This statement is incorrect. We were required to sheet every package on the car, and if no attempt was made they were considered missed. Unless, of course, it was peak and your sup was afraid to rock the boat.
1989 is not incorrect. There was no national policy back before PLD. Each region, district, division and center ran the operation based on local practice.
You have a tendency to set national policy in your posts! I could be wrong, but I always thought that was up to the Management Committee! This is
one of the reasons I tend to jump right in there to refute what you say.
You present an implausible account of what is normal. I have stuffed P500s to the gills and never got more than 400 packages into one
Case in point ... 600 stops (not packages!) in a P500. Even at peak you probably averaged at least 1.2 packages per stop. This would be approx. 720 packages in a P 500.
Over stated and over exaggerated!
This creates a
credibility problem with everything you say. I had a bubble nose P 800 on my residential route right next to Beverly Hills and my route only blew up to 325 stops. The car was completely full - no such thing as a helper - I used to run and fling and I still couldn't get it all done. You are saying that they got 600 plus packages into your P500!!!! SURE they did!
I had the top producer in the district in my center. He would carry a 16-17 hour day and get it done under 11 hours. He would have his wife and teenage kids come out to help him and he only carried 475 stops and about 600 packages in a P800. This guy was the top producer in Southern California. So you can understand how it is hard to believe your story.
Now - this was consistent performance the last 3 weeks of peak. This was before helpers and driver release - After helpers and DR, his loads dropped to 12-13.5 hours. I believe that his methods were instrumental in formulating DR and helper routines throughout the Pacific Region.
Mind you, this driver was the top producer before I got to the center, no management person had anything to do with his initiative and ingenuity. He was so good that he kept all his numbers for every peak and knew exactly (within 5 stops) where the sequence range should break for him to take out his optimum load. I learned from him.
I guess if you say it long enough you will believe it to be true! LOL!
As far as peak goes - in the good ole days, I actually took the delivery records from the year before and plotted the stops on a map for all residential areas. I added routes based on the plot. It was very accurate.
It took me 6 weeks working at home on the weekends to get this done but it paid dividends to me and the drivers. I started this process in August.
All my centers were under-allowed at Xmas and 2 had less than a 10 hour paid day. We all worked and played as a team. We had center parties and pot lucks and good memories of peak season. I actually would get depressed when January hit and all the new goals put in place and the micro-managing would work back in.