21:00 last delivery. What am I doing wrong?

[Leftinbuilding]

Based on his description of his route, his long day doesn't sound like a dispatch problem, it sounds like a driver problem. Possibly inadequately trained? Who knows? But, I don't see the route going out any lighter than 80 stops.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

That's why he should have a supervisor riding with him to show him how it can be done, instead of beating himself up. I still would love to have that route. I could retire on that route.

 

[dilligaf]

It's a learning curve. Don't stress out over it to much, in the end it won't help any. It takes time. I have 2 routes that I now really well now but it wasn't like that in the beginning. It took me months to learn them. Both are rural mostly resi rtes. In town condensed areas won't take that much time to learn. Just relax and go with it. One day you will look back and say wow.

 

[PassYouBy]

It's a learning curve. Don't stress out over it to much, in the end it won't help any. It takes time. I have 2 routes that I now really well now but it wasn't like that in the beginning. It took me months to learn them. Both are rural mostly resi rtes. In town condensed areas won't take that much time to learn. Just relax and go with it. One day you will look back and say wow.

Yea, I can remember the "Fear" that I would get when I was sent on a new route! Another driver saw the fear in my eyes and he told me to just calm down, take a deep breath and do the best you can do. To this day, I will get that sinking feeling in my stomach, especially if I haven't ran that route in a while.

What Dilligaf just said "It's a learning curve. Don't stress out over it to much, in the end it won't help any. It takes time." This is soooooo true. I look back and sometimes cant believe that I got "that" stressed out over it. Take your time, but with some urgency and just keep your head up.

 

[CFLBrown]

It's a learning curve. Don't stress out over it to much, in the end it won't help any. It takes time. I have 2 routes that I now really well now but it wasn't like that in the beginning. It took me months to learn them. Both are rural mostly resi rtes. In town condensed areas won't take that much time to learn. Just relax and go with it. One day you will look back and say wow.

Months to learn 2 routes? By the end of the week on 1 route you should 'know it' pretty well.

 

[New Englander]

Based on his description of his route, his long day doesn't sound like a dispatch problem, it sounds like a driver problem. Possibly inadequately trained? Who knows? But, I don't see the route going out any lighter than 80 stops.

Friday my route had 55 deliveries and 26 pick ups. It does have a two hour round trip commute but only about 145 miles. The route does flex on deliveries as it will climb to 70 and a bit up but then you can't get a lunch completed on it. The kicker...the time allowances are about right on, it's about a .20 to .50 paid over route at plus 8hrs a day

So no one from management complains about it!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

55 stops w/26 pickups and a 2 hour RT? 70 stops is a busy day?!

Where do I sign up?

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

55 stops w/26 pickups and a 2 hour RT? 70 stops is a busy day?!

Where do I sign up?

Yeah really. But be carefull. Those country routes (I'm assuming thats what that route is) are awesome if you know the number breaks. If you don't then you might waist countless minutes driving back and forth down long roads in the sticks because sometimes it'll take between 5-10 minutes of driving before you find another house. When you get there you could find out that you should have turned left when you turned right. Some roads don't have signs (resulting in the first scenario) and many of the mailboxes don't have numbers and some houses don't have mailboxes at all. Many of the roads in those areas aren't even on a map and some of the rural areas aren't on a map at all.

On the other hand....if you know the number breaks, which addresses are or aren't marked, and all that other stuff mentioned above then those routes are freaking sweat. In my center we mostly have high seniority drivers running those routes.

 

[upsman415]

Remember you cant work more than 12 hours a day. Ask for help and if your stupidvisor cant get you help just slow down and bring back some stops....

 

[trplnkl]

Big Arrow is correct, area knowledge is the key factor when running a RR. We have some that are well developed complete with signs at the intersections and physical addresses either on the house or the mail box by the driveway. Adversely we have some with no road signs, no house numbers and the mail boxes are all in a single row with either a RT1 box 456 type addy or none at all. Without very good area knowledge and/or a well kept card file, you're screwed.
A few years ago, I had a RR that the house was 12 miles from the mail box. When you get one like that you never forget it.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I had a country run before my current route. This route averaged 80-90 stops, 120-150 miles (depending on chasers) and 8 P/Us. I ran this area both before and after 911 address changes were implemented so my area knowledge was spot on. I really liked that area and would occasionally cover the run when the driver was on vacation due to a shortage of trained cover drivers, as a favor to my on-car and, mostly, as a break from my regular bid area. I should also mention that the regular driver and I did not get along as I had bumped him off of the route and he proceeded to talk smack about me during the transition from him to me on the route. Anyway, everything clicked that day and I was punched out and gone by 3:15pm with every pkg delivered and no P/U acct upset about earlier P/U time. The best part was the regular driver happened to be at the bldg picking up his paycheck and he saw me pull in to the parking lot. He looked at me, I glanced down at my watch and smiled at him.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

