Dishonest Management Practice?

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dannyboy

Guest
Well now lets throw out something interesting.

New driver goes out and after about 25 days is making a delivery that is really tough. Barely a path, with little gravel if any. Has to go open a gate, go through and deliver, come back through and close the gate.

While begining to move again, the P500 slides a bit to the passenger side and the side of this narrow dirt path drops out from under the tire and our new driver is STUCK.

Now, after all the sweating and cussing and trying to get out, he ends up calling the delivery sup. Now we all know that if a wrecker is called, then there will be an accident charged to the center and the driver, causing the driver to bet bumped off delivery for at least a year, but for all practical purposes it will be two years before he can go back to delivery.

Now this sup calls one of the other drivers in the area and says "go by there and see what you can do" So the driver goes by there in his piece of junk truck and quickly understands that his truck just is not man enough. Besides, as he tries to back the 3/4 miles to where the P500 is stuck, he almost gets sideways in the path.

So the driver calls another driver that is fairly close and that driver in a P700 gets a logging chain from a customer and, after a few tugs and prayers pulls said 500 out of danger.

No damage to "driveway", truck etc.

So now my question of both management and hourly:

Was this a dishonest act by either management or the drivers involved. If so why and what was dishonest about the actions of those involved. What disipline should be taken on whom and why.

Your thoughts.

Disclaimer: The afore mentioned story was purely fictional. Any portrayal of any real occurance or persons is purely coincidental.

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fredly00

Guest
Umm from my experience, 3 known incidents
If the driver gets out on his own(or with
help from someone other than a company called
wrecker) nothing is charged.

One driver was under his 30days as well.

Looks like the Management was trying to exhaust all possible options before spending what could be $$$ for a wrecker.
 
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pretender

Guest
I think this is a case of what we used to call "doing what it takes to get the job done". I would not consider it to be be a dishonest act on anyone's part...
 
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feguy

Guest
Not a bit of dishonesty done here by anyone. Sorry, but your statement "Now we all know that if a wrecker is called, then there will be an accident charged to the center and the driver, causing the driver to bet bumped off delivery for at least a year, but for all practical purposes it will be two years before he can go back to delivery." is false.
 
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over9five

Guest
I would COMMEND the sup for sending the second driver over AND I think the center manager should buy the second and third drivers a case of beer (each).

An excellent job by all to get the job done without making a federal case out of it!
 
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ok2bclever

Guest
I think it is incredibly dishonest . . .

to call using a wrecker an accident.

The wrecker is always on purpose.
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wkmac

Guest
I think the whole thing stinks of dishonesty. They cheaped a wrecker driver out of an honest buck!

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I think Pretender had it right with the "getting the job done" comment. Also the sup was willing to backup his drivers when it would have been easier to just throw the newbie under the bus and get some new meat for the route.

BTW: What was the point of this exercise anyway?
 
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johnny

Guest
I think since the scenario went the way you said everything worked out,but let me add this to the mix.What would have happened if someone got injured during this? Then what would happen to drivers or sup?
 
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ok2bclever

Guest
If this had gone bad with actual property damage the driver involved would have been charged for an accident and the other drivers involved might have faced further disciplinary action and if someone had gotten hurt it could have gone all the way to termination for those involved.

As far as the supe it depends whether he/she is in favor or not.

A thorough investigation would be made and an out of favor supe would be canned or demoted and everything would be swept under the rug if the supe was one of the darlings.

I would like to think the supe was trying to save the new driver's job and perhaps that actually was it, but it is much more likely that he was trying to save his center's accident cost stats.

Another possibility would be the center is desperate for driver bodies and the supe didn't want to lose the body as an accident would send the driver back into the part-time workforce per this scenario and it would probably be weeks or months before the supe got the replacement body and then would have to begin the training all over again.
 
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dannyboy

Guest
I know there are managers out there biting their lips. Come on, wade in with your thoughts.

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spidey

Guest
Lower level management here, only speaking for myself. The wrecker shouldn't be called until it's become clear that all other options have been exausted. My first and formost motivation would be saving the butt of the under 30, but having the center charged with an accident when there was no property damage and another driver could have gotten him out wouldn't get the sup a dozen roses either.
 
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feederdude

Guest
It isn't a given that an accident report is filled out for a tow truck. The shop manager may try to push that angle, however, each situation is, or should be relative to individual incidents.
Managers and/or supervisors that don't battle with the shop over this type of practice, are weak and should be required to wear a dunce cap during the ERI campaign! Supporting the work group is one of the most important aspects to all of managements responsibilties. Anything less is like drinking lite beer.
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Feederdude
 
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dannyboy

Guest
PEW guy

REally, you know it is false? really???? All I can say then ole pal is you are a liar.

