PAS question

[aspenleaf]

Why does PAS put mulit stops with the same PAS #? Such as I will have one street but 5 different addresses all with the PAS label RDR or 2000 etc - and as a preloader we can't sort them out by address. So if there are 20 boxes for one place and 30 for another they all get mixed up. Which of course means you drivers have to sort through all the boxes in that area to find the ones for your stop. Did they know about that "issue" going into PAS? Is it even a problem for you drivers?

Could someone explain this to me?

 

[over9five]

I wish you were my loader. Anyone who asks a good question like that actually cares a lot about the quality of the job they're doing!

The simple answer is, if you're loading it in order by PAL sequence number, you're doing it right-Don't worry!

The long answer is, packages are PALd according to the routes DOL (Delivery Order Listing). If a driver does 1 thru 10 East St., and then does Apple St., 1 thru 10 East St. may have one sequnce number. Then the next sequence number would be Apple St. The next may be 11 thru 18 East St.

Remember we (drivers) will see all the house numbers in our DIAD. When you have all the like sequence numbers together, thats great! It's our job to sort that.

 

[aspenleaf]

Thanks for the answer and I do take a lot of pride in the work I do (afterall what I do affects 4 drivers which could affect many customers; so I like to make my trucks look nice and have everything in place). I try to sort them as best I can but unless they are huge boxes I don't look at the address. I just wish the PAS thing could put a .1 or .2 so I could sort them better. I just hate the thought of the driver having to sort through 30 boxes to find 5 that all have the same PAS#.

The large boxes I tend to see that 5+ are the same and put them together on the floor and then I see other boxes with the same PAS # but a different address. I once had the whole right side from Flr 1 to RDR filled with RDR for several customers with PAS RDR. I just want to make things easier on my drivers if I can. I am glad that you drivers know what you are doing and if loaders put things in the right place you will find them.

 

[Thebrowntruth]

Aspen,
I think i can help you with this one. Your dispatch supervisor needs to know if a single point address stop should be designated as a "bulk stop" This takes all of about 5 minutes for him/her to correct permanently in the PAS system. Usually, you would hope, the dispatch supervisor has at least SOME preload or on road experience and would already know this....but...

 

[scratch]

I have been on PAS/EDD since the beginning of the year. One of its flaws is it isn't able to figure out multiple stops going to the same street address. This can be a dispatch problem when you are dealing with apartments, mobile home lots, and suite or room numbers at such addresses. I have one commercial area street that runs from 98 to 9600 in the street number ranges because it goes through the city limits. I wanted it all to be loaded at the rear door because of the bulk stops, but PAS only recognizes part of the street. PAS/EDD has a few bugs in it, I'm surprised it wasn't thought out better by the engineers. I have a great Preloader, she knows my area and makes adjustments in the flaws in the system.

 

[aspenleaf]

That is great and we try to do the same on our line (make adjustments for the pas flaws). But it takes away from the "any fool can load a truck" (found that on another website) mentality and for us they are always changing our lineup which then takes a while to learn the new truck and customers. Maybe the new version will fix that issue. I am not sure if there is a new version but I would think they will come out with PAS ver 2.0 any day - just in time for peak!

 

[landrick]

Aspenleaf: Any chance you've thought of relocating to the San Fernando Valley of L.A.?

We could use more guys like you...but I assume every center everywhere could, too.

I've met maybe two guys in our center who show your level of concern...and it's SO much easier to deliver when they've done the load. (There's one guy who's bullet-proof...you can be guaranteed that if it's not in the exact sequence on the shelf, and not on the floor, it's not in the car. Just move on.) Others do a reasonably good job of loading by sequence...and then there are some who seem to think that if they get the package in the general vicinity of the correct shelf, they've done their part. (Love finding those 3000 packages about halfway through the 7000 shelf.)

Keep it up, man...

