New GPS Time Study: What they are not telling you

[pretzel_man]

The dispatch sup has become an easy target and a scapegoat for angry drivers, but the reality on my center is that the guy was set up to fail by an incompetent and corrupt IE department. He is overworked. He doesnt have time to fix the problems, and more importantly he doesnt have the authority to fix the problems. He is told by his higher-ups how many cars he is allowed to dispatch, and this arbitrary number seldom has any correlation to how many he actually needs to dispatch in order to come up with a workable plan.

Basically, he is little more than a guy who has been told by IE to fit 10 gallons of sh&t into a 5 gallon bucket, and the drivers get pissed at him when he spills some onto the floor.

This opinion is the other side of the coin of managers who think drivers are corrupt and out to cheat and steal from the company.

Both opinions are wrong.

P-Man

 

[pretzel_man]

Management claims that allowances are based on the average time it takes for drivers to perform certain functions. Then why isn't the average driver at UPS running scratch?
If you assume a normal distribution and make a graph of every UPS driver's performance it should look like a bell curve with approximately equal numbers of drivers on either side of 0 (or scratch). This is not the case. The curve is skewed towards the over-plan. This is simple proof that the allowances are not based on what UPS claims.

The premise told to you (or the way you interpreted it) is incorrect. Allowances ARE based on past documented and catalogued time values. Some were standards used globally by all engineers, some created by UPS.

The difference is that the time for a driver's route is based on the proper methods being used AND proper job setup. If management doesn't do their job by providing a good dispatch and load quality the driver will be overallowed.

Overallowed is as much a measure of the management as it is of the driver. A driver doing everything right can be overallowed if a poor load is provided. No time is given for resorting a load, looking for miscoded packages, waiting for the preloaded, etc.

The allowances are based on what is claimed, it's use is meant to be different than some think.

P-Man

 

[soberups]

This opinion is the other side of the coin of managers who think drivers are corrupt and out to cheat and steal from the company.

Both opinions are wrong.

P-Man

When the drivers and the management are in agreement that a given route has a flawed time study...but IE refuses to correct that study...the only excuses for that refusal are either incompetence or corruption.

"We know its wrong, but we wont fix it and you will just have to pretend that it is right for the next 7 years".....corruption and incompetence defined.

 

[FracusBrown]

Time allowed for folding in the mirror: none.
Time allowed for putting out a cone; none.
Time allowed for putting the package in a bag to keep it dry; none.
Time allowed for locating an out-of-sight, dry location to release package; none.
Time allowed for walking around the car to make sure the kid you saw behind you isnt hiding someplace; none.
Time allowed for getting out to check clearance when forced to back up in an unfamiliar location; none.
Time allowed for going back to change the delivery notices you left at 4 different apartments because you tried to indirect and the manager was out to lunch; none.
Time allowed for making 3 indirect delivery attempts on a signature required package; none.
Time allowed for making 2 or 3 dozen 8-point turnarounds because your non-power steering pkg car has the turning radius of an aircraft carrier; none.
Time allowed for driving 5 miles uphill in 2nd gear at 11 MPH because your non power-steering pkg car is so underpowered that it cant get out of its own way; none.
Time allowed for bagging smalls; none.
Time allowed for correcting invoice errors on an international shipment; none.
Time allowed for applying highlight tape to all 6 sides of an over-70 lb package; none.
Time allowed for waiting for a customer to fill out ASD's and waybills for an on-call air; none.
Time allowed for waiting for a customer to finish printing the online end-of-day report to scan; none.
Time allowed for sorting and re-handling the 40 stops that you are sent to take off of an overdispatched driver; none.
Time allowed for looking in a map book in an unfamiliar area; none.
Time allowed for verifying the address on a house that doesnt have a visible number; none.
Time allowed for sorting your load when preload forces 400 packages into your P-800; none.
Time allowed for reading and responding to text messages in the DIAD from the center; none.

In I.E. world, none of these things are necessary so there is no need to allow any time for them.
In I.E. world, all the allowances are fair and realistic, and every day is sunshine and lollypops.

Isnt I.E. world a lovely place?

It's a two way street.

