New Feeder Driver

[UPSJT]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the site, this is a great place, a lot of good discussions.

Need some guidedance/support...my husband, who is from Europe, just got hired as a feeder driver...he is (was) very excited!!

He has been a truck driver for over 20 years, driving all over Europe, so he has the experience of driving on both sides of the road, and yes, he speaks perfect english.

Well, he just started this week, going through all the orientation, and he is blown away by all the rules!! He doesn't like the fact he will be on call 24/7, and working mostly nights, but he knew that going in. One guy will say to him, you can possibly go permenant by August!!, and then another say, you won't be going permanent for another 3-4 years.

This is the best job opportunity he has had since he has been here, and I keep trying to sound encouraging, but only on his second day he is sounding discouraged. I have a real hard time getting it into his head, that no matter who he drives for, he will be working nights, unless he buys his own truck, and then he will be long hauling just to pay that off! We don't have any kids, and are just married a year, and I really want the best for him, and to me, UPS is the company to get that from. Last night, he did some driving and backing up, tripping, and his supervisor said he did a really great job. I think the thing that bothered him is that there were 3 Supervisors in the room, and they only said threatening things, like, "One guy didn't fill out his log book correctly, he was stopped by the police, so we had to let him go." My husband said everyone just looked at him like he was crazy, you would fire a guy over that???

So, any encouraging words I can tell him to stick it out??

 

[Slothrop]

So, any encouraging words I can tell him to stick it out??

Not really. Danny may have some.

 

[moreluck]

Gee T.S.

That's like phoning in a vote and paying $1 a minute and voting "don't know".

 

[wily_old_vet]

UPSJT-First off welcome to the Cafe. UPS is a great company to work for but like every company there are good points and bad points. One of the bad points that your husband has already run into is "negative management". For whatever reason UPS has mostly managed in this manner the whole time I was there. In other words you will more often hear what you are doing wrong than what you are doing right. Especially in that all important 30 day probationary period. It reminds me of Marine Corps boot camp where they do all they can do to break you down so that they cna remold you in the way they want you to be. Tell your husband that it happens to everyone. Just do as he is told to do, avoid any accidents and he should have no problems. Also tell him that he should be thankful that he started in feeders and not delivery. Having never been a feeder driver I can't talk to specifics but Tieguy and Trickpony can help with any specific questions you might have. Tell him good luck for me.

 

[scratch]

Wily hit it right on the head, nothing less than 100% perfection is expected. Your husband is very lucky in that he got hired off the street to a job that a lot of Package Drivers and other truckers would love to have. He just needs to learn to ignore a lot of the negatism he will get and just do his job as instructed. UPS pays top pay, but we are hired to do our jobs as instructed. Sometimes this means we make more money than if we tried to use common sense and be more effective!

 

[scratch]

Wily hit it right on the head, nothing less than 100% perfection is expected. Your husband is very lucky in that he got hired off the street to a job that a lot of Package Drivers and other truckers would love to have. He just needs to learn to ignore a lot of the negatism he will get and just do his job as instructed. UPS pays top pay, but we are hired to do our jobs as instructed. Sometimes this means we make more money than if we tried to use common sense and be more effective!

 

[OldUPSDriver]

What country is he working in??? Sounds like he is in the "Fatherland".

 

[wily_old_vet]

Damn Scratch. I know I'm good but you didn't have to repeat yourself.

Old-I think if you reread her post it says her husband is "from" the old country.

 

[dannyboy]

Actually I do Susie. No matter how bad a situation is, there is always something good in it.

Take when my momma died. I could never figure out why someone that good and wonderful had to go in such a terrible way and suffer for so long. I guess she was really the first close person I lost.

After two years passed, my mother in law died after battles with brain cancer, and it was then that I knew why the Good Lord allowed me to go through that loss. Had I not lost my mother first, I would never have understood the loss to my wife, and my father in law.

So yes, I hated I lost her when I did, but the Good Lords timing is perfect, and who am I to argue.

But I digress.

On this board you will find all sorts of people, some think UPS is in business only to screw up their lives, or to make it miserable for them.

Then you find others that are in a dream world of utopia.

But the truth is neither.

Tell your husband that UPS can be a VERY rewarding career, but he has to have the guts to stick it out. No guts, no glory. While he might feel overwhelmed at this time, that is normal. Delivery might even be worse than feeders as far as stress to learn everything.

Tell him to take it one day at a time. And not to give up. And if you think it might help, get him to post here any questions he might have. Sometimes it helps to hear you are not the only one this has ever happened to. And that this too shall pass.

d

 

[trickpony1]

"He has been a truck driver for over 20 years....".
It would be handy if we knew how big the truck was that he drove for over 20 years.
I'm sure you can understand that a smaller truck can manuever more easily than a longer combination of 1-3 trailers.
My guess is he'll just have to learn the equipment. He's probably already been exposed to snow, ice, rain etc.
Be safe, don't hit anything and he'll probably make his probation period, sometimes known as the "production ride" of usually a week duration.
Shifting gears and backing will come with time and patience.

