UPS " My Choice"

[menotyou]

Sure..... I will certainly test it during the holidays. I'm honestly unsure if it will be beneficial to me as a customer (or not).

Thank you.

 

[soberups]

That being said, there are unfortunately many places with poor traces. Your loop may be one. Collapsing from two centers to one is not a reason for needing to reloop. If your trace is bad today, it was likely bad when there were two centers.

We collapsed from 3 centers to 2 and my area was merged with a center that it had been completely seperate from before.

The trace was drawn to account for a ZIP code boundary that "separated" loops from 2 different centers that are now combined. The trace was drawn to facilitate the on-route pickups for a delivery route that was dispatched every day for 25+ years but has now been permanently eliminated and parceled out among several other routes, mine being one of them.

Instead of starting this loop at its beginning point in the AM, I am starting this loop in the middle point at 2:00 or 3:00 PM and scrambling around to cover the on route pickups that are distributed at various points along the route while also making service on the committed packages that are also distributed at various points along the route. Expecting me to run the trace as it was originally written under these conditions would be asinine. I would run out of fuel and hours at 10:00 at night with business and committed stops still left to do. Creating even more hoops for me to jump through with a "My Choice" service is only going to make the situation worse if the other parameters (loop detail, dispatch etc.) remain unchanged.

I find it amazing that you, a well educated and intelligent (no sarcasm intended) IE person, would make the claim that "collapsing from two centers to one is not a reason for needing to reloop." With all due respect, it is probably the most uninformed thing you have ever posted here.

 

[menotyou]

When they re-looped my center is was a dream. The girl that did it lived locally all her life. She did a wonderful job. Then, she got fired(for paying one of her preloaders, a current friend, to stay home with her). Here comes the new idgit. He took a wonderful job and butchered it. I'm not sure of all of the particulars, I just know he screwed it all up. The center manager and On- car even said so, yet, he has not changed it back. I can only assume management wants it his way. Why?

 

[soberups]

MyChoice may fail, but it won't have to do with the dispatch. They are not related. At least not directly.

The only item close to being dispatch related is the confirmed delivery window. If a customer is offered a morning window, but you would have been there in the evening it will generate more miles and hours.

.

My Choice will succeed or fail based upon whether or or not we are able to keep the promises we have made to the people who have paid us the additional money for this premium service.

For those of us who must actually provide this service in the real world, "more miles and hours" are not just random numbers that show up on a computer screen in a cubicle. For routes that are already being pushed to the absolute brink of failure, "more miles and hours" are the difference between getting the route done and bringing stops back as missed.

 

[pretzel_man]

We collapsed from 3 centers to 2 and my area was merged with a center that it had been completely seperate from before.

The trace was drawn to account for a ZIP code boundary that "separated" loops from 2 different centers that are now combined. The trace was drawn to facilitate the on-route pickups for a delivery route that was dispatched every day for 25+ years but has now been permanently eliminated and parceled out among several other routes, mine being one of them.

Instead of starting this loop at its beginning point in the AM, I am starting this loop in the middle point at 2:00 or 3:00 PM and scrambling around to cover the on route pickups that are distributed at various points along the route while also making service on the committed packages that are also distributed at various points along the route. Expecting me to run the trace as it was originally written under these conditions would be asinine. I would run out of fuel and hours at 10:00 at night with business and committed stops still left to do. Creating even more hoops for me to jump through with a "My Choice" service is only going to make the situation worse if the other parameters (loop detail, dispatch etc.) remain unchanged.

I find it amazing that you, a well educated and intelligent (no sarcasm intended) IE person, would make the claim that "collapsing from two centers to one is not a reason for needing to reloop." With all due respect, it is probably the most uninformed thing you have ever posted here.

I've reloopled many centers. Some more successfully than others.

If two centers combine (especially if they already were in the same building), driver routes and dispatch are not necessarily affected.

Why would baselines and loop boundaries need to change? Even if zip code boundaries changed.... Zip code boundaries are considered "artificial" boundaries. Usually in place because of knowledge units.