But from you other posts, why would I think you would post any thing but?

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upsdawg

Guest
In some of our remote centers in No.Calif and No. Nevada with crummy roads---snow, and ice--we do what we need to do to get the job done and not charge anyone with a reportable accident.I would call it teamwork and a good example of what can be accomplished when management and drivers work together!!

I have nothing but respect for our drivers who drive the routes that are "Ugly" in the summer time--and wintertime do things above and beyond to make service to our remote customers!! Especially the Feeder Drivers who take shortcuts when roads are closed to get packages to remote centers!!
 
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flupser

Guest
danny..... let's use a real occurance instead of a make believe one. I got stuck almost exactly like your fictitional driver. I was going down a sandy dirt road, I stopped in the road to open the customer's gate so I could make the delivery. After finding the gate locked I went back to truck and was going to back up to the neighbors drive to turn around. The truck never moved from where I had parked it. ( STUCK IN THE ROAD ) I called center and let them know I needed a tow truck. Center Mgr. came out and took some photo's and tow truck pulled me out. Truck was stuck on top of the ground, not buried, it just could'nt get traction. A couple weeks later I get called in the office and am given a warning letter signed by the division automotive manager. It stated that I caused economic loss to UPS and that any other incedents might lead to further disiplinary action. I was not charged with an accident however. I did not do any property damage and no accident paperwork was used. Do I think it SUCKS, YOU BET. I was pissed for a few weeks but I got over it. It did give me a written excuse or pass to not deliver any package that I feel might be a problem getting to. In my mind that pretty much means anything off the pavement. Who loses here, yep you guessed it, the customer. You gotta look out for number one right? After all, I do have a family to feed. What really stinks about this whole deal is this, UPS gives me a warning letter over a 200 dollar wrecker bill but says nothing to any of the drivers in our building about burning up the diesel trucks by filling them with gasoline. We have had at least six diesel engines blown up in the last year due to this idiotic driver oversite.(Where does UPS find these people.) Our mechanic has plenty of job security for sure. Enough said, I am starting to ramble. Don't you just hate that.
 
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dannyboy

Guest
Well maybe it was fiction but maybe not. I added that to protect the inocent or guilty which ever it may be.
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As for the real hazzard of the p500 turning over as it was moved, it could be one of the drivers there with more seniority and experience told the rookie that he was taking over the route. That way if it did turn over, the senior driver was at the wheel, not the rookie, and the roll over would have been charged to him.
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As for accidents, our center charges the driver with an accident any time the package car leaves the roadway and a wrecker must be called to pull the car out. The way it is explained to me is it is this way district wide.

So maybe with about 2 1/2 hours of driver time, the drivers saved the company $200 in wrecker bills? And it got the driver back to delivering faster. Built teamwork. Saved a lot of paper work. Oh and yeah, a rookie driver is back on the road the next day, thankful for his job and more careful when driving.

I guess this would go down as a win win?

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gman

Guest
Actually it was an unnecessary backing procedure. The driver should have a) walked the package in from the road, b) called the customer to come to the end of his driveway to retrieve the package or c) left a delivery notice to avoid an unsafe delivery situastion.

I personally would have probably gone with c. I have a similar driveway on my route and have imformed the customer I will not be knocking on his door any time soon at risk to damage to myself or my package car. My center manager suggested trying to leave it next door.
 
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brown1

Guest
Now weigh this on your minds. In a nearby center a driver sees a customer's vehicle stuck on the side of the road. The driver stops to see if he can render assistance. Upon assessing the situation he then proceedes to pull the vehicle out with a strap. Everything grand! Right? Wrong? Upon disconnecting the strap the customer is ran over and killed by his own car because he failed to put it in park.

I never did hear the end of this story but I bet it wasn't good.
 
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pd109

Guest
Here in Canada in the winter its easy to get stuck unless you are really careful.So they instill the idea that if you back into a spot,be sure you can get out.If you get stuck they tell you to sheet all your air as emergency conditions.Sometimes you get stuck because of black ice.I broke down once right by the lake,I ended up knocking on a resi door until the tow truck arrived.It was too cold to stay with the truck.the sup showed up and took my air,towtruck showed up and I got home at 11;30 pm
nobody said a word.Rollaways are one thing,but theres times when life doesn`t go like you think it should.it sounds like you guys get abused by management even more than we do.
 
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over9five

Guest
You know, at first I thought Dannys story was great. But then I thought would the management team act the same way with a driver they didn't like??? Or would they immediately call for the tow truck and then charge the driver with an accident?

Something more to think about.
 
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