A useful hack to defeat forced ORION—on topic

[soberups]

Some things to consider:
UPS’s Investor Conference happened on September 13th. They needed to pump up the stock, so the corporate Buzz Phrase Of The Month leading up to that was “Transformation and Technology.”
Also...our contract expired on August 1st which was also the day that RDO was deleted, presumably so that we would all fear the legions of untrained strike breakers who could jump onto our trucks and seamlessly do our jobs by following ORION if we dared to vote “no” on the offer.
Now that both events have come to pass, and peak season is nearly upon us, the need to make service on the packages will once again outweigh the need to perpetuate the fiction that ORION works. So my guess is that RDO will get put back in our DIADS and business will go on as usual.

 

[Indecisi0n]

And if they did this, it would be a lot easier to try and follow the trace.
The problem is not ORION. The problem....is when they load the car in a certain order and then intentionally take away the drivers ability to view the dispatch in that order.
It is an act of deliberate, willful malice on their part. They are butt hurt because they spent all this money on a tool that does not work, and since we are the ones who actually have to get the packages delivered in the real world, we have not been using their tool. So this is their way of getting even and trying to force us to use the tool that does not work so that they can continue pretending that it does work.

Yet another reason I never followed it. I do not fight the load all day. I was taught to use you front selection area then sort and move up the rest of the packages. The only issues when they load RDO is that your businesses will be mixed in the middle/back. I had a bulky route and if I ran into that I would skip those until I could reach them.

 

[Brownslave688]

That's what I said!
Optimistic me: hopes that means they will put the rdo option back.
Reality: they are gonna try to pal the truck in odo. LMFAO

I'd be happy with that

 

[Brownslave688]

Yet another reason I never followed it. I do not fight the load all day. I was taught to use you front selection area then sort and move up the rest of the packages. The only issues when they load RDO is that your businesses will be mixed in the middle/back. I had a bulky route and if I ran into that I would skip those until I could reach them.

It ain't rocket science.

 

[Bubblehead]

When I started driving in 1988 we used paper delivery records so yes, I remember not having a manifest.
But the demands of the job have changed.
In 1988, NDA was committed by noon not 10:30. In 1988 we did not have NDA savers, 2Day Early AM, My Choice delivery windows, or On Demand pickups. In 1988 we did not have commit times for daily pickup accounts. In 1988 my route went out with 75 stops for a 9 hour day, now it goes out with over 100. In 1988 none of the wineries shipped UPS so my route was not faced with the variable of containing 400 cubic feet/ 4000 lbs of wine in a P-63 car.
So yes, I have become somewhat dependent upon a virtual manifest.
Could I adapt and go back to the old way of sorting? Yes, but in the meanwhile I will continue to use the tools that are available.

The majority of the drivers on my center use a printed manifest.
I did not need one until they took RDO away.
I offered to follow ORION on my route 100% and was instructed by my management team to not use it.
So when I use a printed manifest or switch back to RDO I am simply complying with their directives.

Why are you doing so much more work now, are you not on 9.5 list, or did you want the extra work?

Btw, the DIAD still prompts you for most of those things....and there for sure is still a commit only screen and a dedicated pickup screen.

I still think you may be putting too much pressure on yourself???

 

[mjjlohn]

I just put everything on my 2k and run it in the old EDD order. It’s in my head and won’t ever go away.

 

[soberups]

Why are you doing so much more work now, are you not on 9.5 list, or did you want the extra work?

Btw, the DIAD still prompts you for most of those things....and there for sure is still a commit only screen and a dedicated pickup screen.

I still think you may be putting too much pressure on yourself???

The route is able to do more work now because instead of being brickloaded into a gutless P-500 with manual steering it has a modern P-7 with power steering and good ergonomics.
And instead of recording on paper, digging and sorting for packages, and not knowing what or how many stops you had, the route now (until the loss of RDO) has a DIAD with a manifest that allows the driver to make better decisions.
I would much rather do 100 stops with modern procedures and equipment than 75 or 80 the old fashioned way.
With RDO I have a clear picture of what I have, where I need to go and what I need to do. I can manage my route on autopilot, safely and with virtually no stress.
ODO takes all that away and replaces it with forced stupidity that makes the job difficult, unsafe and stressful, like having to run a route blind every day.
The bottom line is that the company is intentionally trying to make the job harder for no reason (other than spite) and I am not willing to just bend over and take it without fighting back.

 

[barnyard]

With RDO I have a clear picture of what I have, where I need to go and what I need to do. I can manage my route on autopilot, safely and with virtually no stress.

Very well put.

 

[Bubblehead]

The bottom line is that the company is intentionally trying to make the job harder for no reason (other than spite) and I am not willing to just bend over and take it without fighting back.

....but you aren't "fighting back"???

Because despite the name of this thread:

"A useful hack to defeat forced ORION"

....reality is that this thread is nothing more than a list of ways to coexist with the system, outside of the parameters of it's design mandates, making it artificially appear to be a success on paper.

I still think you are putting way too much pressure on yourself.

I'm sorry my friend, the best way to fix it....is to let it fail.

 

[gman042]

I'm sorry my friend, the best way to fix it....is to let it fail.

Do you really think that this approach will get it fixed?
Those in positions of authority that have anything to do with Orion are viewing the whole system through rose colored glasses.
I respect the hell out of sober
And I feel the same way about this whole Orion thing as he does.
I simply cannot allow myself to fail my customers as badly as Orion suggests each day.
I setup and run my route the exact same way everyday so that my customers can still depend on my arrival within a set window of time.
And they appreciate that...

