Old days vs. Current day

tourists24

Well-Known Member
I was talking to one of our top senior guys today on my break and we got to talking about a couple of things about the past. He told me that progression to top pay was 90 days (I dont remember that). I never drove back when there were no bid routes either. I do remember the Christmas bonus each year though. That's a thing of the past now. Anybody remember sheeting pkgs on paper. 3 copies getting separated into our little folders. Things change so fast anymore I cant keep up with it. What are some other things different now than in the past?
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
I was talking to one of our top senior guys today on my break and we got to talking about a couple of things about the past. He told me that progression to top pay was 90 days (I dont remember that). I never drove back when there were no bid routes either. I do remember the Christmas bonus each year though. That's a thing of the past now. Anybody remember sheeting pkgs on paper. 3 copies getting separated into our little folders. Things change so fast anymore I cant keep up with it. What are some other things different now than in the past?
I don't know of any of these things but my old steward has talked of such things. LOL
 
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hseofpayne

Guest
I was talking to one of our top senior guys today on my break and we got to talking about a couple of things about the past. He told me that progression to top pay was 90 days (I dont remember that). I never drove back when there were no bid routes either. I do remember the Christmas bonus each year though. That's a thing of the past now. Anybody remember sheeting pkgs on paper. 3 copies getting separated into our little folders. Things change so fast anymore I cant keep up with it. What are some other things different now than in the past?

I was the last driver hired to full time before cover driving came about. We collected cash back the, used to have several thousand $$$ in my pocket every night, counting it all out on the check in counter. We still had P400s back then, too. A death trap if there ever was one! Pkg car cab used to fill up w/ exhaust/fuel fumes in the winter if you closed the doors. We used to have a thrift plan instead of stock that split once and then went into hibernation! We had Zero women drivers or preloaders. We had these rickety :censored2: roller stands and worn out no rolling rollers that hooked to the rollers in the back of trailers that failed to jack up half the time! I don't think we had NDA when I first started. The rest of it I have a mental block to help hold off insanity, repressed memories!
 

Leftinbuilding

Well-Known Member
Ah the p400. An amazing creation. You could change lanes without moving the steering wheel. Whether you wanted to or not. Same with braking. Sometimes you would skid to a stop. Next time only the left would lock up, so off you went that way. I've had the stick shifter come completely out of the floor. Thats an experience. The bulkhead door was only about 5 ft high. I am 6'3". Good times....:happy-very:
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Ah the p400. An amazing creation. You could change lanes without moving the steering wheel. Whether you wanted to or not. Same with braking. Sometimes you would skid to a stop. Next time only the left would lock up, so off you went that way. I've had the stick shifter come completely out of the floor. Thats an experience. The bulkhead door was only about 5 ft high. I am 6'3". Good times....:happy-very:
ROFLMAO:surprised:
 
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hseofpayne

Guest
Ah the p400. An amazing creation. You could change lanes without moving the steering wheel. Whether you wanted to or not. Same with braking. Sometimes you would skid to a stop. Next time only the left would lock up, so off you went that way. I've had the stick shifter come completely out of the floor. Thats an experience. The bulkhead door was only about 5 ft high. I am 6'3". Good times....:happy-very:

I loaded a couple P400s when I first started loading, plus 2 P600s. When I would get behind, I would go running into the back of a P400 and come close to knocking myself out, still have scars!
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
The old days....
  • Bringing 300 stops back at 10:30 at night.
  • Green and white 50-liner delivery records.
  • Alpha load charts.
  • "Stop counts" that were 50 or 60 off.
  • P-600 package cars
  • Cash for C.O.D.'s
  • Long pants in 100 degree heat, no shorts available.
  • No 8 hr. requests.
  • Peeling the tracking labels off of NDA packages and writing in the consignee's name, date, and time of delivery.
  • Yellow call tags
  • 6-digit shipper numbers on a meter tape
  • AOD's with a postage stamp on the back
 

upsgrunt

Well-Known Member
The old days....
  • Bringing 300 stops back at 10:30 at night.
  • Green and white 50-liner delivery records.
  • Alpha load charts.
  • "Stop counts" that were 50 or 60 off.
  • P-600 package cars
  • Cash for C.O.D.'s
  • Long pants in 100 degree heat, no shorts available.
  • No 8 hr. requests.
  • Peeling the tracking labels off of NDA packages and writing in the consignee's name, date, and time of delivery.
  • Yellow call tags
  • 6-digit shipper numbers on a meter tape
  • AOD's with a postage stamp on the back


