8 Drivers Skip Lunch 1 More Driver Can Be Laid Off

[hellfire]

Well...it's been a year. I guess it's time to run this again.

Once upon a time, there was a driver named Joe. He would go to work every day,deliver his packages all morning, stop for lunch,deliver and pickup his packages all afternoon, return to the building and go home in time to watch Joe Jr. play baseball.
One day the company decided to change the allowance on his route. Suddenly Joe finds that he has more work than he used to have and can't get done in time to get home and watch Jr. play baseball like he used to.
So Joe decides that the only way he can make it home in time is to skip his lunch. This works well and again he can make it home in time for the game.
The company notices that even though Joe has more work, he is getting done at the same time he used to before the added work. So they decide to give him more work. Now Joe is back to working more hours and missing Jr's games. So Joe decides that if he can't make the games, then he will go back to taking his lunch. Besides, he missed the chance to relax a little in the middle of the day and could feel his health was suffering somewhat because of it.
But wait, now if Joe takes his lunch, he will have missed business deliveries and missed pickups. He won't get his air packages and pickups back in time,either. Joe complains that he doesn't have time to take a lunch, but the complaint falls on deaf ears. After all, he set the precedent by skipping his lunch all that time.
Now Joe has committed himself to a life of calling for some one to come get his pickup volume off of him daily. If he wants to see a game or interact with his family, he has to take a day off. He is working harder than he had to by not taking his lunch every day. And while those games he did get to see will no doubt have good memories for him, he will end up spending the rest of his working life paying for them.
This scenario is playing itself out in centers all across the country. And while there is no easy answer, skipping your lunch is not one of them. That 1/2 hr or hour that you were entitled to will just be replaced with more work if you choose not to take it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that's what's happening. JUST TAKE YOUR LUNCH!! Everything else is pretty much out of control.


The whole thread is here.
http://www.browncafe.com/community/threads/a-lunch-story.104289/

after 26 yrs,, i can still skip lunch when needed,, there is only one commodity in life that cannot be replaced,, TIME,, you think your kids , when grown , really care you made a few extra bucks on certian days instead of skipping lunch to see/ be with them,, your wife the same??????????????what a dumb arguement , the only thing outta control are your priorities

 

[irish5569]

couldn't say it better

 

[irish5569]

and why should UPS control that

 

[Omega man]

You're missing that while management doesn't care if a resi is delivered at 2PM or 6PM, they do care if a driver is over 9.5 paid. If you run a resi or rural route, it doesn't matter whether you take your lunch between the 4th and 6th hour or whether you take it at the end of the day, your paid day will be the same.

You are wrong. It does matter when you take your lunch. Most drivers are more productive on their routes when they take their lunch at the end of the day. Drivers are not only accommodating themselves but also UPS. As a steward, I am forcing my drivers to take their lunch per our contract. We are currently getting 3-day rides and a midday lunch helps here. It's easy; simply take your lunch when your supplement agreement specifies you to. If you don't know when that is, ask your steward. Help fight these layoffs.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

The sad thing is that we ever have to have these discussions in the first place. Now it's more important then ever for everyone to take their lunches. Management is using the economy as an excuse to force over 9.5s down our throats. Let's not make it easy for them by skipping our lunches.

 

[Loco170Brownie]

I think most family guys here are not fighting about the fact that sometimes when you need to get out for a game, or band concert, or whatever you are going to run your lunch. Its going to happen, Ihave done it in the past and will do it when I need to. I do try to make a point not to commit myself to anything after work very often because I know how these things work out.

More on the point of this thread.

If you have a rural route with little to no commercial stops and pick ups what time you take your lunch is only affected by the daylight you are using when it would be dark. In most cases this isn't much time, but it is time.

On commercial routes this is more of a problem. If you run your lunch till 5 or 6 everyday to get your businesses off you are making sure that your route will never be fixed. How about the coverguy that comes in and takes his lunch at 1, then misses 15 stops because he ran out of time. Thats your fault and the people at UPS will be on your Brothers case, and your customers will have poor service because you didn't want to force your center manager to fix the dispatch.

