Why Does Volume Dictate Amount Of Routes?

[BlackCat]

Last week during our PCM our center manager said that "volume was down but stops were up" so a few routes needed to be broken out.

I go in the next day and look at dispatch numbers and the lightest route had a 9.25 plan and heaviest route at 12.5.

For our center that turned out to be roughly 90hrs of OT for 1 day.

So what is the logic for breaking out routes because volume is down?

 

[NHDRVR]

All it takes is for a couple of Mall runs to drop in volume while the stops go up on a few house call routes to fit your scenario. Pretty simple...

 

[Catatonic]

Last week during our PCM our center manager said that "volume was down but stops were up" so a few routes needed to be broken out.

I go in the next day and look at dispatch numbers and the lightest route had a 9.25 plan and heaviest route at 12.5.

For our center that turned out to be roughly 90hrs of OT for 1 day.

So what is the logic for breaking out routes because volume is down?

Volume equals Revenue ... Stops do not.
Customers do not pay us money for stops.

 

[BlackCat]

wow I guess it makes perfect sense.

90hrs ot.

could have cut that number in half by leaving routes in

 

[nobber]

Corp is running the show, chasing numbers that don't make any sense to anyone except them. Too many chiefs trying to justify their jobs and all the nonsense and cost cutting is placed on the operating centers and hubs

 

[slantnosechevy]

Not only 90 hrs. OT but look at excess miles. Throw in Eskews brainchild PASS/EDD and misloads multiply which add to both. Rule of thumb used to be that the company needed a driver to work at least 3 days to pay for the benies. If a driver works one day a week those benies are paid. So unless you're laid off for the entire week they can't say it costs too much to put another guy on the road. UPS is top heavy in every department. They're tigers they will eat their own they just don't move as fast as when doing it to hourly. Getting rid of half the part-time supes. nationwide would be a good start. In some hubs it's almost 1:1.

 

[loserupser]

Don't try to understand their logic!!!!
Its all perception!
In the end the customer loses service they PAY for!

 

[Dragon]

In 2008 RTE 1A worked the following:

140 Delivery stops
300 Delivery pcs
25 P/U Stops
125 P/U pcs
65 miles daily

You must increase Stops Per Car (SPC) because route 1A needs to have the same delivery pcs or more vs last year. You reach this number by putting more stops on a car. Most business are not getting the same amount of packages as last year. Shipper C only getting 20 daily instead of 50 vs last year.

2009 RTE 1A

152 Delivery stops
300 + delivery pcs
30 P/U stops (because 1b is cut out)
97 P/U pcs
79 miles daily

If SPC does not meet plan prior to dispatch. Routes are cut until plan is reached. Not saying I agree but this is how it works.

 

[westsideworma]

I know stops per car have been up, but volume overall is way down at our building. Some cases scarily so. I've never seen it this low since I've been here. I was accustomed to hearing volume is down play just like everyone else but I can SEE it now and where it was when I loaded and its shocking to me. The thing is the preloaders don't buy it because we're really good at cutting routes and keeping them busy, but the fact is it IS way down in some areas, its about 9,000 down overall from when I used to load...think about that. This is not something I made up and it kind of scares me. The hub sorts are down much more than that.

I'm not saying that I think 12 hour days are fair because I don't, but UPS is going to do what they have to do to stop the bleeding. I feel for some of the drivers because I see what their routes have become instead of what they were. I only hope for their sake it goes back to normal when and if things improve.

 

[soberups]

If SPC does not meet plan prior to dispatch. Routes are cut until plan is reached. Not saying I agree but this is how it works.

Translation;

We want a Number. We must have that Number. Safety, service, logic, common sense and respect for the contract do not matter; all that matters is the Number. If we do not achieve the Number, some man in a little office someplace will get his panties in a knot and cry.

 

[browniehound]

In 2008 RTE 1A worked the following:

140 Delivery stops
300 Delivery pcs
25 P/U Stops
125 P/U pcs
65 miles daily

You must increase Stops Per Car (SPC) because route 1A needs to have the same delivery pcs or more vs last year. You reach this number by putting more stops on a car. Most business are not getting the same amount of packages as last year. Shipper C only getting 20 daily instead of 50 vs last year.

2009 RTE 1A

152 Delivery stops
300 + delivery pcs
30 P/U stops (because 1b is cut out)
97 P/U pcs
79 miles daily

If SPC does not meet plan prior to dispatch. Routes are cut until plan is reached. Not saying I agree but this is how it works.

Thanks Dragon, that's how I understood it also. My question is "2009 RTE 1A" making any money? Does the center manager know if '1A' is profitable as a "stand alone business"?

Here is a simplistic example of my center using 1 loop (A,B,C,D, and E) and part of 1 route from another loop, the 'E' route. When all routes are 'in' we are in 8.5-9 hours. Now they cut the E route and everyone (5 by my count) is over 10 hours. Add the 20 minute time bonus for going over 10 and its almost 8 hours of extra OT paid to the rest of the loop.

How is UPS saving money? Wear and tear on one vehicle, yes, but how significant is that? I'm only asking here, but why not keep a route in that is all house calls and let that come in when done under 8? Wouldn't it save 8 hours of OT?

