Are house stops getting out of hand?

[freightman]

Im just wondering if any other ups freight terminals are experiencing the sudden jump in house stops? At mine we have more than tripled ours and we cant get them (ups) to order us short trailers with lift gates or at least put them on a pup they go out on regular routes on 48 foot trailers some days 5 or 6 of them and these places are getting tighter and tighter and then they preach safety all the time but send us in these subdivsions with the biggest units we have thinking that we are driving trucks the size of the little package cars......and want us to put it off until last thing in the day and do pick ups first!!! By the time we get there its cars all in the street and kids playing and depending on the time of year its sometimes dark. That's dangerous!!!!! I just wanna know if this is universal?

[Hoaxster]

Originally Posted by freightman

Im just wondering if any other ups freight terminals are experiencing the sudden jump in house stops? At mine we have more than tripled ours and we cant get them (ups) to order us short trailers with lift gates or at least put them on a pup they go out on regular routes on 48 foot trailers some days 5 or 6 of them and these places are getting tighter and tighter and then they preach safety all the time but send us in these subdivsions with the biggest units we have thinking that we are driving trucks the size of the little package cars......and want us to put it off until last thing in the day and do pick ups first!!! By the time we get there its cars all in the street and kids playing and depending on the time of year its sometimes dark. That's dangerous!!!!! I just wanna know if this is universal?

Just curious - are these really freight type shipments or do they appear to be small package UPS shipments that the customer's scheduled through Freight?

[pickup]

Originally Posted by Hoaxster

Just curious - are these really freight type shipments or do they appear to be small package UPS shipments that the customer's scheduled through Freight?

he can answer your question better than I . But the fact that he wants a lift gate on the back of the truck tells me one or two things. The item is too heavy for him to handle easily or there are multiple small packages on a pallet.

It's very possible that he is delivering to businesses, that due to the recession, are operating out of the owners' home but it appears on the invoices as businesses.

[BLACKBOX]

Originally Posted by pickup

It's very possible that he is delivering to businesses, that due to the recession, are operating out of the owners' home

This is a true fact in my neck of the woods. Small Businesses are closing left and right with owners getting rid of all their employees but keeping the core business going from their residence.

I do see both UPS and FDX freight trucks in neighborhoods delivering now that you mentioned it. Mostly they just stack the stuff up right in front of the garage.

[cachsux]

But they are also delivering things that should go through package. Last summer I had a 4x4x 1/8" sheet of plastic delivered to my house by freight from a 53' trailer. The guy had to have help to back out as there`s no room to swing something that big around.

[freightman]

yes most of this stuff is business freight ran out of a home and some of the people get upset that i show up on such a large truck. One lady said they had been bringing her stuff on a package car for years and now all of a sudden its coming on these huge trucks with no room to get in and out. And we also get very heavy pallets of stuff like refrigerators and generators and even funiture that is too long to even fit on a lift gate and the customer just points and says put it in the garage my back is bad! This is getting crazy!!!!

[kelsokid18]

We get a lot of those SunSetter Electric Awnings for peoples vacation homes out here. They are run through freight rather than parcel because of the sheer size of them. The actual fabric roll for the awning is about 15 feet long, weighs a good 400 pounds, the supports for them are between 8 and 10 feet long and a good 200 or so pounds, and then the motor unit itself. Those get delivered by our drivers in our equipment to residences.

[freightman]

yeah we get a bunch of the sun setter stuff and alot of the fitness equipment is picking up as well. They gonna have to do like some of these other freight companies that figured it out already and get some straight trucks with lift gates for these house stops before someone gets hurt moving this stuff!!!

[kelsokid18]

At my terminal, we have ONE (1) straight truck. It's out doing other stuff, so we have been using lift gated trailers. They are about 48 or 53 feet long, but short in height

[freightman]

yeah well at least you all have the lift gate!!! hopefully the powers that be will see the danger in sending a unit that size into these populated residentiual areas and listen to their drivers and make the necessary changes

[pickup]

Originally Posted by freightman

yeah well at least you all have the lift gate!!! hopefully the powers that be will see the danger in sending a unit that size into these populated residentiual areas and listen to their drivers and make the necessary changes

I can just imagine how difficult it can be on a street that leads into a cul de sac. If you go in head first , you're gonna have to back down the street and into a intersection before you can get going forward again. The "safer" way is to back in from the intersecting street and onto the street that leads into the cul de sac. Either way , not very safe at all

[sppollock]

That is what we have been telling our management. Lots of residentals that are put on a 48 foot trailer. We only have 5 routes that use a pup, and they took our straight truck and traded it in for a 32 ft. lift gate.

[cachsux]

I don`t know about where you guys deliver but here If the vehicle is over a certain size and or weight they have to get clearance beforehand to enter the area.

[City Driver]

i hate sunsetters, i had to carry one of those 300 lb rolls to soembodys backyard by myself before, hope they dont mind drag marks in the grass

[kelsokid18]

Originally Posted by City Driver

i hate sunsetters, i had to carry one of those 300 lb rolls to soembodys backyard by myself before, hope they dont mind drag marks in the grass

I know the feeling, they are a pain in the arse to jockey from trailer to trailer while loading/unloading. They roll around on the forks of the lift. It would take 2 or 3 guys to safely move one by hand. The pillars that hold our roof up aren't far enough apart to have one on the lift be able to go through. Basically we have to drag them around.

