No DR's allowed--new thread--on topic please

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
So we found out last week that UPS has implemented a new program to verify whether or not an address is actually "residential" versus "commercial."

Local management was never informed of the new program. It went live on Wednesday and we drivers discovered it after we were already out on road, and were prevented from releasing residential stops that we had been DR'ing for years. We found out after the fact that there was DIAD training for the new program.

Unlike Signature Required or Adult Signature required packages, there is no visual prompt in EDD to inform you of the new status. Nor does the DIAD emit the usual tone when such a package is scanned. There is no warning, and you have no way of knowing which stops are being flagged for verification. You only see the "No DR Allowed" prompt after you hit the Driver Release key. So you have no way to plan ahead or notify customers ahead of time that they will no longer be able to receive their packages in the manner that they have been accustomed to for years.

If you do get a signature, the DIAD then prompts you to complete a multiple-choice questionnaire describing the stop so that it can determine whether or not the stop is actually residential. Over some indeterminate amount of time, it will then assign a status to that stop.

I was unable to find any way to override, bypass, hack or defeat the prohibition against DR's for several addresses that are clearly residential. On the first such stop I encountered, it was noisy so I did not hear the DIAD beep when it denied the Stop Complete after I hit Driver Release and walked back to the truck. I already knew my next stop, so I didn't look at the DIAD again until I was 4 miles down the road at the next address and discovered that I had to drive all the way back to get a signature for the package that I had left on the porch. At another stop, I discovered that no DR was allowed only after I had already scanned, unloaded and hauled 9 bulky packages up onto the porch. Unable to complete the stop, I was forced to reload all 9 packages into the car as send agains.....until the homeowner arrived and I repeated the process all over again in order to get rid of the damn things. I lost 15 minutes screwing around with those boxes. Again---you have no idea that you cant DR the stop until after you attempt to do so.

5 things that need to change NOW.

1. Postpone implementation of this until after peak. We don't have time for this, our helpers aren't trained for this, and the need to get the effing boxes out of the trucks overrides the need to correct billing discrepancies.

2. Put an "emergency override" or bypass into the system to allow drivers to continue releasing these stops pending verification of the billing status for stops that are quite clearly residential.

3. This is a job for a billing clerk, not a $50-per-hour-on-OT delivery driver who is already fighting to avoid running out of DOT hours during peak. We drivers are being forced to correct billing errors by having the customer's packages essentially held hostage, thus creating a huge increase in send agains that we have neither the time nor the room for.

4. Put a prompt in EDD warning the driver if a signature will be required, like we already do for normal Signature Required and Adult Signature Required packages.

5. If we are going to arbitrarily begin refusing to release packages to addresses that have been DR'd for years....at least give the customers some warning ahead of time.

I understand the need to correct billing discrepancies, but doing so in this manner--with no warning or training---in mid-November---is idiotic, and clearly a decision made by a cubicle-dweller who never set foot in a package car or an operational center. The company needs to fix this now!
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
The company is fixing this now.

Unfortunately some of our brothers and sisters have been taking shortcuts which have resulted in numerous complaints and billing discrepancies.

The only difference that I have noticed is when I deliver to our local college mail room. Most of the packages are properly addressed but there are some that are not (addressed to the dorm rather than the mailroom) so when I go to stop complete I have to complete the two pages of stop clarification. It's a pain but not that big of a deal.

I did notice that it would not allow me to driver release to the church on my area. SDN worked just fine.

The update has had no effect on my residential stops.
 

DriveInDriveOut

Inordinately Right
Deliveries go on a table in the entry way by the rectory. They had signed delivery notices just in case.
Would have been nice to have told drivers about this in advance so customers could have been given stacks of info notices or make other arrangements.
I run multiple routes where customers have arrangements for packages to be left without a signature. Some are business customers that get deliveries to unattended storage units, some have huge drop boxes, some have a key hidden for the driver. That's not taking shortcuts, it's taking care of the customer.

This was rolled out poorly, just like access points, and so many other things.
 
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Deemster

Well-Known Member
I remember quite a few residential stops flagging no dr last week. Definitely a inconvenience as I brought in quite a few more send against than usual. I did over ride one of them because the customer was an elderly lady trying to keep her dog inside. She asked if I could just leave them on the front porch. I had to dr each package individually
 

FrigidFTSup

Resident Suit
1. Postpone implementation of this until after peak. We don't have time for this, our helpers aren't trained for this, and the need to get the effing boxes out of the trucks overrides the need to correct billing discrepancies.
Part of it is preventing seasonals from DRing places they aren't supposed to. There is a reason they did it now.
2. Put an "emergency override" or bypass into the system to allow drivers to continue releasing these stops pending verification of the billing status for stops that are quite clearly residential.
There doesn't need to be an emergency backdoor. Write a note for the dispatcher and let him/her fix it.
3. This is a job for a billing clerk, not a $50-per-hour-on-OT delivery driver who is already fighting to avoid running out of DOT hours during peak. We drivers are being forced to correct billing errors by having the customer's packages essentially held hostage, thus creating a huge increase in send agains that we have neither the time nor the room for.
Why would we hire a billing clerk to go through every address in an area when we have drivers who go there at least once a week? Is it really taking that much out of your day to click 1 or 2 on the DIAD?
 

Big Arrow Down...D

Leave the gun,take the cannoli
So we found out last week that UPS has implemented a new program to verify whether or not an address is actually "residential" versus "commercial."

