Breaking out routes

705red

Browncafe Steward
What is the proper procedure for breaking out a route? When you bid a route you bid on the 1a,1b,1c,1d with the understanding that the route with the highest letter should be the baseline. Recently it seems that the dispatch team will bust out the easiest route that day. In effect penalizing a senior driver by making him a cover driver for the day or lose a day of pay. If this has happened by you what have you done to argue this? If your in management when did the baseline busting out change, and where is any of this in writing? Its not covered in my contract, that i can see. Just wondering if this is bs or if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.
 

mattwtrs

Retired Senior Member
I don't think the old rules apply anymore for breaking out routes. I seen many different methods used and the easiest route that's cut these days is the one with the fewest pickups and and very few committed air packages!
 

Raw

Raw Member
What is the proper procedure for breaking out a route? When you bid a route you bid on the 1a,1b,1c,1d with the understanding that the route with the highest letter should be the baseline. Recently it seems that the dispatch team will bust out the easiest route that day. In effect penalizing a senior driver by making him a cover driver for the day or lose a day of pay. If this has happened by you what have you done to argue this? If your in management when did the baseline busting out change, and where is any of this in writing? Its not covered in my contract, that i can see. Just wondering if this is bs or if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.
I think if you have a bid route they have to put at least 60% of your route on you than can put on you whatever they want.
 

JustTired

free at last.......
If you're on pas/edd, what I've been told is that you have no "set" area. It can change drastically from day to day. It usually doesn't change that much....but could.

If you're not, and they cut your area completely, you can bump any cover driver off of their assigned area that day or go home.

I don't know if this policy, but that is the way it's done in our building.

And usually when they cut an area, the other drivers in that loop are out til all hours of the night. Basically making more money than they would have spent on the driver they cut. After all, if he works one day that week, they have to pay his benefits (no savings there). Even with the savings of a car not being on road taken into account, the expense has to be greater. Not to mention possible missed pickups, missed deliveries because of time constraints, meets to get pickups back to building, etc.

But, I guess, it looks good on paper. That's the main thing.
 

Fullhouse

Well-Known Member
In our center the baseline run is the last one in that loop. That is the one that usually gets cut if need be. A driver, if he has the senority, has a right to follow his work. If 51% has been moved to another run, that driver may bump the other driver or take the day off.
 

GUTHREE

Mrs. Smooth
i was just told this, but gonna check into it. i have just bid on a route, that usually gets busted on mondays.. cool for me, that's why i bid on it. then it got busted last tuesday, two days a week. hmmmm. not real cool about that. but i ran my old route, and my center manager was cool.

now, here's what i was told. I have the "option" if my route gets busted to:
A. go home, without pay
B. go and solicit any driver, and just see if he wants to go home, and run his route.
C. bump a less seniority driver than me on a "un-assigned" route. which with my seniority i got em (20yrs), and run that route for that day.

i'm not a swing/cover driver. they can't just throw me on something. i have a route, that i bid on and i can't help it that they bust it. if it's busted out for more than 30 days then i can rebid.
 
P

pickup

Guest
705red;206297 if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.[/QUOTE said:
and if anyone has been in that vault, is the formula for coke-a-cola right next to it?
 

local804

Well-Known Member
What is the proper procedure for breaking out a route? When you bid a route you bid on the 1a,1b,1c,1d with the understanding that the route with the highest letter should be the baseline. Recently it seems that the dispatch team will bust out the easiest route that day. In effect penalizing a senior driver by making him a cover driver for the day or lose a day of pay. If this has happened by you what have you done to argue this? If your in management when did the baseline busting out change, and where is any of this in writing? Its not covered in my contract, that i can see. Just wondering if this is bs or if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.



All of the routes were planned to feed into the other routes. The rule of thumb was when A is light, work is diverted into A from B and so on. Route D was the route that should be cut according to PAS/UPS when this was introduced. UPS usually plays the favorite game here or the easy way out for the situation. Going home and losing a days pay is never an option for a seniority driver. Does UPS really want a 20+ year driver hopping on a route cold because they cut his route? Hell NO! A few days jumping around on new routes will create more problems that it is worth.
 

local804

Well-Known Member
In our center the baseline run is the last one in that loop. That is the one that usually gets cut if need be. A driver, if he has the senority, has a right to follow his work. If 51% has been moved to another run, that driver may bump the other driver or take the day off.


Usually they split the work into 3-4 cars so 51+% option never happens here.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Usually they split the work into 3-4 cars so 51+% option never happens here.

