So. Cal feeder drivers getting canned.

[Bratty Brown]

Were they waiting for the trailers to be hooked up...and refused to take break?
Or were the loads ready to go and they were just wasting time?

If they were waiting for the trailers to be ready without taking break they were "engaged in waiting" not "waiting to be engaged". According to the US Department of Labor " being engaged in waiting is compensatable time.

Read the link...
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.htm

I don't know the details but we all know when we're "engaged in waiting" or wasting time. (I hope so at least) I do know that having to go through the whole process of being terminated and then trying to get your job back must be difficult on the driver and his/her family. I never want to go through that ordeal and I think that's why UPS does things like firing several drivers at one time....To get every drivers attention. Since the several drivers fired were out of 3 or 4 different buildings and they are all higher seniority drivers, that message is being heard loud and clear. We can argue whether it's bu11 or not and that's a constructive thing to do, it gets drivers talking and it's a good reminder of how this company works. What this does show us is that UPS will do whatever the he11 they want to do...! If so many drivers were making the same mistakes, were they not warned and properly instructed on what they were doing incorrectly? That sounds like something their on-road supervisor would do and since that didn't happen this had to come from from higher up than the managers. Three or four different hubs had to work together on this to do it in unison so they had the opportunity to fix the problem but had already decided to fire the drivers instead..so remember...
UPS will do whatever they want to do!

 

[104Feeder]

In feeders a driver can clock in and get paid to spend 45 minutes getting coffe and shooting the BS with package car drivers and local sorters.

In package the driver would be walked out the door the next morning for that. Possibly after they return to the building.

Usually twice a year here Atlanta puts a moratorium on our rental tractors so Monday's, Tuesday's, & Wednesday's we start rolling tractors. This means you clock in and your assigned tractor (tractors are double utilized) is not available. So we get to wait in the "truckers lounge" (conference room or breakroom) until one comes available. Longest I have waited was 3 hours. To make matters worse, some of our tractors can go to California, some can't; some can make the haul to Las Vegas, some can't. All tractors are not the same here because of CARB requirements and fueling needs like LNG. Eventually Atlanta capitulates and we get rentals and more tractors ordered. If they were smart they would have all of our tractors CA legal. Other than that we sit around waiting for loads to be done but that's about it.

Turnarounds have delays due to poor planning between dispatch, usually at the origin. Some drivers compound that by not taking personal time but that isn't always the cure-all it seems to be. If you want a load back by a certain time and want me to be ready to turn & burn you might not want me to go on meal because that means I'm not moving for an hour. I can always push the 30 minutes to the last possible moment if necessary to save your service commitment but if you want give & take don't harass me about TA time when it goes in my favor.

Feeders only has two speeds: slow and stop.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Usually twice a year here Atlanta puts a moratorium on our rental tractors so Monday's, Tuesday's, & Wednesday's we start rolling tractors. This means you clock in and your assigned tractor (tractors are double utilized) is not available. So we get to wait in the "truckers lounge" (conference room or breakroom) until one comes available. Longest I have waited was 3 hours. To make matters worse, some of our tractors can go to California, some can't; some can make the haul to Las Vegas, some can't. All tractors are not the same here because of CARB requirements and fueling needs like LNG. Eventually Atlanta capitulates and we get rentals and more tractors ordered. If they were smart they would have all of our tractors CA legal. Other than that we sit around waiting for loads to be done but that's about it.

Turnarounds have delays due to poor planning between dispatch, usually at the origin. Some drivers compound that by not taking personal time but that isn't always the cure-all it seems to be. If you want a load back by a certain time and want me to be ready to turn & burn you might not want me to go on meal because that means I'm not moving for an hour. I can always push the 30 minutes to the last possible moment if necessary to save your service commitment but if you want give & take don't harass me about TA time when it goes in my favor.

Feeders only has two speeds: slow and stop.

I've heard all that before and have seen some of it at the hub I worked in but it doesn't apply in my tiny little extended center I work in now. There is only one feeder driver and only one tractor. LOL! There should be at least one more of each but that is another thread and has been discussed before.

 

[Dragon]

This week in south Cal district a dozen or more feeder drivers were termed for stealing/time dishonesty. Does anyone have any info as to what was really going on and how to avoid getting the axe based on this week's actions?

I would bet they knew what they were doing and since nothing had happened to them before they kept doing it. Come on guys be smart.

I would hope they learned their lesson if they are brought back.

 

[104Feeder]

I've heard all that before and have seen some of it at the hub I worked in but it doesn't apply in my tiny little extended center I work in now. There is only one feeder driver and only one tractor. LOL! There should be at least one more of each but that is another thread and has been discussed before.

We have an extended center driver that is literally paid 8 hours a night to drive part way to Phoenix and meet another driver then drive back. Total actual work time needed is probably 6 hours and that's being generous. If he was dispatched correctly it would be an easy 11 hours. He got in a pissing match with management years ago and they don't even want to see him in Phoenix. So it looks like he is sandbagging but he is only getting 40 hours and no overtime. The management he fought with is long gone but this Company holds grudges regardless of the cost.

 

[Jones]

I've heard all that before and have seen some of it at the hub I worked in but it doesn't apply in my tiny little extended center I work in now. There is only one feeder driver and only one tractor. LOL! There should be at least one more of each but that is another thread and has been discussed before.