[freightman]

I agree sunsetters is a pain!!! but not as bad as these tread mills we a getting now and why is it the worst shaped people order these things bad backs and all and plan on working out? hilarious!!! but here we dont need any clearance they just send us in the areas but i have been pulled a couple of times by dot for overweight vehicle on the certain roads and i show the officer my d.r. and tell him we told them not to send us in these places on these size trucks and he just laughed and said they will learn only after u tear something up or kill somebody

[City Driver]

winter is coming, sunsetters will go into hybernation

and kelso kid were not suppose to carry sunsetters on our forklifts, but of course we do it when managements not around........the right way to do it is lay a 2 wheeler flat and roll it but even thats a pain in the ass

[TechGrrl]

Originally Posted by freightman

Im just wondering if any other ups freight terminals are experiencing the sudden jump in house stops? At mine we have more than tripled ours and we cant get them (ups) to order us short trailers with lift gates or at least put them on a pup they go out on regular routes on 48 foot trailers some days 5 or 6 of them and these places are getting tighter and tighter and then they preach safety all the time but send us in these subdivsions with the biggest units we have thinking that we are driving trucks the size of the little package cars......and want us to put it off until last thing in the day and do pick ups first!!! By the time we get there its cars all in the street and kids playing and depending on the time of year its sometimes dark. That's dangerous!!!!! I just wanna know if this is universal?

Pardon the silly question, but isn't the carrier of the freight actually done by the choice of the purchaser? So when they ordered the stuff, did they have a choice of delivery service? OTOH, if it is over 150 lbs, or outside the size limits of UPS ground, is there any other choice?

From the descriptions of the deliveries, it sounds like stuff that really does fit into a 'freight' classification due to size or weight.

The real question seems to be, if home delivery is a continuing issue of freight sized stuff, then management needs to figure out what kind of delivery truck is going to be needed. UPS used to have a bunch of 16-20' vans for CPU type pickups, sounds like UPS Freight needs more trucks of this nature in addition to the big rig tractor-trailers.

[kelsokid18]

Originally Posted by City Driver

winter is coming, sunsetters will go into hybernation

and kelso kid were not suppose to carry sunsetters on our forklifts, but of course we do it when managements not around........the right way to do it is lay a 2 wheeler flat and roll it but even thats a pain in the ass

lol, you try getting a 2 wheeler in our terminal, it's impossible....the drivers are chaining theirs up to cinder blocks when they unload them, and management is locking the rest of them up in the janitors closet

[City Driver]

Originally Posted by kelsokid18

lol, you try getting a 2 wheeler in our terminal, it's impossible....the drivers are chaining theirs up to cinder blocks when they unload them, and management is locking the rest of them up in the janitors closet

it use to be that way here til about 3 months ago when they bought 4 nice 2 wheelers for the dock

there all chained up by the drivers and i dont blame them, i keep my 2 wheeler and pallet jack chained up cuz if i dont they are nowhere to be found the next day

[UpstateNYUPSer]

I was making a delivery on a residential street and watched in amazement as this UPSF driver hauling what appeared to be a 53' (could have been smaller) down the same street and then he decides to park on the wrong side of the street with no 4 ways or anything and barely enough room between him and the parked cars for me to squeeze through to make his delivery. I just shook my head in disbelief as I made my way by his truck. The logo may say UPS but the mindset is still Overnite.

[sppollock]

Originally Posted by UpstateNYUPSer

I was making a delivery on a residential street and watched in amazement as this UPSF driver hauling what appeared to be a 53' (could have been smaller) down the same street and then he decides to park on the wrong side of the street with no 4 ways or anything and barely enough room between him and the parked cars for me to squeeze through to make his delivery. I just shook my head in disbelief as I made my way by his truck. The logo may say UPS but the mindset is still Overnite.

You say this like we may have did something wrong. The driver was giving a residental delivery with a 48 ft. trailer. We need to fix that part first, residentals should be delivered with at the max. a 32 foot trailer. The driver parked on the wrong side of the street, was this one of those small streets that it may be safer because of the block ending and he/she needs to make a sharp turn right away. The 4-way thing is the only thing I think you have a gripe about. Also remember, we have big items to carry that usually way 100lbs or more to deliver to a residental by ourselves, and we need to safely do this. I never worked for Overnite/Motor Cargo, I was hired directly into UPS Freight, and to deliver a residental safely with no injury to myself I will park on the wrong side of the street.

[freightman]

I agree these guys that jump in these litte small pack trucks and whip in and out whenever and where ever they please would never understand and thats the point im making management has the same mind set as this guy that said that bull!!!! if u have never had to carry that size vehicle into a area full of cars, kids, low trees low power lines tight turns and much more u would just shake ur head out of pure ignorance and lack of knowing what that driver is faced with. Think before u let the ups management way flow out of ur mouth!!! lol

[UpstateNYUPSer]

Originally Posted by freightman

I agree these guys that jump in these litte small pack trucks and whip in and out whenever and where ever they please would never understand and thats the point im making management has the same mind set as this guy that said that bull!!!! if u have never had to carry that size vehicle into a area full of cars, kids, low trees low power lines tight turns and much more u would just shake ur head out of pure ignorance and lack of knowing what that driver is faced with. Think before u let the ups management way flow out of ur mouth!!! lol

Yeah, it's really tough to figure out which side of the road your delivery is going to be on and then park accordingly. Parking a 53'er on the wrong side of the road in a residential neighborhood has got to be one of the stupidest things I have seen in a long time. No, I am not a "real truck driver" and have absolutely no desire to be one, but I do know what is safe and what is not and this is unsafe, period. Justify it any way you like, it is an unsafe practice.

[City Driver]

its a residential neighborhood, the truck shouldnt be there at all, but why does the side of the street he park on even matter? whats the big deal about that?? whats so very unsafe about that? its not like its a busy street or something