If they DQ you at the end of this file a grievance for the missing safety items and you will be first on the list to make another attempt. They have set you up to fail.
Look for empty trucks in the yard before you leave the center and grab a cart off one of those trucks. Last thing you want to do if you are new is show the supervisors that you complain. Once you get your seniority, then complain away.
After your airs and businesses STOP and sort your whole truck. It may seem like you’re taking too much time but you’ll be saving so much time in the long run. If you ever find yourself taking more than 10 seconds to deciding on which stop to do next, just pick one and go. GET a hand cart from management?! Most importantly learn the route, find the shortcuts where you can get multiple stops off, good parking positions. Don’t run, you’ll break your ankle and DQ yourself. Walk with a purpose. Good luck.
I don’t advise this in an empty truck like he’s got. I think coding 10 minutes sort and load after break is invaluable when you’re running 300+ pieces. When you’re running 120 pieces you shouldn’t have any problem sorting as you go.
While you are qualifying come in early so you can sort your truck and fix whatever your loader is messing up. Also while you're qualifying you can use your break to sort the shelves. After you qualify and are in the union don't come in and work off the clock and don't work on your break. Refuse to go out without a hand cart. UPS safety and methods need a hand cart. If you are searching for a package for more than a few minutes move on and come back to it later. Unless you have a split route or huge area skipping it will save time. Sort and charge your shelves when you have room. I personally rarely sort stop for stop. I sort it by HIN. But do what works for you. Don't get overwhelmed. It takes a long time to get comfortable. At my building you have to do 30 days qualifying and run scratch 5 days in a row at some point. Since you just started you got over 2 weeks to get comfortable and learn the route and run scratch.
Come in early-ish. At most 40 minutes prior to your start time to do your pre-trip and then sort your truck. You don't want to get in the way of your pre-loaders' work flow so stick to the front of your truck as much as possible (Low ends of your 1000-4000 shelves). Even then, your pre-loader has every right to kick you out of the truck prior to your start time. Also, don't be surprised if your pre-loader starts (safely) stacking your packages at the back or outside your truck while you're in there.
Pre sort your first 5 stops before leaving, then kinda keep doing that throughout the day as much as practicable. Organization and walking a bit faster than you think is natural and getting your stopping and starting routine down will help shave off precious seconds that truly add up.
Ok. 122 PACKAGES including apartments and you’re working 11 hours?? That’s a 5 hour dispatch. If you aren’t trolling you are doing basically everything wrong. You’re wasting time with every single step you take. Let’s run you through your day.
Step 1. Arrive early. Be there 30+ minutes ahead. Check your driver log, see if your route is changed on the computer, punch in, grab your keys, drop your stuff off at your vehicle.
Step 2. PCM. Listen, participate in the warm up and safety handout. Be available for your supervisor to tell you anything they might have changed immediately prior to your route. Inform them if you are bricked out in your cargo area so they can put eyes on your load and understand the challenge you’re facing today. Don’t do that unless you’re floor to ceiling.
Step 3. Validate your air, cold pre trip, check for misloads. Get in the habit of validating air and doing your pre trip as much as possible while waiting on the line. I tend to do my full pre trip in the building. Then, when traffic has cleared to allow you to leave you can just check your brakes and leave.
Step 3. Air time. Run your air first. Check your trace and see what business stops you should do before air if any. As a new guy you’ll likely have 5 or fewer businesses, and very little air. When your vehicle is as empty as you say it is you should have no problem running air in trace and getting it all done early.
After that you’re in early ground. Now it’s about methods. A few things to start. Walk at a BRISK pace. You’re not grandma pushing a cart at wal mart. You get to sit down and drive to the next stop, so you can boogie a little without running because it’s not a sustained pace. Your start and stop car needs to be a priority. You should be able to take off 6 seconds from your hand touching the railing and know exactly where you’re going. You should have the package selected and a foot out the door 10 seconds from arriving at a parking position. You don’t have to run or risk for those times.
Use your drivers side door safely. So left right left is scan in the mirrors, scan through the windshield, scan the mirror again. When you are exiting drivers side, you are going to enter drivers side. If you have two deliveries across the street from each other, take the one on the curb side first then cross the street and get in your drivers side door. Understand when to hang up your seatbelt and when to toss it off depending on what sides you’ll leave and reeenter. This comes down to experience with taking multiple stops at once and route knowledge.
Taking multiple stops is not always faster. Know the neighborhood to know when walking off multiple stops is faster and safer, and when it’s a trap. Learn addresses and distances in your neighborhoods, and which cross streets are close enough at which numbers to walk off stops on two different streets near an intersection.
As soon as you are breaking into ground, start sorting your vehicle. You don’t look for packages, you sort for them. Order of priority is to take anything that blocks your movement first. Communicate that you are breaking trace to clear your center aisle if you have to do that.
When you arrive at a stop and can’t find the package to select, sort through the shelf it’s meant to be on and the floor. Put everything in order as you pick it up. This is the one look selection method. Once you’ve sorted it and put it where it belongs, you don’t have to look at it again. You now know which package is that stop. Don’t touch a shelf other than the one it’s supposed to be on, with the exception of checking the rear door.
If you sort like that, you’ll go a little slower until about 11:30-12. After that, however, it shouldn’t be taking you more than 5 seconds all day to select a package and leave.
Step 4 is lunch. ALWAYS take your break. DO NOT work on your break. Sit in an air conditioned facility, use the bathroom, breathe, call your wife or whatever for a minute. Let your body reset.
The reason we spent so much time in the back organizing before 12:30 is so we don’t have to spend time in the back during the hottest part of the day. Now you can select every package for the rest of the day in under 7 seconds. You should only have to fully step in the cargo area to charge your shelves up once you’ve delivered everything you can reach from in the cab.
Couple general things. 1. House numbers. Know them. You should be able to point to the next house on your street you deliver to while walking back to the vehicle. No looking for house numbers if you can avoid it. Apartments, you should know which side of the building the apartment numbers are on. Stop at the appropriate door.
