Fooling telematics

[soberups]

That being said, I disagree with you saying that we are guaranteed to show up on a report. In the last year or two of keeping an eye on their "reports", I have yet to appear on any of them. I use the methods and am always near or at the bottom of the "idle" report and have never showed up on the seat belt, recording while idling or moving, or bulkhead door reports. I average less than 12 backing incidents per day and they are all as a result of dead-end streets or cul-de-sacs that are blocked by improperly parked cars.

There is a nearby building in my district (Swan Island) where a 25 yr Circle of Honor driver with an almost perfect work history is in the process of being terminated for bogus "methods violations" due to his failure to maintain what the company feels is an acceptable level of production. He doesnt show up on any Telematics reports either. 99% of the time if you never show up on a Telematics report and you do everything perfectly and by the book, you will run so far overallowed that you will appear on a "least best" report.

 

[hypocrisy]

Perhaps the Teamsters should take out a full page ad showing the Circle of Honor drivers who are/have been harassed and disciplined for production.

 

[idrivethetruck]

Yet if you were to run a trip similar to mine, you would average 30 to 50 backs a day. You would show up at the top of report and there's nothing you can do about it. So even though I'm consistently at the top of the report, I won't be brought in to the office for it although we did have a discussion about backed distance and I did cut that down a lot. There are routes that require backing and mine is one and yours is not. We have drivers that back only once or twice a day and it has nothing to do with there methods.

I am not questioning your methods. And you are right about the difference in routes. Mine is 99.9% residential so the only reason I have to back is to turn around to go back the other direction when there is no cul-de-sac available.

Perhaps the Teamsters should take out a full page ad showing the Circle of Honor drivers who are/have been harassed and disciplined for production.

"Circle of Honor" means nothing to UPS anymore. They are looked at as older, slower drivers who need to be replaced by younger, faster drivers who are not yet paid at full progression.

 

[TearsInRain]

the drivers in my center universally hate telematics, and the management see it as distracting from productivity

i'm just glad i'm not the one that has to handle any reports related to it..

 

[UPSGUY72]

Wait to you get the keyless entry system and you have the remote on your belt loop and when your driving the seat belt push the remote into your pants and the bulkhead door opens when your doing 60 mph on the highway.

 

[ajblakejr]

Why bother "fooling telematics"?

Why not just follow methods and do your job?

If you need to back and there were no other alternatives, you back.

Just tell the truth, it is easier than playing games.

 

[over9five]

Why bother "fooling telematics"?

Why not just follow methods and do your job?

If you need to back and there were no other alternatives, you back.

Just tell the truth, it is easier than playing games.

+1 Best answer.

 

[brett636]

Yes it is normal.

You are pretty much guranteed to show up on a report. Any action you take to get off of one report will simply cause you to show up on a different one. Your idle time, for instance, will always be "too high" in the opinion of someone who sits behind a desk all day looking at Google Earth maps of your route. Same thing with "improper" or "excessive" backing. Bottom line is that you cant be disciplined for any of that crap, so you need to learn to tune your management team out when they start whining about it. Just nod your head and say "I'll work on that" and go about your business.

About the only thing we get graded on in feeders from a telematics standpoint is our idle time. Our on board computer tracks it and tell you in real time how much time you have idled each day. Everyday when i log off my tractor it shows somewhere in the 30-40 min. range of idling, but when the report is printed out the next day it shows 1+ hour of idle time so put very little emphasis on how accurate that number is. Its obvious either the tracking system is messed up or someone is editing it for their own devious purpose.

 

[just_a_number]

good job so now u can put in the wrong truck # and leave door open all day lol. or better yet put in some one else's number and get them in trouble. lmao not that i would endorse that

ive noticed when i scan the barcode i show up on the report....if i manually enter the truck number then hit over ride i do not have anything show uon the report all colums blank

 

[porkwagon]

I can vouch for that. I figured that out quickly after telematics went live at our hub. It makes me ook like a stud to only ack 5 times a day vs. 15+ from other drivers.

Two weeks ago my center put stickers on the back of our DIADs with a number on them. That number represents the amount of backs we are allowed. Mine was nine. Last week the nine was changed to a five. It cracks me up because my stop range is from 165 on a light day to 230 on a heavy day, not during peak.

 

[packageguy]

ive noticed when i scan the barcode i show up on the report....if i manually enter the truck number then hit over ride i do not have anything show uon the report all colums blank

I heard thats not true, they still can pull records on that truck, We had a driver in the office for that, when they pulled telematic, he admitted he did it on purpose to see if it register.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

ive noticed when i scan the barcode i show up on the report....if i manually enter the truck number then hit over ride i do not have anything show uon the report all colums blank

I heard thats not true, they still can pull records on that truck, We had a driver in the office for that, when they pulled telematic, he admitted he did it on purpose to see if it register.

