Smoother Peak Season the result of PAS?

L

Load Stand

Guest
I have seen several postings on a smoother peak season...am wondering if PAS is paying off and resulting in better dispatching abilities? I suspect the weather has helped as well and less late air?
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
Smoother? dunno we don't have pas...
our preload was wrapped this morning, and we all stood around for 30 minutes("till our scheduled start time") No option to start early..
 

Cezanne

Well-Known Member
I work in a hub that was one of the first to implement the PAS system, about 3 years ago. This peak I am surprised on well the packages are getting to customers, both with lack of bad addresses and damages. Maybe finally this program is being figured out by both management and the hourly, granted it had it's quirks. Biggest fault in the whole system was the turnover of preloaders, right when they were finally catching on out the door they went to better paying opportunities and work conditions. This put alot of stress with the veterans who were covering the mistakes, you would be surprised to see how well any operation works with employees with at least a year of experience.
 

upsdude

Well-Known Member
Smoother? dunno we don't have pas...
our preload was wrapped this morning, and we all stood around for 30 minutes("till our scheduled start time") No option to start early..

Our start time is 9:00, we've been leaving the building 8:30-8:45. Last year we were leaving the building 9:20-9:45. The sup has been holding 2 PCM's, one for the folks ready to leave and another for the guys rolling in at 8:59. The sup reminds everyone to adjust their start time in the diad.

None of us (including delivery management) expected the preload to be this good. Last week I had 2.50 hours OT, nice. What was expected to be a really bad peak has ended up being my best one in 20 years.
 

traveler

Where next? Venice
Our start time is 9:00, we've been leaving the building 8:30-8:45. Last year we were leaving the building 9:20-9:45. The sup has been holding 2 PCM's, one for the folks ready to leave and another for the guys rolling in at 8:59. The sup reminds everyone to adjust their start time in the diad.

None of us (including delivery management) expected the preload to be this good. Last week I had 2.50 hours OT, nice. What was expected to be a really bad peak has ended up being my best one in 20 years.

Wow, it sure is nice to hear all this good stuff about peak. Usually it sounds like it is a disaster from which the company will never recover. In my 25 years there and 16 years away I've never heard a glowing report like this about peak season.
:thumbup1: :thumbup1: :thumbup1:
 

Brownnblue

Well-Known Member
This peak season has been pretty good for me so far, however everything is relative; last year was by far my worst peak, so anything is bound to be better.
We did go to PAS this year, and for all of its flaws, it does do a couple of things well. I am able to line up my stops for my helper with much more accuracy, and minor errors by the preload are really no big deal since you know what you have in the load.
It doesn't hurt that I have a good helper either. Actually, I've had two, the first one quit after one day.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
This has been a smoother Peak than normal. I don't know if it is due to PAS or people just shipping less though. I was talking to a Postman on my route the other day and he said he had noticed a lot less packages this year. My Oncar Supe told me that last Wednesday was our busiest day, with volume dropping next week except for one day when "a certain load comes in". This is my thirty-second Peak, and that seems too early to be true. My stops have dropped the last couple of days, I don't know if its volume or the extra split cars being put in.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
This has been, by far my best peak. I don't know if its because of PAS because this is our 3rd peak on PAS. I think management is due its "props" for once. I think there has been excellent planning on the preload and dispatch, along with great execution in the plan. The air is here and loaded before the start time. Our cars our wrapped. This doesn't happen the other 11 months of the year. I'm sure this is cutting into profits, but man, I wish it was always like this. :thumbup1:
 
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InTheRed

Well-Known Member
Peak season for me has been going very smoothly as well. Yesterday I did do 310 stops but I was in at 6:45 with an 8:45 start (9:15 out the door because of a late air load)... granted it's a split route but I've been going out with about 275 - 290 stops and that's down from last year of averaging 350/day. I think the work has been spread out more evenly plus the volume is down some due to people doing drop-ship instead of receiving a package and re-packaging it out the door. The guy who owns the UPS store in our town has noticed he gets less people this year than last.
 

teamsterdan

Well-Known Member
same thing happing here, one of the best pre-load peaks in 14 yrs............let's all pat each other on the back for a job well done....I mean it.... 3rd yr. i believe w/ pas.........
 

