Package Pickup

[beentheredonethat]

Originally Posted by rod

Good luck with your new service. In theory it would be great. Just keep reminding yourself that your working at UPS not just any ol company and they do some very strange things. As for your remark about going back to paper- 3/4 of my time at UPS was on paper and it worked fine. Damage claims are still denied by UPS and customers still claim signatures aren't theirs. So what has really changed with all the new technology? I mean other than getting more stops added. No, UPS shouldn't remain in the dark ages but then again is all this tech crap paying for itself or just causing more problems?

First off, I think the idea is good. Like someone else said, a modern version of a sign in the window, that no driver that i know of has ever been fired for stop completing a stop where they see a sign and don't walk into office. Second, with the new technology, there's a lot of things we are able to do. Every district used to have a tracing dept. In my old district they had about 30 clerks working tracing a relatively small handful of pkgs. Now, people can do it themselves, Every district approx 60*30 clks = 1800 people saved. By using technology, we used to have a data dept with about 40 clrks keyentering billing records. Now none, savings 60*40 - 2400 people. Also, with the DWS machines we are able to bill customers for OS without a clrk measuring each pkg. Huge savings and huge revenue. Next year we are going to Dim Wt on grd pkgs too, which should increase revenue. Dell computer gets notices within minutes sent to them when a pkg is refused, nss, ns# etc. They contact customer before us returning pkg to them so they can save the sale. This technology lets us have the Dell volume. Again, what I have mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what technology has done for us.

I like the original posters idea of text messaging. Sounds like a great idea. It's really something UPS should have via worldship to send msg to pickup driver.

[hoser]

Isn't it possible for a client to call UPS anyways to cancel a regular or on call pickup? Or does UPS schank their employees that way as well...

[retired]

Sure, if I were still a driver this would seem like smart shortcut to take, until you think about it a little more. Think of it like a customer though. You are shifting one of the responsibilities that comes with doing your job over to your customers. If they are going to do part of your job then maybe you should give them some compensation.

If someone that doesn't care enough about their job to follow through with their pickups then I'll bet they are taking other shortcuts too.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by beentheredonethat

First off, I think the idea is good. Like someone else said, a modern version of a sign in the window, that no driver that i know of has ever been fired for stop completing a stop where they see a sign and don't walk into office. Second, with the new technology, there's a lot of things we are able to do. Every district used to have a tracing dept. In my old district they had about 30 clerks working tracing a relatively small handful of pkgs. Now, people can do it themselves, Every district approx 60*30 clks = 1800 people saved. By using technology, we used to have a data dept with about 40 clrks keyentering billing records. Now none, savings 60*40 - 2400 people. Also, with the DWS machines we are able to bill customers for OS without a clrk measuring each pkg. Huge savings and huge revenue. Next year we are going to Dim Wt on grd pkgs too, which should increase revenue. Dell computer gets notices within minutes sent to them when a pkg is refused, nss, ns# etc. They contact customer before us returning pkg to them so they can save the sale. This technology lets us have the Dell volume. Again, what I have mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what technology has done for us.

I like the original posters idea of text messaging. Sounds like a great idea. It's really something UPS should have via worldship to send msg to pickup driver.

finally, someone here is using their head. and yes, I have already thought of how to implement such a system into our worldship software. but just because there is currently nothing like this established within ups doesn't mean we can't start doing ourselves. if ups is going to use technology to give us more and more stops, lets fight fire with fire and use technology (text messages) to make delivering all those stops a little easier for us.

[hoser]

Originally Posted by retired

Sure, if I were still a driver this would seem like smart shortcut to take, until you think about it a little more. Think of it like a customer though. You are shifting one of the responsibilities that comes with doing your job over to your customers. If they are going to do part of your job then maybe you should give them some compensation.

If someone that doesn't care enough about their job to follow through with their pickups then I'll bet they are taking other shortcuts too.

