Directed to falsify driver sort and load time

[onestoptogo]

At our center we have been directed to never take credit for driver sort and load time. When preload is not finished on time or we have late air, and the drivers finish this sort and load work - we are required to record this time as AM time. In other words, drivers get no credit for our planned day when we do this work. The preload supervisor gets the benefit of all the "free" labor from the drivers to artificially inflate the effectiveness of the preload. The effectiveness of the preload is now dependent on the
the days volume and not how well the preload is working if drivers do this work. The heavier the better for them, as drivers doing more sort and load now makes the preload look good. To me this wrong. The drivers get screwed and the preload may look good when they may be underperforming. What is wrong with recording what we actually do during the day rather than lying about what we are doing during the day? I have attached the document they gave us telling to not record sort and load time.

 

[soberups]

As long as you are paid the contractually agreed upon rate for all hours worked, it doesnt matter whether you get "credit" for the time you spend loading or not. Whether or not you "look good" on an operations report should be of absolutely no concern to you whatsoever. You are not contractually entitled to be paid "bonus". I agree with you that the way UPS cooks its own books is bogus, which is just one of the many reasons why we as union employees do not and should not recognize the company's so-called "time standards" in the first place.

 

[PACNW]

Just so you know, whether it is recorded as AM time, or S & L does not help the Preload numbers. It all goes against their production equally. They just dont want to add to the planned day of the drivers, not only to reduce bonus, but so they can say "oh you only had a 9.4 planned day" instead of a 9.9 planned day you should have had while you loaded your own car for a half our. If they counted it all as S & L, all the planned days would be inflated and they'd have to adjust the stops per car.

 

[menotyou]

That paper should be forwarded to the SEC for securities fraud.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

That paper should be forwarded to the SEC for securities fraud.

OK, I'll bite--what impact, if any, does the allocation of driver sort time have on the price of our stock or the overall operation of the company? I'll save you the keystrokes---none.

 

[menotyou]

They aren't fudging numbers? The SEC doesn't look kindly on fudging numbers. All those little numbers go on reports that the shareholders use to decide whether or not to buy the stock. I know you get some strange twisted pleasure out of trying to make me look like a fool(ala your comfy corner), but you have failed this time.
If it doesn't matter, why is UPS so intent on cherry picking the AM time?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Fudging numbers at the corporate level does not concern itself with what part of the operation is charged with the 10-20 minutes drivers spend wrapping their cars.

 

[menotyou]

Really?!?! Tell my former center manager, now on-car that!!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Really?!?! Tell my former center manager, now on-car that!!

I would be I am not really all that concerned about it.

BTW, I always use Sort and Load whenever we have to close our own cars out.

 

[menotyou]

P60 is the Preload pay code. Are you a preloader? If not, you are falsifying financial documents which are used to generate quarterly reports that have to be filed with the SEC, by law. Mr. Ethical isn't so ethical, after all.

 

[The Other Side]

At our center we have been directed to never take credit for driver sort and load time. When preload is not finished on time or we have late air, and the drivers finish this sort and load work - we are required to record this time as AM time. In other words, drivers get no credit for our planned day when we do this work. The preload supervisor gets the benefit of all the "free" labor from the drivers to artificially inflate the effectiveness of the preload. The effectiveness of the preload is now dependent on the
the days volume and not how well the preload is working if drivers do this work. The heavier the better for them, as drivers doing more sort and load now makes the preload look good. To me this wrong. The drivers get screwed and the preload may look good when they may be underperforming. What is wrong with recording what we actually do during the day rather than lying about what we are doing during the day? I have attached the document they gave us telling to not record sort and load time.

"FREE" labor? This is silly. You are on the clock and getting paid. If it takes you 30 mins to wrap your pkg car, who cares? Youre getting paid. If the company preload and operations cant see its own failures, why are you trying to communicate that to them?

If the whole process pushes you into overtime for the day with the 30 min delay in the AM, then thats the planned day. The company puts together a "plan to fail" and you execute that plan, well, you are getting paid big bucks for that mistake.

