One for the record books?

[Big Babooba]

I've gone to my truck to find steel bars through the passenger windshield more than once. Even though he was told to lay them on the floor more than once, he insisted on standing them up in the cab. I had another who is bipolar. You could always tell when he was off his medication. He used to say that the packages talked to him. I told him that he should ask them where they should have been loaded because he certainly didn't. He used to leave the last 3 feet of my 8000 section clear. He kept his soda, cigarettes, candy, food and radio there. The packages that belonged there would be thrown in the bulk stop below it. Even the supervisors gave up on him.

 

[PassYouBy]

What a dummy. Don't he know that they are suppose to be loaded by size - small in the front and large in the back

I thought the LARGE packages were to go up front---That way you could hit your head and shoulders every time you came through the bulkhead!

 

[Cementups]

One of my drivers was telling me about the loader I replaced, he said during peak he lost the load chart and loaded the whole truck on the shelves in alphabetical order.

I keep telling our group of on-car sups to keep pushing my buttons and I am going to deliver my route alphabetically. I've gotten some looks on that.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Before the strike and long before the advent of PAS/EDD, it was not uncommon in our center for a new loader to ride with the driver for a day to get a feel for the route and to learn any preferences that the driver may have (bulk stop here, load this here as I deliver this stop with that bulk stop, etc) which would help both the loader and driver. Suggest that now and they will laugh you right out of the bldg.

I am very lucky in that I have an excellent loader. He actually is self-motivated and has the ability to change my load as the volume dictates and then tells me what changes he has made. I very rarely run off trace. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the good preloaders get promoted to driving and then who knows what I will end up with.

 

[IWorkAsDirected]

Directed, I also deliver to a WalMart (and Sams) and they average 50-100 (25-50) per day, nearly 150 (50-75) during Peak (I lose these 2 stops during Peak). The bulk can be a pain but I can usually dance through the middle after I leave those 2 stops. Is it just me or do they think that they are the only stop that I am going to have all day? It took me a long time to train them to simply stack the boxes on the roller and wait until I am gone before checking them in. This new "Ship-To-Store" has been a winner for them and for us (I guess), although those pkgs seem to always be so much bigger and heavier than their usual pkgs.

Boy do I wish they'd take some businesses, at least Walmart off me during peak. The receivers at my store are great, it is still a time consuming stop, they have to count and make sure the count matches my scans. It's a real pain to back into where I have to unload, they stack all the pallets, shelves and whatever back there. Yes that walmart.com stuff is a pain sometimes I'll have a couple of cribs and some other big stuff. Not only that pas or edd or whoever thinks anything to walmart with a name on it goes to the pharmacy and it's palled to the front. Can't wait til I got on vacation and the cover driver tries to deliver subway, walmart.com, vision center etc to the pharmacy.

 

[Lobofan5]

I've gone to my truck to find steel bars through the passenger windshield more than once. Even though he was told to lay them on the floor more than once, he insisted on standing them up in the cab. I had another who is bipolar. You could always tell when he was off his medication. He used to say that the packages talked to him. I told him that he should ask them where they should have been loaded because he certainly didn't. He used to leave the last 3 feet of my 8000 section clear. He kept his soda, cigarettes, candy, food and radio there. The packages that belonged there would be thrown in the bulk stop below it. Even the supervisors gave up on him.

Bipolar...LOL. thats too funny.

I've said it before, if you are blessed with a good preloader..treat them well because UPS won't...

 

[Big Babooba]

Bipolar...LOL. thats too funny.

I've said it before, if you are blessed with a good preloader..treat them well because UPS won't...

Unfortunately, it's true. He's a great guy, all his driver's like him. They just hate his loads.

 

[kingOFchester]

A preloaders perspective:
Started on a Tuesday:

Day 1) 2 hours of signing papers and watching "safety videos"
Then taken down to three trucks, where Part-time sup shows you a chart and a PAS label. spend all of 5 minutes (more like 3) on how to read the label and where to put it on the specific truck. Then you are left to a seemingly endless flow of packages down a slide as well as the irreg belt.

Day 2) 1.5 hours of more videos, including the history of UPS, flip thru a cornerstone book. Then taken back to the 3 trucks where the slide is all backed up as they were waiting for you to come and start to load the trucks. You are bombarded with everything from letters to fireplaces and everything in between. Only this day the shelf that was light the day before has 25 boxes of paper and the floor space you had the previous day is eaten up with a sleep number. Supe stops over and tells you "find another spot". to which you find another spot to see at the tail end of the shift 121 boxes of gears weighing in at 57lbs each. Being so new you don't even know or notice that the label clearly states 1 of 1.

