Working off the clock

bad_habits

New Member
I See many drivers sorting before their start time. Don't bother me a dam bit. But we have a few hard core tdu teamsters that will make waves over this while a preload sup loads their car. I can't understand why a teamster is so worried about a fellow teamster being in their car early and totally ignores management working.....so strange
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I'm all for everyone working off the clock. Imagine how much UPS would save if they didn't have a payroll to make. pun intended. A few employees at your center need an old fashion ass woopin. Both union and management. Unless the preload sups are training someone I would grieve it and make some easy $. Sounds like your union steward needs to grow a pair.
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
I See many drivers sorting before their start time. Don't bother me a dam bit. But we have a few hard core tdu teamsters that will make waves over this while a preload sup loads their car. I can't understand why a teamster is so worried about a fellow teamster being in their car early and totally ignores management working.....so strange

Because, "Duh Teamsters" does not care if you make your day go smoother by organizing your car. They only want The Evil UPS to hire more people, so they can collect more union dues.
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
I'm all for everyone working off the clock. Imagine how much UPS would save if they didn't have a payroll to make. pun intended. A few employees at your center need an old fashion ass woopin. Both union and management. Unless the preload sups are training someone I would grieve it and make some easy $. Sounds like your union steward needs to grow a pair.

A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. A pun can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are sometimes called "cheesy".

Walter Redfern (in Puns, Blackwell, London, 1984) succinctly said: "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms".

In order to be able to pun effectively it is necessary that a language must include homonyms which may readily be misrepresented as synonyms.


Make some of that easy $,file a grieve and whoop some ass. No wonder so many upsers are sick and tired of "duh teamsters".
 

DS

Fenderbender
Where I am they are so short of preloaders,that if you show up early they beg you to go on the clock.Any driver that works without being paid for it is an idiot.Or they are doing it for personal reasons that may very well be considered important.

If top management could only see that we are already overworked,and help us instead of justifying service failures,
and treated us with respect,we would not need the teamsters.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
We have several drivers that come in early, and get paid.

Thought process is, if he/she can spend 20-30 minutes with the
preloader(and their load) they will save over 1.5hours on the road.
by removing misloads, fixing misloaded items, etc. When your a driver
going out on a 300 mile day, 1 misloaded package can cost you an easy hour.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. A pun can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are sometimes called "cheesy".

Walter Redfern (in Puns, Blackwell, London, 1984) succinctly said: "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms".

In order to be able to pun effectively it is necessary that a language must include homonyms which may readily be misrepresented as synonyms.


Make some of that easy $,file a grieve and whoop some ass. No wonder so many upsers are sick and tired of "duh teamsters".
I can tell that you would be just a joy to work with( mostly off the clock I would imagine). I doubt you are really a "Driver" . You sound more like some scared little part time supervisor that has his nose so far up the ctr. managers butt the rest of the gang can't get ahold of your ears .
 

sendagain

Well-Known Member
The teamsters hate it when a driver gets on his vehicle to make sure his load is properly set up and ready to go after the PCM. They of course want the company to hire enough drivers so that this type of preparation is unnecessary, but after 28 years with the company, I can tell you those extra drivers never showed up. Anything a driver can do to make sure he can make all those commit times and smooth out his day is just working smart. Why people think I should give myself an ulcer for the Teamsters is beyond me.
 

Pip

Well-Known Member
Working of the clock has it's pros and cons. I can see why a driver might want to get his load organized and ready for the day. Not a thing wrong with being prepared and organized.

One thing that would concern me is while working off the clock, what happens if a person gets hurt. IE, trips and falls and twists an ankle or hurts his/her back. There is probably a slim chance something might happen, but none the less, the potential is there. Not sure how that would play out with workers comp, if it happened. i think that could get a little complicated.

Seems to make more sense to be on the clock to cover your butt, so to speak. Then your not putting yourself in a position for unwanted troubles. I would say get your load organized, but do it on the clock.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
Nothing at all wrong with it.
Unless of course you consider....
its against company policy, and teamster policy.
Well Hell, thats one rule that isnt enforced as it makes the preload look better, coz you are working for free, and none of your time is figured into anything.

When I was on the preload I loved it, except the fact that they were taking away my work, which is why UPS didnt think we needed extra help coz hey, we got 15 drivers giving the preload 7.5 hours of their time to get the job done. But at that time I didnt realize the big picture.

I see the pros and cons and we have drivers at the am meeting drenched. So its not like they are doing it secretively.

I just think its wrong. Do they call and say they need you? No you just think to make your life easier, youll just give a little more, and what do you get in return, a better day? Nope more work.
Knock yourselves out, I wont do it.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
"The teamsters hate it when a driver gets on his vehicle to make sure his load is properly set up and ready to go after the PCM."

Talk like that makes me sick. The Teamsters LOVE when you make sure your load is proper. THEY JUST WANT YOU TO GET COMPENSATED FOR DOING IT, YOU FOOL!
Even your manager DOES NOT want you working off the clock. If they wanted you to massage your load, THEY WOULD PAY YOU TO DO IT!

Most of us professional drivers can do the job just fine without working off the clock. If you can't, you're in the wrong line of work.
 
F

facts and lies

Guest
Why doesn't UPS hire more preloaders, much less $$ than paying a driver OT and would boost moral of all involved. Please ask your supervisor why this hasn't happened over the past 5-10 years. Preloaders should load 1-2 cars not 3-4 cars and have all the air sorted and 1/4 the ground. The only reason I see is that UPS doesn't give a crap about the preloaders because they are PT and they also have there lead drivers doing there job.

