Anyother satellite drivers out there? - Brown Cafe

satellitedriver · 09-27-2006, 06:14 PM

Are any of you satellite drivers? A satellite driver is a rural route driver that keeps his truck on his route and never goes to the center. Another driver drops a trailer in a parking lot and delivers an intown route while I load my truck out of the trailer and then return in the evening and reload what is left and load my pickups and send my diad back, then punching out when my truck is empty, over the phone. Saves me a 110 mile round trip to the center (I did that for ten years) and saves UPS deadheading a package car both ways. They started this in NorthEast Texas 11 years ago. I think I am the last man standing,but I am not sure. Some drivers got fired because they thought they were outside of the rules, ie.. beards,longhair and not wearing proper uniforms,ect... All that being said, no one in my center knows if there are any satellite drivers left besides me. So my question is .Are there anyother satellite drivers out there.?
Syeve

Keepingthemhonest · 09-27-2006, 06:27 PM

We just put a sat on in our building 5-6 months ago...don't know much about it other than we have a driver in our hub getting loaded up twice as heavy, driving down to meet the other driver then they both load his truck and go do their routes. I don't see how it saves the company much money...paying both these drivers to do preload work for a 1/2 hour or so but w/e. It doesn't seem very legal either...as that constitutes feeder work but I guess no one filed on it

ncamara · 09-27-2006, 06:39 PM

We've got one at our center. I've covered on the route that drops off the trailer. I leave it for him in the morning, and he sorts his own stuff. He doesn't have any pickups. When I'm done with my route, I grab the empty trailer, and head home.
When he goes on vacation, they just run the route from the center.
Seems to work out OK. The only problem is when they aren't done loading on time in the morning. Then he just sits there getting paid (starts on the clock at 9AM) and not delivering, until I show up.

Keepingthemhonest · 09-27-2006, 06:48 PM

Yeah the guy that drops off the SAT route typically has EAM's to deliever and we are almost never rap'd up by 9 gg

Gman24 · 09-27-2006, 06:54 PM

Yep, I'm a SATELLITE driver and I LOVE it. I had made the drive to my center 40 minutes away for 16 years. Been doing it for 5 months now. It now takes me 10 minutes to get to work. Load my own truck, haven;t seen my center manager but twice in the 5 months. He brought down the ERI survey to me this week on paper. Only seen my supervisor a handful of times since the SAT. route started. Can be tough somedays, because I am running 15-25 more stops now. I dread PEAK because I don;t start till 9:30 now. takes me till 6:30 to get my 8. worried that I'll be out knocking on doors at 10 p.m. during peak. I guess I'll see.

Saving me money on gas, I think I've filled my Corrolla up 3 times in 5 months. Used to fill it every 6th day. I hope they keep it in.

How long did you say you had been a Satellite DRIVER???? Send me a private message and we'll chat.

satellitedriver · 09-27-2006, 07:21 PM

Hey Gman,
I have been a satellite driver for 11 years. The site will not let me send you a private message. I guess it is because I am a new user of this site. My start time is 9:45.Get use to getting home late. If you do your job correctlly, you will rarely see a supervisor. I have had them "visit" me only three times in 11 years. I like working where I live. It makes it more than just a route. The work load you can produce can not be matched by running the same load from your center. Do not take ay B.S. from the union or management. Good luck.
Steve

satellitedriver · 09-27-2006, 07:33 PM

ya, he just sits there getting paid in the morning. The trailer is empty and your day is finished. The reason his trailer is empty is because he filled his truck back up in the evening and is still delivering while you are at home. At least that is the way it works for me. When I get back to the trailer at 6:00pm to reload I usually still have 2 to 3 hour worth of work to do. No complaint on my part, I get paid for what I do. Try and run the same load from the center and match stops per on road hour.

helenofcalifornia · 09-27-2006, 08:30 PM

Wait a minute, are you saying you have to go back to the trailer at 6:30 p.m. and fill up again? You have to go back out again? What size truck are you running? How many pieces and stops do you average?

fredly00 · 09-27-2006, 09:58 PM

I've run coverage at a satellite center, its ok, they pretty much run no rules...
ok ok.. they run stuff by the book, but ctr mgment can't control what they don't see, and they don't care to see 5-6 guys running 11-12 hour days, of course its their fault they run 11-12, cause no one files...

moreluck · 09-28-2006, 07:16 AM

Gman24 and Satellitedriver.......If you want to PM each other, make sure you have 'enabled' that function.

