Telemetrics aka iRobot

[BMWMC]

Now that our entire center (drivers) have been "officially" notified that they are now Telemetrics hot (turn on) its not the same job. Maybe it is just a technological extension of the DIAD recording and GPS, but, it doesn't feel that way. There is a dramatic loss in the feeling of personal space, privacy, and independence. Maybe we never had those before and were living in a fools paradise but any semblance of it is now gone. We and the machine are one.
We are not people we are the Borg

Now when a manager put the O R's in my face and ask why I was over allowed I tell them to 1, ask the machine and 2, what did the telemetric report say? The O R's and obsolete. The Telemetric report can identify every stop, every mile, and every nano second of the days individual task or operations you scratch or was over allowed. No need to ask me what happen the machine already knows and so doesn't management IN REAL TIME. Method rides or obsolete. Now if they want to get on car for any reason other than annual saftey rides its just an unvarnished hurry up ride which by definition is harassment.

You don't feel human any more. You don't feel like you can't be human to anyone on your route not even your customers. Machines don't feel, they don't imagine, they don't inspire, they don't express empathy, they just execute instructions sequentially. UPS has designed and implemented a technology that strips away any humanity the job had. Your just a robot being measured on a Pass or Fail bases every second of every minute of every day of every week from now until your retirement.

To see the list of data points on what they "officially" tell you they are monitoring is jaw dropping. Drivers leaving the room were speechless or expressing shock. Its feel like being constantly violated. Maybe over time we'll get used to it like a prisoner locked in solitary confinement gets used to talking to a cockroach but it will never be the same job ever again. As for our relationship with management? I say what relationship now. We are all now machines that serve the machine. Machine people with machine minds and machine hearts. Any facade of humanity is a obvious fraud to everyone. What they care about or want is irrelevant. Our primary task is to serve the machines measured data points period (at least the one they have acknowledged.)
We are no longer workers, no longer humans, we are machines.

 

[Cementups]

Just do your job as you've been trained to do and as you have been instructed and you will be fine. Relax.

 

[BMWMC]

I see there is a thread on Union Issues board. The slippy slop and wide as the sea application of the term "dishonesty" by management is frightening. Telemetrics terror.

 

[BMWMC]

I know a driver that was fired because management didn't like his answers and claimed he was "withholding details" and thus dishonest. Management never said what those details were nor did they think they had to. Guilty until proven innocent.

 

[scratch]

I haven't had one word said to me about telematics since we went on it. If you are on your area delivering like you are supposed to, then what would be the problem? As far as spending too much time at one place, I spend a lot of time looking for packages that aren't on my car or are loaded in the wrong place. I think that it is good from the standpoint that it forces the unsafe drivers to wear their seat belts like they are supposed to. It also proves that the driver isn't in a certain place if they are falsely accused of property damage they didn't do. Like a lot of things, it has its good and bad parts.

 

[BMWMC]

Everything a worker does a manager can Monday morning quarterback and second guess every decision you made. What frightening is that everything can be describe as fraud or theft. Its really nothing more than point and accuse. Coulda-woulda-shoulda----Guilty until proven innocent. Don't believe me then read up on the Salem witch trials.

Innocent mistakes, key punch error, bad choices, or verbal traps setup by out-to-getcha managers can all be maligned and distorted to abuse the dishonesty defraud language. Your not making your numbers then management manufacture a dishonesty charge out of an innocent mistake or misjudgment. Seems a class action suit is inevitable given the propensity of this management to abuse its workers. At UPS its always been profits over people and Telemetrics puts that philosophy on turbo drive.

 

[Jones]

I'm like Scratch, I do my job every day and I haven't heard peep. Telematics makes it easier for UPS to catch people who aren't doing jobs or who aren't doing it right. If you're doing your job the way you're supposed to then you don't have anything to worry about. No one ever got fired for doing their job.

 

[yeldarb]

We have been on telematics several years and I think it is a good thing. I have always tried to do an honest job, and get things done safely and timely. We have had several drivers retire, get fired or quit because of telematics, but if your doing what you should be doing, you wont need to change anything.

 

[BMWMC]

What company do you work for again??????????????????????????????????

 

[YouKnowWhoIam]

Just do your job as you've been trained to do and as you have been instructed and you will be fine. Relax.

How right you are,the faster you ignore the fact they have this technology and just do your job,the better off you will be. Whatever they use the technology is out of your control and as long as you're doing the job to the best of YOUR ability who really cares.

 

[BMWMC]

Your wrong. I'd like thinks so but long before this technology production harassment was and still is the norm. Class action suits won for pressuring drivers to work through unpaid lunch periods isn't my paranoia its a legal fact. UPS now requires drivers to enter lunch hours or they automatically pay them for there lunch. Do you think UPS wanted to do that? No, they where forced by losses sustained when there "just do your job" business practice were exposed as more like gives us your lunch and breaks or else. I expect UPS management to stay true to form. Telemetrics is a new and vicious tool at there disposal.

