before you answer - please leave out anything about the cars were too full - preloader had a crappy load - etc, etc.

In case you missed the memo, drivers don't get paid to think nor or they allowed to think for themselves anymore. We are to work as instructed.
Just another by-product of the all powerful, all knowing EDD/PAS system that the company raved about to the stockholders! You know, the system that saves UPS so much money?