Flashlights

[UPSGUY72]

Well i starts to get dark around 4 here in the northeast right now, 5 its full out dark.

With 220 stops I'm usually done around 4:30to 4:45 then I drop my helper off and take my hour lunch. If I have to work when it gets dark it only for a couple of stops.

Where I'm located the earliest then sunsets happens is between Dec 6 and 13 which is 4:18 pm after that it start to set later. So it looking brighter in the pm from now till Jul 3 when the sunsets at 8:30 pm.

 

[soberups]

When you are on a route long enough,you shouldn't need a flashlight !! You memorize certian street house numbers that get stuff all the time and then the surrounding #'s shouls come easy to you..

I dont need a flashlight to find addresses, but I do need one to safely make my way down dark and slippery porches and stairways. It also comes in handy when you are hiking up a pitch black rural driveway at night and you want to make sure that the noise you just heard in the brush is a deer and not a bear or a cougar. The other night I was doing just such a hike and I had the sh&t scared out of me by a 4 pt buck that was bedded down next to the road; it jumped up right in front of me less than 20 feet away!

 

[old levi's]

I dont need a flashlight to find addresses, but I do need one to safely make my way down dark and slippery porches and stairways. It also comes in handy when you are hiking up a pitch black rural driveway at night and you want to make sure that the noise you just heard in the brush is a deer and not a bear or a cougar.

Also good for those sumbeaches that like to leave the cover off their water meter. A real ankle breaker.
And that yard lamp post that hasn't had a bulb in it for 30 years. Those will get your attention!

 

[stoliohranj]

Cyclops Orion Cap LED Light - Dick's Sporting Goods

When I ran helper last peak, my driver bought me one of those. Works freaking great, still have it this year.

 

[old levi's]

I have 1 stop where you leave the hard road, drive along the edge of a field for a good way down into a river bottom, then park when you get to the woods and walk it in about 150 yards. Several years ago on Christmas Eve after 2200 on a moonless night walking through those woods I thought to myself: "Ain't this a funny job."

 

[soberups]

I have 1 stop where you leave the hard road, drive along the edge of a field for a good way down into a river bottom, then park when you get to the woods and walk it in about 150 yards. Several years ago on Christmas Eve after 2200 on a moonless night walking through those woods I thought to myself: "Ain't this a funny job."

The stops that scare me are the ones where the "driveway" is a mile long and lined on both sides with broken down vehicles, dead appliances, stacks of old tires, and some inbred albino kid playing the banjo.

 

[soberups]

With 220 stops I'm usually done around 4:30to 4:45 then I drop my helper off and take my hour lunch. If I have to work when it gets dark it only for a couple of stops.

Where I'm located the earliest then sunsets happens is between Dec 6 and 13 which is 4:18 pm after that it start to set later. So it looking brighter in the pm from now till Jul 3 when the sunsets at 8:30 pm.

Same deal here, but when you throw in some pea-soup fog you wind up with your headlights on the whole day and its pretty much pitch black by the time the sun actually sets.

 

[Catatonic]

Speaking of flashlights, have you seen the new ones Dizzee made for AJ?

 

[old levi's]

The stops that scare me are the ones where the "driveway" is a mile long and lined on both sides with broken down vehicles, dead appliances, stacks of old tires, and some inbred albino kid playing the banjo.

We have one settlement that is worked out of my center where the residents don't even have social security numbers.
That's the standard joke for that place: If you hear a banjo, Get the hell out while you can!

 

[Harry Manback]

I have a Surefire LED like the one you guys were talking about and it works great but I prefer my 4D mag-light. The big mag has dual functionality. One end lights up houses and you can use the other end to light up a nasty dog.

 

[Anonymous 10]

Diad five has a built in flashlight. It's kinda nice.

 

[old levi's]

I have a Surefire LED like the one you guys were talking about and it works great but I prefer my 4D mag-light. The big mag has dual functionality. One end lights up houses and you can use the other end to light up a nasty dog.

I just blind them with the light / The fact that I can keep it in my shirt pocket seals the deal for me. Not having to reach for a flashlight every time you stop the truck.

 

[Cementups]

I haven't used a flashlight in about 10 years though I do keep one in my supply box just in case. Even when i started my new route it was a key move for me to memorize most of my house stops before the time change since my night vision is not near what it used to be. I could do this job blindfolded if need be.

 

[The Milkman]

Many yrs ago I bought a million candle power spotlight and ran it off the battery under the floor of my old 5 cube..As I would pull up to a house I could see the lights on inside and once I shown the spotlight on their windows they would peek out to see what was going on..I would lay it down on the floor of the cab and it would light up my path to the front door..A silent door bell so to speak. That way the pkg did not sit outside all night, because if it was earlier in the day I would Dr by the garage because most people went in that way, and if you were on your rte any length of time as previously posted you can wing it because you know by heart all your stops but the spotlight got peoples attention in a big a way

 

[YouKnowWhoIam]

Up here as well.

I get my deliveries done while it is still light out--I don't need light to do pickups.

Keep running through your lunch....HERO

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Keep running through your lunch....HERO

I take my full lunch and break.

Idon'tcarewhoyouare.

 

[moreluck]

I thought that lunch thing was like "the law" !!
Is that just a CA. thing?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I thought that lunch thing was like "the law" !!
Is that just a CA. thing?

In California the DIADs lock down during lunch, which means no work can be done during that period (1 hour?). In the Upstate NY supplement to the NMA we are required to take our 10 minute paid break between the 1st and 3rd hour and our 45 minute unpaid lunch between the 3rd and 5th hour of on-duty time. The only requirement from local management is that we enter a full lunch and break in our boards. Runner/gunners are known to work through their lunches, which would be easily stopped if management would simply print out their delivery records and see if any work was done while the driver was on "lunch". We have two of these in my center. It would not benefit management to push the "lunch between the 3rd and 5th hours" mandate as it could lead to service failures. I take my lunch and break usually between 3:45/4:30 and 4:50/5:00. At this point my deliveries and first round of pickups are done. I then complete the balance of my pickups before heading back to the center. This works out best for me--I don't care what my cover drivers do just as long as the customers are taken care of. The "Mobil station coffee club" members take their full lunch and break after their routes are finished, usually between 5:30 and 7:30pm.

I would personally prefer a 30 minute lunch.

The union has done little to enforce the contractual lunch times and are fully aware of the MSCC.

 

[UPSGUY72]

Keep running through your lunch....HERO

I take my full lunch in the winter it just comes after I get my stops done unless I light that day and now that I can still finish my deliveries it the day light even after taken my lunch. It easier to deliver in the day light than at night.
.

I thought that lunch thing was like "the law" !!
Is that just a CA. thing?

In Ma the law only states that they are required to give you 1/2 hour unpaid lunch. There is no Fed law concern breaks so it up to each state

 

[brett636]

I use one of these

Uses a rechargeable lithium ion CR123 battery and is much brighter than any flashlight I have come across at any retail store for its size. I highly recommend it because it is so bright, yet small enough to fit in your pocket that you barely notice it is there.