It all adds up, do things right, play it safe and by the rules and you will never have anything to worry about.

 

[dilligaf]

You are wrong. It does matter when you take your lunch. Most drivers are more productive on their routes when they take their lunch at the end of the day. Drivers are not only accommodating themselves but also UPS. As a steward, I am forcing my drivers to take their lunch per our contract. We are currently getting 3-day rides and a midday lunch helps here. It's easy; simply take your lunch when your supplement agreement specifies you to. If you don't know when that is, ask your steward. Help fight these layoffs.

Thank you Omega. There was a debate recently and my point was not well recieved. I firmly believe that it makes a huge difference when I take my lunch. Few others do.

Even my steward takes he lunch at the end of the day more often than not.

 

[BIGBROWNLONGHORN]

Please take your lunch so we all can work

 

[wyobill]

One thing I enjoyed my last year was not having to take a full 1 hour lunch. 15 was the minumium. It was nice being that our start time was 9:00.........

Talked to the driver today and UPS went back to that mandatory 1 hr lunch and said it was Nation Wide.
The drivers are not happy campers. Junior drivers do not take there full hr and Big Brown knows it. Ah...Production Production

Glad I'm retired

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

45 mnutes here and it is mandatory.

 

[buni g]

I'm in frt but its the same bs. Drivers that work through lunch are only hurting themselves and fellow drivers. Its amazing though how they'll threaten you about wasting time in one way or another, but, i bet if they catch you working through lunch they wouldn't say a thing cause its to their benefit. Personally i refuse to work through lunch or breaks, if i miss a del or a pu because of it good. They are constantly pushing start times and making us wait for late frt, don't they realize the later we leave the yard the less effective we'll be.

 

[cino321]

Never understood this taking your lunch at the end of the day business. Your local supplement (in my case I have to take lunch between my 3rd and 5th hour) should have language regarding what time you take lunch.

It's not really lunch when you take it at the end of the day; you might as well go home and have dinner.

 

[tworavens]

Very interesting to read that the DIAD is not locked out for lunch breaks nationwide, as it is here in Washington. I miss being able to take my lunch at the end of the day. Here you will be disciplined if you perform work during breaks, or don't take your breaks at the contractually mandated times.

 

[yeldarb]

30 minute lunch here in Great Basin District

 

[danlin]

I sit EVERY day for lunch and usually play my guitar or banjo. One day during peak last year my center manager asked me when I had time to play the banjo. I told him I had lots of time for the banjo, it was the packages that were a problem.

My breaks are consistent. I can play during lunch. My poor dispatch causes me to brings stops back during peak.

 

[danlin]

Awesome I just loved that!!!

 

[danlin]

I have been on the same route in a small town for 15 yrs and I have lost count of how many times a customer has approached me while I am eating lunch to ask me if I have a package for them. I am always more than happy to walk out to the truck and get the package for the customer, its good service and I just add a minute or two on to the end of my lunch so I'm not working for free. I would hate to be "locked out" of the DIAD and have to tell the customer that they will have to sit and wait for another 42 minutes before I can give them the urgent package (check? airline tickets? signiature required box of wine?) that they need ASAP.

 

[danlin]

Can't you just write down the tracking no. have the customer sign a delivery notice and than record all the info once the board comes on?
We have sups who deliver misloads and do that all the time...but that is a whole nuther thread.

 

[trplnkl]

Can't you just write down the tracking no. have the customer sign a delivery notice and than record all the info once the board comes on?
We have sups who deliver misloads and do that all the time...but that is a whole nuther thread.

Sups don't have to abide by the rules, don't ya know? LOL

Actually I have used the SDN at times when I would either have to make the consignee wait because I had another stop opened up and didn't want to take time to mess with it. However that won't work for wine shipments.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

danlin, to quote and then respond to a post, simply go to the post that you want to quote and hit "quote". The quoted post will show up in a window. Type your response to the quote and then hit "preview post" to make sure that what you typed is what you want to say. If it is, hit "submit reply" and both the quoted portion and your response will appear in the same post. If it is not, go back and edit and then hit submit.