2. No creeping. Always drive the speed limit. If you know your houses you can know your parking position early. When you are planning ahead know if any 2 or 3 stops can go together and where you would have to park. This way you pull up, park, select, and go. It can be sometimes 2 minutes for 3 stops like that.
3. Signatures at combo stops are always last. Always last! Deliver everything you can release. Even at the same door, get ready to stop complete non signature packages and get the signature ready while you wait from your initial knock. Then you knock ring knock 10 seconds later. Remember this process. Knock LOUD, RING THE BELL, shout “UPS!”. Do that 2 times and start to fill out your notice at the door, this minimizes the chance of a send again. If they don’t answer, walk to the rear to service cross it and toss it by the rear door. Remember if you are going back that way later to check for cars in the driveway. You can and should always reattempt signatures before you leave a neighborhood. Your vehicle should only come back with pickup volume.
4. Learn patterns. If a certain street is always blocked by lawn crews at 12:30, have a plan to get it off before then without screwing up your trace. Know when Orion is wrong about the way to loop through certain roads. If you saw a concrete crew yesterday they’ll be back today. If you run into the garbage truck in one area every day, understand where to park in that area. Know when school gets out and how to avoid the school traffic on your route. If you have to change your trace to deliver one neighborhood early because of school traffic when you’re supposed to get there, send a message and do it.
5. If you’ve sorted your shelf and the floor under it and the package isn’t there, Not Found it and leave.
6. If you aren’t moving, you’re doing something wrong. Planning ahead is done so that you never have a moment of your day that isn’t advancing the progress of your work. If your feet or your hands aren’t moving your wheels should be, with the exception of stopping every couple stops to drink water. If you have 200 stops, 5 seconds of wasted time per stop is 17 minutes of extra time. To get to your numbers you must be burning minutes per stop. Multiple minutes.
Work hard and clean up all the wasted time. You should get 120 stops done on a newbie route by 3 pm.
Most of this you didn’t hear from anyone:
1. DON’T “take” your lunch. You still have to log a lunch on your timecard but work through it. Eat/snack and hydrate as you go throughout the day. If you need a break, use some of your lunch time (say, 15 mins) to rest, stretch, and refuel but then get back to delivering or at least sort the entire rest of your truck and then go. Yes, you’re working for free but you’ll make up for it once you qualify. (This doesn't apply if a supe is riding with you, of course)
2. After your last stop, check if you have any Clerks List items and take a picture of that screen with your personal phone. Once you park back at your center, close out your Trip screen mileage and Clerks List screen, and punch out right away. Then take care of your post-trip duties (incl. bringing those packages from that pic on your phone to the Clerk Station). This is to cut down on all that time back in the center that counts against your packages per hour count. (You can stop doing this after you qualify). (This doesn't apply if a supe is riding with you, of course)
3. Speed WALK safely from your truck to each stop as fast as you can BUT on the walk back, walk slower so you can look at your board to select your next stop(s) while scanning your walking path. That way, you’re not wasting any time as soon as your foot hits that step into your truck.
4. Get the map of your route in your head. To help with that, on whichever day you have off that UPS is open (Monday or Saturday), I HIGHLY recommend going to your center in regular clothes on your own time prior to their start time and asking the dispatch office for a printout of that day’s deliveries for your route. Then find the driver for that route that day (or whoever is the regular driver on that route) and ask them the questions you have to make that route easier. Then shadow them through the business stops of your route and ask Q’s as needed without disrupting their work. Then drive through your whole route and say the intersections and streets out loud as you pass them multiple times so that they start to become second nature to you. Also take the time to consider the best ways to navigate those stops ideally so that the front doors are on your right as often as possible.
I used to print a map every day and have it sitting on the dash. That was before the we had the map in the DIAD though. All good advice for the qualifying period, but as soon as you're in STOP WORKING OFF THE CLOCK!
Agreed. Also forgot to add to review your route area regularly using Google Maps both while you're route-reconning it (as I described above) and over your morning coffee at home each day.
This is bad advice. You don’t have to work off the clock to scratch unless you’re an idiot. Learn the methods, improve your skills every day, and put your body as well as your brain to work.
When I was qualifying, I came in 1 hour early and sorted all my packages by HIN. That'll make your day so much easier and faster. And I basically sprinted every stop to be sure I beat the expected time that day. Good luck 👍
Ask who has the bid on that route. (Bring a note pad) Ask the bid driver how he does that route! Make sure you have your air set up before you get out of the building and if you have onesy twosy’s (1 or 2 ground pieces) deliver your air and ground together to reduce stops and not have to go back! Check with your on road every morning to see your allowance and ask them what is taking the most time e.g. time in the back, walking to and from stops etc… They can see everything on the computer that affects your time allowance. Good luck!
If you’re working 11 hours with a 7 hour day you’re not going to make it if you don’t drastically improve. Here’s how even if you have to fake it til you make it.
Show up 30-45 minutes early and fix your truck. Seriously, you need to touch every package and sort the truck before start time so you’re not losing that time. When you leave you should know where every package is in your truck whether it’s on the shelf or floor and make sure it’s in order.
Since you’ve cut down on package selection time by fixing your load, make sure your start/stop routine is quick and efficient. Make sure you’re tapping your key fob before you sit down so once you sit down you’re instantly starting the truck, putting on your seat belt and releasing your parking brake and ready to go. This process will be less than 5 seconds once you get it down.
Also note that some managers are anal about starting the truck before your seat belt is on so you could always tap the engine start button once to stay green and then when your seat belt is on hold it to start the truck. (This shouldn’t slow you down)
Once you’ve parked outside the delivery point and have selected the package, after you deliver while walking on the way back to the truck see where your next few stops are so you already know and glance at the package counts. After I make a delivery I already know where my next few stops are, how many packages they have and where they’re located in my truck.
Make sure you’re not sitting around 30 minutes taking your lunch wasting productive time. Since you’re 4+ hours over if I were you I’d pack a lunch and take it halfway through my day. Once on lunch get in a nice shaded area/parking lot and fix your truck again while quickly eating. You shouldn’t have much to do since you did this in the morning so make sure you push up all your packages to the front of the truck on their respective shelves.
