STAY OUT OF RESIDENTIAL DRIVEWAYS!! NO EXCEPTIONS!! What would you do ?

[Tiny Panda]

I wouldn't say its dangerous to walk, i've walked on worse ground in the past.

That said however i sure as hell wouldn't be walking it due to the distance, has the center sup taken stops off you to compensate for the 20 mins it would take to walk that one stop?

We had a note put up in our debrief area a few months ago with some guys address on stating under no circumstances are any drivers to drive down his driveway, all deliveries must be walked. His house was a good 1/4 mile from the road. He's not had a delivery since, they've either been RTS'd or he's been told to come and collect them. I guess things are different in the UK

 

[FilingBluesFL]

Or I call the center, and they send a tow truck. No big deal, its a routine occurence around here.

In our center this constitutes an accident on OUR part, 100% avoidable.

I've only ever gotten stuck once, in sugar sand on an empty lot. A nice neighbor was kind enough to help drag my ass out!

 

[YesYouDidPushAButton]

1. I have never broken an axle bracket, or any other structural part of a package car. Busted mirrors cost $6 and take less than 3 minutes to replace. Its part of the cost of doing business in the country. 2. Getting stuck is part of the job. I carry a tow strap with me and all I have to do if I get stuck is tie it to the bumper and stand there. The first guy that drives by in a 4x4 pickup will stop and pull me out. Or I call the center, and they send a tow truck. No big deal, its a routine occurence around here. 3. Scratches? My truck is covered in scratches. Its 8 years old and has 150,000+ miles of hard service on it. If the scratch is bad enough I will pull into the shop at night and the mechanic will smear some brown paint on it with a brush and call it good. Since we no longer wash the cars on any kind of a regular basis, any scratches that it does have are covered with dirt and mud anyway. This isnt Clarksville.

Yep, we all have a tow strap out here, and there are 3 other routes nearby, we give each other a pull if necessary. The roads around here are actually well maintained, it's these private driveways that are like this

 

[soberups]

In our center this constitutes an accident on OUR part, 100% avoidable.

I've only ever gotten stuck once, in sugar sand on an empty lot. A nice neighbor was kind enough to help drag my ass out!

You are in Florida. It doesnt snow, and there isnt a hill in the entire state. My route climbs 1400 vertical feet in elevation in 3 miles, the gravel roads turn to mud, and the mud turns to sheets of solid ice or gets covered with snow when it gets cold enough. So as far as being "charged" with an "avoidable" accident for getting stuck goes...they can "charge" me with being purple monkey poop for all I care. Safe driving awards mean nothing to me, and there is absolutely zero chance of getting suspended or terminated for "accidents" that involve getting stuck in the snow during a winter storm. I have needed a tow truck a total of 6 times in the 25 years I have been driving and nothing was ever said about a warning letter or being charged with an accident. I go out there and do my job safely and efficiently under some pretty challenging circumstances, and every once in awhile happens. Thats life.

 

[soberups]

I wouldn't say its dangerous to walk, i've walked on worse ground in the past......I guess things are different in the UK

Its not the road surface thats dangerous.

Its the fact that a lot of the people who live at the end of these long driveways out in the middle of nowhere do so because they are "hill folk" who value their privacy, and they dont take kindly to seeing strangers in dark clothing walking up their driveway with a flashlight when its pitch black outside at 5:00 in the winter time. A lot of these people (on my route anyway) grow marijuana. A lot of these people have big mean dogs. And... most importantly.....unlike in the UK, virtually all of these people also have guns.

My unwillingess to hike up these driveways has nothing to do with laziness or not having enough time. It has everything to do with my own personal protection. A UPS package car with its horn honking and lights flashing is a clear identifier of who I am and why I am there. I dont want those people looking out their window at night and seeing some guy in dark clothing walking up their driveway, I want them seeing a brightly lit package car with a UPS logo on the side. I'm not too fond of having dogs sicced on me or guns pulled on me by nervous homeowners, so if that means I run the occasional risk of cracking a mirror or getting stuck in the mud that is a risk I am willing to take.