Numbers is right--manually entering the pkg car number rather than scanning the barcode does not link the DIAD to the pkg car; however, it is very easy for them to overrride that, as the driver found out the hard way.

 

[tracker2762]

I am not questioning your methods. And you are right about the difference in routes. Mine is 99.9% residential so the only reason I have to back is to turn around to go back the other direction when there is no cul-de-sac available.


Mine is close to 99% residential, I only have two docks and very rarely use one of them. So the backing is mostly residential turn around that is unavoidable.

 

[Aaron]

I heard thats not true, they still can pull records on that truck, We had a driver in the office for that, when they pulled telematic, he admitted he did it on purpose to see if it register.

I wonder if that means they'll replace the barcodes every year. The one in my truck can't be scanned anymore, the one before that was unscannable as well.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Have you written it up in your DVIR?

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Have you written it up in your DVIR?

I've written up this new pkg car for the past several weeks, because of the steering wheel shaking between 40 and 55mph. The front tires were switched shortly before I started having this problem. I said I think the front wheels are out of balance. Mechanic writes back, NO PROBLEM FOUND, OKAY FOR SERVICE. When I'm between those ranges, it looks like I have Parkinson's, and this was his feedback. I can imagine if I wrote up that i needed a new sticker.

 

[bottomups]

I've written up this new pkg car for the past several weeks, because of the steering wheel shaking between 40 and 55mph. The front tires were switched shortly before I started having this problem. I said I think the front wheels are out of balance. Mechanic writes back, NO PROBLEM FOUND, OKAY FOR SERVICE. When I'm between those ranges, it looks like I have Parkinson's, and this was his feedback. I can imagine if I wrote up that i needed a new sticker.

Don't drive over 40 mph tomorrow. When management asks why you ran so late, tell them it's not safe to operate the package car in excess of 40. A day or 2 crappy numbers and I believe the problem would be fixed.

 

[FracusBrown]

Numbers is right--manually entering the pkg car number rather than scanning the barcode does not link the DIAD to the pkg car; however, it is very easy for them to overrride that, as the driver found out the hard way.

Makes no difference whether it's scanned or manually entered as long as the correct number is entered. Some of the reports may not show accurate data if you enter an incorrect number, but a little research can easily reveal the real data. It's stored by driver name, route ID and car number. Also, your time card may be rejected if an invalid car number is entered.

 

[menotyou]

I've written up this new pkg car for the past several weeks, because of the steering wheel shaking between 40 and 55mph. The front tires were switched shortly before I started having this problem. I said I think the front wheels are out of balance. Mechanic writes back, NO PROBLEM FOUND, OKAY FOR SERVICE. When I'm between those ranges, it looks like I have Parkinson's, and this was his feedback. I can imagine if I wrote up that i needed a new sticker.

Our mechanic is like this. I write the truck up for everything. Just covering my ass. Mechanic went to center manager to complain/ center manager told mechanic I am doing my job. This one was esp. funny. The exhaust filter light kept coming on. If you read the stickers in the truck about what all those lights mean(as I have no clue, nor do I care), the picture(I am a girl) matched the picture saying something like the filter was full. Wrote it up, mechanic says fixed- ok to run. next day, same thing. 5 days later, mechanic comes looking for me. He basically orders me to stop this. ***
I went to center manager's office with mechanic on my heels. Told him what was said. I left. Mechanic didn't. 5 minutes later, mechanic is storming out of building- he waited for me to come in to pull this stunt. center manager told me to keep writing up whatever is wrong with my truck. BTW, the mechanic and Psycho Susie use to be VERY FRIENDLY.

***[Now, this mechanic found a 'happy halloween' sign in my truck and emailed a picture to the DM, not center manager- District Manager. District Manager emails center manager who tells on-car. and so on. A few days later, his little buddy on metro tries picking on me for it. What she didn't know was the DM told the center manager that if I wanted to do something like this, I can't use one of those runner-type signs along the bottom of my windshield behind my wipers that are about 3 inches tall. Which was stupid on my part, didn't think. I can stick something on the outside of the truck wherever I like, because he really liked my intent. I informed the little buddy that if the mechanic had just gone to his boss, the center manager, instead of going over his head and my on-car's head( the bosses he has to deal with every day)I would not have gotten such a nice compliment from the DM. Her smile evaporated. On the other hand, I giggled and skipped like a schoolgirl all the way to my car.]

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Menotyou, what you are talking about is the PDF light. You were right in writing it up. I also refer to the chart above the windshield as I am not a "car guy". When it first comes on I will write it up as "PDF light on--solid" and the mechanic will do a regen that night. Now, after he does the regen, it is not uncommon for the exhaust light to come on--he told me it was a result of the regen and not to worry about it. If you don't write up the PDF light when it is solid it will start flashing--when it does that the engine will basically be reduced to idle and they will have to swap out pkg cars.