A highway, river, lake, etc. are considered "natural" boundaries will usually divide loops.

If two centers combine, why would the baseline need to change? Those "baseline" roads exist whether or not the two centers are in existence.

I've done this enough to know that the cause for your trace problems (and I do believe they exist) are not due to the centers combining. Maybe the layout was poor before. Maybe they are not dispatching via loop principles. Maybe the densities have changed.

Its not likely due to the consolidation....

With all due respect to you.... Whenever I reloop, I get extensive input from drivers. They will tell me if its workable or not. I've done this a lot, (more than you), and my instinct is that the problem exists, but is in a different place than you think. Yes, the problem does exist.

 

[sortaisle]

Sounds like the new Tualatin split in Portland.

 

[pretzel_man]

We collapsed from 3 centers to 2 and my area was merged with a center that it had been completely seperate from before.

The trace was drawn to account for a ZIP code boundary that "separated" loops from 2 different centers that are now combined. The trace was drawn to facilitate the on-route pickups for a delivery route that was dispatched every day for 25+ years but has now been permanently eliminated and parceled out among several other routes, mine being one of them.

Instead of starting this loop at its beginning point in the AM, I am starting this loop in the middle point at 2:00 or 3:00 PM and scrambling around to cover the on route pickups that are distributed at various points along the route while also making service on the committed packages that are also distributed at various points along the route. Expecting me to run the trace as it was originally written under these conditions would be asinine. I would run out of fuel and hours at 10:00 at night with business and committed stops still left to do. Creating even more hoops for me to jump through with a "My Choice" service is only going to make the situation worse if the other parameters (loop detail, dispatch etc.) remain unchanged.

I find it amazing that you, a well educated and intelligent (no sarcasm intended) IE person, would make the claim that "collapsing from two centers to one is not a reason for needing to reloop." With all due respect, it is probably the most uninformed thing you have ever posted here.

So, I had to rethink my position....

If the new combined center is in another building, you are absolutely correct. The same old loop structure will not work.

I have been so used to combining centers within the same building that I didn't think of that.....

If the new combined center is within the same building, I assume you would agree with me....

 

[pretzel_man]

My Choice will succeed or fail based upon whether or or not we are able to keep the promises we have made to the people who have paid us the additional money for this premium service.

For those of us who must actually provide this service in the real world, "more miles and hours" are not just random numbers that show up on a computer screen in a cubicle. For routes that are already being pushed to the absolute brink of failure, "more miles and hours" are the difference between getting the route done and bringing stops back as missed.

The confirmed deliver window is the only MyChoice feature that this holds true for.....

It will have the same needs and constraints as NDA or SSI stops.

 

[soberups]

So, I had to rethink my position....

If the new combined center is in another building, you are absolutely correct. The same old loop structure will not work.

I have been so used to combining centers within the same building that I didn't think of that.....

.

Heres the history;

Prior to August of 1986 there was a facility in Salem and a facility on Swan Island in Portland. In 1986, the Tualatin building was opened at the midpoint between the two, and this building had 2 centers. The number of centers was increased to 3 in 1988, then 4 in 1990. It was then reduced back down to 3 in 1996. Last year we were reduced again down to 2 centers, and about 14 of our routes were sent back up to the newly enlarged Swan Island facility.

Center (and building) boundaries were delinated by ZIP code lines on a map. Areas would necessarily be relooped as the number of centers changed and routes would be divided or altered as needed since it is not "administratively" possible for a driver to work for two different centers (much less buildings) on one route.

Enter PAS/EDD in 2005, with the concept of "apex" routes being satellited out as "A" cars in the loop, and progressively higher cars (B, C, D etc.) working their way back towards the building. Our building (3 centers at the time) was completely relooped, with no regard whatsoever for ZIP code boundaries except where they were needed to delinate boundaries between the 3 centers.

