Dishonest Pickups

[brownmonster]

I talked to my boss about completing a pickup stop if a customer calls me and tells me not to drive 5 miles to make the pickup. He said the best way to CYA is message the Center and have the pickup pulled from your board after the customer calls and says not to come.

 

[uber]

Better yet, don't use the "sign system". Shippers pay $20/week to see our smiling faces----go in and actually make the pickup. I would hate to be the driver trying to explain a missed pickup concern by using the "they had the sign out" excuse.

I'm a cover driver. Whats the point in having a sign system if you go in and check. When people do have signs out and I go in and check they always seem annoyed, like didn't you see the sign?

 

[yeahitsme]

If they put the same area on my car everyday, maybe I could make the 30 min. window. But it is never the same, so, the 30 min rule is out the window as far as I'm concerned. I complete the stop when I get there.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I'm a cover driver. Whats the point in having a sign system if you go in and check. When people do have signs out and I go in and check they always seem annoyed, like didn't you see the sign?

The point is there is no "sign system" in our methods. We are supposed to stop at each and every pickup stop every day--this is what they are paying up to $20/week for.

As a cover driver, you should be especially careful not to go based on a sign and should make contact with the pickup customers. It is not up to you to change the way the bid driver runs his area; however, you should not change the way you do your job either.

 

[Indecisi0n]

If they put the same area on my car everyday, maybe I could make the 30 min. window. But it is never the same, so, the 30 min rule is out the window as far as I'm concerned. I complete the stop when I get there.

I am a cover and know what you mean. When the customer asks "didn't you see the sign?" I tell them straight up "sorry I don't go by signs."

 

[dilligaf]

Pickup customers are charged on a weekly basis and whether you complete the pickup stop or not does not impact their billing.

​OK.

 

[QKRSTKR]

I'm a cover driver. Whats the point in having a sign system if you go in and check. When people do have signs out and I go in and check they always seem annoyed, like didn't you see the sign?

I agree. I remember being a cover guy and some rtes had a lot a signs. They either seem annoyed or act like your an idiot. A lot of this doesn't go on anymore though. Seems more old school. When I became a bid driver I never encouraged any pick ups to use signs.

i had one pick up that was a glass blower. If you rang bell when sign wasn't up they would get super pissed.

 

[soberups]

Better yet, don't use the "sign system". Shippers pay $20/week to see our smiling faces----go in and actually make the pickup. I would hate to be the driver trying to explain a missed pickup concern by using the "they had the sign out" excuse.

For the most part I agree, but I have 3 pickups on my route that use signs because they have half-mile plus gravel driveways that are steep with switchbacks, and every time I go up there I tear ruts into their road and kick up big clouds of dust. The customers stated preference is that I not drive up there unless it is necessary.

 

[soberups]

I talked to my boss about completing a pickup stop if a customer calls me and tells me not to drive 5 miles to make the pickup. He said the best way to CYA is message the Center and have the pickup pulled from your board after the customer calls and says not to come.

I dont give my phone # out to customers, but I have made an exception for one account who lives way way up on a mountain. She will message me if there is too much snow to make it up her driveway. She also has an adult autistic son who plays outside within the confines of a 10 acre fenced area, and for his safety she leaves her gate locked when he is outside. If she messages me to say nothing is going out, I will stop complete the pickup at that point regardless of where I am located. I see no dishonesty in this, I am not falsifying a record or attempting to defraud the company or the customer in any way.

If I drive by a pickup with a "no UPS" sign, I will wait to complete the stop until the next time I am pulled over with the vehicle secured. If that happens to be a mile or two down the road, oh well. I went there, I was ready to make service on the pickup at the scheduled time, they had nothing to ship, and I waited to enter the data until such time as I had a safe place to park. Who cares what GPS says, there is nothing dishonest about any of that.

As far as 85% compliance goes for being within 15 minutes of the scheduled pickup time...I can understand the intent of the measurement. We are trying to give our customers a consistent level of service. I was at about zero percent compliance and my center manager discussed it with me and explained what the goal was. She also aknowledged that I have a high-mileage rural route with mostly on-route pickups, and that 85% on a daily basis was probably not realistically achievable. She told me to do the best I could while still using common sense, which I found to be quite a refreshing change from UPS's typical obsession with chasing metrics off of a cliff. I currently average around 70%, although if the stops fall right I can occasionally hit 100% without too much effort. I will enthusiatically cooperate with anything that involves common sense.

 

[soberups]

I know alot of people that close out there pickups within the 15 minute window and go to them later, however I've never actually seen anyone fired for this. I'd imagine that it is considered dishonesty regardless of whatever reason that one may have, but if management wanted to could they find out where you closed out said pickup? Whether it was in the actual area of the pickup location or not?

You could get fired if the company was able to prove that, per the contract, you intended to defraud them. Remember though that per the contract they cannot rely solely on the GPS information, they have to personally observe you committing the infraction.

The people that I have seen who got fired for this type of behavior were either (a) caught on videotape or (b) caught lying when they were questioned about the descrepancies in their delivery records vs what was shown in GPS. Once you admit to or are caught in a lie, you can then be immediately terminated for dishonesty and whatever GPS data the company has is no longer even relevant.

 

[uber]

I had a pickup I went to yesterday at their scheduled time and they weren't ready. They had to finish the paperwork on everything and asked if I could come back in an hour. I said yes, scanned the end of day and entered in how many units I was to pickup and came back an hour later and picked them up. Since I didn't actually pick up the pieces at the scheduled time frame is that dishonesty? Does Upright Dave agree with this or should I be pitied for 'falsifying records'?

 

[superballs63]

Does Upright Dave agree with this or should I be pitied for 'falsifying records'?

I think you mean Uptight New Yorker

 

[soberups]

I had a pickup I went to yesterday at their scheduled time and they weren't ready. They had to finish the paperwork on everything and asked if I could come back in an hour. I said yes, scanned the end of day and entered in how many units I was to pickup and came back an hour later and picked them up. Since I didn't actually pick up the pieces at the scheduled time frame is that dishonesty? Does Upright Dave agree with this or should I be pitied for 'falsifying records'?

You were there to do the pickup at the scheduled time and came back later in order to meet the needs of ghe customer. Scanning the end of day in order to show compliance is not in sny way dishonest. The fact that you came back later per customer request is irrelevant.

 

[QKRSTKR]

It's really plain and simple. If you are stop completing pick ups when you are not there at the address to simply stay within the 15 minute time frame you are falsifying records. If you are doing this then it's a matter of if and when the company wants you, they have you. Don't think they don't know. They know everything.