anyone have tips on avoiding misloads?

[BigBrownSanta]

We are only human and humans make mistakes. They forget that sometimes. The problem is these numbers are coming from higher ups who haven't loaded in 20 years. Back when they loaded the heaviest package was probably 30 lbs and all the trucks were p7's that had nothing that needed to be brick loaded. I loaded 135 pound wine barrel today that was as big as me. That would have broke a fat suit and ties back. I know they couldn't do it themselves. I would love to see one of them get on the belt and load 200-300 pph with no stacking ever, never loading a 45 pounder on a self, using 8 keys of lifting and lowering, 5 keys of slips and falls, every package loaded in perfect sequance and no misloads. No way.

I would pay money to see my district manager do that. Maybe UPS can use that as an incentive for the next United Way drive. If the district manager can load an area without misloads, hit 250 pph, not stack and use all the proper lifting and lowering methods, I'd donate $1000 to United Way.

Ok now, time to wake up.

lol.

 

[Mike Hawk]

It's hard to say without watching you to see what exactly you do wrong. At the end of the day do you stack because your shelves are full, or is it because there is just physically too much volume to pull and load at once?

Some tips for efficiency.

I don’t organize commit time airs(the ones with 1000-1100 hin#)stop for stop because the driver will usually look through those as soon as he gets in the truck, waste of my time if he does it. At the same time make sure they are all there together so your driver can find them.

Learn when a box/stop is too big for the shelf and when to drop it to the floor, like most trucks have resi on shelf 7-8, you can bury a 7-8 resi under rear door stops because rear door stops come off long before the end of the route.

The RDL stop on my 2d truck gets a lot of smalls, but also a lot of large heavy packages so loading them as they come doesn’t work when the small ones come first. I put the smalls on the back of shelf 8 behind the metal clipboard thingie so I don’t have to worry about moving them so they aren’t crushed by a large package, I have also seen loaders use a smalls tub for that too.

I stack at the end of the day, but I do it the right way. I stack things that I will load last, like bulk stops that there is no room for, I could load them but that would take time to rearrange the load and I would end up with more stuff stacked out.

Try to remember what areas of the truck are full, if shelf 3-4 and the floor below are full don’t try to load a package for that shelf when your getting slammed at the end of the day, it will take too much time to rearrange the shelf so there is room, and you will end up with more stuff being stacked out.

Make smart decisions about irregs, some can be loaded but many should be thrown in last because they take up too much space and take time to work around.

Make use of all the space in the truck, if there is room on shelf 5 and your RDR stop is overflowing throw some light packages up there, but let the driver know. What I do is pull the SPA label off and write where I moved the stop, then stick it to the steering wheel. Works well with over 70’s and irregs too.

Check the address label, I look at the zip/street quickly before looking at the HIN #, sometimes shelf 1 stuff ends up on shelf 6 for whatever reason, and of course bad labels/computer errors.

Prepare for work, make sure you get enough sleep, I aim for a solid 6 hours every night, then bout 10-12 catching up on the weekend. I wake up, throw a couple potatoes in the microwave then take a hot shower. After the shower I stretch out, then eat my potatoes, baked/mashed or fried so it doesn’t get too old eating the same thing. Usually have an energy drink with breakfast, it makes a difference and they are like $1 each at Costco. If I am late getting up and break the routine my performance suffers.

 

[dilligaf]

This isn't really towards misloads but just loading in general. I found that if I had mulitple pkgs in hand, before walking into the truck, I would get less confused if I carried them in on the side that the pkgs were to be loaded on. In other words, if pkg goes on a shelf on the right side of the truck-carry them in right hand, left side- left hand. If you carry 1 for right side and 1 for left side, then you don't have to stop and look at label again, just remember where they go.
Another thing that a driver taught me was with long narrow pkgs that can be shelf loaded, (works well with res or later business) face the label out(Towards aisle) and (label end of pkg) towards the bulkhead door, at the back of the shelf. Even if you get it into an early business area, it's at the back of the shelf out of the way but the driver can see the label without fighting with turning the pkg around. The driver won't have to handle until later in the day. It's a win/win. Not on the floor/driver doesn't have to handle/driver happy with you

