Scratching a Heavily Commercial Route :/

[nystripe96]

Scratching a Heavily Commercial Route

Ok so I'm a new driver with a training route in downtown Brooklyn. I know the deal with scratching & how important it is in order to make book. Problem is my training route is heavily commercial so I can't really be much of a runner or move as fast as I'd like. Lotta 30+ floor businesses to deliver to, very little parking, freight elevator operators to wait for & a whole lot of pick ups to do all on a three block radius. I know UPS is all about numbers so to say I'm a bit frazzled would be an understatement. Any tips to scratch this route would be sooooo appreciated!!!

 

[UPSER110]

Re: Scratching a Heavily Commercial Route

Did they train you on your route? Be safe follow the methods, speed (smoothness) will come and after a week or so you will have it down...

 

[nystripe96]

Just the first day with the supervisor. It took both of us until 6:30

 

[Brownslave688]

First not sure what's it's like there but scratch doesn't mean a lot here anymore. They just want an acceptable spoh number. With that said take the time to let all of your customers your training and need their help to make it. Tell them your not trying to be rude you'll just be in a big hurry for the next month or so.

 

[nystripe96]

Next 4 months + Oct 15th is around the corner haha

 

[Jackburton]

Just the first day with the supervisor. It took both of us until 6:30

You'd be one of the first trucks back in our hub.

 

[upschuck]

I can't remember the last time mgmt dq a driver trying to qualify in my center. They put a lot of money into training you, and don't want it wasted. That being said, do your best and I'm sure you'll be fine. Funny thing I've notice is the more of a rush you get in, the more frazzled you get, and you still get done about the same time. Good luck and stay safe.

 

[Brownslave688]

I can't remember the last time mgmt dq a driver trying to qualify in my center. They put a lot of money into training you, and don't want it wasted. That being said, do your best and I'm sure you'll be fine. Funny thing I've notice is the more of a rush you get in, the more frazzled you get, and you still get done about the same time. Good luck and stay safe.

​Same here and we have had a few have accidents during the training period. I've heard management bitch from day one about how slow a driver is and that he just doesn't get it. Still driving over a year later though.

 

[cino321]

You can't scratch a route like that. It's impossible. Trust me.

 

[jumpman23]

xactly. Fake numbers anyway.

 

[TooTechie]

Here if you're not scratching and taking your full lunch they won't keep you period. If you're close they'll extend your time by a couple weeks to give you a shot if they like you. My buddy was 30 min paid over on his training route every day so they agreed with the union to extend 2 weeks past 30 and he improved but still wasn't scratching so they sent him back inside. It was the hand truck & elevator route like you're talking about that killed him. My training route was heavy commercial but only had to bust out a hand truck once or twice a day and it had no multi level office buildings with elevators so I lucked out.

 

[cino321]

Too many variables with that type of route. Trust me I know, I deliver in NYC too. It takes me about 20 minutes to drive around the block. Between traffic, dealing with the elevator guys and their lunch break times, plus all the other couriers it's nearly impossible. Are you delivering to any city agencies? These are extremely intricate routes, probably heavy with OCA pick ups. The stop count is not relevant. The piece count is. Do the best you can.

 

[BakerMayfield2018]

At 4:00 take all rest of deliverys and give to homeless person on corner and have him sign for them and drive back to building. Your numbers will look great.

 

[nystripe96]

The manager may take me off it. Seems like they know it'll be a tough route to scratch. The driver of that route just went to feeders

 

[undies]

What is this "scratch" you speak of?

 

[upschuck]

If they took you off route then you qualify in my center. They have to give you thirty days on same route in a ninety day span. After thirty you're qualified.

 

[Limper]

What is this "scratch" you speak of?

Scratch is balance in the universe. It's when the time you take to run a route is the same as the time UPS says it takes to run that route.

 

[FilingBluesFL]

Nice that you guys have "training" routes. I got the furthest crap route that was different every day in a crappy ass P5 (the OLD one) that was older than me.

I was handed a map, and told to work safe, and that was it.

It was dark every night I came in. 10, 11, almost midnight sometimes.

 

[cino321]

Nice that you guys have "training" routes. I got the furthest crap route that was different every day in a crappy ass P5 (the OLD one) that was older than me.

I was handed a map, and told to work safe, and that was it.

It was dark every night I came in. 10, 11, almost midnight sometimes.

Folks running the district want this now. No one understands it because the majority of our routes are impossible to scratch and have never been scratched. 200 clicks over around here is a decent day. Their funny math doesn't really apply to our delivery area. The trainees that they want are being moved around to split routes that are mostly residential without pick ups so they can have a chance at scratching.

 

[IlllIIllIIlllIllIIIlIlIlI]

The last 10 guys trained in my center were qualified on 10 different routes. Most knew more than one route before they had 30 days. One was trained on 4.
The best way to make scratch is to have a pickup ship out hundreds of small packages.