 

[bottomups]

I'm six three 225. If you are the average manager who's 5 ft 7 with a little man complex like 99% of them don't take it out on me. Remember why you became a manager?? Cause of that time that girl laughed at you. Look at you now you're a big man even though your 5 ft 6. I didn't pick on you back then but if you want go take it out on some teamsters. Whatever makes you feel bigger in the pants. You got to be happy.

I'm 6'4" and 245lbs of lean, mean delivery machine and can refer to you as little man with the big heart.

 

[Warning letter]

I have a few roads like that!!! I take those packages to the post/office, pay them $3.00-$5.00 to deliver them the next day!!!! Works great!!!

 

[FilingBluesFL]

You are in Florida. It doesnt snow, and there isnt a hill in the entire state. My route climbs 1400 vertical feet in elevation in 3 miles, the gravel roads turn to mud, and the mud turns to sheets of solid ice or gets covered with snow when it gets cold enough. So as far as being "charged" with an "avoidable" accident for getting stuck goes...they can "charge" me with being purple monkey poop for all I care. Safe driving awards mean nothing to me, and there is absolutely zero chance of getting suspended or terminated for "accidents" that involve getting stuck in the snow during a winter storm. I have needed a tow truck a total of 6 times in the 25 years I have been driving and nothing was ever said about a warning letter or being charged with an accident. I go out there and do my job safely and efficiently under some pretty challenging circumstances, and every once in awhile happens. Thats life.

Down here it also depends on "who you are," as to whether or not you get charged, too.
You know, because they don't play favorites or anything around here or nothing...

 

[bham brown]

Its not the road surface thats dangerous.

Its the fact that a lot of the people who live at the end of these long driveways out in the middle of nowhere do so because they are "hill folk" who value their privacy, and they dont take kindly to seeing strangers in dark clothing walking up their driveway with a flashlight when its pitch black outside at 5:00 in the winter time. A lot of these people (on my route anyway) grow marijuana. A lot of these people have big mean dogs. And... most importantly.....unlike in the UK, virtually all of these people also have guns.

My unwillingess to hike up these driveways has nothing to do with laziness or not having enough time. It has everything to do with my own personal protection. A UPS package car with its horn honking and lights flashing is a clear identifier of who I am and why I am there. I dont want those people looking out their window at night and seeing some guy in dark clothing walking up their driveway, I want them seeing a brightly lit package car with a UPS logo on the side. I'm not too fond of having dogs sicced on me or guns pulled on me by nervous homeowners, so if that means I run the occasional risk of cracking a mirror or getting stuck in the mud that is a risk I am willing to take.

I have had a gun pulled on me by a homeowner while trying to be nice by not pulling in his driveway at 9:45p.m. Needless to say that will never happen again. Nothing like being lit up with a tactical flashlight attached to a pistol to wake you up a little..

 

[FilingBluesFL]

I have had a gun pulled on me by a homeowner while trying to be nice by not pulling in his driveway at 9:45p.m. Needless to say that will never happen again. Nothing like being lit up with a tactical flashlight attached to a pistol to wake you up a little..

Worst I got was a Spanish lady that "No English" had a hammer ready to beat my head in at an apartment building when trying to deliver a Gateway at 9pm-ish...

 

[bham brown]

You are in Florida. It doesnt snow, and there isnt a hill in the entire state. My route climbs 1400 vertical feet in elevation in 3 miles, the gravel roads turn to mud, and the mud turns to sheets of solid ice or gets covered with snow when it gets cold enough. So as far as being "charged" with an "avoidable" accident for getting stuck goes...they can "charge" me with being purple monkey poop for all I care. Safe driving awards mean nothing to me, and there is absolutely zero chance of getting suspended or terminated for "accidents" that involve getting stuck in the snow during a winter storm. I have needed a tow truck a total of 6 times in the 25 years I have been driving and nothing was ever said about a warning letter or being charged with an accident. I go out there and do my job safely and efficiently under some pretty challenging circumstances, and every once in awhile happens. Thats life.

I don't have to deal with ice, thank God, but mud and hills are just a normal part of delivery out here. Been stuck several times through the years also. Last time was during peak and the homeowner pulled me out with his tractor. No accident charged to me. Yes my sup knew I was stuck. Only part he didn't like was when he asked me if I would drive in there again and I said yes.