Local management was never informed of the new program. It went live on Wednesday and we drivers discovered it after we were already out on road, and were prevented from releasing residential stops that we had been DR'ing for years. We found out after the fact that there was DIAD training for the new program.

Unlike Signature Required or Adult Signature required packages, there is no visual prompt in EDD to inform you of the new status. Nor does the DIAD emit the usual tone when such a package is scanned. There is no warning, and you have no way of knowing which stops are being flagged for verification. You only see the "No DR Allowed" prompt after you hit the Driver Release key. So you have no way to plan ahead or notify customers ahead of time that they will no longer be able to receive their packages in the manner that they have been accustomed to for years.

If you do get a signature, the DIAD then prompts you to complete a multiple-choice questionnaire describing the stop so that it can determine whether or not the stop is actually residential. Over some indeterminate amount of time, it will then assign a status to that stop.

I was unable to find any way to override, bypass, hack or defeat the prohibition against DR's for several addresses that are clearly residential. On the first such stop I encountered, it was noisy so I did not hear the DIAD beep when it denied the Stop Complete after I hit Driver Release and walked back to the truck. I already knew my next stop, so I didn't look at the DIAD again until I was 4 miles down the road at the next address and discovered that I had to drive all the way back to get a signature for the package that I had left on the porch. At another stop, I discovered that no DR was allowed only after I had already scanned, unloaded and hauled 9 bulky packages up onto the porch. Unable to complete the stop, I was forced to reload all 9 packages into the car as send agains.....until the homeowner arrived and I repeated the process all over again in order to get rid of the damn things. I lost 15 minutes screwing around with those boxes. Again---you have no idea that you cant DR the stop until after you attempt to do so.

5 things that need to change NOW.

1. Postpone implementation of this until after peak. We don't have time for this, our helpers aren't trained for this, and the need to get the effing boxes out of the trucks overrides the need to correct billing discrepancies.

2. Put an "emergency override" or bypass into the system to allow drivers to continue releasing these stops pending verification of the billing status for stops that are quite clearly residential.

3. This is a job for a billing clerk, not a $50-per-hour-on-OT delivery driver who is already fighting to avoid running out of DOT hours during peak. We drivers are being forced to correct billing errors by having the customer's packages essentially held hostage, thus creating a huge increase in send agains that we have neither the time nor the room for.

4. Put a prompt in EDD warning the driver if a signature will be required, like we already do for normal Signature Required and Adult Signature Required packages.

5. If we are going to arbitrarily begin refusing to release packages to addresses that have been DR'd for years....at least give the customers some warning ahead of time.

I understand the need to correct billing discrepancies, but doing so in this manner--with no warning or training---in mid-November---is idiotic, and clearly a decision made by a cubicle-dweller who never set foot in a package car or an operational center. The company needs to fix this now!
Sounds like this problem can't be fixed with a bungee cord or a zip tie...:)...
 

scooby0048

This page left intentionally blank
Some are business customers that get deliveries to unattended storage units, some have huge drop boxes, some have a key hidden for the driver.

I can't speak for other parts of the country or other centers within my state for that matter, but there are several deliveries that have been dropped like that for years in my center. I know it's not the methods but that's just the way it is here. Places like BNSF, oil rigs, wireline guys who have storage units, methane crews who are only on site once or twice a month, etc;

Places like that have been DR'd and the DIAD even has CPAD notes telling us where to leave the package. With the implementation of this NO DR biz, I wonder how the company is going to handle the deluge of angry receivers. From the above example, DRing any business is against the methods but obviously accepted and condoned. In this and other examples, I wonder if the company would start allowing us to sign our own names as delivering the package.

My other thought was that the company was trying to make a few more nickles by having shippers pay for the shipper release option.
 
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By The Book

Well-Known Member
Part of it is preventing seasonals from DRing places they aren't supposed to. There is a reason they did it now.

There doesn't need to be an emergency backdoor. Write a note for the dispatcher and let him/her fix it.

Why would we hire a billing clerk to go through every address in an area when we have drivers who go there at least once a week? Is it really taking that much out of your day to click 1 or 2 on the DIAD?
The problem is that the diad does not let you dr these packages to get to the 1 or 2.
 

Coldworld

60 months and counting
I can't speak for other parts of the country or other centers within my state for that matter, but there are several deliveries that have been dropped like that for years in my center. I know it's in the methods but that's just the way it is here. Places like BNSF, oil rigs, wireline guys who have storage units, methane crews who are only on site once or twice a month, etc;

Places like that have been DR'd and the DIAD even has CPAD notes telling us where to leave the package. With the implementation of this NO DR biz, I wonder how the company is going to handle the deluge of angry receivers. From the above example, DRing any business is against the methods but obviously accepted and condoned. In this and other examples, I wonder if the company would start allowing us to sign our own names as delivering the package.

My other thought was that the company was trying to make a few more nickles by having shippers pay for the shipper release option.
yep pay for a dr that should be free and part of the basic ups service...brilliant
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
The company is fixing this now.

I did notice that it would not allow me to driver release to the church on my area. SDN worked just fine.

The update has had no effect on my residential stops.
Did you actually have a SDN for the church? If not, you could be fired for dishonesty. If so, then why did you try to driver release it in the first place?
 

Coldworld

60 months and counting
the only times i have seen this clarification screen come up is when delivering to an apt complex where packages are going to residents there and the office has something also...
 
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