Whats the best way to use a driver helper.

Big Babooba

Well-Known Member
Some of the tried and true helper techniques that I developed over the years:

When parked on a snow covered hill, use your helper's head as a chock block. They work so much better than the wooden ones. I have yet to have a truck roll or slide away.

Remove packages from the selection area and place on the floor of the cab. Have your helper get out and lay down on the ground in front of the step well. This accomplishes 2 things. You have an extra step to enter/exit the truck (ALWAYS USE THE HANDRAIL) and you are able to wipe your feet upon entering the truck to keep your interior free of mud and snow.

This is an adaptation of one of UPS's yard safety rules for helper use. When you are in the back of the truck sorting your load, dress your helper in a bright orange rain coat and make him/her stand in back of the truck to alert traffic that you are inside.

As always, the proper utilization of a driver's helper will ensure a smooth and stress-free Peak season. REMEMBER SAFETY COMES FIRST!
 

TheKid

Well-Known Member
Guys, Take the 10 minutes to teach them the DIAD...trust me....it is well worth it. Like Upstate is saying..teach them how to do a simple res. DR....they don't need to sheet COD's and take one check for 2 pkgs or inderct mult. stops at one location.....scan, big arrow down, deliver. location, check mark....we have cheat sheets on the back of our helper DIADs.
 

Nimnim

The Nim
Some of the tried and true helper techniques that I developed over the years:

When parked on a snow covered hill, use your helper's head as a chock block. They work so much better than the wooden ones. I have yet to have a truck roll or slide away.

Remove packages from the selection area and place on the floor of the cab. Have your helper get out and lay down on the ground in front of the step well. This accomplishes 2 things. You have an extra step to enter/exit the truck (ALWAYS USE THE HANDRAIL) and you are able to wipe your feet upon entering the truck to keep your interior free of mud and snow.

This is an adaptation of one of UPS's yard safety rules for helper use. When you are in the back of the truck sorting your load, dress your helper in a bright orange rain coat and make him/her stand in back of the truck to alert traffic that you are inside.

As always, the proper utilization of a driver's helper will ensure a smooth and stress-free Peak season. REMEMBER SAFETY COMES FIRST!

How about using 2 helpers that lay down in front of you to make a safe walk path through the snow/ice?
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
I will stick by the rules with a helper. Bulkhead closed. No packages in cab. Pickups on schedule. He is a fellow employee. If he's not doing the job it's up to mgmnt. It's their failed plan, they can deal with it. I get paid less to work for 2. Nice incentive.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
Guys, Take the 10 minutes to teach them the DIAD...trust me....it is well worth it. Like Upstate is saying..teach them how to do a simple res. DR....they don't need to sheet COD's and take one check for 2 pkgs or inderct mult. stops at one location.....scan, big arrow down, deliver. location, check mark....we have cheat sheets on the back of our helper DIADs.

It takes way more than "10 minutes" to teach somebody to use a DIAD proficiently. At best they might be able to fumble through a couple of stops at 1/4 the speed of an experienced driver. And the problem is only made worse by the fact that our driver/helper teams are being given mistmatched DIADS (we are on DIAD 4 but our helper boards are DIAD 3's). Hell, its a struggle for me to go back to a DIAD 3 now.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
It takes way more than "10 minutes" to teach somebody to use a DIAD proficiently. At best they might be able to fumble through a couple of stops at 1/4 the speed of an experienced driver. And the problem is only made worse by the fact that our driver/helper teams are being given mistmatched DIADS (we are on DIAD 4 but our helper boards are DIAD 3's). Hell, its a struggle for me to go back to a DIAD 3 now.

We also use mismatched DIADs here. I agree with Kid that it should take just a few minutes to teach the helper how to use the DIAD for residential deliveries. Scan, big arrow down, DR, stop complete---how long can that take to teach?

A helper who can use the DIAD makes for a much smoother Peak.
 

fxdwg

Long Time Member
Today was my first day driving with a helper. Management tells me to drop him off with a handcart full of packages and finish a street off while I go deliver other stops.

Problem is it takes awhile to throw all the :censored2: on a handcart and to scan all of it and driver release it. My helper doesn't know how to use the diad and refuses to learn so I have to do it for him.

He also.doesn't like being dropped off with a handcart cuz he said he feels uncomfortable and thinks its unsafe. The whole day I was like is this guy serious?

Any advice?

It may have been said before (I went from OP to LAST).

Imagine a Donkey in the hills of Peru.........

Load 'er down!!!
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Had a helper today for 2 hours. Brand new kid. Boss told me to put a minimum of 41 stops in his DIAD 3. In the 2 hours we did a total of 31 stops. 6 residential.
Their printout told me it was an 8.12 planned day. I punched out a 7:45. I figure the helper cost me 1/2 an hour.

I performed so well that today they added an area to my town. No helper, punched out at 5:45. Sometimes you have to prove them wrong.
 

Harley Rider

34 yrs & done!
I performed so well that today they added an area to my town. No helper, punched out at 5:45. Sometimes you have to prove them wrong.

Thats the strategy I always used. When they saw that having a helper on my car didn't get me in any earlier, they either added another car or put the extra volume and helper on another car. Personally I would rather take a couple extra hours work and go solo that have four or five extra hours work put on me with a helper.
 

Kman845

Well-Known Member
I have a route comprised of 97% resi DR stops. I leave the building, del NDA's and the few business stops myself (using my DIAD) then pick up my helper at the same meet point every day, but time I start him fluctuates depending on my NDA/busi volume.

My helper never touches a DIAD. He del's stops while I scan and stop complete the next two or three in his DIAD and line them up on the floor/dash ready to go. As he sits down I'm shifting into drive and it's onto the next stop, rinse and repeat. On my route the resi stops are tight enough we can bust out 40-50 stops per hour. Only time I leave the car is for the rare sig required or multi-package delivery.

When finished, helper's DIAD has approx. 200 stops, mine 50. I clock out on average 9.5 hours worked, approx .75 under with helper working approx 4.99 hours.

Stop counts increase after Thanksgiving (when the REAL peak starts) up to about 330 on peak day. As long as we achive a mimimum of 40 stops/hr I feel we're working at optimum performance.

I actually make more bonus using my helper (.50-1.00 under) than when I'm working alone. Go figure.

K
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
We also use mismatched DIADs here. I agree with Kid that it should take just a few minutes to teach the helper how to use the DIAD for residential deliveries. Scan, big arrow down, DR, stop complete---how long can that take to teach?

A helper who can use the DIAD makes for a much smoother Peak.

Thats all great until you get a stop that has one package that can be DR'd along with one that is a signature required NI2....or a couple of packages with bad barcodes that need to be manually entered....or your helper accidentally hits the "SDN" key and winds up in a screen that he cant figure out how to back out of....or you and your helper get sent to bail out another driver in a different loop that your DIADS dont have EDD for (requiring each stop to be manually entered and overridden).

If I had a nickel for every time that my helper has wandered back to the truck with an undelivered package and a confused look on his face due to a DIAD issue that he couldnt figure out, I would have retired a long time ago.
 
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