 

[UPSJT]

Good Afternoon Everyone, and thank you so much for all your kind comments and support, they really have helped. I am trying very hard to be a very supportive wife, I want to make sure I say the right thing, and encourage him to just “hang in there”, and I felt no one would know better, than those who are Feeder Drivers themselves, and know what he is going through. He is very proud to be working for UPS, and I tell him how lucky he is, so many people are extremely surprised when they hear who he is working for, and congratulate him 10/fold!!

<O</O
After he came home last night, we talked some more, and he made the comment, “Why can’t they just give me the keys, and show me the truck, so I can get out of here, and stop watching those stupid 1960/70’s safety videos!” We laugh about it, and I think that is the best way, for me to just be strong and positive for him, and help him get through this week, and the weeks to come, until he is comfortable. He said he is overwhelmed with learning the computer in the truck, the log book, and learning UPS’s reporting time table, but he sounded more positive last night, by saying, “I’m sure I will get it eventually, it’s just going to take time and practice.”
<O</O

My husband has been driving a semi since he was 15 years old; his father was a truck driver all his life too, so it all comes very naturally to him, since his father taught him to drive when he rode with him on trips, he started professionally when he was 19. He has traveled all over Europe, hauling everything imaginable! My father as well, is a long-life truck driver, who is no longer with us…I have been on a few trips with my husband, (in Europe) as well as with my father when I was a little girl, so I know the life on the road…and you have to love it, or hate it!
<O></O>
Sorry for being so long winded here…I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your responses, and I will share all your comments tonight. Thank you again!
<O></O>

 

[trickpony1]

It sounds like he knows how to shift the gears in the "big rigs". For those who don't know, it isn't exactly the same as a pkg car.
He apparently knows how to back a trailer also.
I think everything will fall into place given time and patience. Also, his fellow feeder drivers are usually more than willing to offer suggestions that will help him.
Remind him that he gets paid by the hour, not by the mile (unless they do things different in Europe). He's not in pkg cars so he doesn't have to go like a bat out of hell. All he has to do is be safe and get the loads to the destination.

 

[wannabeups]

Also, his fellow feeder drivers are usually more than willing to offer suggestions that will help him.


You are correct about the fellow drivers willing to help out. I worked there as a seasonal in 1998. Through God's grace I have been been back since November of 2005. I tell all of the guys especially the high seniority drivers that "I pluck the hair out of my ears the and stick a q-tip in them, so I am all ears for their suggestions."

I had an instance where I was doing a pick up @ a customer. I was doing my pretrip on trailer. I noticed a little oil around the hub of the wheel. I pulled the rubber "button" off so see if there was oil in it. When I went put it back on I lined it up and bumped with the back of my hand, to "push it back in so it would seal. When I did, the whole plastic casing cracked. When I got back to the hub. I red tagged it and was telling one of the old timers what I did. He asked, "Why didn't you just stick a flashlight up next to it?"
I felt like a complete jackass.

Tell your husband, he has "THE BEST TRUCK DRIVING JOB" in America.

I am still pinching myself, can't believe I am wear the "Browns". I was signing off of the a seal control the other day. I just stared at my name where it said Drivers signature, thinking WOW.

 

[wily_old_vet]

Trick-If you reread the first post you will see she says her husband is "from" Europe not working there. He's a feeder driver here.

 

[trickpony1]

Thanks, stupid me.

 

[ozzey]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the site, this is a great place, a lot of good discussions.

Need some guidedance/support...my husband, who is from Europe, just got hired as a feeder driver...he is (was) very excited!!

He has been a truck driver for over 20 years, driving all over Europe, so he has the experience of driving on both sides of the road, and yes, he speaks perfect english.

Well, he just started this week, going through all the orientation, and he is blown away by all the rules!! He doesn't like the fact he will be on call 24/7, and working mostly nights, but he knew that going in. One guy will say to him, you can possibly go permenant by August!!, and then another say, you won't be going permanent for another 3-4 years.

This is the best job opportunity he has had since he has been here, and I keep trying to sound encouraging, but only on his second day he is sounding discouraged. I have a real hard time getting it into his head, that no matter who he drives for, he will be working nights, unless he buys his own truck, and then he will be long hauling just to pay that off! We don't have any kids, and are just married a year, and I really want the best for him, and to me, UPS is the company to get that from. Last night, he did some driving and backing up, tripping, and his supervisor said he did a really great job. I think the thing that bothered him is that there were 3 Supervisors in the room, and they only said threatening things, like, "One guy didn't fill out his log book correctly, he was stopped by the police, so we had to let him go." My husband said everyone just looked at him like he was crazy, you would fire a guy over that???

So, any encouraging words I can tell him to stick it out??

The trick is to take it one day at a time. it can be a good job. it does take time to get in a good spot in feeders. Tell him to look at all the advantages of nights.less traffic ,more time to do things during day.avoid hanging around with or near managemnt. just show up on time and do your job and go home. out on the road life is good!!