 

[helenofcalifornia]

The sad thing about this new scenario at UPS is when the volume does come back (and it is slowly creeping back up in my center) UPS is not going to go back to the previous lower stop count (with less on road hours for the driver), but expect the driver to continue working themselves to the bone with the new "recession numbers."

And if I hear one more management type say "you can always quit," I will file an harassment grievance. Did y'all have a teleconference on saying this to people who complain about 50+ hour workweeks?

 

[mikeb]

Most center manager's and On-Car supes can't even run their on centers. They are told how many routes to run and how many drivers are needed. They are there to catch all the S%$T when it hits the fan. UPS micro-manages their centers from afar.

 

[brownhorn]

All I can say about this is that it's Thursday evening and I am TOAST! 100 plus degrees here with around 60 percent humidity. I've had it. I don't give a rip about SPORH, over/under, or any of that crap. I just want to work as safely as possible, and then the grievance process can either pay me triple time or they can fix this garbage.

 

[BlackCat]

How is UPS saving money? Wear and tear on one vehicle, yes, but how significant is that? I'm only asking here, but why not keep a route in that is all house calls and let that come in when done under 8? Wouldn't it save 8 hours of OT?

And that is precisely my point. How are they saving money?

In my example 90hrs ot = 145hrs at straight time.

I will give the company the benefit of the doubt and say 45 hrs should more then cover operation costs.

That leaves 100hrs.

They broke out 4 routes that day. We will give each driver 8 hrs. So now we used up an additional 32 hrs.

That leaves 68hrs of work to play with and still bring 4 drivers back.

So how are we saving money again by breaking out routes based on volume?

 

[soberups]

Its all about layoffs.

Pension contributions are only made on the first 8 hrs worked. Lay a driver off and the company contributes nothing to his pension, everyone else maxes out at 8 hrs regardless.

Sick days are accrued based upon hours worked....but only up to 6 days per year. Lay a driver off and he isnt accruing into his sick bank, everyone else maxes out at 6 per year regardless. Same deal with vacation accrual.

Health benefits only kick in after 40 hrs per month. In my local, the company pays about $1000 per month for all eligible FT employees. Lay a driver off and he isnt costing the company a grand, instead he drops into the hub and onto the cheaper company plan and displaces a part-timer. Its one less benefit package to pay.

I'm not 100% sure about this but I think that workman's comp rates are also based upon the number of FT employees rather than the number of hours they work. Lay a driver off and you arent paying for his comp insurance.

UPS pays to insure its package car fleet. Right now we have about 20 cars "mothballed", they are not in service and therefore not being insured. And if one route is eliminated from a loop, the overall miles driven by the cars in the entire loop decreases because there is one less vehicle accumulating mileage to drive to and from the area.

There are probably more savings that I'm not even thinking of. What I do know for certain...is that somewhere, in a dark little room with no air in it, there is an anally retentive tightwad with coke-bottle glasses sitting in front of a computer who has calculated this all out down to the gnat's ass and determined that the aforementioned savings outweigh the additional overtime costs. What was not factored in....was the poorer service, increased injuries, and loss of morale that results when routes get chopped. Those are someone elses problems.

 

[brownmonster]

Volume equals Revenue ... Stops do not.
Customers do not pay us money for stops.

Yet for 100 years stop count is the way we dispatch. Under this theory give me one 500 piece stop and I'll call it a day.

 

[brownrodster]

I'm not saying that I think 12 hour days are fair because I don't, but UPS is going to do what they have to do to stop the bleeding.

The bleeding will never stop with the incompetent sups we have running the show. They made me drive 15 miles yesturday to do an OCA when there were 20 drivers closer to that OCA that I was. They won't listen to reason. Countless bonehead decisions like this are made daily by stupid sup's. From the drivers point of view our operation could easily be twice as efficient as it is. But the decision makers have never thought to get a lowly drivers opinion of how to reduce mileage and increase productivity. That would be blasphemy.

 

[cancun]

Quit whining. Be happy you work for a company that is not going away in today's economy. There are thousands of people who would trade places with you in a heartbeat. You work for one of the world's great companies, one that is making the adjustments to keep this company viable in today's economy. I bet if you didn't have a job right now you would give anything to work one of those 11 hr days wouldn't you?

 

[BlackCat]

You work for one of the world's great companies, one that is making the adjustments to keep this company viable in today's economy.

What viable adjustments are being made to keep guys working?

Using my above scenario they OVERPAID. They easily could have brought 4 drivers back and STILL pulled a profit. Why didnt they? Because volume dictated that they couldnt.

Here is another way of looking at it.

Lets say I have 3 kids mow my lawn every week. They each get paid 5 hr and 10 hr for every hr they worked after the first. Week in and week out they get the job done in 1 hr. Out 15.00.

Now lets say one day the kids arrive and for whatever reason the "volume" of grass didnt come in as expected and I only need 3/4 of the lawn mowed, so I send one kid home for the week.

The 2 kids now take 1 1/2hrs to complete the same task. Out 20.00.

So I not only kept 3 kids employed, it saved me money and the job was done in a more timely and efficient manner.

So these viable adjustments that are being made to keep guys working are?