Driver Activity Report

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Dilli, I don't think anything will be "business as usual" anymore.

 

[speeddemon]

I usually have to spend 10-15 mins after lunch to look through my truck for misloads. We were told to have this done by 3pm or it would be our fault if we found one after the fact. So add that to my nothing getting done, time. Hey, heres a novel idea, how about holding the damn preloader responsible for his work, or lack thereof, so I don't have to waste my freakin time! They can put one of those things on my hood for all I care. Get on the damn truck if you dont think Im doing my job. Spineless pansies.

 

[some1else]

speed, that sounds like you are being instructed to sort your truck, sounds good to me!

 

[HEFFERNAN]

I usually have to spend 10-15 mins after lunch to look through my truck for misloads. We were told to have this done by 3pm or it would be our fault if we found one after the fact. So add that to my nothing getting done, time. Hey, heres a novel idea, how about holding the damn preloader responsible for his work, or lack thereof, so I don't have to waste my freakin time! They can put one of those things on my hood for all I care. Get on the damn truck if you dont think Im doing my job. Spineless pansies.

We were told months ago that there is no more sorting your truck. That is considered stealing time. We are to stop the truck and go back and search each stop individually and sort as you look. They consider sorting your truck as stealing as well. You can sense a pattern in their wording. This is 6 months after Telematics began at the end of January.

You need to file a grievance on this (paid for time). Your lunch does not start with the completion of your last stop before lunch. It starts when you are not on company time (take the key out of your ignition). You do not operate their vehicle while off the clock.

The problem with this is that they expect you to take lunch at that spot. There is no paid time driving to a restaurant, conveinence store, bathroom. Just another example of drivers being overscrutinized and harassed

 

[over9five]

we have feeder drvs who leave the yard in the tractors to get lunch.come back 15/20 min later then p/o for lunch.only a matter of time before that comes crashing down on us.

We'll, ya..... now that you ratted us out!

............... Spineless pansies.

Don't hold back, Speed. Tell us what you really think!

 

[tourists24]

The problem with this is that they expect you to take lunch at that spot. There is no paid time driving to a restaurant, conveinence store, bathroom. Just another example of drivers being overscrutinized and harassed

That is why I say you need to file a grievance on it. You do have to work as instructed, but they have no contractual right to do this. Once the grievance procedure proceeds, they should back off. If not then the grievance needs to go to panel (if you have a decent BA). It may time a little time, but this is BS treatment. You have to be given time to get to a place where you can sit down out of the elements and get a warm meal; and this doesnt include driving the truck on your own time.

 

[pretzel_man]

The problem with this is that they expect you to take lunch at that spot. There is no paid time driving to a restaurant, conveinence store, bathroom. Just another example of drivers being overscrutinized and harassed

What they are telling you is illogical. If driving to your lunch location is on your time, what happens if you get in an accident? On a driver log, is it on duty time?

If you can drive your vehicle to your lunch location, can you then drive it to do errands while you're on lunch?

They are starting down a very slippery slope. Do the same rules apply for feeder??

The problem is that there is not a uniform rule for lunch at UPS. For some districts, its take lunch on area. Others its on trace. Others say a "reasonable" distance off trace.

I think Lunch rules is going to have to be more standardized.

P-Man

I think Telematics

 

[rod]

I think I'm glad I'm retired

 

[HEFFERNAN]

What they are telling you is illogical. If driving to your lunch location is on your time, what happens if you get in an accident? On a driver log, is it on duty time?

If you can drive your vehicle to your lunch location, can you then drive it to do errands while you're on lunch?

They are starting down a very slippery slope. Do the same rules apply for feeder??

The problem is that there is not a uniform rule for lunch at UPS. For some districts, its take lunch on area. Others its on trace. Others say a "reasonable" distance off trace.

I think Lunch rules is going to have to be more standardized.

P-Man

I think Telematics

I agree with you P-man

The problem with our company is that "reasonable" needs to be quantified into UPS math. Is reasonable 1 mile? Is reasonable 5 minutes? Is reasonable on trace in direction of next stop?

To think that as drivers, we are the cause of UPS losing money is ridiculous. This harassment doesn't end at lunches. If i'm given 9 hours of work and bust my ass to get this done in 8.5 hours, my sitting at the letterbox waiting for the commit time is stealing money !! How absurd is that !! My name gets red-flagged for this unproductive time, even though I was more than productive for 8.5 hours before this.

