Bad weather in Ohio, your thoughts

[rod]

I also have the day off today, partly to help out my cover driver but mostly because we got 8" of snow yesterday and I was out shovelling until 10:30.

Out center had a 1915 curfew last night. Our start time is 9:15 but they were wrapped up and we were ready to go by 8:45 which, in the past, they would have let us start early but one of our more vocal union boys put in a grievance about the staggered start times and now we can't leave before our start time. What was happening is the drivers that were in the bldg were allowed to start early and then those who would show up later would start when they got there. There were some days where the start times could differ by 1/2 hour depending upon the preload. Yesterday would have been an ideal to start early as the snow was just starting to pick up in intensity and the extra 1/2 hour would have been nice. I can see both sides of the issue but it is still frustrating to sit for 1/2 hour because of a nuisance grievance.

So if management just ups the start time whenever they want just because some drivers are there early what is to stop them from starting you a half hour later if the air is running late. I thought all start times had to be posted on a friday for the up coming week and couldn't be changed once they were posted. That's the way it used to work for us.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

So if management just ups the start time whenever they want just because some drivers are there early what is to stop them from starting you a half hour later if the air is running late. I thought all start times had to be posted on a friday for the up coming week and couldn't be changed once they were posted. That's the way it used to work for us.

You're right (partly)--they would not push the start time back due to late air but would be willing to move it up if the preload was wrapped and the drivers that were there wanted to start early. It was usually 10-15 minutes but yesterday would have been 1/2 hour which, as you may recall, is like 2 hours in UPS time. It's not a big issue but Joe Union thought it was and now there is no flexibility in start times.

 

[rod]

You're right (partly)--they would not push the start time back due to late air but would be willing to move it up if the preload was wrapped and the drivers that were there wanted to start early. It was usually 10-15 minutes but yesterday would have been 1/2 hour which, as you may recall, is like 2 hours in UPS time. It's not a big issue but Joe Union thought it was and now there is no flexibility in start times.

I guess what I was actually trying to say was that it is a slippery slope your waking on if you let then "play" with start times

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I guess what I was actually trying to say was that it is a slippery slope your waking on if you let then "play" with start times

Point taken--they were just trying to give us a head start on the day and, for the most part, those same drivers brought it back in that much earlier.

 

[Hangingon]

So if management just ups the start time whenever they want just because some drivers are there early what is to stop them from starting you a half hour later if the air is running late. I thought all start times had to be posted on a Friday for the up coming week and couldn't be changed once they were posted. That's the way it used to work for us.

We had a bit of snow and ice here on Tuesday. So 2 minutes before start time had a big mass PCM where mgm't announced that for 'safety' reasons our start time for the day was pushed back by an hour. It obviously had nothing to do with the fact they were still unloading trailers. It was a bit funny watching the shop stewards pass out grievance forms as fast as they could.

As far as trust, we have been instructed when we come to a road that we deem impassable we need to call the center and they will decide if we should drive down it or not. I think the only ones who actually did this were the new drivers, the rest of us just wrote EC and continued on our way.

 

[over9five]

How does the center know if you should drive down the road or not? Do they come look at it?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

How does the center know if you should drive down the road or not? Do they come look at it?

Google Earth

 

[buttere]

Our managers tell us not to go down a road you think you will get stuck! They let us start early here too if everything is all wrapped up. I sometimes wonder what i'm missing at all those pcm's but I like getting a head start on the day. Of course today air was late because of the bad weather in Kentucky so nobody got to leave until 10am.

 

[toonertoo]

How does the center know if you should drive down the road or not? Do they come look at it?

They call corporate, where they know everything.

 

[over9five]

Google Earth

They call corporate, where they know everything.

U guyz r soooo funny..... !

 

[Ms Spoken]

Google Earth missed this one !!!

 

[browniehound]

Im such a team player

Tooner,
I don't know you but I get the sense from your posts that you are 100% a team player (for better or worse). Over9.5 made a post that really hit the nail om the head. I think he was saying why care if UPS doesn't care?

I also want to say you have the right attitude Tooner. Deliver the priority and dig for the medicine sent ground. Although its the same service level as a ground J-Crew delivery, a kids medicine is far more important.

From your post it sounds like you should have not been on the road that day or at least called in early. The air trailer is a priority at days end I guess. I remember a Friday in which I left town at 1800 and it just began snowing at 1730 quickly and heavily.

The timing was unbelievably bad. It was a 2 hr. ride back to the center that day. Luckily for UPS it was a friday and the air recovery door is open until 2100 instead of 1930. What if it were a monday? Everyone in the center was in the same boat as me.

Does the air stay behind until the next day? Does the plane wait for an entire center's air? I'm sure some center's air made it to the airport in time. Do we wait for one center's air and make the entire plane late or does UPS leave the center's air behind as a sacrifice to make service on the air that can be delivered on time?

I'm curious as to what happens here and I'm happy that I'm not the one who makes these desicions

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Our plane has to take off at the same time each day and they do not hold the plane so getting the air back to the center is a must. We have had instances where drivers have gone right to the airport to ensure their air makes the plane. We will set up meets in some of our outlying areas to transfer pickup pieces to one driver and the remaining deliveries to the other(s). Drivers close enough to the center will come in and dump their air and go back out.

Curfews are established and ECs are used to make sure that we get as much delivered as we can while ensuring that we get back to the bldg safely. However, as with any other situation, there are always those few drivers who take advantage of the EC and blow off stops that they probably should have attempted. We had one (cover) driver bring back 25 ECs and the regular driver had to deliver his route plus the 25 ECs the following day--he was not a happy camper. The sad part was that the cover driver was punched out and gone before 1700 so could have used the 2 hours to at least try to make service on some of those ECs. I had a rural route for several years so know full well some of the challenges those routes present but you still do all that you can to make service, to include making phone calls, indirecting or whatever you can. The cover driver with the 25 ECs had commercial stops in there, including paychecks.

 

[Raw]

I don`t know how you people up north do it! I grew up in Ohio and can`t imagine being a UPS driver up there. My finger tips start to split when the tempurature gets below 60` and dry in Florida. Had shorts and no jacket friday!! Indeed it`s paradise down here!! Now it`s party time with tons of folks here for the Super Bowl.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It's nice having all 4 seasons, although I'll admit that the winters could be shorter. This has been a tough one so far and isn't showing any sign of letting up.

 

[Bubblehead]

In December we experienced horrible weather. My priority's went like this, business,perishables, then medicines. Everything else just had to wait till you could get to it.

It is and always will my position that all the packages in my truck are equally worthless. My only goal is to get each and every one of them out of my life within the companies ever changing parameters.

 

[Packagewarrior]

Our center used EC to cover up poor planning and overdispatch during peak season. We had coverage drivers being used as helpers when we were unable to get all our stops delivered. They would tell us to be in by 7 and sheet all missed packages as EC. I drove right past some of those "EC" stops on my way in. How creative management can be.

 

[Catatonic]

welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

Which one's Pink?