Gee, thanks Sober,
I remember ALL those. Did you ever have to use those red boxes to hold the call tags, so the preload could put them in the load? How about when you got a next day air that was cod and aod. If the box was small, there was no room to put all the labels.:dissapointed:
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
The old days....
  • Bringing 300 stops back at 10:30 at night.
  • Green and white 50-liner delivery records.
  • Alpha load charts.
  • "Stop counts" that were 50 or 60 off.
  • P-600 package cars
  • Cash for C.O.D.'s
  • Long pants in 100 degree heat, no shorts available.
  • No 8 hr. requests.
  • Peeling the tracking labels off of NDA packages and writing in the consignee's name, date, and time of delivery.
  • Yellow call tags
  • 6-digit shipper numbers on a meter tape
  • AOD's with a postage stamp on the back
Ahh, I recall during the cold winter months the first few packages that came down the belts to be loaded onto the outbound feeders were exactly used to stop the cold air from entering the building since there were no cushion around the dock.
Losing your clipboard was like losing your best friend.
The Blizzard of 78 ( in Boston ) ripping the roof off of the building, which put more snow inside then out. The work area consisted of 2x4 frames and sheets of plastic until they replaced the roof.
The old outside carwash building creating long lines each evening as the cars came in ( all that easy ot, just to sit there waiting for your turn ).
Intrastate vs interstate....all of NH's packages had to go out of state every day, just to be sorted and sent back.
 

Tony31yrs

Well-Known Member
When I started, I was running split routes in P400's and International p350's that were already 20+ years old. We called them "Widow makers"and they were in the shop almost as much as on the road.
The wipers worked off the engine vacuum so that they went faster as you drove faster. They had a lot of holes in the package area and there was a coating of dust on everything when you drove down a dirt road. The only good thing about them were these huge heater/blowers mounted on the interior engine cowl that blew all kinds of hot air in the winter.
We used to have to use paper and carbons and everyone was against the diad when it first came out. After 2 days, no one wanted to go back to paper.
The supes were all as bad as the worst ones are today. The only difference was that they didn't have today's technology and had to sneak around and follow you on route.
 
D

dankofan

Guest
I was the last driver hired to full time before cover driving came about. We collected cash back the, used to have several thousand $$$ in my pocket every night, counting it all out on the check in counter. We still had P400s back then, too. A death trap if there ever was one! Pkg car cab used to fill up w/ exhaust/fuel fumes in the winter if you closed the doors. We used to have a thrift plan instead of stock that split once and then went into hibernation! We had Zero women drivers or preloaders. We had these rickety :censored2: roller stands and worn out no rolling rollers that hooked to the rollers in the back of trailers that failed to jack up half the time! I don't think we had NDA when I first started. The rest of it I have a mental block to help hold off insanity, repressed memories!
 

old brown shoe

30 year driver
I remember when 2 day air came out (before next day air) we had to announce that we had a second day air to the customers. The old brown delivery notes that everyone had signed and would put in their milk box or under the door mat ( no DR all pkgs had to have a signature) Then you tear off the the tab with the signature and turn in at end of day.
 

retired2000

Well-Known Member
how about shelves in the package cars that folded up so that you could get more parcels in them from your p/u's! here is an old one where did al of the z frame trailers go to?
 

JustTired

free at last.......
While I'll admit the good old days probably weren't as good as we might remember, we got off at a decent hour compared to today.

Funny how all of this new technology hasn't made the job that much easier. You still have to lug the pkgs from the car to the door and drive from stop to stop. Those were and still are the most time consuming parts of the day. But ,now, they want you to run almost twice as many stops because of the technology.
 
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