Summer Heat in the trucks! etc...

[Cole]

Since I got the contract news thread off topic I decided to start a new thread on the subject.

Ah I didn't suggest it cole what I basically said was that you have enough whining , crying , back stabbing brothers in the ranks that I'm sure the issue has already been called into OSHA many times. Therefore if we are violating osha standards then I'm sure its been addressed. Therefore it can't be a violation of OSHA as you stated.

Whinning, crying, backstabbing! So filing grievances in violation of the contract is whinning and back stabbing? I think there is much more of that in mangmnt than hourly, as far as backstabbing! Even your own admit it! Also who is backstabbing who when mangment shorts mostly part-timers out of their hand earned hrs? Especially those that do more than their normal shift work!

How about the leaking trucks?

what about them? You forget how to fill out a DVIR?

No I have filled it out and there is only so much one can do to such old and outdated trucks, but we all know it would cut in on certain peoples bonuses to move into the 21st century! So customers shudln't expect their pkgs not to get wet while inside our vehicles. Especially at the level we are on. You know billion dollar company etc...?


Do the customers matter so little, that mangmnt can't put their money where their mouths are? How much time do you think is lost due to not having powersteering as well?

You keep trying to define service as driving up in a brand new package car. Service is also cost control. Service is also squeezing another 100 k miles out of a package car. Despite that I've never seen this company buy as many new tractors and package cars as they have the last few years. Every freaking car they put out has many of the newer safer features our drivers have requested. Perhaps we could also discuss the positives?

Well let's see, who whines about "polished shoes", and brags about high tech this and that, but doesn't put their money where their mouths are, and bonus crunches rather than put money into equiptment that tells our customers we really care about them and service. See Washington Mutual for further info!

Although I have mentioned this elsewhere I'll do so again here. We made roughly $100,000,000.00 per week with that account, but our competition had far superior equiptment and we had to wait on them to finish so we could use their much better equiptment. We ended up losing that account! Supposedly outbid by our competitors!

We had to use our handtrucks and it take quite a long time to get all those packages and NDA's inside. I talked to our center manager, and all my Sup's but no one did a thing. Then one day the sells guy was their, and I brought it up to him in front of the WM shipping and receiving peeps and they jumped in too as they had talked to our mangement as well, with no results, so after we embarrassed the sales guy, they got us 1 cart up there. So who was concerned about service, and even time, as better equiptment results in being more efficient?! The same applies to powersteering.

You have to clean the inside too, and not just paint the outside. This is how we've done several big accounts.

It's 2007 and most trucks have in excess of 500,00 miles on them, so they should have been buying new trucks.Heck the old one's don't even have a place to put your drink, or trash!


Ultimatley the lack of ventilation in the backs and other heat related issues rests on the company, however; in the National Master Contract their is what is known as the "Climatic Conditions Committee"!

On the issue of the extreme heat in summer I have to ask 'Teamsters: Where fore art thou?!

We pay the union to look out for our interests, and please anyone share any of the minutes of this bogus committee with us as we have seen nothing from it. Also no doubt those on it I am sure get paid another pension for it!

We have to demand our Union do what we pay them to do, and we should request minutes from such committees that most don't even know exist! We want action, not words. In short we have to hold those who are accountable to us accountable!

 

[mittam]

Excellent thread Cole, I agree with your points. It's hot here in Southwest Ohio and our package cars average 140 in the back end. And we are only Southwest Ohio! I really couldn't imagine how it is in the Texas or Arizona areas, or in the deep south such as Florida. We haven't hit 100 here since 1980 but at 80-85 percent humidity and 95 degrees the back is almost unbearable, as I said I couldn't imagine these other areas. I also have filled the DVIR report out to have leaks taken care of but there are too many and been siliconed to death over the years it does no good. A bit of rain and the back end becomes a swimming pool. I bet tie would say that's how we can cool down!

 

[Cole]

It just baffles me why our diads now how to have ac, but us drivers don't! The previous one's were made in Israel and these are made in Mexico, both are hot areas so how did they come up with these that can't take heat?!

We hit 100 quite a bit, and the humidity you could cut w/ a knife some days.

 

[705red]

Since I got the contract news thread off topic I decided to start a new thread on the subject.




Whinning, crying, backstabbing! So filing grievances in violation of the contract is whinning and back stabbing? I think there is much more of that in mangmnt than hourly, as far as backstabbing! Even your own admit it! Also who is backstabbing who when mangment shorts mostly part-timers out of their hand earned hrs? Especially those that do more than their normal shift work!

How about the leaking trucks?



No I have filled it out and there is only so much one can do to such old and outdated trucks, but we all know it would cut in on certain peoples bonuses to move into the 21st century! So customers shudln't expect their pkgs not to get wet while inside our vehicles. Especially at the level we are on. You know billion dollar company etc...?


Do the customers matter so little, that mangmnt can't put their money where their mouths are? How much time do you think is lost due to not having powersteering as well?



Well let's see, who whines about "polished shoes", and brags about high tech this and that, but doesn't put their money where their mouths are, and bonus crunches rather than put money into equiptment that tells our customers we really care about them and service. See Washington Mutual for further info!

