Question Regarding Package Selection (New Driver)
- Thread starter PPH_over_9000
- Start date
Sheikyrbouti
Well-Known Member
Bring your loader a biscuit. That seems to be the magic key to getting my truck loaded in a somewhat organized manner lol
barnyard
KTM rider
Not loaded in Orion order. I routinely have to skip running any ground with air, my truck is too full to try and look for anything that is not right inside the bulkhead door or right inside the back door.
PPH_over_9000
Well-Known Member
Man! The heat that drivers have to deal with is ridiculous!
So I came back from vacation on Tuesday, ended up with heat exhaustion and called out yesterday per my center manager's advice. As a result, my route sat yesterday.... so today I came in to 303 stops,~470 pieces. Heaviest route in the center today, not including pick-ups.
I only knocked out 244 stops before I got the message to come back to the building. Had to throw about 120 packages on the belt.
i swear, with every passing workday I'm learning to respect the drivers more and more-- especially the old-timers, doing this
for 10-20 years now. I always thought preload had to be tougher than driving, and mannnnn.... I don't think I could've been more wrong.
So I came back from vacation on Tuesday, ended up with heat exhaustion and called out yesterday per my center manager's advice. As a result, my route sat yesterday.... so today I came in to 303 stops,~470 pieces. Heaviest route in the center today, not including pick-ups.
I only knocked out 244 stops before I got the message to come back to the building. Had to throw about 120 packages on the belt.
i swear, with every passing workday I'm learning to respect the drivers more and more-- especially the old-timers, doing this
for 10-20 years now. I always thought preload had to be tougher than driving, and mannnnn.... I don't think I could've been more wrong.
JJinVA
Well-Known Member
Man! The heat that drivers have to deal with is ridiculous!
So I came back from vacation on Tuesday, ended up with heat exhaustion and called out yesterday per my center manager's advice. As a result, my route sat yesterday.... so today I came in to 303 stops,~470 pieces. Heaviest route in the center today, not including pick-ups.
I only knocked out 244 stops before I got the message to come back to the building. Had to throw about 120 packages on the belt.
i swear, with every passing workday I'm learning to respect the drivers more and more-- especially the old-timers, doing this
I dont know what kind of route youre on but Im walking 18 miles a week... that in itself is rougher on the feet and legs than preload. Maybe not as rough on the arms but definitely has its own struggles.
PPH_over_9000
Well-Known Member
I'd have to get something like a FitBit to give an accurate estimate, but there's a whole lot of hiking up long, narrow driveways on some of the backroads I've been covering. Then you hit the neighborhoods and it's massive houses, insane driveways, >20 steps up the front porch, and the occasional gated home.
The walking doesn't really bother me, though. Well... most days. Tuesday damn near killed me with heat exhaustion, and I probably should've taken more than a single day off to recover. I'm still worried about being DQ'd for something like that, though, so I dragged my ass back to work as soon as I stopped cramping up.
As a preloader, I always pictured drivers just driving around dropping off packages. I never really thought about all the minutiae of the job, things like weather/temperature, customers that won't answer the door until you've already completed the stop as a non-delivery and are hopping back in the truck, how much time signature required'sand pick-ups can take, just how short of a leash management has you on, etc etc. I guess it goes back to that old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side, but with UPS the
's just brown everywhere.
freehoodies
Well-Known Member
If you take an extra minute each stop, that's over 3 hours added to your day when you have 200+ stops.
Just keep finding ways to shave seconds off each stop, it all adds up.
Right now im trying to find out how to prepare for running new routes everyday. Im thinking of taking my phone holder from my car so I can use google maps (esp on a rental) but I feel like that might get me in trouble.
Just keep finding ways to shave seconds off each stop, it all adds up.
Right now im trying to find out how to prepare for running new routes everyday. Im thinking of taking my phone holder from my car so I can use google maps (esp on a rental) but I feel like that might get me in trouble.
Take the time to sort your truck. Get it in order, push everything forward and put all the big packages towards the rear door.
PPH_over_9000
Well-Known Member
Oh for sure it'll get you in trouble (probably a fun talking-to if you've got seniority, or you might get DQ'd like one of my fellow trainees.) It's an in-cab distraction apparently, but the dude who got DQ'd was in a rental with a DIAD that didn't have MapNav. He did exactly what you just suggested, but after the first time they observed him doing it he still didn't stop. Chalked it up as failure to follow directions on top of a safety issue.
burrheadd
KING Of GIFS
I'd have to get something like a FitBit to give an accurate estimate, but there's a whole lot of hiking up long, narrow driveways on some of the backroads I've been covering. Then you hit the neighborhoods and it's massive houses, insane driveways, >20 steps up the front porch, and the occasional gated home.
The walking doesn't really bother me, though. Well... most days. Tuesday damn near killed me with heat exhaustion, and I probably should've taken more than a single day off to recover. I'm still worried about being DQ'd for something like that, though, so I dragged my ass back to work as soon as I stopped cramping up.
As a preloader, I always pictured drivers just driving around dropping off packages. I never really thought about all the minutiae of the job, things like weather/temperature, customers that won't answer the door until you've already completed the stop as a non-delivery and are hopping back in the truck, how much time signature required'sand pick-ups can take, just how short of a leash management has you on, etc etc. I guess it goes back to that old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side, but with UPS the
if you called in because you got to hot during your 30 days
Not much chance of them keeping you around
PPH_over_9000
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I've been worried about that. The center manager [EDIT: scratch that, it wasn't the center manager that first talked to me, it was someone else in management. The center manager called me twice the next day to check on my recovery and gave me a ton of tips on how to prepare for and deal with extreme heat] literally told me to, though, after he saw the shape I was in when I returned to building. He said there was no way I'd be recovered in the next 8 hours... I didn't believe him, but he turned out to be right. Eh, I'll find out within the next 13 days, I guess.
God help my drivers if they send me back to preload, though. After dealing with the occasional
show of a load I now know for sure that I was trying way too hard for the past 9 years.
Last edited:
Ackerlin
Well-Known Member
This was my 14th or 15th day trying to qualify.
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freehoodies
Well-Known Member
This is what separates the men from the boys.
It's hard, but its not lead car in an Afghanistan convoy hard.
Or first week of prison hard.
Once things calm down the job is going to feel super easy imo
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