Yeah agreed. But some customers who work in mail rooms don't mind helping the guy that helps them out. As a courier, I would NEVER suggest this, but if I knew about this when I worked in the mail room, I'd ask if my regular driver would want me to text him.

[ExupserNaples]

Everyone so far seems to have missed the point. When I started in 87 a weekly pickup was $5 a week charge whether you shipped or not. Now I have no idea what it costs. Why should a customer that pays a charge for a pickup have to take their time to notify you that they have nothing going out that day???? Probably before your time the S in UPS was for service. This is a stupid idea, you are being paid well for going into those places that dont ship everyday. People just like to see your face for the money they pay, trust me, this will bite you in the a## down the road. The only thing you are doing is costing yourself money.....

[over9five]

This is a lazy mans way to get out of doing your job. Do your job. Go to the pickup, make customer contact. Get paid to do it.

Do the right thing.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by retired

Sure, if I were still a driver this would seem like smart shortcut to take, until you think about it a little more. Think of it like a customer though. You are shifting one of the responsibilities that comes with doing your job over to your customers. If they are going to do part of your job then maybe you should give them some compensation.

If someone that doesn't care enough about their job to follow through with their pickups then I'll bet they are taking other shortcuts too.

Are you freakin' kidding? Half the reason I came up with this is because customers are constantly asking me for my cell phone number. I would never give that out in fear of how much receiving phone calls from my customers would slow me down in my job. Most customers want to be able to have direct contact with their driver. It helps them out too. Sometimes customers have special needs that come up, like needing an extra 15 min before you pick them up. If they can text that need to you, you can then go strait to another pickup or two first before you do their pickup. By doing little things like this for your customers, they will return the favor and let you know when they don't need a pickup at all. Trust me, I have been working on and using this system now for about a year and every customer I use it with (and I don't use it with all of them) likes it. The customers that I use it with definitely get "compensated" for using it. And it definitely saves me time, which allows me to do my job more efficiently. never missing pickups, having more time to finish all my deliveries at a decent hour, take all my breaks, oh, and not have to run all day, putting my health at risk. I guess it seems like a no brainer to me because I have actually been using it for a while now and I know first hand how effective it can be.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by ExupserNaples

Everyone so far seems to have missed the point. When I started in 87 a weekly pickup was $5 a week charge whether you shipped or not. Now I have no idea what it costs. Why should a customer that pays a charge for a pickup have to take their time to notify you that they have nothing going out that day???? Probably before your time the S in UPS was for service. This is a stupid idea, you are being paid well for going into those places that dont ship everyday. People just like to see your face for the money they pay, trust me, this will bite you in the a## down the road. The only thing you are doing is costing yourself money.....

That is a good point, and I have thought about that alot. But what it boils down to is, the cost the having a daily pickup is the customers piece of mind, knowing that their shipments will be going out, without them having to call it in everytime. And this is still what they get, but if they use my system with their driver, they are actually getting even more. Along with that piece of mind is having a communication window opened with their driver. Many customers really do like that option. And it doesn't cost them any more $$$ to have it. The service is free for them to use as well.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by over9five

This is a lazy mans way to get out of doing your job. Do your job. Go to the pickup, make customer contact. Get paid to do it.

Do the right thing.

No offense, but you must have a "juice route", and from what I can tell, those are being converted to "**** routes" real fast. This service is for the new and upcoming drivers that actually know what a text message is and how to use it. My guess is you don't even have a cell phone. I'm not surprised that many "senior drivers" here on this community are against this idea. Most of the senior dudes are already set in their ways and don't understand the benefits of technology. It's the new and future drivers of our company that will easily see how this can help them. Sorry if this comment sounds a bit harsh, but that's just how it is.

[toonertoo]

Originally Posted by over9five

This is a lazy mans way to get out of doing your job. Do your job. Go to the pickup, make customer contact. Get paid to do it.

Do the right thing.

