keyless entry

[tracker2762]

The old 800's in our center won't be getting the keyless entry. From what I understood at the pcm, p57's and p70's with swing out doors will remain manual.

 

[bumped]

Keyless entry is being installed on the cars in my center right now. I have seen the equipment, but I personally have not yet used a car with the system installed.

A couple of observations; the drivers who have keyless entry are all of a sudden showing up on the Telematics report for multiple (like 40 or 50) violations of having the BH door open while the car is moving, when they previously had zero in a car with a standard lock. Not that showing up on the report actually matters, but it is obvious that there is a glitch to be worked out. It does happen and its a simple adjustment to the bulkhead door. Just write it up, and its a couple minute fix. The sups will understand this, as its more of a PITA when you hit a bump and the bulkhead slams open right next to your ear.

There are also issues with the push-button starting on older cars with manual transmissions. Not all of the older cars came with neutral safety switches (starter wont engage unless clutch pedal depressed) and on the cars that do have it many of the switches dont work. One complaint I am hearing from unassigned drivers is that they are having difficulty adapting to different routines when switching from a new car with keyless entry to a new car without it and then again to a stick shift car that does have it. All but a few cars have it in our building. It takes a couple weeks of getting used to, but once everything is up and running it will be fine.

The back doors are going to be an issue on some cars. The 1000's or 800's with rollup doors and the newer P-7's with sliding pocket doors are all pretty straightforward. I have yet to see the system installed on a P-7 with the swing-open "barn" doors, and it is not clear to me how they will make keyless entry work on those cars due to the design of the door. And I am assuming that the pup trailers will still have normal locks since they dont have a battery of their own to power the system. It can't be installed on the P7's barn doors, but it can on the bulkhead. Yes, the trailers still have the normal locks.

Our key fobs are all mounted on carabiner clips that you hang from your belt loop. I know that I will have to keep mine in my pocket; 24 years of moving my fat ass in and out of a package car has taught me that anything that I clip to my belt is going to wind up snagging or catching on a protruding object and getting torn off at some point during my workday. I have a drawer full of old broken pagers, DIAD clips, cell-phone clips and Leatherman holsters that can all attest to this inevitable fact. Ideally, there would also be a way to mount the key fob on a brown terry-cloth wristband.To each their own. We have guys that attatch it to their shirt pockets. I still have my keys, so I keep my keys in my pocket and the FOB on my belt. I've had the Fob come off the clip before and locked in the back of the truck.

Everyone will end up liking it. It saves on bent keys, and I always would gets cuts on my hand during the less humid time of the year from turning the key all the time.


Lets face it stop counts are going to go up whether you have it or not. It seems every 6 months (pay raise time) the stops per car are increased.

 

[hurricanegunner]

I had the opportunity to use the keyless system once and did love it. Does it justify more stops? No, but it was great to use. One question: what happens when the battery in the fob goes bad? There was no key for the bulkhead door or rear door on that ring; just the fob.

 

[FracusBrown]

I had the opportunity to use the keyless system once and did love it. Does it justify more stops? No, but it was great to use. One question: what happens when the battery in the fob goes bad? There was no key for the bulkhead door or rear door on that ring; just the fob.

The regular key is in a lock box on the car.

Most all cars are planned to get it. Cars with swing rear doors still get the system, just not the rear door lock portion.

Just like everything else, it's a business decision. If it just decreases each drivers day by 6 minutes, that equates to approx 8,000 hours per day or 2 million hours per year! (80,000 drivers x 6 minutes per day x 250 work days = 120 million minutes or 2 million hours per year)

There is initial install costs and ongoing maintenance costs, but it looks like a no brainer from a business stand.

 

[BrownArmy]

The regular key is in a lock box on the car.

Where's the key for the lock box?

 

[MC4YOU2]

Just like all the advancements in technology over the years this has the potential to be of much help to the driver. I have to think the idea in itself is probably well thought out. The obviously unavoidable problem is that even after it is implemented, it like all the other "enhancements" are subject to even more time shaving as was the case after the first diads were deployed when it was "discovered" they were actually saving more time than was originally credited in planned day. Love it, hate it, makes no difference. So long as there is little incentive for corporate to concern itself with a workforce pushed to the very brink of safety and common sense, this is just another excuse to print free money.

 

[soberups]

Where's the key for the lock box?

Its a push button combination lock.

 

[iamupser]

There are also issues with the push-button starting on older cars with manual transmissions. Not all of the older cars came with neutral safety switches (starter wont engage unless clutch pedal depressed) and on the cars that do have it many of the switches dont work.

You still have to push a button to start, instead of turning the ignition key. The key fob just "energizes" the ignition start button. I thought the same thing, but it is not a remote start like many cars have.

 

[pretzel_man]

A driver who averages 15 SPORH is completing a stop every 4 minutes, so you could theoretically justify adding 1.5 stops per day to this driver by equipping his car with keyless entry. In order to justify adding 2 or 3 stops, you would have to average between 17.5 and 20 SPORH and on my center at least there are very few routes where such a pace is even remotely possible.

I dont doubt for a minute that keyless entry will make the job "easier"....but if it results in my bid route being eliminated and me busting my butt on someone elses overdispatched route at 8:30 on a 100-degree August evening, I can tell you that I probably will not "like" it.

Its not the new equipment itself that concerns me....its the typical UPS fuzzy math that concerns me.

One other thing; it would be nice if those who sold the Management Committee on this new equipment would consider doing a comparison test on new vehicles vs. the old ones with high steps and no power steering. I can tell you from personal experience that working out of a modern vehicle saves over an hour per day on a given route compared to doing the same work out of an old "iron maiden". The same logic that was used to justify the expense of keyless entry could easily be applied to taking the old cars out of service and immediately replacing them with modern ones.