 

[aspenleaf]

We have to put things in order? We can't just toss them in the truck???? I have seen people just toss packages on the shelf... that drives me nuts (but not too crazy - not like I think about it all day or week). However the reason is that they want us loaders to be faster so our numbers look good. Thankfully I don't care about numbers. I only care that my trucks are loaded before my drivers show up to leave. If I have to toss things into my trucks to make some report look good then it will be time for me to leave. My trucks are neat and clean and if the box is not on the shelf in order it will be down below (if I move it anywhere else I put a little note on the shelf where is should be stating where it is - not sure if that is helpful to the driver but when I would leave early to go to my clinical my sup would finish my trucks and she found the notes helpful and it kept all the packages together). My drivers have all told me that they like the work I do and that makes their day go better. I do have family in the LA area so that is a possibility of relocating.. but I have to finish nursing school first.

 

[landrick]

And by the way... Over9Five did a good job of explaining the basic problem, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved!

I had a sup riding with me earlier this year...and it happens that he's the guy who implemented PAS in our division. On one street with a lot of stops, I mentioned that it was inconvenient that they all had the same PAS number. His response was "I'll have that fixed by tomorrow." He said, "Hey, we've got 8,000 PAS numbers to play with on each route...I think we can find 2 or 3 more for this street." Sure enough, it was fixed in no time. He did the same thing at a shopping mall I delivered to--splitting up stores which previously had the same PAS--which made a huge improvement in package selection.

So, just because a segment may currently be assigned the same number doesn't mean it can't be broken down some more. Depending on how responsive management is there, it could be a simple fix.

 

[aspenleaf]

Thank you! That is what I am talking about - so someone at my center should be able to do that for my drivers? I just hope they listen to them. It would be so helpful to them since I or any loader would load things in the correct place. I will have to hunt down someone and ask them my questions. And since the system is the preload assist system it should be no problem for a preloader to ask them, right?

 

[landrick]

Wellll....when you're talking about getting management to do something, all bets are off.

I wish I knew more details, but I didn't get to see the sup edit the PAS info. (I did watch as he did some resequencing on that route--changing the trace--and that was pretty straightforward.)

When our PAS was implemented, they set up most segments in groups of at least 10, so you might get PAS numbers of 3200, 3210, 3220, etc., which leaves room for fine-tuning. Basically, they could just go in and break down the area in question, so you might get 3212, 3214 and so on for smaller areas.

The bottom line is that it's all part of the same computer system on-site at your center, and if you find the person who knows how to make the changes, it just takes a matter minutes. You just need to give them the exact info about what area needs to be broken down, and they change it in the system.

Good luck!

 

[aspenleaf]

I can do that (give them the info - I see these boxes each day or at differnent times in the month). I just hate when I get 20 King Soopers boxes for RDR and then 30 for the scuba place also for RDR and then a Resi will be tossed in with 5 boxes for RDR. It just seems there could be a better way to do this so that the loader can place the same address together to make it somewhat easier on the driver. This is only a problem when the bulk stops have blown out the truck all the space is used even the middle of the truck. Otherwise the drivers can find the packages. So if they won't listen that is okay; the world will keep turning.

 

[rngri4]

I can do that (give them the info - I see these boxes each day or at differnent times in the month). I just hate when I get 20 King Soopers boxes for RDR and then 30 for the scuba place also for RDR and then a Resi will be tossed in with 5 boxes for RDR. It just seems there could be a better way to do this so that the loader can place the same address together to make it somewhat easier on the driver. This is only a problem when the bulk stops have blown out the truck all the space is used even the middle of the truck. Otherwise the drivers can find the packages. So if they won't listen that is okay; the world will keep turning.

Tell the dispatch Sup to add Consignees in DPS and AMS for those stops, they can then dispatch the truck by those consignees listed. They may give you an answer saying that would raise their failed validation, tell them no good, that is what ISP cards are for. It sounds foreign to you, but if you tell them just what I wrote, they will understand one hundred and ten percent.

 

[aspenleaf]

Yes, I have no clue what you just said. But I will print it out and take it with me. I can try, not sure they will listen to a preloader.