Although I have mentioned this elsewhere I'll do so again here. We made roughly $100,000,000.00 per week with that account, but our competition had far superior equiptment and we had to wait on them to finish so we could use their much better equiptment. We ended up losing that account! Supposedly outbid by our competitors!

We had to use our handtrucks and it take quite a long time to get all those packages and NDA's inside. I talked to our center manager, and all my Sup's but no one did a thing. Then one day the sells guy was their, and I brought it up to him in front of the WM shipping and receiving peeps and they jumped in too as they had talked to our mangement as well, with no results, so after we embarrassed the sales guy, they got us 1 cart up there. So who was concerned about service, and even time, as better equiptment results in being more efficient?! The same applies to powersteering.

You have to clean the inside too, and not just paint the outside. This is how we've done several big accounts.

It's 2007 and most trucks have in excess of 500,00 miles on them, so they should have been buying new trucks.Heck the old one's don't even have a place to put your drink, or trash!


Ultimatley the lack of ventilation in the backs and other heat related issues rests on the company, however; in the National Master Contract their is what is known as the "Climatic Conditions Committee"!

On the issue of the extreme heat in summer I have to ask 'Teamsters: Where fore art thou?!

We pay the union to look out for our interests, and please anyone share any of the minutes of this bogus committee with us as we have seen nothing from it. Also no doubt those on it I am sure get paid another pension for it!

We have to demand our Union do what we pay them to do, and we should request minutes from such committees that most don't even know exist! We want action, not words. In short we have to hold those who are accountable to us accountable!

Somebody needs a hug!

 

[satellitedriver]

It just baffles me why our diads now how to have ac, but us drivers don't! The previous one's were made in Israel and these are made in Mexico, both are hot areas so how did they come up with these that can't take heat?!

We hit 100 quite a bit, and the humidity you could cut w/ a knife some days.

With the humidity and heat in Texas, sometimes I think about taking my knife out and cut myself some gills.

 

[tieguy]

Since I got the contract news thread off topic I decided to start a new thread on the subject.

Actually I don't think you were totally off track. You talked about putting AC in the trucks i said that you should have had that issue locked down with your BA before he/she went to the contract talks.

Whinning, crying, backstabbing! So filing grievances in violation of the contract is whinning and back stabbing? I think there is much more of that in mangmnt than hourly, as far as backstabbing! Even your own admit it! Also who is backstabbing who when mangment shorts mostly part-timers out of their hand earned hrs? Especially those that do more than their normal shift work!

Don't try to draw every single hard working upser into this discription. you know exactly what I mean. There are brothers in your rank that will call osha if I fart wrong. You said the heat in the package cars was a clear violation of Osha. I said I'm sure the folks I described above have already tested that theory many times over.


comes down to I've seen too many people cry and whine and have a miserable time at work because they are driving an old truck not a new one. They make theirselves miserable. The new truck they wanted to drive then becomes someone elses old truck 5 years from now that makes their life miserable. Its a never ending cycle.

 

[BCFan]

Y'all got it all wrong... the back of those package cars are hot for a reason, that is our "health club with built in sauna...this luxury is something we get over and above the contract language, Eat your jealous heart out FEDEx...well thats all for now it's time to enter the sauna BC (sweating his off in Hotlanta!!!!)

 

[scratch]

It doesn't matter if your Package Car is brand new or twenty years old, they are all the same. The extra vent that was added on top for the rear compartment has no effect that I can feel. It is too small and vented wrong. I think there should be vents above the rear door to let heat out, some kind of "flow through ventilation" system if you will. Maybe with a fan to blow heat out. For you guys that like to BBQ and smoke meat, some types of meat start cooking at 160 degrees, not much hotter than the back of our Package Cars.

 

[UPS Lifer]

I am just curious....How do the drivers in Vegas, AZ, and the Colorado River area handle the heat? I used to work with the Blythe and Palm Springs drivers and I asked them how they cope with the temps in the back compartment. They told me they get the packages and go. Don't spend any time in the back. Every day these drivers are delivering in 110 to 115 plus temps. At night it is in the high 90's or low 100's!

My hat is off to these drivers....never once have I heard one of them whine about how hot the back of their package car is. These guys are the experts on heat. Our Death Valley driver delivers in 120 plus temps. These drivers have to wear gloves just so that they won't burn their hands!!!!

Enough said!

 

[moreluck]

upslifer....you mentioned Blythe. That's our pit stop when we go to Phoenix. We went through there one year at grasshopper time. We parked at the back of a mini-mart and could not step anywhere on the asphalt without treading on either dead or alive hoppers....maybe they were locusts. All I know is I have never seen so many of those creatures in my life!! Our Tahoe grill was a mass murder scene too!!

 

[rebel]

It doesn't matter if your Package Car is brand new or twenty years old, they are all the same. The extra vent that was added on top for the rear compartment has no effect that I can feel. It is too small and vented wrong. I think there should be vents above the rear door to let heat out, some kind of "flow through ventilation" system if you will. Maybe with a fan to blow heat out. For you guys that like to BBQ and smoke meat, some types of meat start cooking at 160 degrees, not much hotter than the back of our Package Cars.

huh!... what... a bbq? Im ready.