You need to subtract to/from out of the equation and come up with Stops per On Area Hour.

Then use the same math you did. 15 stops per on area hour would equal a stop every 4 minutes.

Yes, this math can be used to justify replacing old cars. So can impact for improved MPH or reduced maintenance.

Justifying a new car however is a larger hurdle to overcome than keyless entry.

Unfortuna

 

[themidnightoil]

You guys are going to love keyless entry once all the kinks get worked out! I mean the bulk head door opens AUTOMATICALLY...The SPH I can understand your concerns, but for the convenience factor, the feedback I've gotten from some of the drivers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Does it automatically close if you do not select your package fast enough?

 

[bumped]

If the FOB goes during the day opening your rear door is a PITA.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

If the FOB goes during the day opening your rear door is a PITA.

If one of the cables breaks during the day opening your rear door is a real PITA.

 

[bumped]

If one of the cables breaks during the day opening your rear door is a real PITA.

Correct, but that has nothing to do with the OP.

 

[soberups]

If one of the cables breaks during the day opening your rear door is a real PITA.

Way back when I was young and stupid I had that happen to me in an old P-600.

Solution? I muscled the door fully open and with a combination of bungee cords and little scraps of 2x4 strategically wedged into the door track, I forced it to stay fully open.

I then took a pallet that was laying around at one of my dock stops, and using more of those bungee cords, I stood it up on its side and secured it inside the open back door. Since the pallet was slightly wider than the door opening, it made a "tailgate" that would prevent any packages that fell off of the shelf from rolling out into the street.

And to make sure that I didnt "lose" any packages, I just left my bulkhead door open all day long so that I could peek around and see into the back to verify that my "tailgate" was still in place.

It was a hot summer day, so the airflow was actually kind of nice. And with no Telematics, I didnt have to worry about showing up on some report. Something tells me that my genius solution would not go over very well if I tried it again today.

 

[cosmo1]

That was "old school," Sober, when service was all that mattered. Nowadays, you'd be lucky to just be on a report, if not fired.

 

[soberups]

That was "old school," Sober, when service was all that mattered. Nowadays, you'd be lucky to just be on a report, if not fired.

Nowadays I would pull over, call in, and make $45 an hour sitting there and waiting for them to bring me out a replacement car. What I did back then really wasnt very smart...but then again neither was I.

 

[JonFrum]

The observed savings for Keyless entry is 6 minutes per driver as has been mentioned here.

The fully loaded wage rate for a driver is about $1 per minute, so keyless entry is worth about $6 per day.

Using 250 days per year, keyless entry is worth about $1,500 per year.

If installation costs $750 it pays for itself after 6 months use.

In the example given, putting it in a vehicle that can get use out of it for 4 or 5 years provides a pretty nice benefit.

I don't know any of this for sure, but the Parts Tag on the Installation Kit Boxes says $825.

I'm told installation takes six hours. That's about $32 an hour in wages, plus $16 per hour or so in health insurance and pension contributions, plus other payroll expenses.

If a mechanic gets six weeks vacation plus sick days and option days and regular holidays, then he is only actually working about 43 weeks a year. So if he spends all year installing remote entry kits, you have to take those nine or so weeks' paychecks and apportion then evenly over the 43 weeks or so he does work. This is all part of the true cost of keyless entry. And don't forget, the mechanic may be doing some of this work at his overtime rate.

There's also the expense of training installers and drivers, and the expense of fine tuning all the installations that need tweaking or repair.

In my building the cars are being shuttled to Chema for the installation!!! That's well over an hour round trip. And the cars are out of service for a while.

If anyone has more accurate information about the true cost please post it.

We also need to know how long the installation is expected to last before it needs replacing. Only time will tell how long it actually does last.

And will any kits be installed on cars that will soon be junked, like with so many telematics installations?

 

[dukeybrown]

Just got ours installed yesterday, and yes the bulkhead door opens automatically. The rear door unlocks, but has to lifted manually. I felt like a gangsta rapper with my Bentley push button start truck yesterday.....

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I don't know any of this for sure, but the Parts Tag on the Installation Kit Boxes says $825.

I'm told installation takes six hours. That's about $32 an hour in wages, plus $16 per hour or so in health insurance and pension contributions, plus other payroll expenses.

If a mechanic gets six weeks vacation plus sick days and option days and regular holidays, then he is only actually working about 43 weeks a year. So if he spends all year installing remote entry kits, you have to take those nine or so weeks' paychecks and apportion then evenly over the 43 weeks or so he does work. This is all part of the true cost of keyless entry. And don't forget, the mechanic may be doing some of this work at his overtime rate.

There's also the expense of training installers and drivers, and the expense of fine tuning all the installations that need tweaking or repair.

In my building the cars are being shuttled to Chema for the installation!!! That's well over an hour round trip. And the cars are out of service for a while.

If anyone has more accurate information about the true cost please post it.

We also need to know how long the installation is expected to last before it needs replacing. Only time will tell how long it actually does last.

And will any kits be installed on cars that will soon be junked, like with so many telematics installations?

Ahhhh so that is why all but a couple of the spares are gone to Lynnfield and we are short vehicles. And yes, the p800s I was using with the keyless entry were a mix of junker 800 and 1000s and some newer ones, so they are clearly at least testing the technology on crap vehicles too. ( although we ARE certainly using those junkers as shuttle cars and air vehicles, they're limited use)

 

[brownmonster]

Company spent the last 100 years telling us that leaving the bulkhead door open doesn't really save any time. Now they take time away because of this technology. Imagine that.