 

[soberups]

To the OP of this thread;

When we first got Telematics a few years ago, I had to deal with the same bitching and whining from my management about backing and staying out of residential driveways that you are currently experiencing.

The best advice I can give you is to just tune them out and keep doing the job in the safest and most efficient manner possible. No rational person could possibly instruct you to walk off the driveway in your video. If you drive down the driveway they will bitch; if you spend 3 hours making multiple handcart trips on foot at a couple of those driveways they will also bitch. Any action you take to get off of one of their reports will automatically cause you to show up on a different one, so you need to accept the inevitability of their bitching, stop caring, and just focus on getting the work done. Right now they are in the "backing" phase of Telematics; in a few weeks the emphasis will switch away from residential driveways and backing and focus solely on production and at that point they will quit whining about the driveways and start hammering you on SPORH instead. Just hang in there and do your job and you will be OK.

 

[soberups]

Heres another fun driveway on my route that has the added bonus of cattle that are frequently grazing in the road.

Its a 6 minute roundtrip up to the house in a package car doing around 10 or 15 MPH; so if I am hiking that bitch off on foot at night, dragging a handcart behind me, we are probably looking at between half an hour and 45 minutes and thats assuming that (A)there isnt any snow on the ground and (B)I dont wind up face to face with a 1500 lb bull with horns that decides to trample me into the ground or (C) that I dont get shot by the nervous hillbilly that lives up there.

When we first got Telematics a few years ago I got the big lecture about how I was the worst in he center in terms of backing and that I needed to stay out of these residential driveways. Blah, blah, blah. The center manager who was flapping her gums at me had never driven a package car herself, or been out on my area, so her opinion didnt mean a whole lot to me. I would have loved the opportunity to give her a flashlight and a hand cart so that she could have shown me the proper method for dealing with these types of deliveries on a cold and foggy December night, but for some reason she never seemed very interested in putting on the browns and taking me up on my offer.

Would any of you be interested in walking this driveway off?

Another long ass driveway - YouTube

 

[FilingBluesFL]

For the love of God, PLEASE hold the phone sideways lol

 

[bbsam]

For the love of God would you guys stop recording yourselves breaking the law?! Only stupid criminals on "caught on tape" shows do that. PUT DOWN THE HAND HELD DEVICES!

 

[oldngray]

For the love of God would you guys stop recording yourselves breaking the law?! Only stupid criminals on "caught on tape" shows do that. PUT DOWN THE HAND HELD DEVICES!

Stick it to the windshield with duct tape

 

[Indecisi0n]

Driving with package in the cab, FIRED !

 

[serenity now]

Heres another fun driveway on my route that has the added bonus of cattle that are frequently grazing in the road.

Its a 6 minute roundtrip up to the house in a package car doing around 10 or 15 MPH; so if I am hiking that bitch off on foot at night, dragging a handcart behind me, we are probably looking at between half an hour and 45 minutes and thats assuming that (A)there isnt any snow on the ground and (B)I dont wind up face to face with a 1500 lb bull with horns that decides to trample me into the ground or (C) that I dont get shot by the nervous hillbilly that lives up there.

When we first got Telematics a few years ago I got the big lecture about how I was the worst in he center in terms of backing and that I needed to stay out of these residential driveways. Blah, blah, blah. The center manager who was flapping her gums at me had never driven a package car herself, or been out on my area, so her opinion didnt mean a whole lot to me. I would have loved the opportunity to give her a flashlight and a hand cart so that she could have shown me the proper method for dealing with these types of deliveries on a cold and foggy December night, but for some reason she never seemed very interested in putting on the browns and taking me up on my offer.

Would any of you be interested in walking this driveway off?

Another long ass driveway - YouTube

reminds me of the nightmare of swing-driving * you get on a long dirt driveway like that and after a couple of minutes, it forks

or the first time you ever make that stop, it's already dark

 

[Johney]

Was that a dog biscuit holder(DIAD pouch)?

 

[Omega man]

Boy, am I glad I'm in Jersey!

Can't believe anyone is glad to be in Jersey. It is one of the most oppressive States in the Union.