In theory, you are right. The loop is like an accordion with stops added/pulled from the apex down towards the baseline.
A split route, in theory, could be composed of the left-overs of the various baseline routes. Not the only scenario of a split route but one that works with this explanation.
 

tourists24

Well-Known Member
What is the proper procedure for breaking out a route? When you bid a route you bid on the 1a,1b,1c,1d with the understanding that the route with the highest letter should be the baseline. Recently it seems that the dispatch team will bust out the easiest route that day. In effect penalizing a senior driver by making him a cover driver for the day or lose a day of pay. If this has happened by you what have you done to argue this? If your in management when did the baseline busting out change, and where is any of this in writing? Its not covered in my contract, that i can see. Just wondering if this is bs or if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.
Our language here is out of the Atlantic Area Supplement, so specifically speaking things may not be the same. But generally speaking, keep these things in mind.

Im assuming you are not talking about a permanent cut. Big difference in that and one that is cut once or twice a week.

From my experience it seems there is not a lot of language covering occassional cuts that would benefit the driver. To my knowledge, there is no language mandating which routes UPS is allowed to cut or not. If a route is cut the driver has to work as assigned (cover). A lot of drivers will decide to take the day off, but that may cause another problem if a higher senior driver would also like to go home. Ive seen panel decisions that did not go in the drivers favor for trying to bump a lower senior driver off of his bid. You just cant do that (at least under our supplement). Following your work has usually meant for permanent cuts when the work is spread out amongst several routes. Even that usually ends up with the bump, bump, assign routine. Read carefully in your supplement language (or 705's agreement) to whether it states permanent cut or not.

When new bid time rolls around (every year here), I usually tell the drivers to make sure they know whether there is a tendency for that route to be out often.
 

thelus

Package Car Whipping Boy
i know here in 705 package car route bids are permanent . Red all you can do to try to prevent busting out someones route is to get people to file 9.5 grevences. With our contract there is no opt in or out clause and they must keep drivers under 9.5, which they do not do. though depends on management right now in my center all of us are driving except morning combo air drivers that are displaced
 

helenofcalifornia

Well-Known Member
I agree with Mattwtr that it's a whole new ballgame at UPS. There are no rules for the most part about what is happening with all the collapsing of routes. I know I am going to get bumped off my route in a couple of months because a higher seniority person will be bumped off his. Gotta be light on your feet at the new UPS and don't think that just because it's always been that way, it will be thst way in the future. Reality.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
There are no rules anymore.
Nothing seems to be in the contract about it.
The whole 60% thing is toast coz it isnt your work, its UPS work.
They tried to cut mine out or add pickups. They have done this to several senior drivers. They end up working 3 days a week coz they dont want to swing. I cant do that.
They called to give me the day off, because it was going to be seriously changed or dissolved. I said cool, Im coming in, better have someone go with me or it wont be pretty.
My route stayed in, normal day.
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
i know here in 705 package car route bids are permanent . Red all you can do to try to prevent busting out someones route is to get people to file 9.5 grevences. With our contract there is no opt in or out clause and they must keep drivers under 9.5, which they do not do. though depends on management right now in my center all of us are driving except morning combo air drivers that are displaced
I hear ya! This post is 2 years old and i was hoping to see if others had good language so i could check it out. Was really hoping to add some language in this last contract. But it didnt work out. Next contract!
 

brownman15

Well-Known Member
What is the proper procedure for breaking out a route? When you bid a route you bid on the 1a,1b,1c,1d with the understanding that the route with the highest letter should be the baseline. Recently it seems that the dispatch team will bust out the easiest route that day. In effect penalizing a senior driver by making him a cover driver for the day or lose a day of pay. If this has happened by you what have you done to argue this? If your in management when did the baseline busting out change, and where is any of this in writing? Its not covered in my contract, that i can see. Just wondering if this is bs or if anyone has seen these secret rules that must be locked up in a vault in atlanta.

he can follow his work. he can follow the work the portion in excess of 50% or if it is more than a two way split the driver shall be assigned by seniority.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
he can follow his work. he can follow the work the portion in excess of 50% or if it is more than a two way split the driver shall be assigned by seniority.

That is the way it is in our contract. But is not the way it is working out. They broke out our 2nd most senior drivers rte today. Split it between 3 different rtes. There was no 50% to follow. She ended up going home.

I hear ya! This post is 2 years old and i was hoping to see if others had good language so i could check it out. Was really hoping to add some language in this last contract. But it didnt work out. Next contract!
I sure hope you can come up with something better than the way it is now. This whole thing sucks.
 
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