Package car side view mirrors.

[floydfreak]

Does anyone have any knowledge if a driver have been charge with an avoidable accident for braking the side mirror with a tree branch. That has become a serious dilema here in Puerto Rico due to the cero tolerance for accidents. Our biggest issue is that in the tropics with the excess of rain and little forestal planification, trees along the roadside grow wild increasing our risks dramatically.

 

[grgrcr88]

I have not seen it here but I would offer this advise to my members if it were to happen.

Do not drive into an area that may cause damage to your vehicle. If that means you cannot get to a delivery, let your supervisor know of your decision that you feel it is unsafe and they can make a decision as to how to proceed.

 

[ChadBrunn]

We had a TCD get charged with avoidable accident for a tree limb breaking a mirror about a year ago. It was fought and files on and it got turned into an "incident" and not an "accident"

 

[MC4YOU2]

We also have had a few of those happen in summer when branches hang low. My experience has left me with this nugget of wisdom. A mirror broken by a branch or any other stationary object while you are on motion, is more likely to be considered "avoidable", than a mirror that cracks while you are adjusting it. Might be different in your area. Other than that grgrcr88's advice is spot on.

 

[jcbtwo]

I have one avoidable accident on my record in 8 years of driving. It is a broken mirror on a tree branch. This happened about two weeks after I had qualified as a driver. Funny thing is I did the same thing about a year later under the same management team and it was not considered an accident go figure.

 

[soberups]

The management in my area has been spewing out a flood of warning letters for breaking mirrors.

Replacement mirror glass costs $6, and it takes a mechanic less than 5 minutes to install. But the poor schmuck who broke the mirror will have a meeting (with shop steward present)and spend half an hour or more listening to the center manager flap his gums about it. He will have to come to work 15 minutes early for a week in order to do "assessments" and recite acronyms and commentaries to a member of the "safety committee". He will have an OJS ride, and he will receive a warning letter. When all is said and done, UPS will have pissed away over $500 on that $6 mirror...while at the same time cutting routes, shoving hopeless dispatches out the door, and screwing our customers over in the name of "cost savings". Can we get any dumber than that?

 

[old levi's]

The management in my area has been spewing out a flood of warning letters for breaking mirrors.

Replacement mirror glass costs $6, and it takes a mechanic less than 5 minutes to install. But the poor schmuck who broke the mirror will have a meeting (with shop steward present)and spend half an hour or more listening to the center manager flap his gums about it. He will have to come to work 15 minutes early for a week in order to do "assessments" and recite acronyms and commentaries to a member of the "safety committee". He will have an OJS ride, and he will receive a warning letter. When all is said and done, UPS will have pissed away over $500 on that $6 mirror...while at the same time cutting routes, shoving hopeless dispatches out the door, and screwing our customers over in the name of "cost savings". Can we get any dumber than that?

That's a dangerous question, because I'm afraid the answer is 'Yes". Exactly how much dumber or what form it may take will reveal itself in the months and years ahead. Puts a different twist on the phrase " Expect the unexpected".

 

[rod]

It all depends on who you are, what size center you work at and who it is reported to. Chances are if you work at a small center, aren't a total friend-up and are friendly with your mechanic nothing will be said about it. If you work at a large center, have a team of mechanics and are up to your eyebrows in management---you will probably be sent to the electric chair.

 

[tarbar66]

The management in my area has been spewing out a flood of warning letters for breaking mirrors.

Replacement mirror glass costs $6, and it takes a mechanic less than 5 minutes to install. But the poor schmuck who broke the mirror will have a meeting (with shop steward present)and spend half an hour or more listening to the center manager flap his gums about it. He will have to come to work 15 minutes early for a week in order to do "assessments" and recite acronyms and commentaries to a member of the "safety committee". He will have an OJS ride, and he will receive a warning letter. When all is said and done, UPS will have pissed away over $500 on that $6 mirror...while at the same time cutting routes, shoving hopeless dispatches out the door, and screwing our customers over in the name of "cost savings". Can we get any dumber than that?

Truer words havenever been typed.

I know in 35 years hundreds of mirrors have been broken and a new center manager reversed the lesson learned to a Federal case that turned a bunch of good drivers into disgruntled drivers!

 

[iamupser]

The inconsistency of their policy on mirrors and scratches is amazing. Recently a driver wiped out a rub rail, didn't report it for a day, and was promoted shortly thereafter to a supervisor....

