Hello all. It is a relief to be able to say that I made it through Integrad and it was not as bad as I had expected. Thanks to some other posts on this site I was quite nervous at the beginning about some things regarding uniforms and appearance but I found that it wasn't as military like as I feared. I'll start with a brief summary of the day-to-day.
Sunday evening: We had a brief meeting in the hotel conference room with one of the instructors. He gave us the opportunity to ask any questions we wanted and told us guys to make sure we shaved in the morning rather than the evening. The biggest relief at that time was when he said we did not have to be word for word on the five and ten.
Monday: Our first day of class was exciting but still slightly scary as we had our first uniform inspection. They inspected top to bottom. The crease of the sleeves and pants were stressed the most along with perfectly ironed pockets. I did pretty well ironing thanks to a lesson from my grandma but I found that putting as few small things like sunglasses or folded up papers helped my pockets look just a bit better. We all got DIADs as well as holders which were considered part of the uniform. Bring a belt if you go because you will have to carry the DIAD around the first day which is less than ideal. They will talk to you or hide your DIAD if you leave it anywhere. My learning partner had to deal with this the first day so we walked to Target after class and he purchased a belt for $9.99 I think. They need to be black or brown leather.
We also got demonstrations with the instructors of our two biggest tests: Commentary Ride and Integration Station. Commentary ride consisted of driving a package car around Portland and calling out everything I saw. Every intersection saying left right left, every pedestrian, stale green lights with a point of decision, clearing crosswalks, checking mirrors, and noting eye lead time and following distance along with two minutes of driver drill. You start with 100 points and get marked down for each thing you miss. The Integration Station was the mini route we ran with seven stops including a pickup at a dropbox. the same 100 point grading system was in place for this test as well. Speed was not a factor though. It's true you get 19 minutes but they are more concerned about "safety and methods" at this Integrad. Each stop you fail to reach is only two points off your final score so if you do one stop really slow and perfect you would still barely pass.
Tuesday and Wednesday: These days were exactly the same. We got time to work on different modules that involved scanning boxes to practice DIAD recording. On these days we also got our chances to practice the Commentary Ride (CR) and Integration Station (IS).
I got 36/100 first attempt at CR and 71/100 the next day. The first time I was confused af because I went in thinking I would only do the driver drill and not actual commentary. I got 58/100 on IS first attempt and 65/100 second day. I know from having driver helped for three years and talking to drivers every weekday in that time that my methods I used that first day would be perfectly acceptable for a real package car driver. I just had to do it a certain way for the instructors so they would pass me and I could go back to my home city and do real work.
Thursday: Test day!! This is the only day where they failed people. The mark was 85/100 for both CR and IS. With CR being earlier in the day this was the part of the day where we lost some students. They went out for their rides and never came back. I remember two in particular who went out and when the first guy failed the second student said she would not even make an attempt. She had gotten 36/100 two days in a row though. Must have been an awkward ride back for them with the instructor. I got 90/100 in both CR and IS. Everyone who passed CR also passed IS. It was such a relief to pass both tests but looking back they were both so easy. I guess the pressure of getting the job or not riding on the scores of two stupid tests was what made them so stressful.
Friday: This was a half day that involved an easy DIAD test (any DIAD test is easy) and a 60 question test that you get three attempts at. They even help you if you struggle on this day. The administrator said the only people who had failed on a Friday were guys who had neglected to shave.
Other points: Each day we got one attempt at each part of the DOK. Thursday we got unlimited attempts which they never mentioned until that day. We started with 27 and ended up with 16 students who passed. That's under 2/3 who passed! I must say though that those who failed really were not cut out for the job and it would have been a waste to ever send them out with a sup to learn a route. Shoes were polished and they even had a shoe polishing station with brown and black polish to use in the morning before inspection. My grandpa had polished them the Saturday before (Thanks to both my grandparents) and I got away with not polishing them the whole week because they were good enough.
The hotel was pretty nice and we ate breakfast and dinner there. Lunch was provided at the Integrad location in the break room. Overall it was the easiest money I'll ever make at a driver rate especially these first ten years as they bounce me around from route to route. I turned 21 under two months ago and I will easily be the youngest driver in my center but I was surprised that there were a number of young people in my class. We even had a guy who was only five days older than me. If anyone wants to know more about my experience at Integrad I'd be happy to answer.
One final note: shorts are acceptable! My HR lady said I needed pants for Integrad but she also ordered shorts for me because it's summer obviously. I'm glad I brought the shorts with the UPS socks and I wore them from Tuesday onward.
