bidding off feeders

gray squirrel

Well-Known Member
I didn't even know there was a feeder school. I kinda figured there was, as there is a driver school. A tidbit left out of my extended conversation with my BA. I will be going to the DMV today to ask how I get a CDL permit. I am in NYS, so I guess any feeder drivers from this district would know the rules/games they play here.

I appreciate any and all info you guys/gals have to offer. Tips of any kind are graciously accepted. Any info is helpful cuz I am kinda flying blind here.
What does this thread have to do with getting a CDL, or feeder school? Maybe you should start a new thread.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
Does your center have one seniority list for all FT employees or is there a separate list for package and feeder? My center has just one list which means when a driver, whether package or feeder, retires and their run is put up for bid, any qualified employee can sign the bid sheet. We have 3 package drivers who have announced their intention to bid in to feeders when the opportunity presents itself. Ironically there is not one feeder driver who has expressed interest in bidding back in to package.

That's not ironic, that's common sense. Here it is in a nutshell: peak, in feeders, is not much different from any other day of the year. In a million years, you could not say that about package car. For many, your main priority in feeders is which gym you should join, and what foods you will eliminate from your diet.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
Yeah, nothing worse than physical activity for a feeder guy/gal ;)

Maybe for many, but not all...I kill the kettlebells and jump rope four to five days a week, and my diet has been trimmed back considerably. Adaptation, man.

But I know many drivers back here, that you could say, "You look just like a driver I used to.....Oh, umm, sorry."

That used to be a joke we used to say, years ago in the preload, after we would see a guy we used to load for that looked like Jabba The Hut..."He thought when they said feeders, it meant a buffet."
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
Having a CDL before going to feeder school is no guarantee.... the company still has the right to qualify you.... or not.

Does your supplement say something different ?



-Bug-

Yeah, maybe, but you most certainly learn more at a paid school. I wouldn't pay for it, but the people here who already have a CDL have a much easier road.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
I would not pay a school for a CDL. I did UPS feeder school. 1 week of me and 1 supe doing nothing but driving and parking, then another week of me and another supe working a job. There is no way any school can do that kind of 1 on 1 instruction. My instructor supe was pulled away for something during 1/2 of one day. I spent 3 hours practicing backing for the test and backing onto doors.

The examiner said that he was pleased with my driving and confidence I showed during my pretrip.

Say what you want about UPS, but they do know how to train people.

I'll say what I want, but one thing I wouldn't say is that management knows training. They know bean counting, and feeder school was no different.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
In our district, they are required by contract to post the instructions for enrolling in feeders school in every center, even in the feeder check-in room. You have to pass the written CDL test and the drug test before you are allowed into UPS feeder school.
 

packageguy

Well-Known Member
We had a guy come back feeders, not seeing his family and having problems at home so he came back to package car. he had to do 30 days and scratch. and know his safety questions. He went to the bottom of seniorty list, but he picks his vacation with his company seniorty date.
 
I'll say what I want, but one thing I wouldn't say is that management knows training. They know bean counting, and feeder school was no different.

The sups doing driver training when I started in 95 were all former drivers that went into mgmt. They were very good not only on the methods but on the everyday stuff as well. They let me make a mistake and then instead of reciting the 13 ways of friend'ing up they had the experience to say Do you know why that happened and here is how to do it right. He had me work on the 5 habits but graduated me with just three. Don't kill yourself or anyone else. Don't wreck our equipment. Pull the right trailer. I've carried that to this day.

DTS is an embarrassment if you put the two sups side by side. All talk of methods and only the most rudimentary skills. Plus you have people being promoted into feeder positions that they have no desire or place being in. Hub sups, specialists, former clerks. People who no more belong behind the wheel of feeder equipment than they do performing brain surgery. Nice enough folk but they are out of their element. And I'm not casting stones as there's been feeder drivers come up just as unskilled. Unfortunately these DTS sups don't have the skill to recognize them and let them stay because their skill set is the same.
 
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