Deduction for skipping pretrip - none
Deduction for speeding - none
Deduction for time added by extra miles - none
Deduction for having customers assist in loading truck - none
Deduction for not counting 123 at every stop light before taking off- none
Deduction for not applying the park brake at every stop light - none
Deduction for skipping post trip - none
Deduction for not throughly completing the DVIR - none
Deduction for grabbing an extra package or two and leaving them in the cab for the next stop - none
Deduction for customer meeting you at the truck - none
Deduction for starting in second gear every time - none
Deduction for delivering multiple stops at one time - none
Deduction for cutting through the customers yard to get to the stop next door - none
Deduction for leaving the package on the front porch in plain view - none
Deduction for delivering a bunch of tiny little packages - none
Deduction for not closing the bulk head door - none
Deduction for not making a complete stop before making a right hand turn - none
Deduction for dumping the truck anywhere on the lot instead of parking it where it belongs - none
Deduction for knowing and taking advantage of all the other short cuts - none

 

[soberups]

The difference is that the time for a driver's route is based on the proper methods being used AND proper job setup. If management doesn't do their job by providing a good dispatch and load quality the driver will be overallowed.

Overallowed is as much a measure of the management as it is of the driver. A driver doing everything right can be overallowed if a poor load is provided. No time is given for resorting a load, looking for miscoded packages, waiting for the preloaded, etc.




P-Man

Local management cant do their job and provide proper dispatch and load quality because they have no control over how many cars they dispatch, they have no control over whether or not those cars can contain the volume that IE wants to force into them, and they have no control over whether or not the facility is antiquated, overcrowded, or capable of handling the number of PPH and SPORH that IE and Corporate are demanding.

IE's "studies" are based upon proper methods, job setup and load quality. Those same "studies" make proper methods and load quality impossible to achieve in the first place.

When the local management team is ordered to break a route apart and split it up between 4 adjoining cars 20 minutes before start time in order to satisfy some corporate mandate for stops per car...."proper job setup" and "load quality" just got thrown out the window. When those 4 adjoining cars were already overdispatched to begin with...and when the preloaders responsible for moving the volume are already overworked and fighting an overcrowded and poorly designed facility...a bad situation is simply made that much worse.

An authentic timestudy is based upon conditons in the real world, not in some idyllic fantasy world that exists only in the minds of those doing the study in the first place.

 

[pretzel_man]

When the drivers and the management are in agreement that a given route has a flawed time study...but IE refuses to correct that study...the only excuses for that refusal are either incompetence or corruption.

"We know its wrong, but we wont fix it and you will just have to pretend that it is right for the next 7 years".....corruption and incompetence defined.

You are describing a system that is not perfect. There are some scenarios that time studies don't handle. By the way, some of those scenarios provide more time than intended. (I'm not saying that is a large percent but they exist)

You point out some cases and assume that is the rule.

As I said, a poor job setup will show overallowed. That is not a wrong time study.

Your implication is that fixing some of these things are easy and IE just refuses to do so. Getting a perfect measurement will never happen. That does not make a corrupt system.

P-Man

 

[LagunaBrown]

When the drivers and the management are in agreement that a given route has a flawed time study...but IE refuses to correct that study...the only excuses for that refusal are either incompetence or corruption.

"We know its wrong, but we wont fix it and you will just have to pretend that it is right for the next 7 years".....corruption and incompetence defined.

Its so easy to play the blame game instead of being accountable and management are too so scared to stand up for drivers if a time study is wrong. Just show me some paperwork or program where G.P.S. is actually used and points are accurate. If its right its right if its wrong its wrong and fix it..... I mean we are professionals for that area and have valuable information to verify correct input. No one wants to look bad so you will never see that information and they will just blame you. Hooray for honesty, integrity and authenticity.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Lol. Like I said originally there are still many glitches with PAL labels, sorry you can't accept that or the fact that glitches exist in Virtual Time Studies. It is not a matter of like or dislike to your answers just the fact they exist. Lets not be in denial.

I don't know what your problem is. You asked a question and I gave you an answer. The only time we have issues with PAL labels is when the SPA guy gets out of synch--other than that, PAS/EDD has been a success in my center and I am a much more efficient driver as a result.

 

[Dragon]

Local management cant do their job and provide proper dispatch and load quality because they have no control over how many cars they dispatch, they have no control over whether or not those cars can contain the volume that IE wants to force into them, and they have no control over whether or not the facility is antiquated, overcrowded, or capable of handling the number of PPH and SPORH that IE and Corporate are demanding.

Its not about how many cars we dispatch, its about SPC. PERIOD

The rest of your post has a lot of validity, however come Aug 1st you will be making $30 an hour. Some people are coming unglued on that reality and are tighting down the thumb screws on everyone (including management).

