Lunch hour ?? 30 day qualifying.

Steamer

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I'm figuring out that being a runner gunner type doesn't actually get things accomplished. Yesterday I had DIAD issues. They rebuilt the DIAD before leaving and the new one kept rebooting as well. So my supervisor brought me another diad on the road. Well, between commit packages and commercial stops I now have to get that required lunch hour in between 1-2pm? How the hell do I manage that when that time slot is full of stops and yet get to a school and another stop before a 3pm closing? With ODO full. I'm also on a county route. With some stops 7-10 miles apart. I had to drop like 6 stops to get to the commit stops first yesterday because of the diad issues. Then run like 10 miles back. Not to mention some commit stops had me blocks away from those my early closing commercial stops. But the other commits where 10 miles away with no time to drop the larger stops real fast to make those other commits on time. Running out of ODO and no time for a required lunch to qualify.
 

Jakamoe

I work for teamsters, UPS contracted me
Slow down man. Its 1 day. They know you had diad issues. There is actually a code you can punch in for breakdowns etc so it doesn't eat your over allowed. Ask mgmt about how to find it. You have 29 other days to qualify.

I know qualifying is stressful, we all went through it. Just relax, don't put yourself in danger and don't do anything on the road you can't explain later. If you really feel you can't take a lunch, you can ask mgmt to skip lunch for the day because of whatever. If they say no, than that's on them. Just don't make it a habit. Take your lunch everyday.
 

Whither

Scofflaw
On days like that, you won't have much choice but to head to those stops knowing they're closed. CL-1 and stop complete no later than 1658 -- here they frown on 1659 and consider 1700 as missed. Also: although they *should* have known your situation yesterday -- any time you're in danger of service failures, warn them via a DIAD message to 'Center and Dispatch site' ASAP.

And since you're qualifying, best to take ODO as a suggestion and figure out your own, sensible trace. Every day the board is a puzzle they expect us to solve. On my training route Orion always saved the 100-150 piece post office RDR stop til mid-day. Wanted me to drive past that post office to get off several smaller back door/dock stops first. Nope. And of course the pickup trace was just as convoluted. Now, once you've qualified and they toss you onto routes in the blind, Orion will be your number one excuse for service failures. "How was I supposed to know that stop 156, which the 'solution' had me arriving at by 1825, was a business?" Caveat: the 2nd time you run the route, they'll expect you to know.
 
Last edited:

22.4 driver

Well-Known Member
It’s one day , :censored2: happens . If you scratch a majority of days you’ll make book. Doesn’t need to be everyday . Just sort and :censored2: during lunch . Once you make book never worry about scratching again .
 

freehoodies

Well-Known Member
You can take a later lunch if it makes more sense, as long as you take one at some point you will be fine in my experience.

If you get to a stop thats closed for lunch or you get to a stop and theres a missing package and you gotta dig for it thats a good time to just clock out for lunch and get your truck organized. Go through each shelf and get the packages all organized by HIN and check for misloads.

Use infonotices on each "shelf" to mark whats on the floor. So if you have some 5000 shelf irregs on the floor write down the HIN and address and stick it on your 5000 shelf so you don't forget whats on the floor or waste time looking for it.

Bring 3-4 totes minimum, one for clerk packages, one for air, and a couple for if you have apartments or just any stop with alot of smalls.

And just seem confident/competent, and stay on task your whole shift. If you miss something/:censored2: up don't act all pathetic/scared about it just explain what went wrong and how it won't happen again. You are new, its expected that you are going to :censored2: some things up, they want to see how you respond to it, and how much improvement you show day to day.
 

freehoodies

Well-Known Member
To add on to that, your main priorities are

1. AIR. If you have alot of air or its all spread out over your route just do only air. You can see your air by hitting the commit softkey on your diad from the EDD. If you deliver an air package late its free to the customer, so thats a big nono.

&

2. Businesses. Most businesses close at 5 so you want to get them all done by then. If you have alot of pickups you might only have till 3:30-4:00 to get them all off before you have to break off to do pickups.

Residentials have no commit time so those are last priority. As you learn your route you will learn when you have time to get these along your route instead of skipping them to make sure you get all your businesses off. But if you miss air or a business they are going to check if you were doing residentials during that time and you can get in trouble for that.
 

boxdust

Active Member
Do what ever you have to do to make book. I worked through lunches, organized my truck on my break and ran like mad all day to qualify. As soon as they sign saying that you qualified SLOW DOWN. Do everything the way the contract says you should. Qualifying sucks work hard forget about the bad days and you'll be fine.
 

specter208

Well-Known Member
Just try to relax. We know how you feel. I recommend you come in early, get your truck organized, find out what your first 10 stops are. Do air first, get the business done, and make sure you get all pickups. You will naturally become faster as you progress, you can go slow at first and practice all your delivery routines smoothly and you will become much faster naturally. You will learn how your Orion asks you to run the route and know where to make adjustments, as long you are scratching, they shouldn’t worry about your Orión compliance.