Although I do have a few flag accounts, and a few I can call if Im going to be late, Im not going to depend on them to send me a text, if they ship nothing for the week, I think it costs them 16$ so they deserve to see my smiling face. Its a great idea, and if you can get UPS to bundle it into thier software, that would be great, but til you do, if they forget to text, and they DID have something going, who do you think is responsible?

[rod]

Ok- so I'm a dinosaur. At least I'm a happy retired dinosaur.

DINOSAUR

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by toonertoo

Although I do have a few flag accounts, and a few I can call if Im going to be late, Im not going to depend on them to send me a text, if they ship nothing for the week, I think it costs them 16$ so they deserve to see my smiling face. Its a great idea, and if you can get UPS to bundle it into thier software, that would be great, but til you do, if they forget to text, and they DID have something going, who do you think is responsible?

Since they already have a daily pickup with you, then they don't need to text you when they have stuff to be picked up. You will just show up as usual. It's when they don't need a pickup, or need an ASD or something that they can text you. And if they forget to do that, then oh well, it's like you didn't have the system anyway. Also, sometimes customers want to go home early on a day and have all their shipments ready to be picked up at 4:00pm instead of 5:00pm (for example). They can send you a message like "we do need a pickup today, it's ready now) and you can maybe get them when you are already next door at 4:00pm anyway. It helps them out a lot and they will gladly return the favor by letting you know when they don't need a pickup at all, or maybe they will hook you up with a fat christmas bonus or something. Think about it!

[ikoi62]

Everyone so far seems to have missed the point. When I started in 87 a weekly pickup was $5 a week charge whether you shipped or not. Now I have no idea what it costs. Why should a customer that pays a charge for a pickup have to take their time to notify you that they have nothing going out that day???? Probably before your time the S in UPS was for service. This is a stupid idea, you are being paid well for going into those places that dont ship everyday. People just like to see your face for the money they pay, trust me, this will bite you in the a## down the road. The only thing you are doing is costing yourself money...

i couldnt agree more!

This service is for the new and upcoming drivers that actually know what a text message is and how to use it. My guess is you don't even have a cell phone. I'm not surprised that many "senior drivers" here on this community are against this idea. Most of the senior dudes are already set in their ways and don't understand the benefits of technology. It's the new and future drivers of our company that will easily see how this can help them.

this service is for the upcoming drivers who want just another way of getting out of doing their job. we senior drivers as you put it understand the benefits of technology we also understand what our job is,and what we get paid to do. deliver & pickup, we also remember when it was "every package every day" not "its not my stuff i dont care" like it is today.

[Megansman]

That customer (i.e. the business making your paycheck and bennies and retirement possible) pays $16.00 a week to see your smiling face each day at an appointed time. Whether they ship or not. Some of my pick ups have my cell number (those that have asked) and text me or call me from time to time, to request a later or earlier pick up, let me know they have a few boxes instead of the usual two envelopes (bring your hand cart), or if they are occasional shippers, they can call and set up a pick up.

If management wanted to text us the status of our pick ups, they would have implemented that by now, if only in order to saddle us with even more work. OCA anyone?

Showing up everyday, at the same time gives us the opportunity to grab more business -- how many accounts do you have that use us for ground and Fred or the Germans for air? That is icing on a brown cake if we can get it all -- we're already there!

As to these text messages, what happens when you're on vacation or sick?

[j4ck4zz]

With GPS in the new diads, I think it might be a good idea to actually be at the pickup stop when you stop complete it. That "dishonesty" language in the contract can mean anything UPS wants it to mean.

[sendagain]

It will work great as long as no problems arise. It will require you to frequently look for messages when you need to be focused on other work, thus slowing you down. Then you offer them the option of changing your schedule in order to encourage them to use this service, which is supposed to be helping you. On a heavy route, this idea could backfire, leaving the customer dissatisfied at your inability to conform to their schedule. I know we have all used flag stops, and these often work well without any hitches, but when the shortcut fails, it will just be your butt blowing in the wind.

