Lunch Issue

Braveheart

Well-Known Member
Plenty of other drivers in my center do it to make sure all their business stops get delivered. So with that you should be ok as part of past practice. Make sure the ones that stop have some lunch time left to use.

The problem is that the more drivers use the end of the day lunch allows management to cut more runs knowing divers will skip lunch to get the business stuff delivered. For that reason I take my lunch in the middle of the day to make sure they do not cut routes around me. The guys in my loop all do the same.

To do it at the end once in a blue moon sounds ok though.
 
N

no-1

Guest
//bonus

so with a full hour lunch i get about 15-30 minutes bonus. if i work through my lunch i get 75-90minutes and go home an hour early, and make the same amount of money.

what should i do??
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
Nope....even with my warning letter if they dispatch me in such a way that I will have service failures or have to run a route so inefficiently to service them that I would be 3 plus hours paid over. I work through my lunch, punch out and go home with nothing entered.

To me it's all fair - dispatch me with an honest route, set up correctly, I'm more then happy to take my lunch mid day.
 
That's just the problem NE, the more you make a bad route look ok, the less incentive the management has to fix the real problem.

In the last year, nearly all the routes in our center has lost an hour on the allowances. I don't worry about running over anymore because the more you run under the more they are going to cut back on time.
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
Every day we are talked to about taking our lunches. Heck I've got a warning letter for not.

I tell them once in the morning the route will not work as is. That is their shot to fix it. If they don't? My family is way more important to me then to stay out and "teach" them a lesson. So I get home an hour earlier then normal on those days.

I'm a cover driver....they are not going to fix anything for me.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
That's just the problem NE, the more you make a bad route look ok, the less incentive the management has to fix the real problem.

In the last year, nearly all the routes in our center has lost an hour on the allowances. I don't worry about running over anymore because the more you run under the more they are going to cut back on time.


I agree. I'm not saying the hour must be taken between the 3rd and 5th, but MUST be taken 1 hour before you start pick-ups. If you work through lunch and take it at the end you're only hurting yourself because your route will never change.

One hour before PU's you call the center and say you have so many stops left that are going to be missed. The worst that can happen to you is a 3-day happy ride which will probably benefit you if you're half decent.

I'm not talking 5, 10 or even 15 minutes to be taken later, this is a reasonable amount of time to be aske to be taken after commitments are finished. If your business deliveries force you to take 25-60 minutes of your lunch at 1800, its simply not fair. That's not a lunch. That's the company trying to obtain free labor from certain (or many) people that might say "screw it, its 6PM and I have to sit here in my cold truck until 7PM before I even begin driving back?"

Many drivers will sit there for 20-30 minutes and say the heck with it, I'm going back because they believe their free time is worth more than the $20 they're giving to Uncle Parcel (problem is that $20 equal thousands to you and billion to UPS over time).

I think If the route is heavy business it should be the drivers discretion on how much he needs to take for lunch to get the job done. Pay the guy to get his businesses off instead of forcing the hour on him (Unless of course you are going to send him the help he needs to take his uniterrupted hour:sick:).

If the driver's route is mainly house-calls, then shame on the driver if he doesn't take his lunch at LUNCH TIME.

I've said this before on this forum that I don't care for the 1 hour lunch period but do take it 49 out of 50 working days because it is just too much money to give up. If I gave my 1 hour lunch everyday it would be worth more than minimum wage workers would make that day!

UPS has the technology to see who's cheating them so I think they should let us take as much or as little time as we want for lunch. Somedays I only need my two ten minute breaks to eat lunch and sometimes I need 30-40 minutes. There has never been, however, a time when I need 1 hour lunch and two ten-minute breaks.

To me, its just more time away from home that I wish I had more time at!
My one wish for the 2013 contract is for a reduced lunch period. For example, to get what is owed to us we must sit somewhere for up to 80 minutes doing nothing at the end of our day. Why can't UPS just let us go home and pay us what is owed to us?

I'm dying to hear a legitmate reason to the contrary.

Brownie:happy2:
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
So Brownie...now your saying commercial routes are fine to run the lunch or take it at the end and residential ones are not?

That really doesn't make much sense with your whole argument.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
So Brownie...now your saying commercial routes are fine to run the lunch or take it at the end and residential ones are not?

That really doesn't make much sense with your whole argument.


No, New Englander, thats not what I meant. I'm sorry I was wasn't as clear as I should have been. Not route should a lunch be run on in my opinion.

I think I said there is no reason why lunch should not be taken when YOU want on a residential route and on a business route it should be taken 1 hour before you start pick-ups ( This is what I like to do) in most cases. If it takes an extra 5-10 minutes to finish deliveries so that you can only take 50-55 minutes of lunch then I would take the other 5-10 minutes later. Anything more than that you should call for help or asked to be paid for the part of the hour you worked.

I didn't go back and re-read my last post, I responded to you first, but this is what I was trying to so. In NO WAY did I say it was OK to run your lunch on any route on a consistent basis.

I hope this answers your question.
Brownie.
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
Every day we are talked to about taking our lunches. Heck I've got a warning letter for not.

