scisector9
Well-Known Member
Greetings all! Been on this site a few times, and posted a few questions but it's official, just made my 30 days today and got seniority. Had the good old ride along with the business manager today, and he gave me the go ahead. Happy to be aboard the UPS team and happy for this website. It helped me gain a lot of additional information: some good, some bad, some indifferent. So thank you to all you posters out there leading the way.
As a side note I know a lot of people are always looking for advice and or information on tips to make it through probation so here is what helped me.
1. Organization is the key to success. I was given a new load builder about three times while going for seniority, and each of them did things different. The current builder I have is not very good so I would come in a half hour or forty-five minutes before start time and do what I could to organize my shelves. Air first, then the 1000's, 2000's, etc.
2. When you get comfortable with your training route, try your best to get the air off with ground. My first week flying solo I would do all air first (usually have around 10-12 air stops daily on my route), but when I got comfortable I would push the time and get my ground off with air as often as possible.
3. Don't dig for packages. I had a route that was a nice loop to train on, so I wouldn't spend more then a minute looking for package(s). I would run them back later.
4. Breaks I used for a quick snack or packed lunch and then worked on sorting my shelves. Organize, organize, organize. It helped me a lot because I wasn't and still am not great at a one look selection process. Especially with bad loads. Be careful because they did monitor my break times to make sure I wasn't recording while on break.
5. I jogged my residential stops when I could. It's been hot here where I am, but I moved quick for as long as I could. That will be coming to an end for me now, back to walking at a brisk pace. But I envisioned it as "UPS bootcamp" to get to seniority, so it was all worth it.
6. Ask for feedback daily or weekly. I tried to ask advice on what I could improve, how to get better, and where I was at as much as I could. I would ask drivers, on road sups, and business manager. Any help or information, positive or negative, I used to better myself.
7. A clean start stop car routine will save you big time. Keys in hand if you have keys, belt and fab ready to go if not. Practice makes perfect.
8. At my center you could print the forecast for the route the night before. Although not always reliable this would give you a good place to start. I would take home my forecast and Google addresses and write business names on the print out. It helped me remember those businesses without having to look in the DIAD all the time.
9. Drive your training route on your own time. I would do this when I got called off on Mondays on my personal time. Huge benefit for residential stops especially.
10. Take care of yourself. Probably necessary overall for all UPS employees, but especially when training. I would get good sleep, eat well, and hydrate all the time. I made the mistake of going out of town one weekend and over indulging and ran an hour over the next day.
11. Don't mingle at stops. Always convey a sense of urgency and don't get distracted. If you are a good multi tasker a quick conversation while unloading at a bulk stop or while getting a signature is fine, but save the chit chat. This won't be your route afterwards anyway, so just drop and go.
Think that about covers it. Thanks for your wealth of knowledge on this site. It helped a lot. I am happy to be a part of the UPS team, and hope to be an active member in this community. More to come.
Cheers!
As a side note I know a lot of people are always looking for advice and or information on tips to make it through probation so here is what helped me.
1. Organization is the key to success. I was given a new load builder about three times while going for seniority, and each of them did things different. The current builder I have is not very good so I would come in a half hour or forty-five minutes before start time and do what I could to organize my shelves. Air first, then the 1000's, 2000's, etc.
2. When you get comfortable with your training route, try your best to get the air off with ground. My first week flying solo I would do all air first (usually have around 10-12 air stops daily on my route), but when I got comfortable I would push the time and get my ground off with air as often as possible.
3. Don't dig for packages. I had a route that was a nice loop to train on, so I wouldn't spend more then a minute looking for package(s). I would run them back later.
4. Breaks I used for a quick snack or packed lunch and then worked on sorting my shelves. Organize, organize, organize. It helped me a lot because I wasn't and still am not great at a one look selection process. Especially with bad loads. Be careful because they did monitor my break times to make sure I wasn't recording while on break.
5. I jogged my residential stops when I could. It's been hot here where I am, but I moved quick for as long as I could. That will be coming to an end for me now, back to walking at a brisk pace. But I envisioned it as "UPS bootcamp" to get to seniority, so it was all worth it.
6. Ask for feedback daily or weekly. I tried to ask advice on what I could improve, how to get better, and where I was at as much as I could. I would ask drivers, on road sups, and business manager. Any help or information, positive or negative, I used to better myself.
7. A clean start stop car routine will save you big time. Keys in hand if you have keys, belt and fab ready to go if not. Practice makes perfect.
8. At my center you could print the forecast for the route the night before. Although not always reliable this would give you a good place to start. I would take home my forecast and Google addresses and write business names on the print out. It helped me remember those businesses without having to look in the DIAD all the time.
9. Drive your training route on your own time. I would do this when I got called off on Mondays on my personal time. Huge benefit for residential stops especially.
10. Take care of yourself. Probably necessary overall for all UPS employees, but especially when training. I would get good sleep, eat well, and hydrate all the time. I made the mistake of going out of town one weekend and over indulging and ran an hour over the next day.
11. Don't mingle at stops. Always convey a sense of urgency and don't get distracted. If you are a good multi tasker a quick conversation while unloading at a bulk stop or while getting a signature is fine, but save the chit chat. This won't be your route afterwards anyway, so just drop and go.
Think that about covers it. Thanks for your wealth of knowledge on this site. It helped a lot. I am happy to be a part of the UPS team, and hope to be an active member in this community. More to come.
Cheers!