[Aaron]

Hey there's also no pickup saves drivers everywhere hours a day. In my case it'd only save 1 min for my little pickup.

[retired]

Originally Posted by Megansman

That customer (i.e. the business making your paycheck and bennies and retirement possible) pays $16.00 a week to see your smiling face each day at an appointed time. Whether they ship or not. Some of my pick ups have my cell number (those that have asked) and text me or call me from time to time, to request a later or earlier pick up, let me know they have a few boxes instead of the usual two envelopes (bring your hand cart), or if they are occasional shippers, they can call and set up a pick up.

If management wanted to text us the status of our pick ups, they would have implemented that by now, if only in order to saddle us with even more work. OCA anyone?

Showing up everyday, at the same time gives us the opportunity to grab more business -- how many accounts do you have that use us for ground and Fred or the Germans for air? That is icing on a brown cake if we can get it all -- we're already there!

As to these text messages, what happens when you're on vacation or sick?

Great point, since you're using an unauthorized system to maintain contact with your pickups there is no backup communication available when you get the flu or go on vacation.

Another potential problem that comes to mind is the identity of who or what is behind this "free" service. Is this all run off of his kid's pc in his garage or is there something more substantial behind it? If a UPS driver is technology saavy enough to set up this "valuable" service why not charge for it? What is the motivation behind a UPS driver offering this "free" service?

Why in the heck wouldn't you just give your customers your cell phone number instead of involving an unknown third party? Has anyone ever thought that this could be a competitor just looking to get your pick up business?

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by Megansman

That customer (i.e. the business making your paycheck and bennies and retirement possible) pays $16.00 a week to see your smiling face each day at an appointed time. Whether they ship or not. Some of my pick ups have my cell number (those that have asked) and text me or call me from time to time, to request a later or earlier pick up, let me know they have a few boxes instead of the usual two envelopes (bring your hand cart), or if they are occasional shippers, they can call and set up a pick up.

If management wanted to text us the status of our pick ups, they would have implemented that by now, if only in order to saddle us with even more work. OCA anyone?

Showing up everyday, at the same time gives us the opportunity to grab more business -- how many accounts do you have that use us for ground and Fred or the Germans for air? That is icing on a brown cake if we can get it all -- we're already there!

As to these text messages, what happens when you're on vacation or sick?

Again, this text messaging system I came up with does not necessarily apply to all of your pickup accounts. If you have some accounts that want to see your pearly whites every day, then by all means, floss up and be there every day. But I'm sure you have a few pickups that would like to use this system with you. Again, you are in complete control of which of your customers you want to set this up with. Use common sense.

As far as if you call in sick or are on vacation, then remember, this system is for those customers who have a daily pickup account. Anyone filling in on your route will see your pickup log and know to check with all of your pickups. If you want, when you go on vacation, if you happen to know who is going to be doing your route, you can update your account settings on PackagePickup.com, putting in the "fill in" drivers cell phone number instead of yours, and any messages being sent to you, will be forwarded to the fill in drivers phone instead. Just be sure to update your account again with your cell phone number before you go back to work.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by j4ck4zz

With GPS in the new diads, I think it might be a good idea to actually be at the pickup stop when you stop complete it. That "dishonesty" language in the contract can mean anything UPS wants it to mean.

I highly doubt that using GPS in the diad will be implemented in a way that ups will be "red flagged" if or when you stop complete pickup a little ways away from the pickup. UPS will only look into stuff like that if you miss a pickup. That's when they freak. But even if they somehow freaked when you didn't miss a pickup, then just stop complete those stops as you are driving by.

[Pickups]

Originally Posted by sendagain

It will work great as long as no problems arise. It will require you to frequently look for messages when you need to be focused on other work, thus slowing you down. Then you offer them the option of changing your schedule in order to encourage them to use this service, which is supposed to be helping you. On a heavy route, this idea could backfire, leaving the customer dissatisfied at your inability to conform to their schedule. I know we have all used flag stops, and these often work well without any hitches, but when the shortcut fails, it will just be your butt blowing in the wind.