This will not end in the near future. The only thing that can change this is better language in the contract. Until then, we as drivers will be harassed for the next 5 years.

 

[dilligaf]

Dilli, I don't think anything will be "business as usual" anymore.

I'm sure you are right. Here though, for now, nothing has changed.

 

[pretzel_man]

I agree with you P-man

The problem with our company is that "reasonable" needs to be quantified into UPS math. Is reasonable 1 mile? Is reasonable 5 minutes? Is reasonable on trace in direction of next stop?

To think that as drivers, we are the cause of UPS losing money is ridiculous. This harassment doesn't end at lunches. If i'm given 9 hours of work and bust my ass to get this done in 8.5 hours, my sitting at the letterbox waiting for the commit time is stealing money !! How absurd is that !! My name gets red-flagged for this unproductive time, even though I was more than productive for 8.5 hours before this.

This will not end in the near future. The only thing that can change this is better language in the contract. Until then, we as drivers will be harassed for the next 5 years.

Heff,

I am in no way trying to justify what has been told to you but let me give you the other side of the story.

While its true that I'm seeing evidence here of telematics being used for nit pick items, I've seen many, many cases where telematics has shown large discrepancies in activities.

You were questioned because your lunch looked like it was 12 minutes over due to travel to and from your lunch spot. I've seen lots of cases of drivers taking 2 hour lunches, and the difference was NOT travel to a spot.

I've seen lots of cases of drivers grossly running up miles and they were not due to a poor trace in EDD.

Someone else here was questioned for small variances in idle time. I've seen lots of cases of drivers leaving their engine on all day almost (and it wasn't to keep warm during a cold spell).

Again, my point is NOT to justify what your management team is doing to you, but to point out that not all drivers are like you.

I think management needs to figure out how to use the system to correct the real problems that exist and stop trying to fix a small incident.

I think telematics has some excellent business value if used properly. I will never condone a manager using it improperly. I assume you would not condone a driver's behavior that was improper either.

P-Man

 

[pickup]

What they are telling you is illogical. If driving to your lunch location is on your time, what happens if you get in an accident? On a driver log, is it on duty time?

If you can drive your vehicle to your lunch location, can you then drive it to do errands while you're on lunch?

They are starting down a very slippery slope. Do the same rules apply for feeder??

That's a good question . Where are the boundaries when it comes to feeders? I've never tested them. I usually try to take my lunch at a hub/center that I've arrived at. I am usually flexible with my dispatch, if they got a hot run to be covered when I was planning to take my lunch. I will cover it for them and take my lunch a little later. I work with them and they work with me. We have an ivis(it is like a watered down version of the DIAD) in our vehicles where we indicate we are starting our lunches. Or we can use the ivis found at the dispatch window of any hub/center. They want it to be one hour on the dot (not to be confused with D.O.T.) if we go over by a minute or so, it is unpaid until we get entered into the ivis that we are back on duty. Sometimes, there will be a small line at the ivis at a hub (guys punching in, etc) so you might lose that minute, big deal.
For me , when I "punch" that ivis that is when lunch starts. The hub cafeteria might be a minute's walk from where I am but that is my minute, not theirs. I am happy to walk for a bit anyway. If I am on an interstate in transit and if I am particularly pulling an empty(nobody is waiting for that empty at the destination), I will stop at a rest area. I won't go 10 extra feet off the highway to pick a more desirable restaurant. I don't want any trouble and parking issues usually indicate the rest area is the suitable place to park my tractor/trailer.

 

[dilligaf]

Heff,

I am in no way trying to justify what has been told to you but let me give you the other side of the story.

While its true that I'm seeing evidence here of telematics being used for nit pick items, I've seen many, many cases where telematics has shown large discrepancies in activities.

You were questioned because your lunch looked like it was 12 minutes over due to travel to and from your lunch spot. I've seen lots of cases of drivers taking 2 hour lunches, and the difference was NOT travel to a spot.

I've seen lots of cases of drivers grossly running up miles and they were not due to a poor trace in EDD.

Someone else here was questioned for small variances in idle time. I've seen lots of cases of drivers leaving their engine on all day almost (and it wasn't to keep warm during a cold spell).

Again, my point is NOT to justify what your management team is doing to you, but to point out that not all drivers are like you.

I think management needs to figure out how to use the system to correct the real problems that exist and stop trying to fix a small incident.

