I don't know what you guys face on a daily basis anymore than ya'll know what we face.
Dammor, this is an excellent quote.
From front line management on down to every inside employee to every driver in any classification. I for one treat everyone one of my employees equally, believe it or not. I do not supervise drivers. I supervise hub employees.
With that said, there are some employees who we call challenging employees who push me to the limits someday, but I take it in stride, remain calm, and explain my rational for what I am instructing them to do.
When I see a loader with a backed up load, I immediately call for help, to help out the loader. Then while I am waiting to get the help, (usually anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes), I go in and ask if the loader would like me to help and show them so ways to improve. Most of the time they accept the help, and while I am in there I am constantly encouraging them. Pointing out that they should load the packages as they get them, instead of walking the feeder looking for the next best package. I have always done this as P/T sup and friend/T sup. I do not yell at my P/T sups, I encourage them in their area. I ask for their input as to what happened to get them in the position they are in. They explain and we address the problem. Of course there are some who always think they don't need any help and that they can handle it themselves. With those, I simply wait until they call for help or fix it themselves. Usually they call for help.
Now to get back on track with this post. I have not seen any conflict between Package and Feeders, but I think the nail was hit on the head based on the hours of operation and the stress involved. When I was in package, every morning, several drivers would arrange when and where they were to meet for lunch. We would meet, have lunch and talk about the morning deliveries, customers we had to deal with, or the game the night before, etc. Feeder drivers rarely have that opportunity. They are behind the wheel, pushed to the limit to get the load to the destination on time, or they get chewed out for not getting in on time. Many times feeder drivers have to get on the yard uncouple the feeders and sometimes spot the loads on the door, before they can even go to the bathroom.
In package, we would drop off the car, and a carwasher would take it from there, and we would go home.
Feeder drivers do not have the opportunity to get with other drivers to talk about many of the things package drivers do. They can only do it on the CBs. Usually depending on which direction the drivers are going, those are limited to 5 to 10 minutes. No opportunity to get close to anyone. When it comes down to it, their ultimate responsibility is to drive safely, because when comparing the two positions, if a package car has an accident at 30mph, you rarely have fatalities, wreck a feeder or a set of doubles, and you have fatalities.
Family time, package drivers work long hours at a stressful job, but they still get to sleep at night with their families. Feeder drivers work all night long or early morning hours. Sleep during the day, then back on the road at night, or evening.
In package, we would call other drivers to help take some stops off of our car so we could get back in at nearly the same time. Feeders do not have that opportunity. If they go over hours, they pull over and wait for managment to bring out another driver to finish the leg. They may not be driving at the time, but they sure would like to be home than waiting along the interstate for a relief driver.
This does not explain why there seems to be a difference in respect or courtesy for each other but there are some points as to why there may be some animocity.
I don't claim to know it all, but these are just some of my observations.
We (all upsers, both hourly and management) work in a high stress job, with a lot of stresses coming at us all from all directions. How we handle it is what defines our character. Trust me on this, your immediate supervisor or manager do not do the time studies or PPH plans for your area. I have to answer to an IE person who was hired off the street, with no experience in the operation, who sets a number of PPH that I must run. I then have to deal with HR who hire 18 year olds who could give a rats rear about UPS (not all younger employees are like this, I am referring to the few that do act like this. We have a lot of great younger employees.) and 60 year old people who want to work in small sort, and cannot physically handle unloading a feeder, and when they quit, it's because "you did not train them properly." Again, not all older are this way, this is just an example of what we also have to deal with.
I have got to stop posting here. It seems like everyone of my posts turn into thesis'. Sorry, another one of those night people who don't get the opportunity to talk to others.