Unsafe trucks
- Thread starter Retired36yrs
- Start date
retiredTxfeeder
cap'n crunch
When I was a newbie in feeders, I came up to dispatch to punch out one night. Dispatcher told me they had a hot overflow, and to take a tractor that was in the fuel island. He told me to not pretrip it, that The load was already 30 minutes late. Just get in it and go. When I got to the meet point, (a closed restaurant parking lot) there was already 3 drivers from my building waiting for MESTX and DALTX drivers to get there. After I dropped my trailer, I went over to hang with the other drivers from my building. One of them asked me about the tractor I was driving. He asked me if they had fixed the flat on the inside of one of the duals. He told me that he had caught it and refused to drive it, as he should have done. Bottom line, a dispatcher told me to drive a tractor that he knew had a flat, and specifically told me not to pretrip, knowing I'd catch it. When I got back to the building, the dispatcher had left for the day. The next day, I lit into him as well as the feeder manager. He got into a lot of trouble for that. I learned a valuable lesson that day as well. He put my life in danger as well as anyone on the freeway with me just to get a load somewhere.
El Correcto
god is dead
Sadly they don’t let us red tag trucks here.
I don’t see it as tough guy at all or trying to cause a problem. Management honestly appreciates it here, they want us doing pre trips and guaranteeing that the trucks aren’t just falling apart or all out of DOT compliance.
I want to go home, but I also want to do what I earn a very fair wage to do and do it as properly as I can. I make mistakes but I don’t make them a habit.
Retired36yrs
Well-Known Member
I am retired from UPS as a Package car mechanic for 36 years.
Allegedly in some centers it was a common practice for mechanics instructed by their management team to encourage drivers to continue driving their package cars with rear flat tires, broken horns, broken seatbelt, light issues, and more.
I am curious to know if this was a practice that reached beyond my scope of employment with UPS.
Allegedly in some centers it was a common practice for mechanics instructed by their management team to encourage drivers to continue driving their package cars with rear flat tires, broken horns, broken seatbelt, light issues, and more.
I am curious to know if this was a practice that reached beyond my scope of employment with UPS.
Retired36yrs
Well-Known Member
Allegedly, also it was common practice to intimidate drivers who broke down by replacing their vehicle with a much older and uncomfortable vehicle out of spite. Has anyone encountered this situation?
Whither
Scofflaw
Yes, it happens at my building -- not just mechanics but the on car supes too. You have to stand your ground.
El Correcto
god is dead
When you’re out on road the mechanic supervisors will try that non sense from time to time and the mechanics are over worked have a lot on their to do list. Management also tries to not allow mechanics any overtime here. They do not want to send a mechanic out on road, it’s part of the reason they are thankful you throw a hissy fit in the building and the driver gets the overtime for an in center break down instead of mechanics getting screwed with on road breakdowns.
If my truck falls out of DOT compliance while on road I’ll keep moving as long as it is safe to do so, but if I lose turn signals, break lights, truck is failing to start consistently so they want you to keep it running or anything unsafe they are gonna have to bring me out a new truck or I’ll stop working.
El Correcto
god is dead
Mechanics know me, if they bring out another unsafe vehicle, they can enjoy driving or towing it back to the center as well. I’ll just continue not working if that vehicle doesn’t pass the pre-trip, that is their
decision to make if they wanna.You’re completely right about on road breakdown though. We even had a young driver have a roll away accident after being instructed by automotive to keep the truck running so it wouldn’t die again, he lost his job, not sure who it was or if he got it back. I just know we had a big pcm deal about it and message sent out throughout the day telling us to never do it even if instructed to do so.
El Correcto
god is dead
Just not worth it, always pre-trip. It’s just not worth the stress of realizing you overlooked something major like that. You lose control of your truck on turn during a blowout or anything someone could die. You don’t have turn signals or break lights someone could rear end you not paying enough attention behind you and with cell phones these days it’s very common for them not to be.
UnionStrong
Sorry, but I don’t care anymore.
Never take an unsafe truck on the road. They will blame you. Even with a a pre trip some things can’t be found. I know a driver that had the steering wheel come off while he was driving. Bad accident, he needed back surgery. UPS tried to blame him! They said he should have caught it in the pre trip. They lost.Mechanics know me, if they bring out another unsafe vehicle, they can enjoy driving or towing it back to the center as well. I’ll just continue not working if that vehicle doesn’t pass the pre-trip, that is their
You’re completely right about on road breakdown though. We even had a young driver have a roll away accident after being instructed by automotive to keep the truck running so it wouldn’t die again, he lost his job, not sure who it was or if he got it back. I just know we had a big pcm deal about it and message sent out throughout the day telling us to never do it even if instructed to do so.
El Correcto
god is dead
They are doing pushes to watch drivers Pretrip in the morning out here and sending out messages shout outing new drivers for doing their pretrips.
Automotive must of gotten on their asses about on road breakdowns happening because of bad pretrips or something.
I really like that change and view it as a good thing. I’ve been thanked by the automotive supervisor for catching a flat rear tire, said it really does save automotive from falling behind doing these on road breakdowns.
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
Why does it seem as if this “mechanic“ is really a lawyer fishing for information?
UnionStrong
Sorry, but I don’t care anymore.
Could be… womens intuition tingling?
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
Maybe. Read all his posts and decide for yourself.
UnionStrong
Sorry, but I don’t care anymore.
Now that you mention it, he does seem to be fishing. Why would a retired mechanic care about this? Hmmmmm
El Correcto
god is dead
Have absolutely no problem with that. Unsafe work environments get people killed. If a company is held accountable for criminal negligence good, victims deserve a pay day.
Operational needs
Virescit Vulnere Virtus
While I agree with what you said, with everything going on with this site right now, do you think it’s a good idea to have it in the middle of a lawsuit over criminal negligence? Last thing Cheryl and Tony’s daughter needs at this point.
UnionStrong
Sorry, but I don’t care anymore.
I doubt it would be admissible. Its hearsay and they would have to track down the individuals.
El Correcto
god is dead
What’s going on with the site?
People worried UPS is gonna buy it out and try to punish based on technology?