 

[Cole]

There's a difference in dry heat and humid heat. Not to slight anyone as neither are pleasant.

So why hasn't our "climatic conditions committe" stepped up to the plate. Be it AZ, Col, the South etc...The trucks should have ventilation.As far as "getting the pkgs and going, yeah right, so they never have to search for pkgs they can't find?!
I doubt that seriousley, as I have never been on a run that all pkgs everyday were loaded right where they are supposed to be, epspecially with the pas system and all the confusion that goes with that.

As far as OSHA not many people would want to go that route as it's a last resort, but we should be firing letters to the IBT and request minutes of the Climatic conditions committee, and put the "heat" on them to get with it. It just seems like an easy task to come up with a workable ventilation system.

Now I am finished with my whine, so it's on to the cheese.

 

[UPS Lifer]

Cole,
Humidity is by far more unpleasant to deal with especially when you are completely soaked with salt stains everywhere and dripping right in front of the customer. (But you know there was a however coming!) However, dry heat sneaks up on you and could give you heat stroke because you don't realize that you are losing fluids.

From what I have seen, the drivers improvise to stay cool. Most have 5 gallon jugs of water and use it to cool them down. They park in the shade anywhere they can and the rear door goes up if they are going to be in the back for more than 10 seconds. I do agree with you that vehicles should have the best ventilation possible. But most of the drivers figure it out and do what they have to do to make the conditions bearable.

 

[Cole]

I have heard that about the dry heat and losing fluids etc...It's just common sense to keep drinking fluids. Yeah we have figured out the companyand union haven't done anything about it so we keep going, as we should. I don't know how folks handle the heat in some of these steel mills either.

 

[705red]

Here today it got into the low 90's, the back of the package car got up to 118 and humid. It sucks how hot it gets in these trucks but what good would a/c really do? Are we in the truck long enough to fell it? I mean we are in and out non stop all day, make frequent stops so we arent driving long enough to allow it to get cold. I think if i ever got a/c in my truck i wouldnt get out of it in this heat!

When it gets this hot i pull over under a shady tree and open both doors where the breeze can assist with airing the heat out of the truck while i sort out my next 25, 30 stops. Heres a couple of tricks, get wristbands and soak em in your cooler full of ice water and wear them on your wrists. Do the same for a washcloth and keep under your hat, or under your collar around your shoulders. This will make the heat alot more tolerable. Bring back the snow!

 

[tieguy]

There's a difference in dry heat and humid heat. Not to slight anyone as neither are pleasant.

So why hasn't our "climatic conditions committe" stepped up to the plate. Be it AZ, Col, the South etc...The trucks should have ventilation.As far as "getting the pkgs and going, yeah right, so they never have to search for pkgs they can't find?!
I doubt that seriousley, as I have never been on a run that all pkgs everyday were loaded right where they are supposed to be, epspecially with the pas system and all the confusion that goes with that.

As far as OSHA not many people would want to go that route as it's a last resort, but we should be firing letters to the IBT and request minutes of the Climatic conditions committee, and put the "heat" on them to get with it. It just seems like an easy task to come up with a workable ventilation system.

Now I am finished with my whine, so it's on to the cheese.

Likewise. couple of points I made otherwise my hearts not in this one since you're right it is pretty darn hot in the back of those cars.

 

[UPS Lifer]

Unfortunately you get to a point of diminishing returns. For example, how much is air conditioning going to help? Everytime you open a door the cool air is gone.
I guess you could go a different direction with this. Insulate the roof and put a different type of lighting in the compartment that won't take up too much juice to run but I still think that would probably be too expensive. 705red gave some great examples of how our drivers cope with the elements.

 

[Cole]

FedEx seems to do fine with ac Seriousley, I don't think ac would neccessarly be the answer, but these old trucks have no vents at all. There has to be a way to feasibly vent the backs that is effective at drawing the heat out.

Ups Lifer,

Did I tell you "there was no love in my home growing up, and that my mother was constantly undermining, and when we put her in a residential communitym she turned on me"? LOL Had to throw in Ol'e Tone's (Tony Soprano) lines to AJ's therapist! Carm's look was priceless!

As far as the heat, I doubt I'll wear sweat bands, but obviousley everyone needs to drink fluids, and not cardonated high sugar drinks! Propel is good, or the ades etc...Also getting good rest makes a world of difference. I notice if I stay up later than I should my energy drains much quicker, and I am cranky all day, accept to customers.

Have a good weekend folks!!

 

[GuyinBrown]

I have a pretty cool mechanic with a good sense of humor. Couple weeks ago it went above 90 here so as a joke I wrote "AC unit doesn't seem to be functioning properly" in the non-safety portion of the DVIR. The next morning when I when to sign off in the book I found this reply...

"Lubed Doors"

 

[NI1]

UPS will not act until something happens i.e. heatstroke etc