Sunday evening: We had a brief meeting in the hotel conference room with one of the instructors. He gave us the opportunity to ask any questions we wanted and told us guys to make sure we shaved in the morning rather than the evening. The biggest relief at that time was when he said we did not have to be word for word on the five and ten.
Monday: Our first day of class was exciting but still slightly scary as we had our first uniform inspection. They inspected top to bottom. The crease of the sleeves and pants were stressed the most along with perfectly ironed pockets. I did pretty well ironing thanks to a lesson from my grandma but I found that putting as few small things like sunglasses or folded up papers helped my pockets look just a bit better. We all got DIADs as well as holders which were considered part of the uniform. Bring a belt if you go because you will have to carry the DIAD around the first day which is less than ideal. They will talk to you or hide your DIAD if you leave it anywhere. My learning partner had to deal with this the first day so we walked to Target after class and he purchased a belt for $9.99 I think. They need to be black or brown leather.
We also got demonstrations with the instructors of our two biggest tests: Commentary Ride and Integration Station. Commentary ride consisted of driving a package car around Portland and calling out everything I saw. Every intersection saying left right left, every pedestrian, stale green lights with a point of decision, clearing crosswalks, checking mirrors, and noting eye lead time and following distance along with two minutes of driver drill. You start with 100 points and get marked down for each thing you miss. The Integration Station was the mini route we ran with seven stops including a pickup at a dropbox. the same 100 point grading system was in place for this test as well. Speed was not a factor though. It's true you get 19 minutes but they are more concerned about "safety and methods" at this Integrad. Each stop you fail to reach is only two points off your final score so if you do one stop really slow and perfect you would still barely pass.
Tuesday and Wednesday: These days were exactly the same. We got time to work on different modules that involved scanning boxes to practice DIAD recording. On these days we also got our chances to practice the Commentary Ride (CR) and Integration Station (IS).
I got 36/100 first attempt at CR and 71/100 the next day. The first time I was confused af because I went in thinking I would only do the driver drill and not actual commentary. I got 58/100 on IS first attempt and 65/100 second day. I know from having driver helped for three years and talking to drivers every weekday in that time that my methods I used that first day would be perfectly acceptable for a real package car driver. I just had to do it a certain way for the instructors so they would pass me and I could go back to my home city and do real work.
Thursday: Test day!! This is the only day where they failed people. The mark was 85/100 for both CR and IS. With CR being earlier in the day this was the part of the day where we lost some students. They went out for their rides and never came back. I remember two in particular who went out and when the first guy failed the second student said she would not even make an attempt. She had gotten 36/100 two days in a row though. Must have been an awkward ride back for them with the instructor. I got 90/100 in both CR and IS. Everyone who passed CR also passed IS. It was such a relief to pass both tests but looking back they were both so easy. I guess the pressure of getting the job or not riding on the scores of two stupid tests was what made them so stressful.
Friday: This was a half day that involved an easy DIAD test (any DIAD test is easy) and a 60 question test that you get three attempts at. They even help you if you struggle on this day. The administrator said the only people who had failed on a Friday were guys who had neglected to shave.
Other points: Each day we got one attempt at each part of the DOK. Thursday we got unlimited attempts which they never mentioned until that day. We started with 27 and ended up with 16 students who passed. That's under 2/3 who passed! I must say though that those who failed really were not cut out for the job and it would have been a waste to ever send them out with a sup to learn a route. Shoes were polished and they even had a shoe polishing station with brown and black polish to use in the morning before inspection. My grandpa had polished them the Saturday before (Thanks to both my grandparents) and I got away with not polishing them the whole week because they were good enough.
The hotel was pretty nice and we ate breakfast and dinner there. Lunch was provided at the Integrad location in the break room. Overall it was the easiest money I'll ever make at a driver rate especially these first ten years as they bounce me around from route to route. I turned 21 under two months ago and I will easily be the youngest driver in my center but I was surprised that there were a number of young people in my class. We even had a guy who was only five days older than me. If anyone wants to know more about my experience at Integrad I'd be happy to answer.
One final note: shorts are acceptable! My HR lady said I needed pants for Integrad but she also ordered shorts for me because it's summer obviously. I'm glad I brought the shorts with the UPS socks and I wore them from Tuesday onward.
. It's nice to be able to forget what I "learned" though . Like I'm going to steer push/pull instead of hand over hand...