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

This isn't really towards misloads but just loading in general. I found that if I had mulitple pkgs in hand, before walking into the truck, I would get less confused if I carried them in on the side that the pkgs were to be loaded on. In other words, if pkg goes on a shelf on the right side of the truck-carry them in right hand, left side- left hand. If you carry 1 for right side and 1 for left side, then you don't have to stop and look at label again, just remember where they go.
Another thing that a driver taught me was with long narrow pkgs that can be shelf loaded, (works well with res or later business) face the label out(Towards aisle) and (label end of pkg) towards the bulkhead door, at the back of the shelf. Even if you get it into an early business area, it's at the back of the shelf out of the way but the driver can see the label without fighting with turning the pkg around. The driver won't have to handle until later in the day. It's a win/win. Not on the floor/driver doesn't have to handle/driver happy with you

That is a safety hazard. All packages should be loaded being held with 2 hands, one on each side of the package at corners close to the waist in the power zone. C'mon you should know that.

 

[Mike Hawk]

This isn't really towards misloads but just loading in general. I found that if I had mulitple pkgs in hand, before walking into the truck, I would get less confused if I carried them in on the side that the pkgs were to be loaded on. In other words, if pkg goes on a shelf on the right side of the truck-carry them in right hand, left side- left hand. If you carry 1 for right side and 1 for left side, then you don't have to stop and look at label again, just remember where they go.
Another thing that a driver taught me was with long narrow pkgs that can be shelf loaded, (works well with res or later business) face the label out(Towards aisle) and (label end of pkg) towards the bulkhead door, at the back of the shelf. Even if you get it into an early business area, it's at the back of the shelf out of the way but the driver can see the label without fighting with turning the pkg around. The driver won't have to handle until later in the day. It's a win/win. Not on the floor/driver doesn't have to handle/driver happy with you

You got to be careful doing that, none of my drivers deliver their routes in pas order so things that are placed ahead of where they should be can cause problems. I sometimes load long irregs on the shelf, but always at the end of the day on top of the rest of the shelf with the label visible.

That is a safety hazard. All packages should be loaded being held with 2 hands, one on each side of the package at corners close to the waist in the power zone. C'mon you should know that.

I can do it with one hand, my power zone is enormous.

 

[LKLND3380]

I'm a preloader in a small center (about 10k a day) that uses belt to car to load. I seem to not be able to shake misloads. The other day I had 5 in one day (have no idea how it happened) and am getting a warning letter for it. I load 3 trucks (1 super bulky p12, 1 average bulk/resi p10, and 1 light p7) in a period of 3 hrs on average.

I know the methods (let the belt do the work, build optium carries, work down the belt not up it, stack inside the car if you have to, mark the bay number on the pal label, write the bay number on the boxes face) but they don't seem to stop me from misloading. I can get it in the truck and I put up a good load everyday, but I still have misloads! I even check through my trucks and still have them. It sucks to try your hardest and fail.

I think I have most of my misloads at the end of the day when they crank up the unload and start flowing way faster. Also the sea of smalls coming down the belt when they send down tote after tote of smalls. I find myself barely able to get my stuff off the belt before it goes past me and end up stacking tons of stuf at the end.

Does anyone out there have any tips or advice on how to aviod misloading.

Slow the flow down...

Be aware that 53A, 58A, 59A can look alike especialy if the PAL printer is missing lines when printing.

Pull all your add/cuts/splits

Do not allow anyone to help load your cars unless you are 100% sure they are laoding all the proper packages

 

[LKLND3380]

there is nothing in the contract about misloads so don't bother looking. How its absence is interpreted is up in the air. By that I mean since it doesn't say they can't discipline you for such and such a thing, theres nothing stopping them from doing so. However on the other side, since theres nothing in the contract on it there's no reason to say that the union will recognize/allow such discipline.

It falls under failure to use proper methods:
Checking pal labels against address
Circle pal label number (53A) 3953
Pulling pal label and placing it on the outside of the box for easy identification
using your crayon to write pal on the outside of the box 53A/3953

 

[dilligaf]

That is a safety hazard. All packages should be loaded being held with 2 hands, one on each side of the package at corners close to the waist in the power zone. C'mon you should know that.