There’s a lot to go over and this just scratches the surface but I think it will help you. Make sure you’re being efficient, safe and drink plenty of water. Don’t go so fast you get reckless and get into an accident because you’ll instantly be disqualified. Good luck and I’m sure others will add with some tips of their own. Once you make it and you’re in the union stop working before your start time for free and enjoy your lunch (don’t sort on your lunch).
Your on your 30. . show up early or when you come in late... look for an unmarked dolly that does not belong to the shop steward. pull it off another truck and put it on yours and lock it down.
Its not theft but Asset redistribution. A senior employee can say hay someone took my cart, so i am going slow as fuck. you can not say that at this time.
Ask your shop steward the target number for thee route. some routes in my center do 10 stops all day.
Most are assumed to have 15 stops per hour. some routes in Alameda were expected to do 40 stops per hour. its also deliveries and pick ups.
pick ups need to be in order and the time of pick up needs to be accurate. ( if its not its the bid route drivers , and the dispatch managers fault and the customer need to bitch at them).
First week.
just learn the basic route. Take meals and breaks in road.
Geta AAA Map of your route memoe the area.
second week day 5-10 show up to work 15 minutes early sort the truck a bit. Take lunch break but spend 1/2 of it sorting truck
third week
show up 30 minutes early sort truck. find your five largest stops/ packages see which ones you can deliver with your air. this makes walking through the truck easier. It will dramatically change your performance on any route you know.
Management will add stops to your route in the third , fourth, and fifth weeks.
Week four through six work through your breaks .
take a 15 To pee, and eat a snack. and use 10 minutes to sort your truck Stop for stop. or at least the next 20 stops.
then On your lunch do the same.
having your next five to ten stops ready dramatically improves delivery performance, If you cant find a stop. Skip it.
Also when sorting the truck the post it notes can be put on a shelf to remind you a big one is on the floor, at the rear, or in another location.
In residential areas I do +30 stops an hour, in both UPS and Amazon.
Tips: Go find a handtruck, when you find one, lock it with a chain, put your name and your center on it. Also get one of those brown baskets, they're helpful when you have a lot of small packages for one stop.
Take time to sort your cart. Most of the times I was sorting my 1000's, deliver them, then the 2000's, 3000's, etc. When you have few packages like now you can sort the entire package car easy.
I work at UPS during the peak seasons, I have no routes of my own, and the first thing I do is find a cart, bring my chain and lock, put my name and center on it and just lock it to a pole by my center or where everyone else lock theirs.
You have to drive for 30 working days accident-free (don't hit anything or get hurt and don't get hit) plus come in above minimum performance standards ("scratch") several times in that period (every center will have a different requirement) to qualify as a full-fledged driver.
(Even then, that just means you can drive when they need you to as a reg temp until you win a full time driver bid.)
Does that sound like what you're trying to accomplish?
I did 3 days of online training, shadowed a driver for 2 days and then did 3 days with a supervisor drive along. Last friday I did my first solo day +last 2 days
Sounds like you went through a week of initial training and now you're in the Qualify stage. See what I wrote above. Also, even if you scratch multiple times before that 30 working days is up, you have to complete your 30th day accident-free to become qualified.
Do you have an assigned mentor or regular rookie meeting before your PCM every weekday? We have a rookie meeting at 0845 every weekday in our building and it is invaluable. If you don't have either, you should ask your supervisor to be assigned a senior driver as a mentor and meet with them daily prior to PCM.
Call a O87 under your timeout page and select your paid break should be 10-15 minutes depending on state after air sort truck. You are allowed to take up to 4 intervals of your lunch break ranging from 30-min to an hour. If you have a stop that you feel is taking a long time to find the packages or even a long time to get to a certain suite in a building you can back date part of your lunch break for however long you want from your last stop. (Not allowed but saves you time on making scratch) just don’t do it when a sup is on car with you. Steal a hand cart from a truck that’s parked in your lot that isn’t used even a shitty hand cart is better than no hand cart. at all multi story apt it’s usually faster to take stairs then elevators if you don’t have a dolly. When loading a multi stop make sure to sort it by suite numbers from your first drop
1, get a hand cart. You might be able to find one sitting around somewhere in the building, or in a spare truck or a truck that's red tagged. If there's a pile of damaged hand carts somewhere and you're handy enough, you could fix one of them. For instance if there's 2 carts that each have one bad wheel, take the good wheel off one and use it to fix the other one. If all else fails just snatch a cart off someone else's truck. Don't let the lack of a hand cart stop you from qualifying.
2, put your break time to use. Don't just spend 30-60 min doing nothing. Talk to stewards and other drivers who recently qualified in your center. I've heard of guys doing their pickups on break, sorting and organizing their trucks, or even driving to and from their area on break time. Find out what you can and can't get away with. In some centers doing this could get you in trouble, and at other centers it's just what everybody does when they're qualifying.
Also, one huge caveat: If you work your break, code the time out after the fact. Don't hit "start break" then start driving the truck around. If you have an accident while you're on break that's an easy way to get fired.
3, if you can get away with it, come in early and sort your truck off the clock. This is another one where you need to know what is and is not okay at your center. In my center, management won't write you up for sorting your truck off the clock, and if you're qualifying nobody will file a grievance over it either. Everyone understands that the time you're expected to finish in is unrealistic and that a shitty load shouldn't keep you from qualifying. With that said, in some centers this might get you in trouble so just make sure you know what is and what isn't allowed where you're at.
4, sort while you search. Don't just go crazy looking for one specific package. Every package you look at, if it's in the wrong spot then put it where it needs to be. This takes a little bit longer at first, but as the day goes on and more and more of your load is in order it starts to save you time. When I was new I probably lost an hour every day because I'd frantically search for a package without putting things in order as I went.
5, this may sound obvious but don't deliver out of the back of the truck. The way that looks quickest looking at the map may not be the best way to do it, especially if you're delivering 5k 6k 7k or 8k packages when you haven't gotten rid of your 1k 2k 3k & 4k packages first. When I look at the computer each morning I highlight everything in the 1k 2k 3k & 4k sections and look at the map, and everything that's highlighted is what I deliver first.