Good luck to all those who think beyond the brown world.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
I am the last one out of the building in my loop. Why? coz we start at 9, pcm til 905, and out by 912. Why did my partner leave at 905 I get asked?....Duhhhhhhhh, hes been loading since 830, heres the :censored2: thats left behind, I am loading mine since I started, ( and theres still 60 to load, since hes been bs'ing with that driver. and if he had started when I did, at OUR SPECIFIED START TIME, he would still be here to take them. You want me to take them? sure thing! I make 42.00 per hour after 8 and you got 27 bucks free for half an hour. Im not a rocket scientist, or a mgmt trainee hahahah but which makes more sense????? Ya gotta follow the rules, unless of course the numbers look better when you dont.
Will I file a grievance, oh yeah sure, Im the only female, so Im going to file a grievance coz the guys wanna get home??? What would that make me the ultimate bitch from hell? I got a better idea. Why doesnt our illustrious BA from the union come to our shop just once, and do their job, and see how things are...especially since they are only a mile away......instead of showing up at one of my delivery docks to tell me who to vote for. What the heck do they do for the other 2 yrs minus one week? JmHO but loading off the clock is just wrong for so many reasons. Do it right for a week or two and fix it permanently.
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
I can tell that you would be just a joy to work with( mostly off the clock I would imagine). I doubt you are really a "Driver" . You sound more like some scared little part time supervisor that has his nose so far up the ctr. managers butt the rest of the gang can't get ahold of your ears .

Hey Rod,
I am not a joy to work with and never claimed to be. I didn't come to join a country club. Maybe thats why I am a satellite driver and glad to be one. I do not have to listen to all the complaining of how drivers are being over worked and harrased to make over 27$ an hour. The only thing that scares me is that the"REAMSTERS" control my retirement and can dictate what kind of work I can do after I retire. I do make money off the clock. It's called bonus. I have seen 14 center managers come and go. I didn't have time to be a butt leech. I was too busy doing the job I am paid to do.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
Although I have been guilty of "massaging" my load in the past, I strongly believe this is a poor work method. There should and is enough time in the day to punch in, deliver your air, deliver your grounds and make your pick-ups. If you can't make it back in time for the air door, its not your problem. You're only hurting yourself if you work off the clock. Is it going to kill anyone to get home 10 minutes later on a tuesday night? Because in essence, thats all your going to save by working off the clock in the a.m. Do yourself a favor, don't touch a parcel until you're on the clock. Just MHO.
 

outta hours

Well-Known Member
We had a driver last year who was working on her car before start time. She was returning from the front of her car stepping up onto the grate in between two cars. She slipped and put a gash in her shin down to the bone that required 65 stitches. UPS declared it to be an off the job injury as it ocured 30 min. before her scheduled start time. I know all our loads suck but I encourage all of you to stay off your car before start time. That is the problem at UPS we have drivers with different agendas. Some want to run and skip lunch, work off the clock,speed and get off early. Others do the job properly, safely, and get paid for all the work they perform. UPS loves the me vs. you game, drivers sticking it to each other, backstabbing, dumping stops on each other. We need to all be on the same page. If we would really stick together and do the job right( taking full lunch, staying off cars in the am.) a lot of the problem areas we have ( dispatch, preload) would have to be addressed by the company. They could no longer be hidden by false numbers achieved in a dishonest way by drivers not doing the job properly on the clock. Sorry for the rambling JMO after 22 years of driving.
 

teamsterdan

Well-Known Member
FYI......just wanted to note that if you go to the TDU website, they have copies of the non-economic proposals from both the union and UPS, this topic "working off the clock" is addressed and w/o going back to review it, the proposal allows other employee's to file gievences on employees working off the clock and after the 2nd or 3rd time the onus is placed upon UPS to enforce the provision.........I personally hate it when people work for free.........
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
What I hate is when the preload is already down at 8:00 (rare but it happens) and we all want to start at 8:15 instead of 8:30 but we can't because of that 1% of the drivers that shows up almost right at start time. There is nothing wrong with showing up right at start time but those that do it occasionally screw the rest out of starting earlier. 15 minutes is a long time.

Working off the clock isn't really a big issue here. Maybe it should be. I usually arrive between 7:50-8:00 and the same 3-4 drivers will already be inside. They aren't just "doctoring their loads." They are actually loading their truck. We start at 8:30 so I figure those guys are working at least 3 hours for free each week. I used to come in 5 minutes early to sort the air and to doctor the first 15-20 ground stops so that I could get off to a good start by combining air and ground. I later told the preloader how I wanted those first 20 stops loaded and stopped working for free. Of course if the trucks were loaded correctly like they are supposed to be none of this would be going on.
 

Griff

Well-Known Member
What I hate is when the preload is already down at 8:00 (rare but it happens) and we all want to start at 8:15 instead of 8:30 but we can't because of that 1% of the drivers that shows up almost right at start time. There is nothing wrong with showing up right at start time but those that do it occasionally screw the rest out of starting earlier. 15 minutes is a long time.

I'm one of those drivers that "SCREWS YOU". I've only been driving for a year and I come in exactly at my start time (8:30AM). I get EDD, check my airs, then I'm out the door. I have guys next to my truck that laugh and give me **** and call me "junior" for doing it, oh well, I don't hand UPS my time for free.
 
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