DS

Fenderbender
We are not on Pas yet,but this year has been far better than any I can remember.I only once had to call for help,and I actually got it.I had no missed deliveries for the first time in years.It seemed to me that we had enough people to cover the splits for a change.Our management team was allowed some leeway in regards to preload start times and the number of seasonal drivers required to get the job done.
I hope this is the start of a new trend.
 

25yrvet

Well-Known Member
Most at our ctr feel this is the worst peak---due to a terrible ctr mgr that has one foot out the door. PAS was implemented this fall--too many bugs in our system & an arrogant ass running it.
The only good thing has been the wheather.
:thumbup1:
 

breadbooze

Well-Known Member
I agree with the smoother peak.. there are a few trips dispatched UNDER 8 hours in the center, mine being one of them. those are with the rentals and thus we have to cover the pickups of those who are blown out with resi's (or claim to be). add the glut of helpers wanting work this year, and everyone's seemingly happy. PAS however isnt as friendly when everything gets loaded on a floor and shifts around while driving.
 
I agree with the smoother peak.. there are a few trips dispatched UNDER 8 hours in the center, mine being one of them. those are with the rentals and thus we have to cover the pickups of those who are blown out with resi's (or claim to be). add the glut of helpers wanting work this year, and everyone's seemingly happy. PAS however isnt as friendly when everything gets loaded on a floor and shifts around while driving.


The beauty of PAS when you have to deliver out of a rental is that you know what's in the back. Before, you had to go back there in the dark and try to formulate a plan with piles of boxes and no place to sort them out and usually no shelves.
 

hoser

Industrial Slob
I'm working FEWER hours during peak. I've never worked 3 hour nights since my hire in June. Everything is going right and seems to be managed properly. I don't know why the hell this is happening. Then when January comes, managers will probably get apathetic and lazy, and things go to crap until mid November.

I work in a hub that was one of the first to implement the PAS system, about 3 years ago. This peak I am surprised on well the packages are getting to customers, both with lack of bad addresses and damages. Maybe finally this program is being figured out by both management and the hourly, granted it had it's quirks. Biggest fault in the whole system was the turnover of preloaders, right when they were finally catching on out the door they went to better paying opportunities and work conditions. This put alot of stress with the veterans who were covering the mistakes, you would be surprised to see how well any operation works with employees with at least a year of experience.
PAS would take time, I don't think any reasonable manager would ever say that automating the micro-routing of packages would be a success overnight. You'd get 500 packages one day, and 100 would have errors. Then you'd correct those errors, and the next day you get 500 packages, and another (different) 50 would have errors that need to be corrected. Repeat until you get 500 packages with 0 errors. You'd keep doing this until the system is complete, and 2-3 years seems right for the system to be complete.

Once it's in full force, with all wrinkles ironed out, this will lead to just insane productivity. And will make a driver's day a lot easier. An easy day for a driver is a good day for the corporate books. Win-win, IMO, but I want to make it clear that I've never worked with PAS myself.
 

LKLND3380

Well-Known Member
I have seen several postings on a smoother peak season...am wondering if PAS is paying off and resulting in better dispatching abilities? I suspect the weather has helped as well and less late air?

We had a late 12:00PM commit time for next day airs today... So airs were going into the load through out the truck.... PRETTY Fing SCARY if you ask me....Some airs were in the back 7000 section...

I can't wait to hear how messed up the day was...
 

Delivered

Well-Known Member
We had our airs in the load today too. Great idea if every truck wasn't plugged, we had more late air today than last week even though we had a noon commit. But our internationals still needed to be delivered by 10:30 for whatever reason.
 
A

Airforce One

Guest
If you read these postings, you will see something that came out of Corp this year. Note: both PAS and non-PAS sites are doing while. Corp started an initiative called on time network this summer. All hubs were told that we shut the door and dispatch on time (Period). If we have left in buildings (LIBs), then we report why and fix the problem. I think we are seeing the results of a lot of planning.
 

hoser

Industrial Slob
We had our airs in the load today too. Great idea if every truck wasn't plugged, we had more late air today than last week even though we had a noon commit. But our internationals still needed to be delivered by 10:30 for whatever reason.
Because UPS is trying to get an edge on FX which has noon commits for international. (destined to canada) :wink:
 
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