When dispatch makes cuts, they all come onto the new car under the same shelf number? Is it fixable?

Earlybird

New Member
Hi, I’m a fairly new preloader in a small city (60,000 people but lots of surrounding towns) where our center has a habit of making lots of cuts at last minute, and for some reason they are have the same spa number, or at the least they’re coming onto the same shelf.

My question is this: does anyone here have knowledge of dispatch methods and if there is a way to fix this? (It seems like a company this big would have more efficient technology than this…. But my hubby is a driver and has worked for ups for almost 10 years, so I know most of the time nothing makes sense.)

Unfortunately, our dispatcher is also fairly new and has been trying her best to overcome apathetic upper management who actively works against her and does not know how to help her fix this problem. She is otherwise well-liked, and I don’t want her to leave and have to go through peak with someone brand new trying to figure it all out again! I’m new enough that I haven’t stopped caring yet, and if there’s a way I can help her to not stop caring, I thought I might as well try.
 

GenericUsername

Well-Known Member
From my experience, if the cut is made last minute, no, there's no way for them to fix it. If the plan is changed last minute before drivers leave then there's no way to fix a plan made 8 hours prior (or however long) since all the packages were already SPA'd to the 1-8k sections.

The best you can do as a loader is push up the shelf(ves) if they're light enough to make room to accommodate the cut. Communicate with your driver and tell them what happened and where you put things if it's not logical at all.
 

Brownwind

Well-Known Member
Hi, I’m a fairly new preloader in a small city (60,000 people but lots of surrounding towns) where our center has a habit of making lots of cuts at last minute, and for some reason they are have the same spa number, or at the least they’re coming onto the same shelf.

My question is this: does anyone here have knowledge of dispatch methods and if there is a way to fix this? (It seems like a company this big would have more efficient technology than this…. But my hubby is a driver and has worked for ups for almost 10 years, so I know most of the time nothing makes sense.)

Unfortunately, our dispatcher is also fairly new and has been trying her best to overcome apathetic upper management who actively works against her and does not know how to help her fix this problem. She is otherwise well-liked, and I don’t want her to leave and have to go through peak with someone brand new trying to figure it all out again! I’m new enough that I haven’t stopped caring yet, and if there’s a way I can help her to not stop caring, I thought I might as well try.
Best advice is to not worry about it. Frustrating but unlikely to be fixed.

Do your best and don’t take the job home with you. Work as directed and do your best
 

eats packages

Deranged lunatic
If you have a shelf that is fairly light (combining 1's and 5's, 4's and 8's etc) Then I've been known to take the add-cut packages and drop them on the end of that specific shelf. If they all have the same HIN number then you can try and be nice and abbreviate the addresses and like, put all the 1st ave packages together, then the 2nd ave packages etc.

Incrementing HIN numbers like 1545, 1546, 1547... Just lop off the first two didgets and write 45, 46, 47 ... etc. with maybe an underline so that the add-cuts stand out.

Also add-cuts tend to be fairly residential in nature, like smalls bags n stuff, so you can sort them into totes pretty handily and then just load that tote onto the shelf or on the floor somewhere.
 

Staydryitsraining

Well-Known Member
It only happens from pure laziness on the dispatchers part. When they make a cut they also need to reshelf the cut. If the hins are the same it's because they made the cut but didn't reshelf it. Can it be fixed yes, will the lazy :censored2: do it, probably not.
 

GenericUsername

Well-Known Member
Possibly put the entire split in totes.
You know, I never thought about doing that when I was a loader...
It only happens from pure laziness on the dispatchers part. When they make a cut they also need to reshelf the cut. If the hins are the same it's because they made the cut but didn't reshelf it. Can it be fixed yes, will the lazy :censored2: do it, probably not.
It entirely depends on the time of day they do the cut though. There are times a cut has happened at something like 8:30 AM when we're leaving in 40 or so minutes and there's no other option but to put it in the 8k shelf. Granted they try to put it something like 8600-8999 normally...but we all know that isn't the case most of the time.
 

ToteHoarder

Well-Known Member
If I was the driver, I’d just want you to dump it all at like rear door or middle floor. If it’s light like on a Monday just throw it on 6999 or 8999.

Dispatch is gonna do what they do, preload is gonna try and cut hours and drivers will be expected to deal with it.

Putting it in totes would be great or bags so it doesn’t spread over the floor when you’re trying to get your bulk out of the back, but nobody expects this of you.
 

SorryLazyPOS

Big Kahuna Burger
If I was the driver, I’d just want you to dump it all at like rear door or middle floor. If it’s light like on a Monday just throw it on 6999 or 8999.

Dispatch is gonna do what they do, preload is gonna try and cut hours and drivers will be expected to deal with it.

Putting it in totes would be great or bags so it doesn’t spread over the floor when you’re trying to get your bulk out of the back, but nobody expects this of you.
Light on a Monday? Ha
 

Earlybird

New Member
Thanks to everyone who took time to respond! I have heard that comment about drivings getting paid the big bucks to figure it out many times over the past couple months. 😂
My husband is a driver, so I have had lots of opportunity to get his perspective on a situation, which has been nice. I am always thinking about what will be the best for the driver, because I try to live by the golden rule, and that's what I would want if I were a driver.

I just thought maybe there would be a dispatcher around here somewhere who may have insight on how to "re-shelf" things after they are cut. Mainly because I know our dispatcher is not lazy, (she goes to great lengths to try to make everyone happy) and our supervisors don't care to help her get it figured out I guess. I supposed they are in the camp that says, "drivers get paid the big bucks to figure it out."
 

ToteHoarder

Well-Known Member
Light on a Monday? Ha

That’s what it’s been like here. We have a full Saturday operation and it seems like they take care of most of the residential stuff and I only have like 1-5 stops at apartments that would normally have 12-35 stops.

Routes get cut and condensed on Mondays, but certain routes that would take a 20:00-20:30 rtb can get done with a 19:00-19:30 rtb.

The package count goes down a lot when you have a lot of apartments.

…Because I try to live by the golden rule, and that's what I would want if I were a driver.

That kind of effort really makes so much difference in quality of life for a driver. The amount of stress a great loader can remove from a UPSer’s day is pretty significant…or is that just me?
 
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