Then in 2010 the Swan Island facility is enlarged, 14 of our routes get sent back up there, and our building collapses from 3 centers down to 2. The old ZIP code boundaries that divided the 3 centers are now obsolete..... but the PAS/EDD loop detail that was written with them in place remains unchanged. Also in 2010 the company begins its wholesale elimination of entire routes along with forced 12/13 hr days and the creation of "frankenroutes" like mine that are formed from the remnants of 2 or 3 eliminated routes. Many of these "frankenroutes" deliver multiple loops in areas that used to belong to different centers prior to 2010....meaning that the trace they they are supposed to be following was designed for "one" route, not the "two or three" that they are now running.

 

[pretzel_man]

Heres the history;

Prior to August of 1986 there was a facility in Salem and a facility on Swan Island in Portland. In 1986, the Tualatin building was opened at the midpoint between the two, and this building had 2 centers. The number of centers was increased to 3 in 1988, then 4 in 1990. It was then reduced back down to 3 in 1996. Last year we were reduced again down to 2 centers, and about 14 of our routes were sent back up to the newly enlarged Swan Island facility.

Center (and building) boundaries were delinated by ZIP code lines on a map. Areas would necessarily be relooped as the number of centers changed and routes would be divided or altered as needed since it is not "administratively" possible for a driver to work for two different centers (much less buildings) on one route.

Enter PAS/EDD in 2005, with the concept of "apex" routes being satellited out as "A" cars in the loop, and progressively higher cars (B, C, D etc.) working their way back towards the building. Our building (3 centers at the time) was completely relooped, with no regard whatsoever for ZIP code boundaries except where they were needed to delinate boundaries between the 3 centers.

Then in 2010 the Swan Island facility is enlarged, 14 of our routes get sent back up there, and our building collapses from 3 centers down to 2. The old ZIP code boundaries that divided the 3 centers are now obsolete..... but the PAS/EDD loop detail that was written with them in place remains unchanged. Also in 2010 the company begins its wholesale elimination of entire routes along with forced 12/13 hr days and the creation of "frankenroutes" like mine that are formed from the remnants of 2 or 3 eliminated routes. Many of these "frankenroutes" deliver multiple loops in areas that used to belong to different centers prior to 2010....meaning that the trace they they are supposed to be following was designed for "one" route, not the "two or three" that they are now running.

As I said,

If territory moved between buildings, relooping is almost a necessity. If not done, its incompetence.

I spend much time in a number of those buildings in the 80's BTW. I used to work a lot with the old Nortwest Region back then.

 

[soberups]

If the new combined center is within the same building, I assume you would agree with me....

Take a map. Define 26 points on that map. Then draw a line representing the shortest possible distance between those points that begins and ends at roughly the same point. Label those points "A" thru "Z" in order, and you have the basic concept of a loop detail.

Now take that map and cut 2 or 3 randomly shaped chunks out of it with a pair of scissors, to represent a ZIP code boundary that now divides the route due to a center realignment. A random number of the points (3? 5? 15?) are now missing, therefore the original loop detail is no longer the shortest distance between the points that remain.

Now do the same thing with another map, and tape the what remains of that map to one side of your original map. What you now have might be a "full" map (or route) in terms of a "planned day", but what it really is is a jumbled-up "frankenroute" that is made up from the remnants of two partial loops that both have points in their respective loop details that are now missing and therefore no longer optimum. Some sections of the loop are still valid, of course, but when you factor in variables such as pickups....commit times...volume containment....the logistics of towing and retrieving a pup trailer to and from a fixed point each day....the inability of P-10's and P-12's to navigate remote rural areas...and combine them with the arbitrary 2 or 4 hour delivery windows for the new "My Choice" service....what you have is a mess that needs to be completely re-looped to reflect the new realities faced by those who must do the work in the real world.

You know what our problem is? Too much of the re-looping is being done by college educated 40-somethings who grew up in the early 1980's feeding quarters into a Pac-Man game. They understand patterns and programs and map theory quite well, but they simply cannot comprehend the multitude of intangible variables that we deal with in the real world. They see loop detail strictly in terms of the shortest distance between point A thru Z and overlook the fundamental dispatch principle that you design a route around the pickups that it must service each day.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

The confirmed deliver window is the only MyChoice feature that this holds true for.....