 

[Dragon]

In response to the New GPS Time Study,

I have been thru 2 GPS time studies with 2 different centers and 80% of the routes gained time. It did not matter who was on the route.

Usually the route that lost the most time was the "Mall route". Why, for the life of me, we cannot get that fixed is beyond me.....

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

In response to the New GPS Time Study,

I have been thru 2 GPS time studies with 2 different centers and 80% of the routes gained time. It did not matter who was on the route.

Usually the route that lost the most time was the "Mall route". Why, for the life of me, we cannot get that fixed is beyond me.....

Our mall driver usually works 6.25 to 6.50 hours each day, gets paid for 8 and is punched out and gone by 4-4:30 at the latest. He always dispatches, usually between an 8.2 and 8.6 day.

 

[LagunaBrown]

Thank you for your honesty Dragon. One thing that has puzzled me about drivers making 30 dollars an hour and how it is used against us.... I noticed management were issued a copy of pie graph with a "Allocated Driver Rate". Its a break down of how much we make with HWelfare, Pension, Retirement, Veal, EMP taxes and Payroll. It shows our total earnings at 56.21 an hour..... A number I am sure will be made public around 2013 when our contract is up. What is weird is that U.P.S. negotiated those wages agreed to them and knew they were coming. They feel we are paid too much but still pay into a bonus plan giving driver's even more money.

 

[soberups]

Its not about how many cars we dispatch, its about SPC. PERIOD

Its the same thing in the end.

Corporate wants a number and they dont care about the consequences of obtaining that number.

Whether or not that number has any basis in reality is irrelevant to the pinhead who sits behind the desk. He just wants to look at the number.

We no longer service the customer, we only service the metric.

 

[soberups]

... come Aug 1st you will be making $30 an hour. Some people are coming unglued on that reality and are tighting down the thumb screws on everyone (including management).

And in so doing, they make the job of the union organizer and shop steward so much easier.

Go ahead and keep twisting those thumbscrews and pretending that it will somehow make a difference. You guys keep beating your heads into a wall and you havent yet figured out that it isnt the wall that is bleeding.

 

[tourists24]

Our mall driver usually works 6.25 to 6.50 hours each day, gets paid for 8 and is punched out and gone by 4-4:30 at the latest. He always dispatches, usually between an 8.2 and 8.6 day.

I just changed routes this year after leaving a mall route that I had for years.... I always ran 1.5 to 2 hrs over allowed every day. Now that I am on another route I have become a scratch runner... I can relate to how messed up mall routes are

 

[Dragon]

Our mall driver usually works 6.25 to 6.50 hours each day, gets paid for 8 and is punched out and gone by 4-4:30 at the latest. He always dispatches, usually between an 8.2 and 8.6 day.

Maybe our IE crew can get a few tips from your IE crew....

 

[Dragon]

Thank you for your honesty Dragon. One thing that has puzzled me about drivers making 30 dollars an hour and how it is used against us.... I noticed management were issued a copy of pie graph with a "Allocated Driver Rate". Its a break down of how much we make with HWelfare, Pension, Retirement, Veal, EMP taxes and Payroll. It shows our total earnings at 56.21 an hour..... A number I am sure will be made public around 2013 when our contract is up. What is weird is that U.P.S. negotiated those wages agreed to them and knew they were coming. They feel we are paid too much but still pay into a bonus plan giving driver's even more money.

At least once a year someone higher up breaks out the pie chart...the next chart they break out is whose back they are going to break to pay for the previous chart.....

 

[Dragon]

And in so doing, they make the job of the union organizer and shop steward so much easier.

Go ahead and keep twisting those thumbscrews and pretending that it will somehow make a difference. You guys keep beating your heads into a wall and you havent yet figured out that it isnt the wall that is bleeding.

Sorry my thumbs hurt to much to concentrate on something else.
You will make stops per car, you will make stops per car, you will make stops per car.........

 

[Signature Only]

Pretzel_Man:

On the issue of PDF/TSO adds can you please be more specific. How much time is granted for these and who decides when and how much to add?

 

[LagunaBrown]

Lets make it simple.... What program has the information we can request to verify these G.P.S. points are accurate? If you do not know that, you do not have the ability to judge the accuracy of a time study. That goes for supervisors, stewards and drivers, I think the joke is on us (supervisors, stewards and drivers) and the higher ups are laughing. I though you could go up the chain of command to get this information at U.P.S. but really we are all in the dark....