Cover guys

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
Just curious...permanent full time drivers....would you rather be a cover driver where you never know where or what you'll be doing or take a bid for a really crappy route?
 

Indecisi0n

Well-Known Member
Id rather take the worse bid route and know my area (as long as its not a training route because you always get bumped by noobs). Doesnt matter how many stop they think I should do on a route. I set my own pace and my management teams knows/hates me for it.
 

ibleedbrown

Well-Known Member
Id rather take the worse bid route and know my area (as long as its not a training route because you always get bumped by noobs). Doesnt matter how many stop they think I should do on a route. I set my own pace and my management teams knows/hates me for it.

how many hours do you average? you take your lunch and breaks obviously. just wondering how much overtime you get with that mentality. i'm not saying there is anything wrong with the way you do things, i just know not everyone wants to work all night and they are willing to cut corners to get home earlier, which could be a recipe for disaster in my opinion. i'm hoping to find a happy medium between the two mentalities so i dont always get stuck working late. main priority would be to work/drive safe so i don't kill myself or others racing to finish every night.
 

superballs63

Well-Known Troll
Troll
Cover driver, There's a crappy route in my center that is probably coming up for bid soon, and I'm fairly certain that I could get it, but I would MUCH rather stay cover so that I could occasionally bid a decent route.
 

ibleedbrown

Well-Known Member
i guess my question would be, its a crappy route to you now, but do you think it would get easier and more comfortable with time and increased area knowledge?
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
I'll stick with my never knowing what I'm doing on a daily basis. I cover one of those crappy routes you talk about and I wouldn't want to do it everyday and my SUP knows that. I know about 18 routes in the center that I'm in now and a lot are routes that have senior drivers on them.... I'll take my chances in my case it a better chance I'm getting a good route that a bad on a daily basis.
 

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
I'll stick with my never knowing what I'm doing on a daily basis. I cover one of those crappy routes you talk about and I wouldn't want to do it everyday and my SUP knows that. I know about 18 routes in the center that I'm in now and a lot are routes that have senior drivers on them.... I'll take my chances in my case it a better chance I'm getting a good route that a bad on a daily basis.

Are you a bonus center?
Are you able to bump everyday, or bid for the week?
Are you a runner?

To answer the OP, I will take my crappy bid route over floating. Tired of the daily bumps and shuffles by the more senior cover drivers. A game that I also played with those below me. Just got tired of not knowing and all the daily bumps and moves.
 

superballs63

Well-Known Troll
Troll
i guess my question would be, its a crappy route to you now, but do you think it would get easier and more comfortable with time and increased area knowledge?

I have plenty of area knowledge, and it's just a crappy area and route. The route goes out WAYYY too heavy, with a bunch of crappy apartments.

I would NEVER want this to be my full time route.
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
Are you a bonus center?
Are you able to bump everyday, or bid for the week?
Are you a runner?

To answer the OP, I will take my crappy bid route over floating. Tired of the daily bumps and shuffles by the more senior cover drivers. A game that I also played with those below me. Just got tired of not knowing and all the daily bumps and moves.

Not in a bonus center the only bonus we get is .33 hr bonus if we work over 10 hrs.

We don't pick and choose are routes that we over they put us where we have area knowledge, We don't bid routes we bid a cover position for a specific area during the bi-annul bid.

I guess that what you call a runner. I follow the methods and get the job done. Some days I get out early other days I'm over 9.5 it all depends on the route and the load for the given day..
 

kingOFchester

Well-Known Member
Not in a bonus center the only bonus we get is .33 hr bonus if we work over 10 hrs.

We don't pick and choose are routes that we over they put us where we have area knowledge, We don't bid routes we bid a cover position for a specific area during the bi-annul bid.

I guess that what you call a runner. I follow the methods and get the job done. Some days I get out early other days I'm over 9.5 it all depends on the route and the load for the given day..

Cool, I will still take a bid trip. That said there are a few trips I would NOT bid. I got lucky this year. Trip still sucks, but less of a suck factor then a few others.
 

Indecisi0n

Well-Known Member
how many hours do you average? you take your lunch and breaks obviously. just wondering how much overtime you get with that mentality. i'm not saying there is anything wrong with the way you do things, i just know not everyone wants to work all night and they are willing to cut corners to get home earlier, which could be a recipe for disaster in my opinion. i'm hoping to find a happy medium between the two mentalities so i dont always get stuck working late. main priority would be to work/drive safe so i don't kill myself or others racing to finish every night.


52 hours last week. 48.5 this week.
 

ocnewguy

Well-Known Member
Just something i was curious about based on what i've talked to older guys in the hub that recently went to driving school...

some went for saturday air, some went for cover driving, some went for full-time.

Saturday air, obviously work in the hub during the week then drive on saturday.

cover driving...cover vacations and such? do they eventually go full time after a certain amount of time? or are you stuck as a cover driver for your time at ups

full-time...full time m-friend driver pretty straight forward

my question is why would anyone go cover driving if it seems like such an uncertain job with no guarantees you'll actually be working?
 

barnyard

KTM rider
I have already passed on 3 crappy routes. I have been a cover guy for 12 years. What's a few more.

A friend of mine in the Mpls, Broadway bldg has been a cover guy for 20 years. He told me that he would not ever sign a bid for a route.

If you are the top cover guy, it is a rare week to have to cover a crappy route.
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
Just something i was curious about based on what i've talked to older guys in the hub that recently went to driving school...

some went for saturday air, some went for cover driving, some went for full-time.

Saturday air, obviously work in the hub during the week then drive on saturday.

cover driving...cover vacations and such? do they eventually go full time after a certain amount of time? or are you stuck as a cover driver for your time at ups

full-time...full time m-friend driver pretty straight forward

my question is why would anyone go cover driving if it seems like such an uncertain job with no guarantees you'll actually be working?


FT cover driver in my area are guaranteed 8 hr a day just like any other driver they just don't have a permanent route that they run every day. The only thing uncertain is what route you will be on....
 

WorknLateHuh

Well-Known Member
Made it a point to go out blind on lots of the easy cushy routes when i started. It payed off because the majority of the time they keep me on these with the exception of a handful of "meh" routes that they trained me on. No mall routes, no industrial routes, no downtown mayhem, and no insane bull run routes. Granted... those routes have their perks and some drivers prefer them, but certainly not me. Give me a rural route with 100-120 stops, 200-250 pieces and 5 pckups.


So i have no problem staying on cover until something nice opens up. That's not to say that cover doesn't have it's headaches because there's a sea of them. to name a few that come to mind...

-- where you're going every morning is a mystery

-- dealing with different trucks everyday... no dolly, no gas, no bags, random suprises, and my least favorite... trash all over the place.

-- lowered familiarity with area, people, dogs, and companies.

-- It's more difficult to settle into a routine when you cover 15-20 routes.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I went straight onto a bid route from the Midnight Sort, and since have bid on three other routes over 29 years. I never had to work as an un-assigned, or Swing Driver as we used to call them. The routes got better and better, although now I get over dispatched. I did EAMs for a few years so I did have to actually use a map book then. It may be boring to stay on a bid route, but there is something to be said about knowing where you are going everyday.
 

Covemastah

Hoopah drives the boat Chief !!
in 1989 I was put on a training rte with 200 stops, a map, a flashlight, and told if I hit something,mis delivered something, missed a pick up, or stuffed a package, I would be fired !! That was my training!! Good times though, I could back up as much as I needed, never closed the front door an buckled up only on the main roads !!
 
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