Fastforward a few weeks later, a car washer was spotting a car and dented a vent....his punishment, 3 days off.

At least a few times a week, a mirror is simply a repair on the DVIR sheet...Once in a while they make a national issue out of $6. Again UPS stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

 

[Raw]

The management in my area has been spewing out a flood of warning letters for breaking mirrors.

Replacement mirror glass costs $6, and it takes a mechanic less than 5 minutes to install. But the poor schmuck who broke the mirror will have a meeting (with shop steward present)and spend half an hour or more listening to the center manager flap his gums about it. He will have to come to work 15 minutes early for a week in order to do "assessments" and recite acronyms and commentaries to a member of the "safety committee". He will have an OJS ride, and he will receive a warning letter. When all is said and done, UPS will have pissed away over $500 on that $6 mirror...while at the same time cutting routes, shoving hopeless dispatches out the door, and screwing our customers over in the name of "cost savings". Can we get any dumber than that?

UPS also get`s a $1,500.00 fine

 

[soberups]

It all depends on who you are, what size center you work at and who it is reported to. Chances are if you work at a small center, aren't a total friend-up and are friendly with your mechanic nothing will be said about it. If you work at a large center, have a team of mechanics and are up to your eyebrows in management---you will probably be sent to the electric chair.

I used to replace broken mirror glass myself when the mechanic was busy. Grab a piece of glass out of the box on the shelf, borrow a flat head screwdriver, remove rubber gasket, remove broken glass, install new glass, re-install rubber gasket, return screwdriver to mechanic, done. Its a piece of glass. It gets broken sometimes. Life goes on.

 

[rod]

The inconsistency of their policy on mirrors and scratches is amazing. Recently a driver wiped out a rub rail, didn't report it for a day, and was promoted shortly thereafter to a supervisor....

Fastforward a few weeks later, a car washer was spotting a car and dented a vent....his punishment, 3 days off.

At least a few times a week, a mirror is simply a repair on the DVIR sheet...Once in a while they make a national issue out of $6. Again UPS stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

I would call that more of a punishment instead of a promotion. Management is littered with ex-hourlies who for some reason or another didn't make it as an actual productive worker.

 

[soberups]

The scenario;

You are on a narrow, windy, two lane country road with no shoulder in an area you arent familiar with. You see a mailbox with the address of your next stop on it next to a gravel driveway heading up into the trees. You cannot see the house itself. There is a blind corner ahead of you and behind you. You have to make a decision NOW.

If you stop in the middle of the road and turn on your 4-ways to walk the stop off and a car comes around the blind corner and rear-ends you...you will be charged with an accident.

If you stop with your passenger-side wheels off of the road in order to avoid completely blocking it and you get stuck in the mud or break a mirror on a tree limb or get hit from behind by a car coming around the blind corner...you will be charged with an accident.

If you swing to the left with the intention of backing into the driveway and walking the stop off in order to avoid blocking the road and a car comes around the blind corner and hits you while you are in the wrong lane...you will be charged with an accident.

If you decide to drive up to the house that you cannot see in order to avoid blocking the road and you break a mirror on a tree branch or get stuck on the way up to the house....you will be charged with an accident.

If you pull into the driveway in order to get off of the road, stop to pull your mirrors in, and then get stuck or tear ruts into the steep gravel when you try to get going again...you will be charged with an accident.


You dont have time to recite acronyms. You dont have time to regurgitate a commentary. You have to make your decision NOW, in REAL TIME. Should that decision go wrong in any way...it will be second-guessed using 20/20 hindsight from behind a desk. No matter what choice you make, it will be wrong. If your supervisor even bothers to check the situation out for himself, he will Mapquest the address first and then drive up there during daylight hours in his little passenger car where it will be perfectly obvious to him after the fact what you should have done.

 

[iamupser]

Monday Morning Quarterback at its worse since it has to do with our livelihoods.

Another conundrum - How is it possible to utilize 3 points of contact while using 8 keys to lifting and lowering while walking with a package up stairs?

 

[UPSGUY72]

I always write up mirrors as cracked not broken in the DVIR. Tee next morning it's somehow fixed. Just like the front driver side window I put a small crack in at stopping for my first stop a couple of weeks ago. From a branch hanging lower than normal after a storm. By the end of the day the crack went all the way across the window. The mechanic told me to write it up as cracked.

 

[hurricanegunner]

The scenario;

You are on a narrow, windy, two lane country road with no shoulder in an area you arent familiar with. You see a mailbox with the address of your next stop on it next to a gravel driveway heading up into the trees. You cannot see the house itself. There is a blind corner ahead of you and behind you. You have to make a decision NOW.

