Customers dictating? -(never gonna happen)-
Hell, with the last minute add/cuts, we are damn lucky to get the pkg's in the allotted cars and make basic service.
Customers expecting reliable service is what this business was built upon.
Now, reliable service seems to need a premium price.
I agree and that crap would have to stop. This 2-hour window COULD be done IF UPS planned well enough and stopped screwing with these routes at the last second (add/cuts, cutting or adding a route 20 minutes before start time, etc.).
Let's just talk about add/cuts. They simply cause too many problems for everyone and there is no clear-cut benefit for anyone. The intention is to the level the dispatch, but what happens costs UPS because of the inherent errors that happen EVERY time! (i've never had/lost and add/cut that was completed 100%)
First, it causes problems with the preloader (beside his attitude). He loads the parcels according to the methods and then is told he has to pull it off after 435 pieces are also loaded on the package car. Now he must dig out 15 pieces among 435, cross the PAL label out and write the new one on in crayon and load it in the cage again (doing his job backwards). He has enough to do and I can't expect someone making $9.50 an hour to undue the hard work he did getting those pieces on there (how can you?).
Second, it causes problems for the driver and creates service failures. The one, two, three, etc. pieces left on one truck must now be delivered by a driver who was intended not to have that work that is not in his EDD. Which means he doesn't know its there and must break trace and/or backtrack to get it delivered at the end of the day. ie: its costing much money in OT and fuel. Also, the driver who is intended to have that work is now digging for parcels that are not on his truck. Aside from being very frustrating its costing UPS OT driver pay and minutes that it terribly wants to avoid.
The best one of all is when the preload ignores the add/cut completely and one driver has 15 more stops in his DIAD and 15 less stops on his truck(ok for him) and another poor bastard has 15 less stops in his DIAD but 15 more stops on his truck (not ok with this guy, LOL) and this occurs much too often.
So what happens in this case defeats the purpose of add/cuts and makes it money burner instead of a money saver. Either the driver stuck with the stops is told to deliver them (again without him knowing they are there at first thus making it difficult for him to plan his day and deliver them in the most efficient manner which will probably put him over 10 hours) or a meet-point is set up between the 2 drivers to transfer the work (more labor and fuel costs). I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have anytime in my day to meet anyone to GIVE away work never mind GETTING work stuffed up my package car.
We get busted on for taking a second too long putting the seat belt, but its OK to waste 20 minutes on average (40 when account for both drivers) moving parcels between trucks? The fact that we are moving parcels that are not being delivered or picked-up is a waste of time and money. For example, we are trained to only touch the package once when we load a pick-up because it saves seconds and seconds add up. Even if you pick-up 300 pieces and save a second on each piece that time is dwarfed by the meet point cost.
Lastly, my opinion is just leave the S--- alone for heavens sake. Just leave it alone. It works better on autopilot. Plan for our regular customers to get their delivery at a approximate time everyday by the SAME driver, everyday. Not 1 driver at 1040 Tue, Wed. Thur., and 2 others on Mon. and Fri. at 1430. Its embarrassing to ME when I HAVE to face these customers and rationalize to them why they are getting at 1430 delivery twice a week.
Our customers don't get it and there is no way of explaining it to them other than it benefits UPS (does it though?) this way and its a huge disruption for our customer's operation and doesn't benefit them in ANY way. This is the sentiment I observe everyday as a driver.
Now, back to Satellite's post, I have to say customers should be able to dictate or at least ask for a delivery window. 6-8 short years ago before PAS/EDD on all 20+ routes I knew I was at a customer's business like clockwork.
The new gig is PU compliance. UPS wants us to be within 15 minutes of the scheduled PU time. I can do this for every pick-up. Why can't or why aren't our dispatchers held to this same standard on the delivery end for our more important customers? They actually have it easy with a 2-hour window when every driver is held to the 15 minute pick-up window.
The bottom line and my last thought: Just set the routes up and leave them alone. Just leave them alone. Why do you have to screw with them from 7-9 AM? Just set it up and run them. Only tinker with them at the ebd of the day when the variables are much less.
UPS is concerned about the competition of Fed-Ex and FE Ground. We are told they are a threat.
Do you think they screw with their routes 20 minutes before dispatch? No, of course not. The efficiency is already built into these routes that have been planned 3 decades ago.
I'm sorry but every person I speak with shakes their heads when I describe UPS' operational philosophy.
Its my opinion that UPS makes money in spite of itself. Simply put they have a huge market share and route efficiency and stop density. Its almost impossible for them to not make money. It has nothing to do with the half-wits tinkering with the dispatch because if Fed-Ex vacated the landscape I could move my own company into its routes and produce the same profit, and there is no way I would tinker with the routes because THAT would be UPS. If its not broke, why fix it? It wasn't broke but UPS continues to try in fix it day after day.