 

[30andout]

You guys must have sups who care, I have been trying to tell them how I can reduce my miles and stop passing by stops but they won't change a thing. I just gave up, and drive in circles.

 

[aspenleaf]

So I take it they did not get the drivers view before implementing this new system? You (drivers) would have been the first people I asked questions and someone should have gone out on route to see how things are in the real world. Things always look great on paper but we all know that is not how things work.

 

[landrick]

You guys must have sups who care, I have been trying to tell them how I can reduce my miles and stop passing by stops but they won't change a thing. I just gave up, and drive in circles.

That really does suck...

As a utility driver, I get a chance to see how well EDD performs on several different routes where I work. Sometimes the route is laid out so well you could do it in your sleep. At other times...it's nothing less than stupid, running you all over the place in what seems like the most INefficient way possible. That means that when I take out a new route, I don't know whether to trust the EDD or not, so I waste time trying to second-guess it to figure out if it's going to help me or kill me.

It's too bad to hear that you're *trying* to get your EDD data improved, and getting no response. In my situation, I see a lot of the opposite...management (well, at least my supe) is willing to dig in and edit the routes so that they work right, but there's little feedback from the drivers on what needs to be changed. The regular route drivers know how they run their routes, so they basically ignore EDD and just do it they way they've always done it...which, of course, defeats the whole idea of making it easier for someone else to do the job when they're out.

EDD will never live up to its potential unless two things happen: (1) The drivers provided detailed feedback about what works and what needs to be changed, and (2) management takes that information and does something about it.

 

[aspenleaf]

Please tell me this does not happen all the time! I had 45 boxes (medium sized) all to go on the 4000 shelf with about 30 other boxes. This poor truck was so packed today. I asked the dispatch sup which location my driver would get to first so I could put those boxes in the back (he had bulk coming out of every space) and the guy didn't know nor did he have a map or anything to help me out. I did the best I could and got everything on expect two large packages (so large they would not even fit through the truck's doors.. Now I have 4 trucks the run in the same general area (give or take a few miles). My last truck was cut and then given back to me last minute and it only had 2 shelves filled. Now I questioned my mangement team (and I can't remember if I was rude, so I might have been) in the logic of "killing" one driver and letting my other trucks go half empty. To me it does not make sense but then again I am just a preloader. Now when all my trucks explode that way there is no issue since the loads are fair. Some of the bulk I have seen moved to my last truck but no so today. I asked the driver who he ticked off and he said he had vaca coming up soon. To further complicate things they sorted all 45 boxes into my cage; I asked for a cart next time so that I could just put it all down the middle. I could not do that since I had them all in the beg and throughout my shift. And we run the belt for our irregulars so I had to keep stacking to a small area. But all in all I finished and now can rest at home.

I hope you all had a great day!

 

[In the cage]

Wow nice to see preloaders and drivers that care! Here is the truth - there is a way to get PAS to split the street, you as a driver or preloader either need to speak with the PDS or data OMS and let them know that an area is a problem. They in turn can check DMS and "split" the street to make each stop or group of stops have different HIN #'s. As for apartment buildings/condos the same thing can be done.

Hope this helps. I know that everyone likes to point fingers and blame others for the troubles sometimes but the fact is that we all need each other. I cant do my job without input from others and I know my job effects others daily. The more input I get - the better I can help the people in my building.

 

[inthecage]

Tell the dispatch Sup to add Consignees in DPS and AMS for those stops, they can then dispatch the truck by those consignees listed. They may give you an answer saying that would raise their failed validation, tell them no good, that is what ISP cards are for. It sounds foreign to you, but if you tell them just what I wrote, they will understand one hundred and ten percent.

Nice - someone who knows how it works! If anyone came to me and asked how it works or what they needed to do I would tell them the same thing.

Someone in your center should help you with this. Failed validation shouldn't be problem either, I would rather have less missed pkgs, and happy drivers/on car sups than a low failed validation any day.