You can go to "UserCP" on this site and find where it addresses PM'ing and make sure you have both enabled the PM. Cheryl can better direct you than I can, but that may be why you were unable to P.M.

satellitedriver · 09-28-2006, 11:52 AM

yes I fill up again. I drive a P5. I have have loaded as many as three times a day, do to bulk. Select comfort beds, BoFlex ect... I average 90 to 100 stops, about 200 pkgs and 200 miles. All of which are rough, potholed and alot of them are just the natural dirt that have been graded through the woods. If it rains, alot of people do not get their stuff. Cell phones will not work in about 40% of my route. Very rural.

satellitedriver · 09-28-2006, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredly00

I've run coverage at a satellite center, its ok, they pretty much run no rules...
ok ok.. they run stuff by the book, but ctr mgment can't control what they don't see, and they don't care to see 5-6 guys running 11-12 hour days, of course its their fault they run 11-12, cause no one files...

What they don't see? Satellite drivers are watched very closely even by the district managers because they do not want them to go "renagade", as some have in the past. All drivers are been watched electronically, no matter what route they are on.

hoser · 09-28-2006, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keepingthemhonest

I don't see how it saves the company much money...paying both these drivers to do preload work for a 1/2 hour or so but w/e.

Quote:

Originally Posted by satellitedriver

Saves me a 110 mile round trip to the center (I did that for ten years) and saves UPS deadheading a package car both ways.

.....................

helenofcalifornia · 09-28-2006, 02:53 PM

Seems like Satellite Driver could use a bigger truck. See if you can get one of the new P7's. They are a dream compared with the 500's. You can fit everything in there in one load I bet.

satellitedriver · 09-28-2006, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helenofcalifornia

Seems like Satellite Driver could use a bigger truck. See if you can get one of the new P7's. They are a dream compared with the 500's. You can fit everything in there in one load I bet.

Bigger truck? Sounds like you have management potential. A P5 barely can fit in the places I have to go.

hoser · 09-29-2006, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satellitedriver

Bigger truck? Sounds like you have management potential. A P5 barely can fit in the places I have to go.

Where's that? Milan? Rome?

mattwtrs · 09-29-2006, 06:29 PM

If you can get a newer & bigger car take it. Just fold the miirors in & trim the trees and shrubs. In 2 months you will not even remember the old P5

25yrvet · 09-29-2006, 09:32 PM

I've been a satellite driver for 10 yrs. I enjoy being away from the politics of the regular ctrs. One problem is the new hires-- my ol' co-workers have both retired, so I'm stuck with people who have attitudes and feel they 'deserve' things without working for them.

STLFeeder · 09-30-2006, 01:44 AM

We have a few satellite centers from earmo. each of them probably have 10 or so drivers, a feeder driver brings them a trailer in the morning and picks it up to get back to the center for twilight.

fredly00 · 09-30-2006, 05:33 AM

P5... that'd be nice

I run in a gutless wonder called a 300(maybe P3) I ran the route
for a few days in a new 57, while it couldn't make it everywhere
(tight drives) it cut probably 30 minutes off my day, due to acceleration
and believe it or not the shelf height and size makes sorting the load
much easier.

helenofcalifornia · 09-30-2006, 09:16 AM

You know Satellite Driver, I had a 500 which got switched to a700 because I couldn't put all the volume in it. Yeah it's wider and bigger, but seriously think of switching over. Yeah there are places you may not be able to go now (same with me) but you will only see that trailer only one time during the day to fill it up. And power steering, OMG!!!!!! And that lower first step will save your knees. Think about it seriously. I don't know how many years you have been driving, but if it's any length of time, than a P700 will be the dream truck for you.

browned_out · 09-30-2006, 09:21 AM

I've been covering a route that takes the TP-60 trailer out to the satellite rte. Although I don't like unloading the trailer, its not that bad I get to start at 845 pull before anyone else and the best feature is they cut down this rte from 140 to about 115 stops.(SWEET) Can't say that for the satellite driver though, on average she wroks longer hrs then before, due to the fact they used to take work off her because she complained so much. Now they don't see her (don't hear her either) so everything gets loaded in the trailer. She recently decided to go into feeder. Wonder who will want this rte?

browniehound · 10-01-2006, 10:46 AM

I have a question. Do you take the truck home with you? Does someone bring it out to you? What am I missing here?

helenofcalifornia · 10-01-2006, 11:40 AM

What's a TP-60 trailer? Is it a 26'er? And how do you "punch out?" Are there any air commitments? (Obviously not) You should seriously think about a P700. I have areas that are just as narrow I bet, and the P700 plows right on through. The cab is HUGE compared to all the rest. And did I already mention power steering and the low first step??? And does your outbound volume get picked up in the morning with the incoming volume? And how many pieces are we talking about? Sorry for all the questions, but what a great job you have where you are UPS but almost totally independent of management as long as there are no significant problems.

fredly00 · 10-01-2006, 08:37 PM

a TP-60 is approx 6 foot by 10 foot trailer roughly
a P1000 can pull it over to our satellite, actually on
the rare occassion they pull 2 TP-60's with 2 P1000.

Our satellite drivers, punch out via FAX machine, and the next night
the diads go back to the main center for download.

Outbound goes back to our main center halfway through the day, thats when the satellite drivers(usually only one) returns to the center with a couple small pickups.