If you stop in the middle of the road and turn on your 4-ways to walk the stop off and a car comes around the blind corner and rear-ends you...you will be charged with an accident.

If you stop with your passenger-side wheels off of the road in order to avoid completely blocking it and you get stuck in the mud or break a mirror on a tree limb or get hit from behind by a car coming around the blind corner...you will be charged with an accident.

If you swing to the left with the intention of backing into the driveway and walking the stop off in order to avoid blocking the road and a car comes around the blind corner and hits you while you are in the wrong lane...you will be charged with an accident.

If you decide to drive up to the house that you cannot see in order to avoid blocking the road and you break a mirror on a tree branch or get stuck on the way up to the house....you will be charged with an accident.

If you pull into the driveway in order to get off of the road, stop to pull your mirrors in, and then get stuck or tear ruts into the steep gravel when you try to get going again...you will be charged with an accident.


You dont have time to recite acronyms. You dont have time to regurgitate a commentary. You have to make your decision NOW, in REAL TIME. Should that decision go wrong in any way...it will be second-guessed using 20/20 hindsight from behind a desk. No matter what choice you make, it will be wrong. If your supervisor even bothers to check the situation out for himself, he will Mapquest the address first and then drive up there during daylight hours in his little passenger car where it will be perfectly obvious to him after the fact what you should have done.

This would be the same supervisor who could not make it as a driver. That's why he is in management.

 

[Re-Raise]

The scenario;

You are on a narrow, windy, two lane country road with no shoulder in an area you arent familiar with. You see a mailbox with the address of your next stop on it next to a gravel driveway heading up into the trees. You cannot see the house itself. There is a blind corner ahead of you and behind you. You have to make a decision NOW.

If you stop in the middle of the road and turn on your 4-ways to walk the stop off and a car comes around the blind corner and rear-ends you...you will be charged with an accident.

If you stop with your passenger-side wheels off of the road in order to avoid completely blocking it and you get stuck in the mud or break a mirror on a tree limb or get hit from behind by a car coming around the blind corner...you will be charged with an accident.

If you swing to the left with the intention of backing into the driveway and walking the stop off in order to avoid blocking the road and a car comes around the blind corner and hits you while you are in the wrong lane...you will be charged with an accident.

If you decide to drive up to the house that you cannot see in order to avoid blocking the road and you break a mirror on a tree branch or get stuck on the way up to the house....you will be charged with an accident.

If you pull into the driveway in order to get off of the road, stop to pull your mirrors in, and then get stuck or tear ruts into the steep gravel when you try to get going again...you will be charged with an accident.


You dont have time to recite acronyms. You dont have time to regurgitate a commentary. You have to make your decision NOW, in REAL TIME. Should that decision go wrong in any way...it will be second-guessed using 20/20 hindsight from behind a desk. No matter what choice you make, it will be wrong. If your supervisor even bothers to check the situation out for himself, he will Mapquest the address first and then drive up there during daylight hours in his little passenger car where it will be perfectly obvious to him after the fact what you should have done.

+ 1000

 

[scratch]

My last accident was a little over a year ago when I popped a mirror with a tree branch during a rainstorm in a 1/4 mile driveway. I was honest about it and reported it right away. Instead of the supervisor telling me to "just write it up on my DVIR" like any other time, the Division Manager decided to throw the book at me. Two supervisors drove out to the crime scene and photographed the mirror, the tree branch, and measured how long the driveway was. Liberty Mutual was called and my Center got a $1500 charge for a 4X4" piece of glass. I got a warning letter and months of harassment out of it. It did not help my view of the company at all.

 

[UPSGUY72]

My last accident was a little over a year ago when I popped a mirror with a tree branch during a rainstorm in a 1/4 mile driveway. I was honest about it and reported it right away. Instead of the supervisor telling me to "just write it up on my DVIR" like any other time, the Division Manager decided to throw the book at me. Two supervisors drove out to the crime scene and photographed the mirror, the tree branch, and measured how long the driveway was. Liberty Mutual was called and my Center got a $1500 charge for a 4X4" piece of glass. I got a warning letter and months of harassment out of it. It did not help my view of the company at all.

What gets me is that not only does it go on you record it also go on your SUP accident record and after they get so many accidents in there group they then get to do alot more paper work. Talk about bring unwanted attention to yourself.