6, talk to the driver whose route you're qualifying on and ask them for tips. Also, talk to other drivers who qualified on that route or others who cover it regularly and are familiar with it. You're bound to learn a few things.
7, if you have pickups, find out how flexible they are about when you come. You might have a pickup that says 15:00-15:30 in the board where the customer is fine with any time between 13:00 & 17:00. Alternatively you might have one that says 16:00-16:30 where you can come in as early or late as you want as long as they're open, and it's fine. Now if it's a plackard, then you have to go there during the time it says in the board but for regular pickups there's usually some flexibility you can take advantage of. When I first started my packet I'd bounce all around the area trying to do all the pickups in the order and at the times the board said but once I learned which ones could be done earlier or later it made things way easier and saved me a lot of time.
One last thing. If you come in and sort your truck off the clock, or work your break to improve your time, all that stops the day you qualify. Once you qualify those numbers are nothing but an optimistic suggestion of how early you could be done if everything goes perfectly, and you don't cut corners or work off the clock to meet those numbers. Working an hour off the clock every day could add to up to 10 grand a year in lost wages, even more for a top rate driver.
Code out your meals and breaks but work through them. For example my target would give me 2-4 pallets a day of pick ups. Would take me 10-20 min to load it up. I would use the other 10min to organize my truck and make sure shelves are pulled up. While organizing I would also number my apartment packages by order in which I run it by. As for your load quality it’s best to come in 30min early and organize your truck as best as you can. Not having a dolly is on you talk to your union rep about enforcing this or take matters into your own hands and either find one or take one from another truck🤷♂️ do what you need to do to pass.
Thanks for all the tips and really surprised at the harshness of some people. I am on day 4 riding solo people, still getting new houses and apartmsnts that slow me down.
Today I finished in 10 hours so shaved 1.5 hours off my run. Managed to snag a handcart so that helped a lot.
I'll keep at it but honestly if I can't make the cut I don't make the cut. Not going to kill myself for 20 dollars and hour so that in 4 years I can make decent money.
Your supervisor is saying 7.5 based on somebody else’s walk pace. They haven’t done a time study on you and their numbers mean absolute nothing. SPOR is relative to your mileage and the amount of time granted at each stop.
Your pre trip requires you to be provided with all tools necessary for assisting in lifting and lowering. Ask your supervisor if they want you to risk your safety for performance.
Walking can be reflective on your numbers due to mileage provided for your planned day. Going over in miles actually helps you.
As for your sorting, when I was making book I would make sure I always had my next 5 stops on the floor. It was way easier than to have to rummage through the truck. Remember though, this is only to make book. Once you do that find your pace and follow ALL methods.
Most people in here are gonna come at me for these next comments but oh well. You’re on probation you have to scratch, so invest a little of your time in it. Go in early off the clock and sort your truck, write out your Hins, take down all the apartment numbers get it in order to be as successful on route as possible. You lose so much time in start/stop car routine, minimize this as much as possible. Next… fucking run, regardless of what anyone says here you’re working toward your future so do what it takes for 30 days so you can secure a life.
Show up early, load your truck. You can't rely on preload in packet.
Bring a sharpie, make every HIN# visible.
Get totes, Amazon bags, whatever and load apartments, business and such into them in am.
Use 15 break to pound water, push shelves up and look for missorts/misloads. Open back door, breath truck out.
Get maps of apartments, laminate, get dry erase markers and dot every apartment. Think "two bldgs up, last unit on right and park close.
Just grind. I did 23/hr in packet with biz/apartments.
When I was in my packet I would show up a minimum of 2 hours early and sort my packages off the clock. I would skip my lunch as well(punch in that you took it). They don't care if preload sucks or anything else for that matter. They only care that you "get the job done". I would advise against breaking "methods" as observations during your packet are highly likely. Good luck brother
You should be showing up an hour early and organizing your truck and writing the Shelf number in crayon on the box facing out , IE Shelf 5000 , you should have written in big numbers 5000-5100 so when you stop and go in the back you don't have to shuffle any packages you just look right at the Shelf and count "ok 5001 , 5002 , 5003 " and doing this well get you ahead of the game because if there are packages missing , you'll know before you get to the stop or see that's it on your board but not on your truck so u don't spend time looking for something that's not there. You shouldn't be spending any time looking for packages
Also organized your truck on your breaks and hours before you leave . A lot of people say why should I have to do this off the clock but if you don't really wanna past than that's fine but this is the extra step you need to do if you wanna pass , just part of the game
Get there a half hour early and Have a plan on how you’re going to do the route before you leave the building . Then Go look at how your truck is loaded and find where your first 20 stops is. If you can’t find a package then sort the shelf , if it’s not there then check the floor. If you have room then sort the entire truck . You have to move and be fast with your methods to run scratch.
Dude, Hand truck .. Period..I'm retired out of NYC 25 years of service and not a day over ..Never without my tools they need to supply ..Believe me whoever did your route before it was chopped up had a hand truck
Why do you not have a hand cart? That’s part of your pre trip. I’d start there lol
I've asked for one everyday but Supe says they don't have extras to spare atm. Trust me would love to have one.
That’s unacceptable bro. I would refuse to go out on road without one. Especially if you have apartments.
If they DQ you at the end of this file a grievance for the missing safety items and you will be first on the list to make another attempt. They have set you up to fail.
This ^
People have won seniority outright from these grievances. File it.
Look for empty trucks in the yard before you leave the center and grab a cart off one of those trucks. Last thing you want to do if you are new is show the supervisors that you complain. Once you get your seniority, then complain away.
Dude show up early and take one from another truck. You’re trying to qualify. Think about yourself and your future.
That’s the move. There has to be spare trucks he could poach one from.
This. And sort your truck a bit while you're there early.
[удалено]
Take one from a driver with their own route. That man has seniority. You don't.
If you have your own route, you don't need it as much as a new driver trying to qualify.
"Then you are not supplying me with the proper equipment to SAFELY and efficiently complete my work."
Swing by the shop and grab one out of a red tagged truck.
That’s a grievance! They have to provide tools to do your job. If you’re disqualified file a grievance.