Exactly, my system is a modern/better version of using "flag stops". If you are a driver that doesn't have any stops like that, then my system may not be for you.

As far as checking to see if you have a text message. Most phones will give you a loud tone, and/or vibrate, when one comes in. You will know without even having to look. But then instead of grabbing your phone right away, you can safely wait til you have a minute to look at your phone (I.E. you are not driving your truck), and see which customer sent you a message. Much safer than trying to answer a phone call. It only takes a sec, and you can save a lot of time if you use it with a few of your customers.

You’re missing one big point.

Here you won’t have a cell phone unless it has a personal property pass issued by security on it.

NO inside employees will have cell phones period. Increasingly, package car drivers won’t have them either.

That if for a few reasons.

1) the phones have been used to coordinate thefts.

2) using any personal communication device while operating a vehicle is prohibited by law (here).

3) “professional” Teamster drivers have already been involved in three fatalities while (according to witnesses) they were chatting away on their cell phones.

It won’t be long before you’ll either store your phone in your personal vehicle, or your locker (if so equipped).

If you get caught with a prohibited item you’ll start the process toward your eventual termination.

That will be nationwide within a few years. Watch and see.

Bye-bye packagepickup.

[Pickups]

Great point, since you're using an unauthorized system to maintain contact with your pickups there is no backup communication available when you get the flu or go on vacation.

Another potential problem that comes to mind is the identity of who or what is behind this "free" service. Is this all run off of his kid's pc in his garage or is there something more substantial behind it? If a UPS driver is technology saavy enough to set up this "valuable" service why not charge for it? What is the motivation behind a UPS driver offering this "free" service?

Why in the heck wouldn't you just give your customers your cell phone number instead of involving an unknown third party? Has anyone ever thought that this could be a competitor just looking to get your pick up business?

As far as bieing sick or on vacation, please read my other post, or the the FAQ's section on the PackagePickup.com site. I've explained this.

Again, I am a UPS driver just like you, except I came up with a clever idea that I actually am persuing. I am not some compeditor or whatever. I am offering the service for free because I feel that is the only way people will actually start using it. Just like MySpace.com or even BrownCafe.com for that matter, the more users you have, you do have potential to make some money. But not by charging your members, rather with simple advertising on the site (see the big banner at the top of this site). What's the "motivation" behind BrownCafe.com? Same thing. I could potentially make decent money just by generating hits on the site.

My site is not hosted from my house, but instead a very credible web hosting company. The site can get many thousands of messages sent through it and not be overloaded. This is a legit business I have started and I am not going to wonder the rest of my short life "why in the hell didn't I persue that idea".

As far as a phone call vs. a text message. Text messages are far more safe and convenient to receive than a phone call. Especially while you are driving a huge brown truck with no power steering (many of our trucks still don't have it), or while you have packages in your hands. You can look at the text message whenever you want, not right then when it is coming in, like a phone call. Also, many states are now passing laws, making it illegal to have a cell phone at your ear while you are driving. You will be getting tickets for that in the future, and I bet UPS would fire you if they found out you were talking on your cell phone while you got into an accident on the job. Think about it.

[retired]

As far as a phone call vs. a text message. Text messages are far more safe and convenient to receive than a phone call. Especially while you are driving a huge brown truck with no power steering (many of our trucks still don't have it), or while you have packages in your hands. You can look at the text message whenever you want, not right then when it is coming in, like a phone call. Also, many states are now passing laws, making it illegal to have a cell phone at your ear while you are driving. You will be getting tickets for that in the future, and I bet UPS would fire you if they found out you were talking on your cell phone while you got into an accident on the job. Think about it.

Haven't you ever heard of voice mail? It's a lot more efficient and less hassle for the sender/customer than text messaging...