These are just some tricks that I know. If you have time, deliver ground with you air. If you take breaks, keep your truck organized. If you have many ireggs that will be in the way all day, break off after your air is done And get those of and deliver any ground that goes with the irregs. Or you could even ask your SUP if you can leave some or drop them off at one of your business and pick them up later to get the stuff out of the way. I like to deliver business air first and lastly resi air. If possible I like to work my way back to the business and do neighborhoods that are closest to the pickups so that I won’t have to drive far when I break off for pickups
 

a911scanner

Well-Known Member
DO NOT work when you're not punched in. If you were to have an accident during one of those "not working" times, you would surely be fired.

Although you really shouldn't do it, I have heard of many people "working" during the "paid break", although it is not "recommended". One thing you can do is organize your truck while eating your sandwich. It's your time, but you are still getting paid, so if you get injured or something happens, you still get to keep your job.

And no matter what, once you have made seniority, NEVER EVER work during a break. And always work safely, even if it sacrifices getting done sooner.

"The only reward you will receive for getting done fast is more work." - Every UPS Driver ever.
 

Steamer

Well-Known Member
Ya, I got it under control. Came in 81 clicks under Thursday. So easy once I sort the mess down the preloader makes. I've been going in 20 minutes early to sort it. Then resort after eating lunch. Plus I line up like 5 stops on the floor after eating lunch before punching in. Then punch in and go go go. Ya, ya, ya. Don't work off of the clock to make everyone else's numbers look bad. I get it. But for now I still have two weeks left to qualify.
 

Steamer

Well-Known Member
Its under OtherWork on the first page at my center listed as BrkDwn
Thanks. I saw that once someone mentioned it in here. Easy enough to find just like paid break once we know where to look. Doubt that I could have used the time though. I was still delivering packages even with a diad acting up. I just met the sup at one of the stop and traded him diads. I had 3 of them on my dash for a minute. I should have taken a photo. I told the sup that too. LOL.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
Hello,

I'm figuring out that being a runner gunner type doesn't actually get things accomplished. Yesterday I had DIAD issues. They rebuilt the DIAD before leaving and the new one kept rebooting as well. So my supervisor brought me another diad on the road. Well, between commit packages and commercial stops I now have to get that required lunch hour in between 1-2pm? How the hell do I manage that when that time slot is full of stops and yet get to a school and another stop before a 3pm closing? With ODO full. I'm also on a county route. With some stops 7-10 miles apart. I had to drop like 6 stops to get to the commit stops first yesterday because of the diad issues. Then run like 10 miles back. Not to mention some commit stops had me blocks away from those my early closing commercial stops. But the other commits where 10 miles away with no time to drop the larger stops real fast to make those other commits on time. Running out of ODO and no time for a required lunch to qualify.
When the diad go crazy, pull the pas labels off and dump. Scan everything in when it reboots.
 

Steamer

Well-Known Member
Well today is do or die time. I'm heading out with the division manager for my qualifying day. I went with the center manager last week and the only caveat he said I had was squaring up to the bulkhead door. I talked his ear off while driving and he said "he wouldn't normally recommend talking while driving but I was fine doing it". I guess I'm pretty smooth with all the methods and such. It's not that hard once you get it all down. I turn my ebrake on so many times a day that sometimes I have to recheck to make sure I turned it on because I do it without thinking. As it should be I know. I hope it all goes smooth today. I really do love this job. My only other issue is I'm way over on miles sometimes due to running after commits or commercial stops before they close. I have a large 3 county route area on the edge of 3 counties. Plus the small towns in the middle of it all. Some commercial stops are on obscure county roads and of course ODO scheduled after 5pm when I'm coming in 114 clicks under and such. I average about 50 clicks under and still can't get to them. It's not that hard to memorize commercial stop addresses. But it's impossible to see them on the diad when each stop says "12345 COUNTY ROAD" with no road number itself showing without having to go under details of 120 stops one by one. I've relegated myself to checking details of like the last 20 during lunch hour. It sucks. But running after them without management getting upset over the miles is impossible. I'm just trying to take care of the customers in a timely and safe fashion.
 
Top