 

[MC0493]

My biggest issue with Orion is all the safety issues it presents. You spent alot of extra time digging in a very hot truck in the summer, you have to turn around/back up much more often(which they say not to do). And my biggest issue of all is being sent down a road in a direction where every stop is across the street. I was running a route blind and didn't know any better, Orion had me delivering around 8 stops across a very busy 55mph road. I waited 5 minutes to cross one time and finally just gave up and moved on. As safety conscious as this company says they are, you'd think they'd wake up a bit.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

If you are tearing your hair out in frustration over garbage ORION “solutions” that have you lost and running in circles and your management wont let you turn it back to RDO, ask them to print your manifest out on paper in RDO order and then turn ODO back on.
If they will do this, get yourself a clipboard so that you can organize the pages and flip thru them in much the same way you would scroll up and down in the DIAD. Once you get the hang of it, the clipboard simply becomes your new DIAD and you can work as normal.
If they refuse, and will only print them out in ODO order, then get a few highlighter pens and color code the different parts of your manifest by shelf or area, in whatever manner helps you tie it together and make sense of your dispatch.
Success at this job is about recognizing and remembering patterns. Forced ORION destroys your ability to get the big picture and cripples your ability to adjust to changing conditions by chopping your route into incomprehensible bits and pieces. Color coding the different sections of your manifest and having the pages on a clipboard can restore that to a degree and allow you to function by putting your route “back together” in a way that makes sense to you.
Pro tip: if your management agrees to print out your route in RDO order, wait to download EDD until it starts printing. This will load your DIAD in RDO, not ODO order. You will then be prompted to upload EDD again...which you will not do until after you get back to the building at night.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

I try and run ORION 100% each and every day every since they took RDO away. It took about a week to get used to it but after that I've become numb to the stupidity. I had to change my attitude in order to manage it. That attitude is to simply not care anymore.

Now all I do is remember my next two stops and concentrate on driving. "MapNav" is handy for when I'm unsure about trace but I rarely need it. Following ORION 100% is a Win/Win scenario. ORION trace typically takes longer so if you're on the 9.5 list it reduces your stop count. If you want more OT you're getting it. I love ORION.

 

[Bubblehead]

Do you really think that this approach will get it fixed?
Those in positions of authority that have anything to do with Orion are viewing the whole system through rose colored glasses.
I respect the hell out of sober
And I feel the same way about this whole Orion thing as he does.
I simply cannot allow myself to fail my customers as badly as Orion suggests each day.
I setup and run my route the exact same way everyday so that my customers can still depend on my arrival within a set window of time.
And they appreciate that...

They aren't "my customers" as counterintuitive as that may be, it is the absolute truth.

It's not my hub, not my truck, not my uniform, not my packages, and in reality they aren't "my customers"

....they all inevitably and unequivocally belong to UPS.

Keep operating as if they are "your customers", and UPS will continue to play you for more than they deserve.

I prefer to give "their customers" only as much as the Company will allow.

 

[Bubblehead]

Do you really think that this approach will get it fixed?

I forgot to answer this question?

....and the answer is YES!!!

Took me less than 3 months to get them to tell me to turn ORION off in 2014 and I haven't looked at it since.

 

[Bubblehead]

The route is able to do more work now because instead of being brickloaded into a gutless P-500 with manual steering it has a modern P-7 with power steering and good ergonomics.
And instead of recording on paper, digging and sorting for packages, and not knowing what or how many stops you had, the route now (until the loss of RDO) has a DIAD with a manifest that allows the driver to make better decisions.
I would much rather do 100 stops with modern procedures and equipment than 75 or 80 the old fashioned way.
With RDO I have a clear picture of what I have, where I need to go and what I need to do. I can manage my route on autopilot, safely and with virtually no stress.
ODO takes all that away and replaces it with forced stupidity that makes the job difficult, unsafe and stressful, like having to run a route blind every day.
The bottom line is that the company is intentionally trying to make the job harder for no reason (other than spite) and I am not willing to just bend over and take it without fighting back.

So if I follow your train of thought here, if UPS puts you back in that bricked out P-500 with manual steering, you would be looking for "hacks" on how to defeat P-500's???

We fight back, by not fighting it.

 

[davidix]

The only way Orion goes away is if people made it a point to run it.. I mean run it 100%. You'll fail miserably and and it will either be fixed or Turned off.

 

[Shift 2]

I scroll up and down and and run the route my way. I don't understand all the problems folks are having?

My ors told me that Orion changes through out the day so if I scroll up and down it will have me missing addresses. I have actually noticed that it does it but in my opinion it’s not that bad

 

[Wally]

The only way Orion goes away is if people made it a point to run it.. I mean run it 100%. You'll fail miserably and and it will either be fixed or Turned off.

War's over man, Dean Wormer dropped the big one. Give up!

 

[1989]

@soberups is complicit in perpetuating the charade that is ORION.
Let it fail
Have missed business.
Have service failures.

We are instructed to not follow orion. To do routes how we see fit. So that missed businesses and service failures fall on us. Not Orion.

 

[soberups]

@soberups is complicit in perpetuating the charade that is ORION.
Let it fail
Have missed business.
Have service failures.

Wrong.
I have been instructed not to follow it and to make sure that there are no service failures.
So the fact that I still make service on everything and beat the miles while doing it my way rather than following ORION is proof that ORION is garbage.
The only thing that has changed...is that the company has now intentionally made that much harder for me to do by blocking my ability to view the manifest in a coherent order.
So this thread is about a couple of ways I have discovered to work around or defeat the artificial impediment that the company has deliberately created.
They want to make the job harder. I want to make it easier.