Day 3) 1 hour. Finish watching the videos, questions and answers and given a quick tutorial on all the allowed and banned Hazardous materials. Then back to the three trucks and no one even thinking twice as to what you are doing. So you tackle the fall of boxes. Supe tells you about the 2 missloads from the day prior.

Day 4) Given a test where the trainer gives everyone in the room the answers word for word. Then sent back down to the belts: You arrive at your trucks and come up with a plan of attack. You think things thru a little bit but all of a sudden that Wal-Mart stop is replaced with a manufacturing stop that must be processing lead blocks into something. This is the 1st day you get to meet your driver and figure things out with his/her likes and dislikes. You go home not knowing what you did right or wrong...good or bad....all you know you are beat and no one tells you anything other then your misloads.

Starting the next week you arrive at your trucks just to be sent to a new set of trucks with an entirely different set of stops. Fl1 is now empty and your 8000 is packed. Just as your 2nd week comes to a close...and you get told that your PPH is not up to par and the 3 misloads is not good either you are then pulled to another set of trucks. You finally get to the point where you say to yourself "heck if they don't care about anything other then PPH and misloads then why should I"

I am not saying that is what happened to me. I have since been moved to picking off the belt, but my drivers that I was finally assigned to for all of peak, keep asking "when are you coming back to work with the real men"? My one driver was the one who took time out of his morning to come in early show me how to load his car and other cars for a driver. He explained things that may seem obvious to him and you, but for the regular Joe who has no clue to UPS or packages it was always good advise.

In short, try to treat your loaders with a litte understanding. Can't blame all the crap on some sucker working for 8.50hr at 4am.

 

[Ptrunner]

To people who get yelled at for not loading at PPH. Its bull. They can't fire you for not reaching their goal. Theres nothing in the cardinal sins about work ethics. Just be honest. A fair days pay for a fair day of work. And misloads just work at a pace where you can mark it and look at both spa label and address label to make sure its right and you wont misload. The problem is that UPS wants you to work at a fast pace and theres is no time to keep your area clean and not have any misload but yet not get injured.

Its funny, they want you to bust a nut for them but right when you get injured, they say its your fault, your to blame, work safe.

 

[FromBluetoBrown]

That PPH is a bunch of baloney. I got told I didn't meet my goals and I was like ummm ok. If the volume for that day wasn't there then how am I supposed to meet your goals for PPH. I worked 4 hours and loaded 700 packages (It was a light Friday). According to "management" I loaded 155 pieces per hour. They wanted 215 out of me. So I am supposed to wish some packages out of the air to meet their goals. The way I look at it is if the trucks are loaded by driver start time and the drivers have good loads why should it matter how many pieces per hour I do? I know the customer sure doesn't care. I can see the driver who delivers to my house's reaction if I were to see him tomorrow and tell him he failed me, the customer, because his loader didn't load the required amount of packages per hour. He would probaly look at me like I was stupid.

 

[IWorkAsDirected]

I've tried and tried to work with my loader, I've pretty much given up at this point, it just pisses me off.

I went in early every morning and gave him tips like leave some room in each section instead of shoving everything to the front, then things won't get mixed up and you'll have room in each section. Didn't work. Told him sometimes you have to make a few adjustments when you end up with a bulk stop, you might have to move some other things around Didn't work. Don't fill up the shelves with big boxes, you'll run out of room, drop them to the floor so you can put the small ones up there, Didn't work.

I understand their frustration and the fact that they don't get paid squat. However when I look in my car like this morning and see 4 leaf springs just thrown in the middle of the floor that belong in the 8000 section it shows he just doesn't give a ****. (There was room against the wall on the floor on the correct side, no excuse there)

Anymore I just don't talk to him, I'm afraid I'll blow up. I talk to his supervisor. You know, it really wouldn't be a big deal, but I get crap for being over allowed and alot of it has to do with the load.

 

[trplnkl]

I will agree that our PTers are under paid, but Ya know, I don't buy this " They don't get paid enough" crap as an excuse for shoddy work. They knew what the wages were when they hired on, if they didn't think it was enough there are other places to work. If one takes a job, do the damn job and do it right. The biggest problem I see is that the preloaders are not being trained properly, especially when they are loading by PALS. The pals # is there for a reason, to aid them in getting the packages in the correct place, this just getting them in the right section is not enough. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that if you put two large boxes on the shelf and then have no room for 10 smaller packages with the same shelf number but different stops that have to be placed in the floor that something isn't right. Is it not the PT sups responsibility to see that the guys and gals load properly?