I probably should have known that, but I was never actually told that. I was only on preload for less that a year. It took me 4/6 months to even get good at loading my trucks, which means most of the time I was throwing things on the dock and 'cleaning up' during breaks. LOL

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

I probably should have known that, but I was never actually told that. I was only on preload for less that a year. It took me 4/6 months to even get good at loading my trucks, which means most of the time I was throwing things on the dock and 'cleaning up' during breaks. LOL

ha well it's okay....UPS stresses multi-package carries in preloading, which surely makes your #s look good...but which is funny and ironic because they also stress two hands on either side ok pkg and center of gravity motions for lifting and carrying.....

 

[UPS Lifer]

As you load the package - say the address or PAS code out loud.

If you do this - it will help with your concentration and your focus. We are human and our mind tends to wonder. If you say something out loud it helps to keep your mind from wondering.

Try it!!! It does work!!!

 

[HazMatMan]

There is one guy in my center who has not had a misload in 3+ years

I hope he gets some recognition for that!! And to all you people who will say "that's his job, that's what he gets paid to do, his recognition is his paycheck" You are wrong, people like to get recognition for doing a good job, it makes them feel special and proud. Don't they give recognition for safe driving years? years of service? Once again, I hope they gave this guy something for 3+ years without a misload.

 

[Anonymous preloader]

I tried not marking the pal labels until I got them inside my turcks on Friday. I find out how I did on monday.

ha well it's okay....UPS stresses multi-package carries in preloading, which surely makes your #s look good...but which is funny and ironic because they also stress two hands on either side ok pkg and center of gravity motions for lifting and carrying.....

Yes, and you know they value saftey over production. They want you to build mountain-size optimum carries when you load but don't care if it makes it imposible for you to see where you're going as you walk with it, or that it causes more strain to lift and lower. To my day I have never heard managment take any responibility for any injury. NEVER! We used to run out of room at peak and run about 10 routes outside on docks that were conected to the center by a bunch of rollers. One guy would have to split at the other end and push boxes down from the side of the rollers when they weren't full, causing him to twist and work out of his power zone. Eventualy he strained his back the company of course blamed him.

Another time when they ran out of room (our center is way to small for the amount of valume we have) they parked a truck on 1/4 of a dock and made someone load it.
|
Truck |
--------------------_________
| Dock |
--------------------

When they got hurt they still blamed the loader for not looking looking where he was walking. Saftey first.

 

[Mike Hawk]

As you load the package - say the address or PAS code out loud.

If you do this - it will help with your concentration and your focus. We are human and our mind tends to wonder. If you say something out loud it helps to keep your mind from wondering.

Try it!!! It does work!!!

Loosing concentration is what makes me occasionally misload, when my mind wanders I catch myself walking into the wrong truck. In the beginning of the day when I’m not 100% awake I sometimes put shelf 3 boxes on shelf 4 or things like that. To counter this after break I start stacking and go through my trucks to reorder them and double check all the labels. This works well because we usually take break while we wait for volume to show up so trailers aren't always backed on the door ready to go when break is over.

 

[OnTheWay2TheTop]

Ummmmm.... Check the zip codes...

 

[705red]

Ummmmm.... Check the zip codes...

Brillant! Another know it all supervisor joins us. I guess were you are at every route only delivers to one zip code. Thanks for the positive information im sure it will help this kid out.

Take your time and double check every address and do not read the pal labels except for location in the truck to put them. Believe it or not sometimes the palers will make a mistake and put the wrong label on the package which willcause you to have a misload to. Do not worry about pieces per hour worry about doing the job the right way!

 

[thebrownbox]

The only "problem" with exceptional preloaders is that they are promoted to cover drivers.

How long does that take? I've been to almost all the belts in the building covering for people or near the end of the shift helping another belt out because they are backed up.. I got a bunch of nice letters in the mail telling me what a wonderful job I do. I just do it to get the job done, I don't care too much for slackers and I've had at least 3 people tell me not to work so hard for me working to hard the supervisors will just load more on you.