Who needs keys ? (share the stories)

Indecisi0n

Well-Known Member
I parked, grabbed my 3 packages bent down to grab some water (in back of truck). I delivered all packages in the apartment building. Coming down the elevator i noticed my finger felt oddly free. I look down and no key on my finger. My heart sinks, oh @#$@. Maybe/hopefully i left them in the ignition. Get to the truck and they are no where to be found !#!$ !! So i look through a missing grommet to the bulkhead door and i can see the keys laughing at me on the 2000 shelf. Noooooooooooooooooooooo ! :funny: (when i went to get water i took them off my finger for a second) I did everything possible to try and break that door open but no luck. Had to call the center and do my sit of shame.

Anyone else ?
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
We had a driver who was making his last drop box pickup at about 1730. His route was about an hour from the center. Somehow he locked the keys in the back of the truck. There would have been no way for someone from the center to drive there with an extra set of keys and still have the driver make the plane so they called a local locksmith. $50 and 30 minutes later he was on his way back to the center.
 

superballs63

Well-Known Troll
Troll
I am yet to make this mistake, only because I'm always paranoid that I'm going to do just that. I almost always put the keys in my back right pocket so whenever I'm about to close the bulkhead door, I give myself a little pat on the bottom and put my mind at ease.
 

The Blackadder

Are you not amused?
Took off my jacket in the spring as it was getting warmer, put keys in pocket when I did this, grabed a package went off to my stop, came back UGH! I was only 10 minutes from the building but it took them 35 to get out to me and open it. If it was to happen today I am sure they would be giving me a warning letter.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Just happened to me a week ago Friday. Only time in 22+ years. I have a stop that I have a key on a ring for. I keep this set of keys on my hand after I make the stop and then put the extra key back on the hook behind my bulhead at my next stop. I make the next delivery with the key on my finger as per methods. Whoops, wrong key on finger and wrong key locked in truck. 50 minutes gone. Walked a block to a Culvers and ate lunch while waiting.
 

idrivethetruck

Slow & steady wins the race.
I've done that 3 times in the 20+ years I've been with the company. The first was when I set the keys down to wrench a pkg off the shelf and then I forgot about them. I had to call the center and wait for the sup. The second time was when they slipped off my finger while I was slamming the rear door shut on a P500. I was at an apartment complex office when it happened and I was about 40 minutes from the hub. I borrowed a drill from one of the maintenance men and climbed under the truck. Even though there aren't very many P500's still in service, I won't say exactly where I drilled, but once the hole was there, all I needed was a screwdriver to get the door open enough to reach inside and unlatch it. I told my sup when I got back to the building what I had done and asked if I needed to have the shop put a spot weld over the hole I had drilled. He said no, just leave it there in case it ever happened again. The third time the keys fell off my finger while I was unloading a bulk stop and I didn't stop immediately to pick them up. I just asked the customer for a drill and a screwdriver (different truck) and 5 minutes later was driving away. After that incident, I now make sure to stop what I'm doing the instant the keys hit the floor and pick them up before doing anything else. It's been over 10 years now since that happened and hopefully it won't ever occur again.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I usually left the keys in the ignition and the bulkhead door lock was stuffed with paper so it wouldn't lock. That procedure worked well for many years. Got chewed out about it a few times but I always figured anytime they caught you on your route they were going to chew you out about something anyway. They didn't stop just to tell you what a nice guy you are.------------------------------------- I hear things are different now.
 

nocturnalbuck

Well-Known Member
we are instructed to leave the keys in the lock while in the back. i have brought the keys in the back area just enough times though to make me double check if the keys are in the lock everytime i shut the door.
i know the empty feeling you get when you realize the keys are not on your finger. luckily for me i had forgotten to grab them from the lock, not sure why, but there they are. if it happens with snow on the ground there's a little extra panic.
whenever i'm near a garbage can working or not working i have to triple check that a set of keys are not going in with the garbage.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
My route used to be next to the center's designated training route, and management eventually got so tired of driving out to open BH doors for the newbies that they replaced my BH door key with a master key so that they could page me to go do it. Years later I still have that key, it lives on my personal key ring that has a special hiding place in the cab of whatever package car I am driving. I wind up using it as a 2nd key during peak when I have a helper on car, or a bike helper working out of a pup trailer.

I never did lock my keys in the back, but on one memorable occasion during pre seniority I left them in the ignition while I ran into a building to do a pickup. Little did I know that my supervisor and center manager were following me around and watching me. When they saw that I had left my keys, the sup jumped into the package car and drove it around the block to hide it while I was inside making the pickup. I came back out....and the truck was gone! I thought it had gotten stolen, and that any hope I had of making seniority had just gone down the drain. My sup and center manager sat and watched me panic for a few minutes while laughing their sadistic asses off before they finally had mercy on me and brought the truck back. I learned my lesson, and to this day those keys go into my right front pocket the moment I get that BH door open.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
One other habit I have had to learn the hard way....if you hang the keys from your finger, do not do so while standing in front of a urinal. I will leave it to your imagination to understand how I came to learn that particular little lesson.
 

Re-Raise

Well-Known Member
I keep an extra key to the bulkhead door hidden in the cab. I have never had to use it, but I have heard enough stories like this.
 

idrivethetruck

Slow & steady wins the race.
...I never did lock my keys in the back, but on one memorable occasion during pre seniority I left them in the ignition while I ran into a building to do a pickup. Little did I know that my supervisor and center manager were following me around and watching me. When they saw that I had left my keys, the sup jumped into the package car and drove it around the block to hide it while I was inside making the pickup. I came back out....and the truck was gone! I thought it had gotten stolen, and that any hope I had of making seniority had just gone down the drain. My sup and center manager sat and watched me panic for a few minutes while laughing their sadistic asses off before they finally had mercy on me and brought the truck back....
That's happened a few times in our center also. The division manager did that to someone a couple of years ago. I think the driver was suspended a few days for that one.
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
A few years ago I went into the back to fill out my check envelope before I went back in after my 10 minute break. I set my keys on top of a box and never noticed them slide down behind the box. Went to the front, did the pocket pat and proceeded to cuss myself out. Called the center manager wh was already at home an he told me to call anohter driver who happened to have a maste just for this occassion. His wife had to bring the key out to me to let me in and she was still in her USPS uniform from fnishing her day. He retired since and turned the key in. He should have passed it on to another driver in the area since our group is 1/2 away from the center but he felt turning it in was the right thing to do.
 
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