It will have the same needs and constraints as NDA or SSI stops.

This is why I said it must not be a gimmick. We get reprimanded for missing business commit times, like 12:30 for footlocker. It shows up on a report. I imagine the same for mychoice. And i am one who never does his route the same day to day, and although they are relooping my center and fixing EDD according to my preference it still may not change that.

 

[soberups]

As I said,

If territory moved between buildings, relooping is almost a necessity. If not done, its incompetence.

I spend much time in a number of those buildings in the 80's BTW. I used to work a lot with the old Nortwest Region back then.

Well, it hasnt been done. And likely never will be.

How much $$ would we have to raise to get you back here? I will throw $100 into the hat myself and start passing it around. The air is fresh up here, property is cheap, and the fishing is great!

 

[UPSGUY72]

This is why I said it must not be a gimmick. We get reprimanded for missing business commit times, like 12:30 for footlocker. It shows up on a report. I imagine the same for mychoice. And i am one who never does his route the same day to day, and although they are relooping my center and fixing EDD according to my preference it still may not change that.

Unless it's a service commit time you should be getting in trouble (ie NDA, NDS, EAM, etc ) if the 1230 is a service commit time and you miss it it costing UPS money that is why you get into trouble if it's just that that particular business would like there crap at before that time you should be getting in trouble and if you are then you should file a grievance.

On one of my routes there is a book store that has a commit of 10:30 the same as NDA sometime I get there before 1030 and sometime I don't it all depends on the number of other NDA I have to deliver some days i haven't gotten there untill almost 12 as I have to deliver all the package stuff into the middle isle before I could get to there packages.

It's a gimmick only the 2 hour window time is a guaranteed time and you have to pay $5 for every time you want that 2 hour window. I don't see to many people paying and extra $5 just to get there package in a two hour window especially when they don't get to pick the two hour window time. This is why people use SDWC or P&H because they can't get out of work when the UPS driver usually gets to there house. The time of the two hour window is going to be about the same time they usually get there package +/- 1 hr thus the 2 hour window.

 

[over9five]

I find this "My Choice" thing so funny!

Remember in the old days the customer could set their watch by the time the UPS driver came. (They even had commercials featuring this).

Now we need "My Choice" because Pas/Edd has totally screwed up any possibility of a driver coming the same time every day.

 

[old levi's]

I find this "My Choice" thing so funny!

Remember in the old days the customer could set their watch by the time the UPS driver came. (They even had commercials featuring this).

Now we need "My Choice" because Pas/Edd has totally screwed up any possibility of a driver coming the same time every day.

HEY EYEBALL, They don't even know which driver is going to show up!

 

[over9five]

HEY EYEBALL, They don't even know which driver is going to show up!

Lol, no kidding! They don't even get their delivery before their pick-up a lot of the time!!!!

 

[UPSGUY72]

I find this "My Choice" thing so funny!

Remember in the old days the customer could set their watch by the time the UPS driver came. (They even had commercials featuring this).

Now we need "My Choice" because Pas/Edd has totally screwed up any possibility of a driver coming the same time every day.

I think it has more to do with stops car then the Pas/ Edd.

 

[old levi's]

You know what our problem is? Too much of the re-looping is being done by college educated 40-somethings who grew up in the early 1980's feeding quarters into a Pac-Man game. They understand patterns and programs and map theory quite well, but they simply cannot comprehend the multitude of intangible variables that we deal with in the real world. They see loop detail strictly in terms of the shortest distance between point A thru Z and overlook the fundamental dispatch principle that you design a route around the pickups that it must service each day.

+1

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It has been just about a month since UPS My Choice was launched and we have had a grand total of zero My Choice deliveries in my center. I am curious as to what impact, if any, the program is having in your center.