I had a country run before my current route. This route averaged 80-90 stops, 120-150 miles (depending on chasers) and 8 P/Us. I ran this area both before and after 911 address changes were implemented so my area knowledge was spot on. I really liked that area and would occasionally cover the run when the driver was on vacation due to a shortage of trained cover drivers, as a favor to my on-car and, mostly, as a break from my regular bid area. I should also mention that the regular driver and I did not get along as I had bumped him off of the route and he proceeded to talk smack about me during the transition from him to me on the route. Anyway, everything clicked that day and I was punched out and gone by 3:15pm with every pkg delivered and no P/U acct upset about earlier P/U time. The best part was the regular driver happened to be at the bldg picking up his paycheck and he saw me pull in to the parking lot. He looked at me, I glanced down at my watch and smiled at him.

You are supposed to stay on your own run. Shouldn't be covering other jobs. That is for the cover drivers. No offense, but that is the way it is supposed to work.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You are supposed to stay on your own run. Shouldn't be covering other jobs. That is for the cover drivers. No offense, but that is the way it is supposed to work.

If you had read my entire post, I said that there were no cover drivers trained on that area that were available to work and that I enjoyed running that area as it used to be my bid run and I needed a break from my current bid area so I offered to run the area for a day. You are right, we shouldn't be jumping runs as it doesn't give mgt the incentive to get off their behinds and train new drivers, but I needed a break and wanted to go back and say "hi" to some old customers and, yes, I wanted to scorch the run and put it to the driver who had talked trash about me.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

If you had read my entire post, I said that there were no cover drivers trained on that area that were available to work and that I enjoyed running that area as it used to be my bid run and I needed a break from my current bid area so I offered to run the area for a day. You are right, we shouldn't be jumping runs as it doesn't give mgt the incentive to get off their behinds and train new drivers, but I needed a break and wanted to go back and say "hi" to some old customers and, yes, I wanted to scorch the run and put it to the driver who had talked trash about me.

I read your entire post. Just because YOU wanted to do something does not mean it is right. In this case you are wrong. Sorry.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Sure thing, kid. What ever you say.

I will go stand in the Brown Cafe "corner" as my punishment.

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

No need to get upset. We are all proven wrong about things in life. My point is that we should not make it easy for the company. Force them to hire more drivers. That way, you can stay on the run you chose at bid time.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Sure, OK, whatever.

Tell you what--why don't you PM me your cell and I will call you when I need help on the tough questions, such as:

Paper or plastic?

Debit or credit?

Coke or Pepsi?

Fries or mashed?

Beyond that, I am fairly certain I can make decisions regarding my job on my own, but thank you for your input.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You simply do not get it. I needed a break from my area, I enjoyed my previous bid route and wanted to go back and say "hi" to a few people who I hadn't seen in a while. If that helps the company, so be it. It's not as though I bumped a cover driver and sent him home just so that I could jump runs. There was a need, I wanted a change of scenery for a day, both needs filled.

I did say that I agree with you if this was something that was being done frequently but this was a once in a long while thing so, IMO, no harm, no foul.

BTW, while input is welcome and valued here at BC, it is up to the receiver what he/she decides to do with this input. As for me and this particular input, the answer is nothing.

 

[Leftinbuilding]

Many moons ago, I had one of the aforementioned routes where there were no marked roads and definitely no house numbers. I kept a "card file" (3x5 in a tin box) on every address. When I found an address, I filled out a card with detailed directions so I could find it again if I ever needed to. Also the cover drivers could find people and I wouldn't have a mess when I got back from vac or whatever. Worked well. As an aside, I was always amazed at the number of people who had to go look when I asked them (on the phone) what color their house was. Those were the good ol days.

 

[filthpig]

80 stops?! And that includes business and residential? My typical day is about 120 with 15 pickups. 80 business and 40 residential. I drive about 50 miles a day and am usually off by 630-645, home by 7-715. He must be on a rural route.