Please wash my truck

rebel

Well-Known Member
Has the company cut the hours every where on the car wash or is it just my building? Our trucks are just plain nasty inside and out. It is funny how they want us to shine our shoes and look sharp but send us out in nasty trucks for the world to see. What has happened to our image? You can look at the company policy book on upsers.com and it says the vehicles and buildings will maintain a high standard of appearance and cleanliness every day. The policy also says we believe this has an important effect on attitude, safety, and efficiency. Come on UPS, practice what you preach.
 

currahee

Well-Known Member
Our DM fired 3 of the 6 people on the car wash. You need a chisel to scrap the dirt off our pkg cars. Not very professional looking if you ask me.
 

outamyway

Well-Known Member
Well, it doesn't look like this all the time it can get pretty bad here. I think the same day or the next day I remember walking through our center and there was a pile of just sweeped up trash at least 9ft in diameter about 6in high.
 

HazMatMan

Well-Known Member
Well, it doesn't look like this all the time it can get pretty bad here. I think the same day or the next day I remember walking through our center and there was a pile of just sweeped up trash at least 9ft in diameter about 6in high.

That is absolutely disgusting and should not be tolerated, the way that pkg is on the floor like that, lol.. Oh yeah, the garbage looks disgusting too..
 

Dutch Dawg

Well-Known Member
I believe you already know the difference between maintaining appearance standards and a clean vehicle or building. Management can mandate shined shoes and clean uniforms without dedicating manpower (on paper) to perform the task. Unfortunately the appearance on paper has taken priority over the appearance of vehicles. Then again one benefit of this concept is knowing when someone impotent is expected by the dramatic change in appearance.
 
W

westsideworma

Guest
Our cars look like crap too, thats how we can tell if we've got a new one, its the only one that looks presentable. I don't blame the washers, they don't have the time or the manpower to do it. Must not be part of "the methods". Thats the latest craze at our hub. Granted they've always been important (kept me from being injured so far at least) but now they're supposedly going to save us money and such too...amazing isn't it? They're (methods) perfect too, don't ever question them....seriously, not kidding, stop laughing :wink2:

See what the week at brainwash school did to me?
 

Jack4343

FT DR Specialist
We have a car wash position here but they must only wash the managers personal cars because I've never seen one of them wash a package car. We wash our own cars here but I haven't washed mine since the state of Georgia issued a level 4 drought emergency and forbid any outdoor watering of any kind. We still have hoses connected to our car wash (but the car wash is closed during the winter) but I won't use them due to the law. I do see feeder drivers washing their trucks daily however. I know we have a reputation to protect but I think our law should be followed first.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
They have instituted a numbering system for the pkg cars (1 thru 5), which corresponds to the day of the week that the car will be washed. Our car wash is actually done by an Art. 22-3 employee, who combines his air driving with pkg car washing. They used to wash the inside of the cabs along with the exterior of the car but they have been told not to do that anymore. A few of the guys have started rinsing their pkg cars off when they get off the road at night, especially this winter as we have had more than our usual amount of snow. I was making a delivery last week and the consignee was rinsing off his car and I asked him if I could borrow his hose for a second so that I could rinse off the windshield. He asked if we were having financial problems. I just laughed and thanked him for letting me use his hose.
 

feeder53

ADKtrails
In my area, the feeder drivers are to wash their own tractors. I found out the hard way when my Sup asked me to wash my tractor and I did not know how to operate the wash. I was told that it should have been part of my training, but it was not. He was great about it, but I still have not had the training.
 

25yrvet

Well-Known Member
In the early 80's the company hardly did any advertising. Their clean vehicles were their advertising. That's what I was told by a center manager when I first started.
It's just the opposite these days. :dissapointed:
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
I did car wash for 10+ years. In that time we went from wet wash to dry wash, easily done if the weather is dry. It took more time to clean doing dry wash, and some water was still needed to clean the interiors.
I still look at other centers cars on the road and shake my head when I see an unwashed car.
The best advertising ( and almost totally free ) is a clean car.
People will remember seeing a clean car especially when everything else is covered with the normal grime of winter. This used to be a corporate policy of washing the cars.
Last winter I was asked to clean a couple of cars, the local sort boss was amazed at the fact that I could wash the cars quickly and do the entire car cleanly; no missed spots. Unlike the untrained car washers of today. Most can not keep the wash brush on the car, when dried it looks like stripes.
I would love to return to car wash, and go back to not listening to "experts" tell how the job will be done.
When I do a car I do it right inside and out. Some old drivers have mentioned it that no one has done a real wash to thier cars in years. I would use a razor blade to clean the interiors of all the years of crap .
 

25yrvet

Well-Known Member
I saw a fRedex express truck today---all clean & white---looked professional. My ol' clunker hasn't been washed in MONTHS
 

outamyway

Well-Known Member
It's bad enough they only half wash the cars on the line up. But try getting an air drivers car washed when it's parked outside. Mine is going on 2 months now.
 

doctor brown 688

Active Member
It's funny in all the years I did delivery not once did I ever hear a remark from a customer about my personal appearance,my shoes are not always shined,in winter I wear a short sleeve shirt-jak with a long sleeve brown cotton t-shirt underneath,and like most occasionally forget to shave from time to time. But would hear daily about a nasty looking, unwashed,old as dirt (P500) rattle trap truck, they could hear coming before they could see it. I have had customers appalled in the summer heat that we don't have A/C in this day and age(what can you do other than smile and say it's not to bad).We still have a hand full of P500 package cars in daily use that were put in service in 1986,come on Uncle Brown, I think you have got your nickles worth out of them already.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I used to grab a hose and wash my package car myself (on the clock- time just got charged to checkin). Got yelled at for doing it but really now if they aren't yelling at you for something it wouldn't be UPS:happy2:
 
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