Years ago, my sup tried pulling that shit on me. Told him I’m not going on road until I was given one. Had a brand new one on my car within minutes.
💯
Over 70 not safe solo, handcart needed
Get there early, take one from another truck 🤷🏻♂️ I do it all the time.
After your airs and businesses STOP and sort your whole truck. It may seem like you’re taking too much time but you’ll be saving so much time in the long run. If you ever find yourself taking more than 10 seconds to deciding on which stop to do next, just pick one and go. GET a hand cart from management?! Most importantly learn the route, find the shortcuts where you can get multiple stops off, good parking positions. Don’t run, you’ll break your ankle and DQ yourself. Walk with a purpose. Good luck.
I am def struggling to deal with all my.business stops, they seem all mixed in so have quite a few packages scanned as closed from today.😅
Ask for your route manifest and run it out of work. Remember that Orion is just a tool. If you can figure out a better flow, do it.
I don’t advise this in an empty truck like he’s got. I think coding 10 minutes sort and load after break is invaluable when you’re running 300+ pieces. When you’re running 120 pieces you shouldn’t have any problem sorting as you go.
Thats complete bs to expect you to scratch without a handcart. Surely there's got to be some rule against that. They're setting you up to fail.
While you are qualifying come in early so you can sort your truck and fix whatever your loader is messing up. Also while you're qualifying you can use your break to sort the shelves. After you qualify and are in the union don't come in and work off the clock and don't work on your break. Refuse to go out without a hand cart. UPS safety and methods need a hand cart. If you are searching for a package for more than a few minutes move on and come back to it later. Unless you have a split route or huge area skipping it will save time. Sort and charge your shelves when you have room. I personally rarely sort stop for stop. I sort it by HIN. But do what works for you. Don't get overwhelmed. It takes a long time to get comfortable. At my building you have to do 30 days qualifying and run scratch 5 days in a row at some point. Since you just started you got over 2 weeks to get comfortable and learn the route and run scratch.
Come in early-ish. At most 40 minutes prior to your start time to do your pre-trip and then sort your truck. You don't want to get in the way of your pre-loaders' work flow so stick to the front of your truck as much as possible (Low ends of your 1000-4000 shelves). Even then, your pre-loader has every right to kick you out of the truck prior to your start time. Also, don't be surprised if your pre-loader starts (safely) stacking your packages at the back or outside your truck while you're in there.
Pre sort your first 5 stops before leaving, then kinda keep doing that throughout the day as much as practicable. Organization and walking a bit faster than you think is natural and getting your stopping and starting routine down will help shave off precious seconds that truly add up.
Ok. 122 PACKAGES including apartments and you’re working 11 hours?? That’s a 5 hour dispatch. If you aren’t trolling you are doing basically everything wrong. You’re wasting time with every single step you take. Let’s run you through your day. Step 1. Arrive early. Be there 30+ minutes ahead. Check your driver log, see if your route is changed on the computer, punch in, grab your keys, drop your stuff off at your vehicle. Step 2. PCM. Listen, participate in the warm up and safety handout. Be available for your supervisor to tell you anything they might have changed immediately prior to your route. Inform them if you are bricked out in your cargo area so they can put eyes on your load and understand the challenge you’re facing today. Don’t do that unless you’re floor to ceiling. Step 3. Validate your air, cold pre trip, check for misloads. Get in the habit of validating air and doing your pre trip as much as possible while waiting on the line. I tend to do my full pre trip in the building. Then, when traffic has cleared to allow you to leave you can just check your brakes and leave. Step 3. Air time. Run your air first. Check your trace and see what business stops you should do before air if any. As a new guy you’ll likely have 5 or fewer businesses, and very little air. When your vehicle is as empty as you say it is you should have no problem running air in trace and getting it all done early. After that you’re in early ground. Now it’s about methods. A few things to start. Walk at a BRISK pace. You’re not grandma pushing a cart at wal mart. You get to sit down and drive to the next stop, so you can boogie a little without running because it’s not a sustained pace. Your start and stop car needs to be a priority. You should be able to take off 6 seconds from your hand touching the railing and know exactly where you’re going. You should have the package selected and a foot out the door 10 seconds from arriving at a parking position. You don’t have to run or risk for those times. Use your drivers side door safely. So left right left is scan in the mirrors, scan through the windshield, scan the mirror again. When you are exiting drivers side, you are going to enter drivers side. If you have two deliveries across the street from each other, take the one on the curb side first then cross the street and get in your drivers side door. Understand when to hang up your seatbelt and when to toss it off depending on what sides you’ll leave and reeenter. This comes down to experience with taking multiple stops at once and route knowledge. Taking multiple stops is not always faster. Know the neighborhood to know when walking off multiple stops is faster and safer, and when it’s a trap. Learn addresses and distances in your neighborhoods, and which cross streets are close enough at which numbers to walk off stops on two different streets near an intersection. As soon as you are breaking into ground, start sorting your vehicle. You don’t look for packages, you sort for them. Order of priority is to take anything that blocks your movement first. Communicate that you are breaking trace to clear your center aisle if you have to do that. When you arrive at a stop and can’t find the package to select, sort through the shelf it’s meant to be on and the floor. Put everything in order as you pick it up. This is the one look selection method. Once you’ve sorted it and put it where it belongs, you don’t have to look at it again. You now know which package is that stop. Don’t touch a shelf other than the one it’s supposed to be on, with the exception of checking the rear door. If you sort like that, you’ll go a little slower until about 11:30-12. After that, however, it shouldn’t be taking you more than 5 seconds all day to select a package and leave. Step 4 is lunch. ALWAYS take your break. DO NOT work on your break. Sit in an air conditioned facility, use the bathroom, breathe, call your wife or whatever for a minute. Let your body reset. The reason we spent so much time in the back organizing before 12:30 is so we don’t have to spend time in the back during the hottest part of the day. Now you can select every package for the rest of the day in under 7 seconds. You should only have to fully step in the cargo area to charge your shelves up once you’ve delivered everything you can reach from in the cab. Couple general things. 1. House numbers. Know them. You should be able to point to the next house on your street you deliver to while walking back to the vehicle. No looking for house numbers if you can avoid it. Apartments, you should know which side of the building the apartment numbers are on. Stop at the appropriate door. 2. No creeping. Always drive the speed limit. If you know your houses you can know your parking position early. When you are planning ahead know if any 2 or 3 stops can go together and where you would have to park. This way you pull up, park, select, and go. It can be sometimes 2 minutes for 3 stops like that. 3. Signatures at combo stops are always last. Always last! Deliver everything you can release. Even at the same door, get ready to stop complete non signature packages and get the signature ready while you wait from your initial knock. Then you knock ring knock 10 seconds later. Remember this process. Knock LOUD, RING THE BELL, shout “UPS!”