I tell them once in the morning the route will not work as is. That is their shot to fix it. If they don't? My family is way more important to me then to stay out and "teach" them a lesson. So I get home an hour earlier then normal on those days.

I'm a cover driver....they are not going to fix anything for me.


Cover driver or bid driver, it doesn't matter. You are perpetuating the problem. Trust me they know who is on what route on any given day. They now know you will bring it in regardless. So when in doubt they know who to lean on, YOU. If you start bringing it in when they give you a fair day and staying out and running over when they don't, their strategy will change. I call it investing in my future. In the long run you will be better off. When you break down physically you'll have lots of time with your family. Unfortunately it wont be quality time.

It's just a game, be a player.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Every day we are talked to about taking our lunches. Heck I've got a warning letter for not.

I tell them once in the morning the route will not work as is. That is their shot to fix it. If they don't? My family is way more important to me then to stay out and "teach" them a lesson. So I get home an hour earlier then normal on those days.

I'm a cover driver....they are not going to fix anything for me.

Actually, this will fix things for you and everyone else. Being a cover driver doesn't mean that you're supposed to blast through someone's route, get done and go home early. It means you're covering a route that a driver runs a certain way. If that route is loaded to the hilt and you find yourself unable to take your full lunch, you need to state this to mgmt. The problem that you're not fixing today, will be the problem that you have back in your lap when you go full time. The human body is not made to work so long without a breather. Be a good cover driver now, and a better driver later. You'll feel better in the long run.
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
Actually, this will fix things for you and everyone else. Being a cover driver doesn't mean that you're supposed to blast through someone's route, get done and go home early. It means you're covering a route that a driver runs a certain way. If that route is loaded to the hilt and you find yourself unable to take your full lunch, you need to state this to mgmt. The problem that you're not fixing today, will be the problem that you have back in your lap when you go full time. The human body is not made to work so long without a breather. Be a good cover driver now, and a better driver later. You'll feel better in the long run.

Dude...give me a freaken break. I get the same route the regular driver gets. They are not going to fix it for me, they don't fix it for him.

It the regular driver wants to take his lunch at the end of the day so be it. I'm not going to....

Those people are no better then how I do it.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Dude...give me a freaken break. I get the same route the regular driver gets. They are not going to fix it for me, they don't fix it for him.

It the regular driver wants to take his lunch at the end of the day so be it. I'm not going to....

Those people are no better then how I do it.

Then I guess you're covering the route of a guy that was a cover driver just like you, and will have that to look forward to when you go full time. Enjoy your just desserts.
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
Then I guess you're covering the route of a guy that was a cover driver just like you, and will have that to look forward to when you go full time. Enjoy your just desserts.

I AM full-time. Some of you guys amaze me.....you really do. Staying out late does not fix the problem. You just stay out late. I see it all the time. This way I am always on the lunch report. THAT they want fixed.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
I AM full-time. Some of you guys amaze me.....you really do. Staying out late does not fix the problem. You just stay out late. I see it all the time. This way I am always on the lunch report. THAT they want fixed.

If you consider late, 1730/1800 there's a problem. Like I said, I take lunch at 1430-1530 daily. doesn't matter how many stops off or anything. I'd prefer to have all my stops off by then of course, but if I don't it's okay.
What I was trying to express to you is this. You cover a guys route. You smoke that route. That route is a bear to begin with and will never be fixed because mgmt thinks the regular driver is dawdling. This will happen to every route you cover. Change takes time and I understand that you don't want to wait around and see this change. That's fine, I'm just glad you're not in my center, smoking my route.
 

New Englander

Well-Known Member
If you consider late, 1730/1800 there's a problem. Like I said, I take lunch at 1430-1530 daily. doesn't matter how many stops off or anything. I'd prefer to have all my stops off by then of course, but if I don't it's okay.
What I was trying to express to you is this. You cover a guys route. You smoke that route. That route is a bear to begin with and will never be fixed because mgmt thinks the regular driver is dawdling. This will happen to every route you cover. Change takes time and I understand that you don't want to wait around and see this change. That's fine, I'm just glad you're not in my center, smoking my route.

No....they are just NOT going to fix a route unless the BID driver decides to make them do so.

If the BID driver has NO problem routinely dropping his air and they have no problem routinely picking it up - they are sure NOT going to fix it for a cover driver.

If said bid driver wants to be an idiot and run his lunch to till the end of the day, I don't come on Brown Cafe and complain that he is doing so. If the bid driver does not take his lunch when he is supposed to, I could really care if you guys think I'm smoking his route by not taking/entering my lunch.

If it's too much work and he routinely makes it happen by altering what he should be doing - I'm not playing that way. I'll go home an hour earlier.
 

Bloodybrown

Well-Known Member
I agree that a warning is called for. But at the same time i have an employee out right now for a dishonest act and they are fighing it all the way to panel. What the employee did was stupid he admits it, did not benefit from it and should be back to work with a nice smack on the hand.

But it is hard to cut a break to the same management team that wont do the same in return.

Red, I forgot to ask you, did the guy get his job back??.....back pay or time served??...............oh and did you win your election??
 
Top