Want PVDs next year?

Would you want PVDs next year?

  • Yes

  • No


Results are only viewable after voting.

take your time

Well-Known Member
The problem I had with PVD's are the vehicles they were driving were simply too small. If they can't deliver a big screen tv or a bicycle size box they shouldn't have been hired. I have worked with a couple the last two years and both times I had to do some of their work. The area both times was a big swim/tennis subdivision that I deliver 20 stops an hour or thirty stops an hour with a Helper. My PVDs were averaging 5-8 stops and hour and I would still have to ride through and deliver any Oversize box.

View attachment 279309

At first, I thought this was a problem. I wondered why they didn't just rent a truck like Amazon Flex Drivers do. But I had to adapt, so I started to find the smaller packages/smalls and give them all to the PVD driver.

At the end, it worked out just fine. I delivered the bigger boxes (which isn't a problem, more money for me) and they took off a lot of work out of my truck.

PVDs are underrated.
 

take your time

Well-Known Member
If the regular driver has to go out of his way to deliver a few stops that the PVD couldn't handle it mostly defeats the purpose.

What are you talking about son?

It doesn't defeat any purpose, at all. The stop count is lowered at the end of the day by the PVD driver. So what if you have to go to the same area? All the other 20 stops in the same area are delivered already.
 

Wilson1397

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true!!
What are you talking about son?

It doesn't defeat any purpose, at all. The stop count is lowered at the end of the day by the PVD driver. So what if you have to go to the same area? All the other 20 stops in the same area are delivered already.
When that other area is 20 miles out of the way it matters!!
 

take your time

Well-Known Member
I worked as a PVD a little during peak

Except for malls, helpers are gone next peak I bet

FYI PVDs aren’t really a long term strategy to kill drivers, it’s more like a short term fix because our infrastructure sucks and we keep kicking the can

22.4’s are what you should really worry about

Yeah, helpers are going to be on the decline. PVDs are better.
 

oldngray

nowhere special
What are you talking about son?

It doesn't defeat any purpose, at all. The stop count is lowered at the end of the day by the PVD driver. So what if you have to go to the same area? All the other 20 stops in the same area are delivered already.
If you have to go out of your way and waste 30 minutes to an hour to deliver 2 or 3 stops then you lose whatever gains the PVD might have provided.
 

take your time

Well-Known Member
1st... I would NEVER use my own phone to give scab PVDs union work. I know how to roll stops till the next day.

2nd... If they told me to work as directed and set up meet points with a scab, you better believe I wouldn't show up early, and he might be waiting a while.

3rd.. .He would be getting all the dog food, matress in a bag, rugs etc. even if they stuck out the back of his civic.


Bud, nothing personal, but you are probably on your way out of UPS or near retirement judging by your name. Maybe you say this because you remember a time when UPS was at the height of it's power, and online competition (aka Amazon) wasn't a thing.

But fast-forward into the not-too-distant future, and it's a whole different ball game. We have to compete with Amazon. Amazon doesn't have a union, we do.

If we don't evolve, UPS will go bust.
 

BadIdeaGuy

Moderator
Staff member
Bud, nothing personal, but you are probably on your way out of UPS or near retirement judging by your name. Maybe you say this because you remember a time when UPS was at the height of it's power, and online competition (aka Amazon) wasn't a thing.

But fast-forward into the not-too-distant future, and it's a whole different ball game. We have to compete with Amazon. Amazon doesn't have a union, we do.

If we don't evolve, UPS will go bust.

Competing with Amazon does not/should not have to include selling package car drivers out.

You can dress it up however you want, but introducing PVDs is just UPS taking the first steps of eliminating the skilled job, and turning it into some sort of Uber/lyft setup for much cheaper wages.
 

take your time

Well-Known Member
Competing with Amazon does not/should not have to include selling package car drivers out.

You can dress it up however you want, but introducing PVDs is just UPS taking the first steps of eliminating the skilled job, and turning it into some sort of Uber/lyft setup for much cheaper wages.

Ok, so then how would you do it?

If you have a driver, like an Amazon flex driver, that Amazon doesn't pay health insurance to, or top rate wages, or anything else that our contract offers..... and you have a Full Time RCPD driver that has all the cost benefits that UPS offers....how do you compete with Amazon so that you don't go bankrupt?

I am a Union guy 100%, but I'm also seeing into the future. Money isn't unlimited at UPS. Debt matters. If the company goes under, we will all suffer the consequences.

Maybe it's ok that we have a different class of drivers, that offers more price flexibility for UPS. In a perfect world, this wouldn't happen. I agree. But we have to stay in the real world.
 

TearsInRain

IE boogeyman
Ok, so then how would you do it?

If you have a driver, like an Amazon flex driver, that Amazon doesn't pay health insurance to, or top rate wages, or anything else that our contract offers..... and you have a Full Time RCPD driver that has all the cost benefits that UPS offers....how do you compete with Amazon so that you don't go bankrupt?

I am a Union guy 100%, but I'm also seeing into the future. Money isn't unlimited at UPS. Debt matters. If the company goes under, we will all suffer the consequences.

Maybe it's ok that we have a different class of drivers, that offers more price flexibility for UPS. In a perfect world, this wouldn't happen. I agree. But we have to stay in the real world.
Amazon’s delivery model isn’t as good as they make it look

the $80/hr loaded wage rate driver thing isn’t a great idea either, but the best answer isn’t to copy amazons :censored2:ty uber idea

somewhere in between is the way
 

Wilson1397

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true!!
It's called "Easy Money". Unless your route has some other problem that driving 20 miles and making easy money is an issue?
The purpose of the PVD is so I don’t have to do my time consuming sections and am condensed so I can deliver more. If I have to go there to do 2-3 stops a day it kind of defeats the purpose.
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Amazon’s delivery model isn’t as good as they make it look

the $80/hr loaded wage rate driver thing isn’t a great idea either, but the best answer isn’t to copy amazons :censored2:ty uber idea

somewhere in between is the way

Amazon is more of a short term solution until they figure out what they are doing. Not something to be copied.
 

take your time

Well-Known Member
Amazon’s delivery model isn’t as good as they make it look

the $80/hr loaded wage rate driver thing isn’t a great idea either, but the best answer isn’t to copy amazons :censored2:ty uber idea

somewhere in between is the way

I tend to agree. The point is, something has to evolve. Staying the same as in the past, during the "good old days", isn't going to cut it.

That's the point of Capitalism. Competition and evolution is part and parcel of Capitalism. Companies that don't evolve, die.
 

Queso

Well-Known Member
Ok, so then how would you do it?

If you have a driver, like an Amazon flex driver, that Amazon doesn't pay health insurance to, or top rate wages, or anything else that our contract offers..... and you have a Full Time RCPD driver that has all the cost benefits that UPS offers....how do you compete with Amazon so that you don't go bankrupt?

I am a Union guy 100%, but I'm also seeing into the future. Money isn't unlimited at UPS. Debt matters. If the company goes under, we will all suffer the consequences.

Maybe it's ok that we have a different class of drivers, that offers more price flexibility for UPS. In a perfect world, this wouldn't happen. I agree. But we have to stay in the real world.

A lot of people in here trying to talk crap about PVD’s don’t even understand the most basic concepts of economics
 

MyTripisCut

Never bought my own handtruck
A lot of people in here trying to talk crap about PVD’s don’t even understand the most basic of economics
Is this it? You use your own car that you paid to maintain and the gas that you bought, but we’re still supposed to consider you a “seasonal” driver and not a subcontractor? Got it.
 
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