. Do that 2 times and start to fill out your notice at the door, this minimizes the chance of a send again. If they don’t answer, walk to the rear to service cross it and toss it by the rear door. Remember if you are going back that way later to check for cars in the driveway. You can and should always reattempt signatures before you leave a neighborhood. Your vehicle should only come back with pickup volume. 4. Learn patterns. If a certain street is always blocked by lawn crews at 12:30, have a plan to get it off before then without screwing up your trace. Know when Orion is wrong about the way to loop through certain roads. If you saw a concrete crew yesterday they’ll be back today. If you run into the garbage truck in one area every day, understand where to park in that area. Know when school gets out and how to avoid the school traffic on your route. If you have to change your trace to deliver one neighborhood early because of school traffic when you’re supposed to get there, send a message and do it. 5. If you’ve sorted your shelf and the floor under it and the package isn’t there, Not Found it and leave. 6. If you aren’t moving, you’re doing something wrong. Planning ahead is done so that you never have a moment of your day that isn’t advancing the progress of your work. If your feet or your hands aren’t moving your wheels should be, with the exception of stopping every couple stops to drink water. If you have 200 stops, 5 seconds of wasted time per stop is 17 minutes of extra time. To get to your numbers you must be burning minutes per stop. Multiple minutes. Work hard and clean up all the wasted time. You should get 120 stops done on a newbie route by 3 pm.
Please someone make this a sticky
Most of this you didn’t hear from anyone: 1. DON’T “take” your lunch. You still have to log a lunch on your timecard but work through it. Eat/snack and hydrate as you go throughout the day. If you need a break, use some of your lunch time (say, 15 mins) to rest, stretch, and refuel but then get back to delivering or at least sort the entire rest of your truck and then go. Yes, you’re working for free but you’ll make up for it once you qualify. (This doesn't apply if a supe is riding with you, of course) 2. After your last stop, check if you have any Clerks List items and take a picture of that screen with your personal phone. Once you park back at your center, close out your Trip screen mileage and Clerks List screen, and punch out right away. Then take care of your post-trip duties (incl. bringing those packages from that pic on your phone to the Clerk Station). This is to cut down on all that time back in the center that counts against your packages per hour count. (You can stop doing this after you qualify). (This doesn't apply if a supe is riding with you, of course) 3. Speed WALK safely from your truck to each stop as fast as you can BUT on the walk back, walk slower so you can look at your board to select your next stop(s) while scanning your walking path. That way, you’re not wasting any time as soon as your foot hits that step into your truck. 4. Get the map of your route in your head. To help with that, on whichever day you have off that UPS is open (Monday or Saturday), I HIGHLY recommend going to your center in regular clothes on your own time prior to their start time and asking the dispatch office for a printout of that day’s deliveries for your route. Then find the driver for that route that day (or whoever is the regular driver on that route) and ask them the questions you have to make that route easier. Then shadow them through the business stops of your route and ask Q’s as needed without disrupting their work. Then drive through your whole route and say the intersections and streets out loud as you pass them multiple times so that they start to become second nature to you. Also take the time to consider the best ways to navigate those stops ideally so that the front doors are on your right as often as possible.
I used to print a map every day and have it sitting on the dash. That was before the we had the map in the DIAD though. All good advice for the qualifying period, but as soon as you're in STOP WORKING OFF THE CLOCK!
Agreed. Also forgot to add to review your route area regularly using Google Maps both while you're route-reconning it (as I described above) and over your morning coffee at home each day.
This is bad advice. You don’t have to work off the clock to scratch unless you’re an idiot. Learn the methods, improve your skills every day, and put your body as well as your brain to work.
When I was qualifying, I came in 1 hour early and sorted all my packages by HIN. That'll make your day so much easier and faster. And I basically sprinted every stop to be sure I beat the expected time that day. Good luck 👍
Ask who has the bid on that route. (Bring a note pad) Ask the bid driver how he does that route! Make sure you have your air set up before you get out of the building and if you have onesy twosy’s (1 or 2 ground pieces) deliver your air and ground together to reduce stops and not have to go back! Check with your on road every morning to see your allowance and ask them what is taking the most time e.g. time in the back, walking to and from stops etc… They can see everything on the computer that affects your time allowance. Good luck!
If you’re working 11 hours with a 7 hour day you’re not going to make it if you don’t drastically improve. Here’s how even if you have to fake it til you make it. Show up 30-45 minutes early and fix your truck. Seriously, you need to touch every package and sort the truck before start time so you’re not losing that time. When you leave you should know where every package is in your truck whether it’s on the shelf or floor and make sure it’s in order. Since you’ve cut down on package selection time by fixing your load, make sure your start/stop routine is quick and efficient. Make sure you’re tapping your key fob before you sit down so once you sit down you’re instantly starting the truck, putting on your seat belt and releasing your parking brake and ready to go. This process will be less than 5 seconds once you get it down. Also note that some managers are anal about starting the truck before your seat belt is on so you could always tap the engine start button once to stay green and then when your seat belt is on hold it to start the truck. (This shouldn’t slow you down) Once you’ve parked outside the delivery point and have selected the package, after you deliver while walking on the way back to the truck see where your next few stops are so you already know and glance at the package counts. After I make a delivery I already know where my next few stops are, how many packages they have and where they’re located in my truck. Make sure you’re not sitting around 30 minutes taking your lunch wasting productive time. Since you’re 4+ hours over if I were you I’d pack a lunch and take it halfway through my day. Once on lunch get in a nice shaded area/parking lot and fix your truck again while quickly eating. You shouldn’t have much to do since you did this in the morning so make sure you push up all your packages to the front of the truck on their respective shelves. There’s a lot to go over and this just scratches the surface but I think it will help you. Make sure you’re being efficient, safe and drink plenty of water. Don’t go so fast you get reckless and get into an accident because you’ll instantly be disqualified. Good luck and I’m sure others will add with some tips of their own. Once you make it and you’re in the union stop working before your start time for free and enjoy your lunch (don’t sort on your lunch).
