Our stewards received the Telematics training yesterday. There were no real surprises in what the system shows. For those of you that don’t know, the system has a series of pages, each with a specific event flagged. Say they want to check seatbelt use, they can pull up the seatbelt page, and every time you moved without putting on the seatbelt a flag goes up at the stop. Each flag shows not only the fact that you didn’t put on the seatbelt, but also shows how far you went before you put the seatbelt on, and what address you were at when you failed to use the seatbelt. The map will also show a red line along the route you took for as far as the seatbelt was not on. For the backing screen the flag shows where you backed first, and how far. They also number the order of the violations. On the side it will give the total distance backed, the total number of violations, etc. The most interesting screen was the lunch hour screen. The lunch hour screen shows the last stop you made, how far you traveled, and how long you sat there. Telematics combines with the DIAD to also keep track of when you record packages while moving. The example we saw had and incredible amount of stops sheeted while driving. I couldn’t even do that and keep the truck on the road. Of course that is a very dangerous practice.
So in case any of you had any doubts, u-Robot. You have definitely entered a new era in delivering for UPS. My predictions for the future are as follows. First the system is going to cost the company a fortune in production. The good part of that will be, if you are a guy that is getting beat up because of a bad time study, or some other fiasco on your area, we simply will redirect them to Telematics. The bad part is, if you are a sit on your ass kind of driver, then run, jump, and fly to get it done, you have a problem. They will see you sitting on your ass, and they will see you exceeding the speed limit, having your bulkhead door open, not wearing your seatbelt, etc., in order to get done on time. There will be no reason to try to make up time. If you get behind, too bad. Remember one thing as they implement this system across the country. It falls into the category of too much information. If you are a 2 hour over driver, you will hear about what you are doing on your area, but if it’s the time study’s fault, they will have no excuses, and will have to stop harassing you. The rest of you will simply have to conform to their safety expectations. That’s really not a bad thing when you think about it. Most of you have those good habits anyway. Those of you that do not will end up fired if you don’t learn them, and eventually you will go away. You all can understand what a cost injuries, and accidents are for the company. So you can see the justification in their expenditure. For the company to sell out production in the name of safety, spend the millions it cost to install, implement, train the hourlys, and management people to use the system, you can see how important these issues are to them. For all of us it’s simple, we-Robot. It’s just going to become the way of life at UPS. You can imagine the changes I’ve seen in 30 years. What does the next 30 hold? Guess we’ll see.
                                                          u-Robot!

I’ll start off with one of my rules of being a steward- 
            The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same!
Telematics is simply an extension of the company’s desire to maintain complete control over a drivers thoughts and actions through fear. They used to do it by having a million screaming stupidvisors harassing, and bullying you face to face, with a work report in their back pocket. They would get in your face, (usually without a steward present), and tell you what a worthless piece of crap you were, and that they were personally going to make you their project, then go home and screw your wife because you were such a piece of garbage and she would like the stupidvisor more than you. (Yes, really!) The whole idea is to induce fear among the drivers in order to get them to perform at the highest levels possible.
The more things change! Today the screaming stupidvisor has been replaced by Telematics. Remember I told you that their Technology is designed to replace management, not the driver. For most of us Telematics just represents another harassment tool. Most of us simply report to work on time, and do our jobs that we are paid to do. Ironically the biggest casualty of Telematics will be the running, jumping, freakazoid, we all have in our centers that thinks it’s OK to run the company like a paper route. Keep in mind that many of your supervisors were just such people as drivers. PAS had much the same fear factor attached to it. Mostly it is the fear of the unknown. None of you need to worry about the system. They will not be able to use it against you out of the box. You simply need to perform your job as trained. They must do direct observation in order to discipline. That doesn’t mean they won’t use it for harassment. I’m sure they already find reasons to harass you anyway, right? 
The more they stay the same! My recommendation to you all is the same recommendation I have made for 30 years as a steward. Go out and do the job you are being paid to do. Work safely, drive safely, make safe deliveries, come in when you are done. Our job is not a social event, or a time to go shopping, or a chance to get your car fixed, or a yard sale excursion. The company asks you to have contact with the customer to further sales leads etc. Other than that you need to keep your relationships to your own time. Most of you know these rules, and most of you follow them. You all know who are the real screwup drivers around you. Now with the advent of Telematics you get to watch them squirm. The rest of you can go in peace.