What do you care about planned day? Try focusing on your PAID DAY. Company err's cost UPS tons of money everyday, its the one area of management that they will never get a grasp on.

Peace.

 

[grizbiker]

I don't care about the day that is planned for me. I do care that ups will use anything against an employee to harrass them. So document the time correctly to eliminate "stealing time" claims. Soon enough, management will ask it's drivers to finish loading their trucks under "on road time". So, if the employees are asked to be honest at all times, why should we fudge times to make some bean counters numbers look good?

 

[brownelf]

Work as directed come to mind, but I'd keep a copy of those instructions for my records. Haven't seen the words production bonus on my check in years so that's a non issue.

 

[Dragon]

I am surprised that memo is still posted here.

Anyway did anyone besides the poster really read it?

No one is hiding anything, its explained pretty well.

All the AM time will be charged to the preload (good, bad or ugly)

Upstate, you should not put sort and load in unless you are directed to or work on the preload.


Menotyou, relax, no one is hiding anything, there is nothing to report to the SEC. Yeesh.

 

[705red]

Here are the official am time methods. I cant find anywhere that says load your truck while on AM time. I usually dont care about numbers, but I can see why people get upset because excessive AM time adds to the over allowed. If UPS wants their time cards documented properly and you have to load grounds in your truck that should be sort and load. IMO
As with the op's original document,the official ups documents have been removed as per the TOS.

 

[Socrates]

They aren't fudging numbers? The SEC doesn't look kindly on fudging numbers. All those little numbers go on reports that the shareholders use to decide whether or not to buy the stock. I know you get some strange twisted pleasure out of trying to make me look like a fool(ala your comfy corner), but you have failed this time.
If it doesn't matter, why is UPS so intent on cherry picking the AM time?

Not that I care about making you look like a fool....or that i particularly care to jump to UPS management's defense....but there's a world of difference between completely "opening the books" (which virtually no company in america does, non-profit or otherwise) and providing audited financial statements (which every publicly traded company, UPS included, is obligated by law to do.)

Joe Stockholder, with his 100 (or 1,000.... or 7 million) UPS shares has absolutely no right to know information about rosters, preload hours worked, hours the average driver works, when twilight at XYZ location is finished, etc. In short, Joe Stockholder has absolutely no "right" to minutia or other info about day-to-day operations; he DOES have a right to know how much Labor Expense was incurred during the quarter, along with other items that might appear on a Balance Sheet, Income Statement or Statement of Owners Equity. Fudging numbers internally means absolutely nothing at all.

At the end of the day, if I spend 4 hours unloading, and UPS wants me to record it as Smalls Sort....I really don't give a crap as long as my check is the same $$$. And it always is. As far as the "part-timer" work you're being forced to do--suck it up and quit your complaining. There's people making 1/2 (or 1/3....or 1/4) of what you do for the same work and some of them don't even have any damn benefits yet. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!

 

[menotyou]

Ashamed of what? I make a lot more than you. I make more sitting here typing this one sentence than you will ever make in a day. Ashamed. Next joke.

 

[menotyou]

Upstate, you should not put sort and load in unless you are directed to or work on the preload.


Menotyou, relax, no one is hiding anything, there is nothing to report to the SEC. Yeesh.

I have worked for those people hiding things. I have worked for managers that eliminate your entire Diad time record and pay you with your own sick day. I know those people. Maybe, you don't, but the exist. Just like the boogeyman under the bed. They exist.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Upstate, you should not put sort and load in unless you are directed to or work on the preload.

Our start time is 9:15. We usually are on the belt by 9:20. I am ready to roll--if the preload is not wrapped that is not my problem. Any time that I spend assisting the preload is sort and load.

 

[grizbiker]

So if AM times and load times don't matter, why have them? Why have different codes at all? If it really didn't matter, our sup wouldn't want us to go on road time when packages are still in the trailer. If it really didn't matter, I wouldn't get threats for not following these practices. I was also told it was in order to help our preload numbers and to get bonuses. Oh, and we are only supposed to take 3 minutes for our AM time. That's our pre trip and get everything finalized before we leave the center.