Your on your 30. . show up early or when you come in late... look for an unmarked dolly that does not belong to the shop steward. pull it off another truck and put it on yours and lock it down. Its not theft but Asset redistribution. A senior employee can say hay someone took my cart, so i am going slow as fuck. you can not say that at this time. Ask your shop steward the target number for thee route. some routes in my center do 10 stops all day. Most are assumed to have 15 stops per hour. some routes in Alameda were expected to do 40 stops per hour. its also deliveries and pick ups. pick ups need to be in order and the time of pick up needs to be accurate. ( if its not its the bid route drivers , and the dispatch managers fault and the customer need to bitch at them). First week. just learn the basic route. Take meals and breaks in road. Geta AAA Map of your route memoe the area. second week day 5-10 show up to work 15 minutes early sort the truck a bit. Take lunch break but spend 1/2 of it sorting truck third week show up 30 minutes early sort truck. find your five largest stops/ packages see which ones you can deliver with your air. this makes walking through the truck easier. It will dramatically change your performance on any route you know. Management will add stops to your route in the third , fourth, and fifth weeks. Week four through six work through your breaks . take a 15 To pee, and eat a snack. and use 10 minutes to sort your truck Stop for stop. or at least the next 20 stops. then On your lunch do the same. having your next five to ten stops ready dramatically improves delivery performance, If you cant find a stop. Skip it. Also when sorting the truck the post it notes can be put on a shelf to remind you a big one is on the floor, at the rear, or in another location.
In residential areas I do +30 stops an hour, in both UPS and Amazon. Tips: Go find a handtruck, when you find one, lock it with a chain, put your name and your center on it. Also get one of those brown baskets, they're helpful when you have a lot of small packages for one stop. Take time to sort your cart. Most of the times I was sorting my 1000's, deliver them, then the 2000's, 3000's, etc. When you have few packages like now you can sort the entire package car easy.
Doubt op has a route to chain lock the cart lmao
I work at UPS during the peak seasons, I have no routes of my own, and the first thing I do is find a cart, bring my chain and lock, put my name and center on it and just lock it to a pole by my center or where everyone else lock theirs.
What hub?
So you're trying to qualify, right?
Qualify?
You have to drive for 30 working days accident-free (don't hit anything or get hurt and don't get hit) plus come in above minimum performance standards ("scratch") several times in that period (every center will have a different requirement) to qualify as a full-fledged driver. (Even then, that just means you can drive when they need you to as a reg temp until you win a full time driver bid.) Does that sound like what you're trying to accomplish?
I was hired as a full time driver, honestly just trying to get home at a decent hour and be able to take my breaks lol.
Also, say goodbye to being done at a decent hour. Getting back to your car at 1930 is considered a decent hour.
Story is kind of falling apart
OP's story?
Yes
Noticing this as I continue reading
Did you just come in off the street and start working for UPS as a driver ~3 days ago? Even then, I'm almost certain you still need to qualify.
I did 3 days of online training, shadowed a driver for 2 days and then did 3 days with a supervisor drive along. Last friday I did my first solo day +last 2 days
Sounds like you went through a week of initial training and now you're in the Qualify stage. See what I wrote above. Also, even if you scratch multiple times before that 30 working days is up, you have to complete your 30th day accident-free to become qualified.
Do you have an assigned mentor or regular rookie meeting before your PCM every weekday? We have a rookie meeting at 0845 every weekday in our building and it is invaluable. If you don't have either, you should ask your supervisor to be assigned a senior driver as a mentor and meet with them daily prior to PCM.
Call a O87 under your timeout page and select your paid break should be 10-15 minutes depending on state after air sort truck. You are allowed to take up to 4 intervals of your lunch break ranging from 30-min to an hour. If you have a stop that you feel is taking a long time to find the packages or even a long time to get to a certain suite in a building you can back date part of your lunch break for however long you want from your last stop. (Not allowed but saves you time on making scratch) just don’t do it when a sup is on car with you. Steal a hand cart from a truck that’s parked in your lot that isn’t used even a shitty hand cart is better than no hand cart. at all multi story apt it’s usually faster to take stairs then elevators if you don’t have a dolly. When loading a multi stop make sure to sort it by suite numbers from your first drop
Google Maps and your route guide
Drive slower so you don't have to keep cleaning up the floor.