 

[trplnkl]

Iwork, I won't take crap from them about being over anymore for several reasons. One being load quality, when they start I just tell them to get me a good load and MY performance will get better. I had one sup tell me that he could totally unload the truck and reload it in 15 minutes. I told him " you can show me that trick tomorrow", he didn't seem to want to prove his claim. Stay on their (the PT sups) backside about your loads or they will never get any better.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Common sense. PAS/EDD may have replaced load charts but it didn't displace good old fashioned common sense. Bulk stop in the 5000 section? Drop it to the floor and tell the driver about the change. We are not talking rocket science here--read the PAL, compare it to the pkg label, find the shelf, load the pkg, repeat.

Yes, the starting wage for P/Ters is lacking but it was disclosed to you when you were hired. I would like to see UPS offer 2 wage scales, one for employees who choose to take advantage of their benefits and thus have a lower starting wage or a higher starting wage for those employees who wish to decline their benefits. Some of these kids are college students who still live at home and may still be covered by their parents' insurance so benefits mean little or nothing to them.

 

[trplnkl]

Common sense. PAS/EDD may have replaced load charts but it didn't displace good old fashioned common sense. Bulk stop in the 5000 section? Drop it to the floor and tell the driver about the change. We are not talking rocket science here--read the PAL, compare it to the pkg label, find the shelf, load the pkg, repeat.

Yes, the starting wage for P/Ters is lacking but it was disclosed to you when you were hired. I would like to see UPS offer 2 wage scales, one for employees who choose to take advantage of their benefits and thus have a lower starting wage or a higher starting wage for those employees who wish to decline their benefits. Some of these kids are college students who still live at home and may still be covered by their parents' insurance so benefits mean little or nothing to them.

Not a bad idea, unfortunately good ideas are rarely considered unless they happen to flow from the top.

 

[Ptrunner]

Would you as a driver rather have a great load but lots of crap stacked outside on the gratings ? Or Crap load and everything loaded so you can ge to your air?

For me, Ive always wanted to give a great load but the belts run so hot its impossible to give great load, be safe, and not stack out. Its a company problem i think. At our building we have 50k volume for preload but yet were starting our preloaders at 5am..then getting out at 9 or so. Unload is 5 to 810 usually. I was told that with PAS we were suppose to start earlier because we needed more time to get the labels on and also to load the cars by hin numbers. It takes more time getting in and out of the drop to fix the load if you want to keep the boxes in order.

Problem is UPS management. They went against their words and they decided we have to turn the belt speed up. And work you harder then before. Its always just go alittle bit faster. They got all the old people out of the preload car sent them up to small sort to crank the belts hot. But all that did was put more pressure on these college kids. This is whats going on in our building and im sure its going on in others.

 

[WyoBrown]

When I was on preload, everytime they tried to speed up the belt (often) it would only slow things down because the end of the belt would get stacked up with pkg that didnt get pulled by the preloaders up the belt, the belt would get turned off to clean up the mess. Speeding up the belt actually SLOWED the whole process instead of the opposite result. We could explain this to the sup until blue in the face yet he just kept cranking up the belt and screaming about stack ups. God my sense of humor and loud music saved my sanity that year.

 

[dilligaf]

Iwork, I won't take crap from them about being over anymore for several reasons. One being load quality, when they start I just tell them to get me a good load and MY performance will get better. I had one sup tell me that he could totally unload the truck and reload it in 15 minutes. I told him " you can show me that trick tomorrow", he didn't seem to want to prove his claim. Stay on their (the PT sups) backside about your loads or they will never get any better.

That's funny, I would have told him to show me right now. I would have made it worth my while to, "you can't get it done right in 15 min, I'll file a grievance." LOL

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

I've never had that happen (where all the smalls were loaded in a bag, but I did have a loader (newbie) interpret the loading chart (Another topic for another day - Why we have charts outlining where the packages go for every car when every car is now exactly the same with PAS) Loaded my whole load backwards. 1000 section in the back of the car, 8000 at the bulkhead door, etc. At least floor 3 and 4 were in the right place, lol.

Understandable I guess, given the training (or lack of) for someone new, except for the fact that the shelves are all clearly labeled in the car. Fortuneatley for me, the route I was doing (cover driver) only had 1 big bulk stop, and although loaded in the front of the car, once I got it out I could walk through decently. Made the after lunch half of the day really easy though. No moving packages forward.

Wish I knew what happened to that kid...




....probably made him a pt sup

Depending on the car, some are labeled backwards; maybe the preloader you had was used to loading reverse #s and forgot to switch.

 

[Big Babooba]

I had one sup tell me that he could totally unload the truck and reload it in 15 minutes. I told him " you can show me that trick tomorrow", he didn't seem to want to prove his claim. Stay on their (the PT sups) backside about your loads or they will never get any better.

It sounds like the sup wants you to get 1 hour and 15 minutes of extra overtime each week. I'm sure that "unload / reload" is not included in the 340 Methods. I can also guarantee you that there is no time allowance either.