My helper made the front page!

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
http://newberggraphic.com/

This is my bicycle helper, who is delivering a small residential section of my route for peak season. He actually made the front page of the Graphic, which is our local small-town paper that gets published twice a week. I like seeing the positive publicity for UPS, although it is inaccurate to say that the bike is "greener" than my truck; the area he delivers adds less than a mile to my route, while I have had to break trace by several miles to go back and retrieve the pup trailer at the end of the day. Oh well, it looks good on paper and gives everyone a warm fuzzy feeling.:wink2:
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
http://newberggraphic.com/

This is my bicycle helper, who is delivering a small residential section of my route for peak season. He actually made the front page of the Graphic, which is our local small-town paper that gets published twice a week. I like seeing the positive publicity for UPS, although it is inaccurate to say that the bike is "greener" than my truck; the area he delivers adds less than a mile to my route, while I have had to break trace by several miles to go back and retrieve the pup trailer at the end of the day. Oh well, it looks good on paper and gives everyone a warm fuzzy feeling.:wink2:

I hope there aren't any drivers on layoff in that area. I don't think they have a warm and fuzzy feeling.
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
What he is doing does not sound like a helper. It sounds like he is working independent and should be classified as a seasonal driver. A helper works side by side with the driver.
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
The load looks unsecure and how does the biker know if a package falls off and rolls away?

What happens when he go into a business does he take the bike inside or leave the package unsecured out side. Wouldn't that be like leaving your bulkhead door open?
 

Brown Rocket

Well-Known Member
Sorry. That isn't a helper. That's a delivery man (if you want to take out the word driver).

We have Golf carts here. They got rained on the other day. Only one of the 13 plus was smart enough to stop delivering. On got stuck in the middle of a huge puddle and the down pour destroyed almost every package. The one that stopped couldn't deliver for two hours. I was one of two drivers that went to help him. We opened the POD at 1730 and found 70 of his 120 stops still sitting there. The other driver took him as a helper and I went alone. We split it 40% 60% and I was off the clock at 2030. It sucked in the dark in the rain in unfamilair territory. So slow and safe is better than fast and sorry.

To call these people helpers is a travesty. They should at LEAST get seasonal driver pay which is considerably more in my region. Nearly double. They work hard and most do a good job or at least put forth the effort. One of our on roads stated, "I could pay them full driver rate and still make money. I only put 6 dollars in gas in that thing last week."

Don't get me started on them being used before laid off drivers.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I hope there aren't any drivers on layoff in that area. I don't think they have a warm and fuzzy feeling.

We have no layoffs, and our language requires all seniority employees to be offered the work..at their appropriate rate of pay... before any helpers can be used.
 

UPS Lifer

Well-Known Member
Sorry. That isn't a helper. That's a delivery man (if you want to take out the word driver).

We have Golf carts here. They got rained on the other day. Only one of the 13 plus was smart enough to stop delivering. On got stuck in the middle of a huge puddle and the down pour destroyed almost every package. The one that stopped couldn't deliver for two hours. I was one of two drivers that went to help him. We opened the POD at 1730 and found 70 of his 120 stops still sitting there. The other driver took him as a helper and I went alone. We split it 40% 60% and I was off the clock at 2030. It sucked in the dark in the rain in unfamilair territory. So slow and safe is better than fast and sorry.

To call these people helpers is a travesty. They should at LEAST get seasonal driver pay which is considerably more in my region. Nearly double. They work hard and most do a good job or at least put forth the effort. One of our on roads stated, "I could pay them full driver rate and still make money. I only put 6 dollars in gas in that thing last week."

Don't get me started on them being used before laid off drivers.

I certainly understand your frustration with drivers being laid off....

Just a thought .... Do you need a driver license to peddle a bicycle?
This may be why this is considered a helper.

Also - I am not sure but I don't think you need a driver license to "drive" a golf cart either. ....Especially if the golf cart is on private property.

An example could be the various private gated communities out in Palm Springs. Many of the residents drive their golf carts all over the community on private streets and I don't think the cart has to be "street" legal. If that is the case, anyone who delivers out of a golf cart could be classified as a helper.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
red

the helper issue used to be cut and dry that the helper had to work in conjunction with the driver. several hearings were clear on the subject.

but it seems in our last contract, the language was changed to where the company can use them totally independent of a driver. and as long as the vehicle they drive does not need a drivers license to operate, they can do as they wish.

i love it when the union gives back crap without input from the drivers.

so as it stands right now, unless the helper is driving a brown truck, pretty much all else goes.

d
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
What he is doing does not sound like a helper. It sounds like he is working independent and should be classified as a seasonal driver. A helper works side by side with the driver.

Our mall driver hauls a TP-60 and parks it and the helper delivers out of that. The driver then picks it up and moves it to the other side of the mall. Once the TP-60 is empty the helper hops on the pkg car and rides with the driver for as long as he is needed. They go back to the mall to pick up the trailer to use for pickup pieces. I guess by your definition the helper would get seasonal driver pay for the time he works alone and helper pay for the rest of the day.
 

Brown Rocket

Well-Known Member
I don't know aobut everywhere else but our helpers aren't helping anyone. Their time cards get connected to a bulk truck that drops the pod.

The mall example is different. He is working directly off that truck and that driver. That is the same as if I sent my helper down a cul-de-sac witha a cart load of stops. Or lef him at a condo building. These guys never see a driver, never help a driver, and deliver by themselves. The issue is not operating a vehicle. It's the independence they have. We have air WALKERS. We have drivers that operate mopeds, motorcycles and gondolas. Hell Mackanaw (sp?) island is delivered by horse! So he is a helper right?
 

UPS Lifer

Well-Known Member
I don't know aobut everywhere else but our helpers aren't helping anyone. Their time cards get connected to a bulk truck that drops the pod.

The mall example is different. He is working directly off that truck and that driver. That is the same as if I sent my helper down a cul-de-sac witha a cart load of stops. Or lef him at a condo building. These guys never see a driver, never help a driver, and deliver by themselves. The issue is not operating a vehicle. It's the independence they have. We have air WALKERS. We have drivers that operate mopeds, motorcycles and gondolas. Hell Mackanaw (sp?) island is delivered by horse! So he is a helper right?

Mackanaw could be delivered by a helper... don't give anybody any ideas!

In CA - Catalina Island is delivered by a contract carrier. UPS drops the packages and the contract carrier delivers the island.
 

UPS Lifer

Well-Known Member
It's Mackinac Island but it is pronounced Mackinaw. :happy2:

You are so right.

One of my cousins wants us to go there and spend a few days. You have to dress up after sundown.... What are they nuts! Give me a pair of shorts, T-shirt and flip flops and I am in the clouds. I can tolerate the dress up on a cruise because after dinner you can change. You won't find me visiting Mackinac Island anytime soon.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
You are so right.

One of my cousins wants us to go there and spend a few days. You have to dress up after sundown.... What are they nuts! Give me a pair of shorts, T-shirt and flip flops and I am in the clouds. I can tolerate the dress up on a cruise because after dinner you can change. You won't find me visiting Mackinac Island anytime soon.
Is your cousin wanting to stay at the Grand Hotel? It is a beautiful Hotel. I didn't get to see the inside because they charge for tours and I didn't want to spend the money. It's a great island. I did see the UPS 'driver' there. He was delivering out of a wagon drawn by horses. :happy-very:
 
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