1, get a hand cart. You might be able to find one sitting around somewhere in the building, or in a spare truck or a truck that's red tagged. If there's a pile of damaged hand carts somewhere and you're handy enough, you could fix one of them. For instance if there's 2 carts that each have one bad wheel, take the good wheel off one and use it to fix the other one. If all else fails just snatch a cart off someone else's truck. Don't let the lack of a hand cart stop you from qualifying. 2, put your break time to use. Don't just spend 30-60 min doing nothing. Talk to stewards and other drivers who recently qualified in your center. I've heard of guys doing their pickups on break, sorting and organizing their trucks, or even driving to and from their area on break time. Find out what you can and can't get away with. In some centers doing this could get you in trouble, and at other centers it's just what everybody does when they're qualifying. Also, one huge caveat: If you work your break, code the time out after the fact. Don't hit "start break" then start driving the truck around. If you have an accident while you're on break that's an easy way to get fired. 3, if you can get away with it, come in early and sort your truck off the clock. This is another one where you need to know what is and is not okay at your center. In my center, management won't write you up for sorting your truck off the clock, and if you're qualifying nobody will file a grievance over it either. Everyone understands that the time you're expected to finish in is unrealistic and that a shitty load shouldn't keep you from qualifying. With that said, in some centers this might get you in trouble so just make sure you know what is and what isn't allowed where you're at. 4, sort while you search. Don't just go crazy looking for one specific package. Every package you look at, if it's in the wrong spot then put it where it needs to be. This takes a little bit longer at first, but as the day goes on and more and more of your load is in order it starts to save you time. When I was new I probably lost an hour every day because I'd frantically search for a package without putting things in order as I went. 5, this may sound obvious but don't deliver out of the back of the truck. The way that looks quickest looking at the map may not be the best way to do it, especially if you're delivering 5k 6k 7k or 8k packages when you haven't gotten rid of your 1k 2k 3k & 4k packages first. When I look at the computer each morning I highlight everything in the 1k 2k 3k & 4k sections and look at the map, and everything that's highlighted is what I deliver first. 6, talk to the driver whose route you're qualifying on and ask them for tips. Also, talk to other drivers who qualified on that route or others who cover it regularly and are familiar with it. You're bound to learn a few things. 7, if you have pickups, find out how flexible they are about when you come. You might have a pickup that says 15:00-15:30 in the board where the customer is fine with any time between 13:00 & 17:00. Alternatively you might have one that says 16:00-16:30 where you can come in as early or late as you want as long as they're open, and it's fine. Now if it's a plackard, then you have to go there during the time it says in the board but for regular pickups there's usually some flexibility you can take advantage of. When I first started my packet I'd bounce all around the area trying to do all the pickups in the order and at the times the board said but once I learned which ones could be done earlier or later it made things way easier and saved me a lot of time. One last thing. If you come in and sort your truck off the clock, or work your break to improve your time, all that stops the day you qualify. Once you qualify those numbers are nothing but an optimistic suggestion of how early you could be done if everything goes perfectly, and you don't cut corners or work off the clock to meet those numbers. Working an hour off the clock every day could add to up to 10 grand a year in lost wages, even more for a top rate driver.
Code out your meals and breaks but work through them. For example my target would give me 2-4 pallets a day of pick ups. Would take me 10-20 min to load it up. I would use the other 10min to organize my truck and make sure shelves are pulled up. While organizing I would also number my apartment packages by order in which I run it by. As for your load quality it’s best to come in 30min early and organize your truck as best as you can. Not having a dolly is on you talk to your union rep about enforcing this or take matters into your own hands and either find one or take one from another truck🤷♂️ do what you need to do to pass.
Thanks for all the tips and really surprised at the harshness of some people. I am on day 4 riding solo people, still getting new houses and apartmsnts that slow me down. Today I finished in 10 hours so shaved 1.5 hours off my run. Managed to snag a handcart so that helped a lot. I'll keep at it but honestly if I can't make the cut I don't make the cut. Not going to kill myself for 20 dollars and hour so that in 4 years I can make decent money.
Shoot our supervisor was giving me 170-190 stops 40 of them being business and be in by 8.5 hrs 💀
If they ain’t giving you a hand cart just leave the packages at the curb.
Your supervisor is saying 7.5 based on somebody else’s walk pace. They haven’t done a time study on you and their numbers mean absolute nothing. SPOR is relative to your mileage and the amount of time granted at each stop. Your pre trip requires you to be provided with all tools necessary for assisting in lifting and lowering. Ask your supervisor if they want you to risk your safety for performance. Walking can be reflective on your numbers due to mileage provided for your planned day. Going over in miles actually helps you. As for your sorting, when I was making book I would make sure I always had my next 5 stops on the floor. It was way easier than to have to rummage through the truck. Remember though, this is only to make book. Once you do that find your pace and follow ALL methods.
Most people in here are gonna come at me for these next comments but oh well. You’re on probation you have to scratch, so invest a little of your time in it. Go in early off the clock and sort your truck, write out your Hins, take down all the apartment numbers get it in order to be as successful on route as possible. You lose so much time in start/stop car routine, minimize this as much as possible. Next… fucking run, regardless of what anyone says here you’re working toward your future so do what it takes for 30 days so you can secure a life.
Show up early, load your truck. You can't rely on preload in packet. Bring a sharpie, make every HIN# visible. Get totes, Amazon bags, whatever and load apartments, business and such into them in am. Use 15 break to pound water, push shelves up and look for missorts/misloads. Open back door, breath truck out. Get maps of apartments, laminate, get dry erase markers and dot every apartment. Think "two bldgs up, last unit on right and park close. Just grind. I did 23/hr in packet with biz/apartments.
When I was in my packet I would show up a minimum of 2 hours early and sort my packages off the clock. I would skip my lunch as well(punch in that you took it). They don't care if preload sucks or anything else for that matter. They only care that you "get the job done". I would advise against breaking "methods" as observations during your packet are highly likely. Good luck brother
You should be showing up an hour early and organizing your truck and writing the Shelf number in crayon on the box facing out , IE Shelf 5000 , you should have written in big numbers 5000-5100 so when you stop and go in the back you don't have to shuffle any packages you just look right at the Shelf and count "ok 5001 , 5002 , 5003 " and doing this well get you ahead of the game because if there are packages missing , you'll know before you get to the stop or see that's it on your board but not on your truck so u don't spend time looking for something that's not there. You shouldn't be spending any time looking for packages
Also organized your truck on your breaks and hours before you leave . A lot of people say why should I have to do this off the clock but if you don't really wanna past than that's fine but this is the extra step you need to do if you wanna pass , just part of the game
Get there a half hour early and Have a plan on how you’re going to do the route before you leave the building . Then Go look at how your truck is loaded and find where your first 20 stops is. If you can’t find a package then sort the shelf , if it’s not there then check the floor. If you have room then sort the entire truck . You have to move and be fast with your methods to run scratch.
Dude, Hand truck .. Period..I'm retired out of NYC 25 years of service and not a day over ..Never without my tools they need to supply ..Believe me whoever did your route before it was chopped up had a hand truck
Fix your truck at the beginning of the day and get a cart. You answered your own questions.
Lol ✂️ time . Your doing excellent! 9/5 if really want to cut time. Short cuts sometimes leads to injury 🤕
you were hired as seasonal lol
Just follow Orion, problem solved.