I think telematics has some excellent business value if used properly. I will never condone a manager using it improperly. I assume you would not condone a driver's behavior that was improper either.

P-Man

And there in lays the problem. P man, as always you clearly and consisely have hit the point. I doubt that any of us would condone improper behavior on the part of another drivers abuse fo the system. Unfortunately we as drivers have little say in what happens and it all comes down to mgt properly dealing with daily issues. As has been said repeatedly, mgt won't do anything about the runners that get the numbers and constantly and in some cases viciously harrass those of us that work the system like we are suppose to. Including taking lunches, filing grievances, etc.

There are few mgt personnel that post here but there are 2 that I can think of, right at this point in time, that I would love to have at my center. You and Lifer are 2 of them. Thank you.

 

[hurricanegunner]

Just curious if any other buildings have D.A.R. It's a device that's covertly hidden (internally or externally). It tracks movement basically recording information such as durations times, dates, speeds, etc.. Then it's detached and uploaded to a computer or the data is examined on google earth or live for precise satellite pictures. It then shows actual movement in or around buildings, down streets, etc..
It's a relatively cheap system that 1 ups telematics by providing an actual picture.

It's amazing to me that UPS will spend this much money and effort for no other reason than to spy on drivers, yet they refuse to train the preloaders how to put packages on the proper truck. Since our center installed ED and PAS, we have more misloads than before.

 

[jennie]

It's amazing to me that UPS will spend this much money and effort for no other reason than to spy on drivers, yet they refuse to train the preloaders how to put packages on the proper truck. Since our center installed ED and PAS, we have more misloads than before.

Yea everything is backwards, weird!

 

[jennie]

I finish my shift and then help down on the boxline before the trucks pull out.
The drivers come and talk to me about the scanning lables. So much goes on before you guys even deliver. ***, they should worry about where it STARTS!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It's amazing to me that UPS will spend this much money and effort for no other reason than to spy on drivers, yet they refuse to train the preloaders how to put packages on the proper truck. Since our center installed ED and PAS, we have more misloads than before.

From what I have read here it is not the training that is lacking, it is the increased production that is causing the misloads. With PAS/EDD the loader is supposed to check the PAL against the physical label before loading but when they are pushing them out of the feeders these kids barely have enough time to stack them behind the pkg cars let alone ensure that they are loading them in the right car or even the right PAL location.

Heff, I also have drop boxes and on those days when I am done early I will ODS the center to let them know that I have finished my lunch and breaks and am waiting for my drop boxes and then give them the option of either telling me to come in and they will cover them or having me stay out, knowing that I will be sitting somewhere (probably at home on BC.) This does not happen very often but when it does it puts the burden on them.

The days of business as usual are quickly becoming a distant memory.

 

[jennie]

From what I have read here it is not the training that is lacking, it is the increased production that is causing the misloads. With PAS/EDD the loader is supposed to check the PAL against the physical label before loading but when they are pushing them out of the feeders these kids barely have enough time to stack them behind the pkg cars let alone ensure that they are loading them in the right car or even the right PAL location.

Heff, I also have drop boxes and on those days when I am done early I will ODS the center to let them know that I have finished my lunch and breaks and am waiting for my drop boxes and then give them the option of either telling me to come in and they will cover them or having me stay out, knowing that I will be sitting somewhere (probably at home on BC.) This does not happen very often but when it does it puts the burden on them.

The days of business as usual are quickly becoming a distant memory.

You guys are drivers, I have sorted, scanned, and have been down watching the loading. Its all different in each center, I guess. We now have no address on the lable, to match with package, so the scanner is under more pressure. Anyway, we all have beefs, but the loader and scanner get screamed at, like the drivers!

 

[helenofcalifornia]

I wouldn't blame the preloaders 100% for all loading problems. When PAS came into play at my center most preloaders had another additional truck to load or a couple of bigger trucks to load. Yeah, there are some God awful loaders as there are some God awful whiney (sp?) drivers! But the PT, underpaid, overworked loaders aren't always the problem. I have one route I drive that I won't even leave the center until I have gone through the load. Piss poor loader. Another route though, loader is good, but under too much pressure w/4 trucks. May have misses, but I never call them in.

And Dill, I might add Hoax to the list of management clones we sorely need w/this new UPS. He has a good sense of humor.

 

[jennie]

We are all on the same TEAM