Now call paranoid!

 

[BMWMC]

Oops/ "Now call me paranoid."

 

[satellitedriver]

Oops/ "Now call me paranoid."

OK, you are.
My pkg car has been "hot" for the past year and I have not heard a single bad word from management.
Maybe, it is because I do my job the way they trained me to do it.

 

[DS]

We've also been on it for over a year.I also have never been hassled about anything telematics related.
They post a report every day that highlights a few things,excessive backing,bulkhead open while driving,recording when car is in motion,not using your seatbelt.I show up on it a lot for excessive backing,but never have I heard a peep.
Relax,there are far too many drivers to scrutinize every day. If you end up in the office for a telematics infraction,they probably have it in for you already.I agree that it's a pain,but it does have some positive points.

 

[moreluck]

DS.............your new car avatar is fantastic !!!

 

[bottomups]

OK, you are.
My pkg car has been "hot" for the past year and I have not heard a single bad word from management.
Maybe, it is because I do my job the way they trained me to do it.

Sat, are you sure your package car is hot? I am also satellited and the package car is wired for telematics but my center doesn't receive any information from the system unless it is returned to the building on a daily basis. Have been told by my on car that in the future they may be wired with cellular transmitters to relay this information without an actual physical return to the center.

 

[BMWMC]

At least you are speaking only for yourself and not for everyone. Because no one is treated like everyone else. Lunch runners and speeder that cheat the numbers are never bothered. Strange isn't that they only post backing, bulkhead, or other mechanical issues and never EXCESSIVE SPEED or WORK PERFORMED during scheduled breaks and lunch's!

So yea, lunch runners and speeder never get "posted" because there cheating the time standards in favor of the companies bottom line. But, have you asked how paid over drivers that don't show up on any reports because they are doing the methods are being treated? If its like every other center the real method driver are all paid over and have personal files 8ft tall filled with warning letters and discharges for piss pot infractions management has used to coerce them into choosing between harassment or lunch running.

Do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? Telemetrics is just another harassment tool period with more insidious property's because the way in which they use it to gin up cardinal sin infractions.

 

[Cementups]

If you do the job as instructed and still run over and are getting harassed about it then do as I do and tell them they are more than welcome to come along with you and show you the right way to do it. But make sure while they are showing you how to do it, you don't touch a single package since they aren't there to help you on a daily basis then you aren't there to help them either.

And btw:

Section 4. Technological Change



8. No employee shall be discharged on a first offense if such dis-charge is based solely upon information received from GPS or anysuccessor system unless he/she engages in dishonesty (defined forthe purposes of this paragraph as any act or omission by an employ-ee where he/she intends to defraud the Company). The degree ofdiscipline dealing with off-area offenses shall not be changedbecause of the use of GPS.


So if you're dumb enough to do something wrong and get warned about it and then do it again and get fired, you got what you deserved.

 

[soberups]

Everything a worker does a manager can Monday morning quarterback and second guess every decision you made. What frightening is that everything can be describe as fraud or theft. Its really nothing more than point and accuse. Coulda-woulda-shoulda----Guilty until proven innocent. Don't believe me then read up on the Salem witch trials.

Innocent mistakes, key punch error, bad choices, or verbal traps setup by out-to-getcha managers can all be maligned and distorted to abuse the dishonesty defraud language. Your not making your numbers then management manufacture a dishonesty charge out of an innocent mistake or misjudgment. Seems a class action suit is inevitable given the propensity of this management to abuse its workers. At UPS its always been profits over people and Telemetrics puts that philosophy on turbo drive.

My building of 200 drivers has been on Telematics for over 3 years now and the reality that you are describing has not occured here.

 

[soberups]

Do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? Telemetrics is just another harassment tool period with more insidious property's because the way in which they use it to gin up cardinal sin infractions.

How long have you been on Telematics? How many drivers are in your building, and how many terminations have occured due to Telematics data?

I have been a driver for 24 years. When I first started there was no Telematics, there was only a WOR that got printed out in another building (our building did not have a computer or even a printer back then) and sent over to us each morning. The harassment and micromanagement that you blame on modern Telematics was every bit as prevelant back then, only it was based solely upon the WOR. UPS management has been pressuring us to work faster and trying to screw us out of our lunches and breaks for the last 50 years, nothing about Telematics has changed any of that. The solution today is the same as it was back then--know your contract, know your work methods, be 100% honest, and do the job as though you were being observed at all times. Do it right and you have nothing to fear from Telematics.