It's one way to look at it but we all know UPS isn't going to invest more time for pre-loaders.
When I get in 25 minutes early, I'm really just helping myself, not doing someone else's work. Setting up a less stressful day and making it so I'm not rushing to get out the door. I'm not crazy about giving personal time away but it doesn't look like UPS is going to ever give us paid time before 9:00 am (or whenever your center begins). Like I said in the OP. I think we should be given 10 min. to set up DIAD, gather paperwork, and do a quick overview of load and stops for the day. These are things that need to get done and if we don't do them before PCM, they need to be done after the PCM which eats into your limited time to run NDA's.
I believe UPS feels they benefit from the way it is and know most guys set up off the clock. So it's not going to change. Surprised the union goes along with it. I just refuse to fall behind right away in the morning and feel rushed.
If you really want to help yourself, why don't you just work the whole day for free?
Take this in the spirit in which it was intended, but you are a sheep. You really need to grow a pair to survive at UPS. It really doesn't matter what you think you should be given as a driver. No one cares.
Back in my package car days, we used to call drivers like you, "in the pit". Meaning, you'll run around in circles, banging your head against the wall, getting extremely stressed and blaming everyone else for your problems. You are down, "in the pit". At one point, every driver was down there. The smart ones found a way out.
How? By putting your foot on some supervisor's throat (figuratively, of course) and standing up for yourself. The first time takes some guts, but it gets easier from then on.
Limited time to run NDA's, you say? Nope. You take one look at your airs--AFTER start time--and if you have ANY doubt about making service, you make an executive decision that gives yourself some comfortable cushion, and say, "Nope, I can't get that many off by 10:30." And you calmly tell your supervisor. No arguing. No pleading. No bargaining. Just the facts, man.
And yes, you will get resistance. Mainly, because your previous life, in the pit, as a sheep, your supervisor knew you would do whatever he or she said. Nope. This is where your foot and the supervisor's, figurative, neck come in.
You pay union dues, right? You're a Teamster, right? Well, step in to the batter's box, son.
When the resistance comes--and it will come--restate how many airs you can get done, without rushing and without risking have some late. Don't forget your cushion either. That's important. The resistance will come again. This is when you very calmly say, "OK, lets go get the steward, because I know for a fact that I'm going to have some late air, and I want it known, with my union rep as a backup, that I've made that fact known with you, my driver supervisor."
Rinse and repeat. You won't have to do this everyday. But you will have to establish some spine to show you won't be blindly pushed around to do your job unsafely, just to make service.
And this also goes for cutoffs, calling in to report misloads, calling in for blown out pickups and anything else you need to tell your supervisors that becomes a problem. That is the key: let them know early and often, and let them make the decisions. Never assume it will work out. It won't.
For the most part, they we ease off. Yes, there will be days when your stomping foot needs find some neck, but the more it's used, the less it is needed.
Feel that? Yep, that's your hands pulling yourself out of the pit. But understand, this can only be done by YOU. And if you're not a natural scrapper, it will not be easy at first. But it gets easier, because there is comfort in knowing you won't let yourself get pushed around like a bitch.
And, by the way, the union doesn't go along with working off the clock. Any good union man or woman who sees you working off the clock is well within their rights to file a grievance against you and win easy money for your ignorance. This is why managers will often get on drivers working before their start time. They don't want to pay grievances that are so easily preventable.