If that's his first leg then local sort is probably holding him past his pull time every night because drivers are out late and they can't get all the pick up volume processed in time. Sitting on SW for 45 minutes every night for no particular reason would be a pretty ballsy move, most of the sandbaggers are a little slicker than that.

 

[QKRSTKR]

We do have schedules though. If your suppose to take your meal at your TA and your trailers aren't there or ready you should take your meal. I heard we had a guy fired for stealing time as well. Don't know the circumstances though.

 

[govols019]

We are instructed to take 15 minutes on road, 30 minutes at TA, and the final 15 minutes on return trip.

 

[Non sequitur]

I'm not in feeders yet, but it sounds like the company is trying to trim the fat (overtime). My question is can you still get plenty of overtime legitimately?

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

If that's his first leg then local sort is probably holding him past his pull time every night because drivers are out late and they can't get all the pick up volume processed in time. Sitting on SW for 45 minutes every night for no particular reason would be a pretty ballsy move, most of the sandbaggers are a little slicker than that.

That rarely happens here. What is happening is a little difficult to explain without giving too many details that will risk giving away what building I work in. I've kept that a secret since day one on here. I can tell you that a feeder driver is getting paid to drink coffee for at least 45 minutes. And he doesn't try to hide it nor does he need to. I just thought that was so strange considering how the company would react if most other people did that. The only other people I've seen get away with getting paid to do nothing were a few shifters in the hub.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

We always had a shortage of tractors in the feeder department I was in. 29 years, and it never changed..The morning drivers would sometimes wait for a tractor 2-3 hours for their ride. all paid time and in addition to their regular workday. Yet they would discipline a driver for washing his tractor if it wasn't on his schedule. And yeah, at least where I was, if you wanted 60 hours/week, you got it.

 

[FrigidFTSup]

That rarely happens here. What is happening is a little difficult to explain without giving too many details that will risk giving away what building I work in. I've kept that a secret since day one on here. I can tell you that a feeder driver is getting paid to drink coffee for at least 45 minutes. And he doesn't try to hide it nor does he need to. I just thought that was so strange considering how the company would react if most other people did that. The only other people I've seen get away with getting paid to do nothing were a few shifters in the hub.

Probably because the feeder driver's time gets billed to the hub and not the center. If it's not affecting the centers numbers, nobody there probably cares.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Probably because the feeder driver's time gets billed to the hub and not the center. If it's not affecting the centers numbers, nobody there probably cares.

It does. But the hub definitely knows.

 

[govols019]

We always had a shortage of tractors in the feeder department I was in. 29 years, and it never changed..The morning drivers would sometimes wait for a tractor 2-3 hours for their ride. all paid time and in addition to their regular workday. Yet they would discipline a driver for washing his tractor if it wasn't on his schedule. And yeah, at least where I was, if you wanted 60 hours/week, you got it.

They put washing the tractor in the schedule?

I've been known to wash the one I drive twice in one night...can't stand a dirty tractor. It being a rolling billboard and all.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

They put washing the tractor in the schedule?

management's comeback was they have carwashers to clean your tractor. If you do it on your own, you are creating work. creating work=creating OT at the end of the day.

 

[Jones]

management's comeback was they have carwashers to clean your tractor. If you do it on your own, you are creating work. creating work=creating OT at the end of the day.

Huh, around here we wash and fuel our own tractors carwash is only for package cars.

 

[govols019]

One of the perks of being out of an extended center, I guess. I have to be the one to wash the tractor or it doesn't get done.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

Huh, around here we wash and fuel our own tractors carwash is only for package cars.

Not the building I worked in. You pulled up to the fuel island, parked your tractor and head to the turn in. PT'ers fueled it,ran it thru the car wash, scrubbed the windows and parked it in it's place.

 

[Jones]

Not the building I worked in. You pulled up to the fuel island, parked your tractor and head to the turn in. PT'ers fueled it,ran it thru the car wash, scrubbed the windows and parked it in it's place.

You west coast drivers and your concierge service...

 

[silenze]

I'm not in feeders yet, but it sounds like the company is trying to trim the fat (overtime). My question is can you still get plenty of overtime legitimately?

they will work a driver 14 hours if they can avoid calling in another driver to work.

 

[Mugarolla]

That rarely happens here. What is happening is a little difficult to explain without giving too many details that will risk giving away what building I work in. I've kept that a secret since day one on here. I can tell you that a feeder driver is getting paid to drink coffee for at least 45 minutes. And he doesn't try to hide it nor does he need to. I just thought that was so strange considering how the company would react if most other people did that. The only other people I've seen get away with getting paid to do nothing were a few shifters in the hub.

Only 45 minutes?

I have been on jobs that had 2 to 3 hours of paid coffee time.

The nature of the beast in feeders. The center loads need to get to the hubs to make the night sort. The driver then waits until sort down to pull the center loads back to the center.

Some hub to hub jobs are the same way.

UPS got tired of paying drivers to sleep for 2 or 3 hours, so they started making some of them shift at the hubs to fill that down time, but not all.

A half hour meal plus another hour paid nap is not uncommon.

A sup was training a new driver on his production ride covering a vacation job. They got to the hub and the trainee asked the sup what they are going to do until the pull time 3 hours later.

The sup said, "I don't care if you read a book or go for a walk, but I am going to sleep for a couple of hours. You're welcome to do the same."