Every driver should carry a little sales lead packet in his package car. It could be something as simple as a sales lead card and a couple of shipping forms tucked into a overnight envelope. You never know when the opportunity to make a sale might arise.
        Stewards sometimes have a hard time selling this idea to drivers because the drivers chafe at the thought of setting up a new account, after all, who do you think is going to have to service it?  And what driver these days wants to increase the work load on a route that is probably already running nine and a half hours a day. But growing the business is what makes our jobs secure and that benefits all of us and our families. 
       But here is an even better reason to carry a sales lead packet.
       Be prepared for an unexpected production ride. One of the things everyone shoud do on a production ride is a sales lead. Take the time to grow the business when management is on car. They aren’t going to stop you from spending a little time selling. AND…it will reduce your demonstrated stops per on road hour.
        So, be prepared, carry a sales lead packet in your car at all times.
You never know when you might need it.

     Driver Joe Humperdumper just committed the cardinal sin. He left a package on a doorstep of an apartment. Of course the package disappeared and instead of making him pay for it, we’re going to fire him for making bad driver release deliveries. Just look at this picture. Who in their right mind would leave a package out in the open like this? Driver Joe Humperdumper is the worst at driver release of any driver in this center.
     That was the story the center manager greeted me with upon my arrival to work one Tuesday morning instead of hello. I can’t tell you how many times management has approached me, as the steward, when I got to work telling me of some horror story or another. Telling me how Jane Doe, or John Smith driver was absolutely the biggest criminal on earth for stealing everything from time, to toilet paper from the company, and how they were going to send them to the moon. I know this sounds like exaggeration, but that’s the way it seemed.
     Ironically I spent a short time as a part time supervisor prior to going driving. During that time as a supervisor, they sent me to a Management Labor relations class. Part of the class was a movie showing how a story changes depending on who’s telling it, and what perspective they are coming from. The final part of the training was teaching me not to make a decision till I hear the whole story. Man was that an important lesson when I became a steward.
    The good part about them being in a hurry to get me on their side, was that it gave me time to approach the offending driver, and get his side of the story going into the meeting. Of course the driver usually had an “I didn’t do anything” attitude, and it was usually tough to get the whole picture from them.
     We’d go into the meeting, and very often the company’s case was a whole lot less dramatic than they initially let on. Usually the picture didn’t show the surrounding area, or the tire tracks were not necessarily from our vehicle, or the item hit had been hit a hundred times before, and the driver just happened to be there that day, so he must have done it, and management continued with their usual, “all of our driver’s are cheats and liars” attitude.
     The steward, of course, is left to sort out the details. What is fact. What is assumed. What actually happened. We all know that on occasion the driver did something. Other times it could not be proven that the driver was anywhere near the incident. Most of the time the center manager was taking discipline because the “Lord and Master” above ordered them to.
     Usually the driver was ordered to continue “Covering their ass”, and to be sure to talk to the steward if anything else happened. If discipline was taken, of course the steward filed a grievance, and the process moved on to the grievance procedure. It was the rare, more severe cases that went much further than that. Rarely did anyone pay for a package, and rarely did the driver suffer more than a written warning in their Pittsburgh for a minor infraction.
     Of course all of the drivers were assumed to be liars and cheats from the beginning, and they were guilty of anything anybody ever said they did. Fortunately the union saw to it, that the drivers would have their day in court, and that the stewards were trained to see through the company’s attempts to influence the system.
     The most important part of this scenario is to be sure you do not talk to management about any issue without a steward present. Anything you say will be used against you! Be sure to be open and honest about any incident with your steward when they approach you ahead of the meeting with the company. That steward will be the difference in whether the case will be settled quickly or escalate up the grievance ladder. Finally, never assume that anything is a minor issue. Cover your ass, and call whenever something happens out of the ordinary. They may scoff, and huff, that it’s just a minor deal, but when push comes to shove, it shows you were acting in good faith for the company, not trying to lie, cheat, or steal, like they think you will do.

        The steward’s investigation can be the most important work a steward does. I once had a case where my investigation saved a man’s job.
         
The company came to me and announced that they had received a serious complaint on a driver and were considering termination. They showed me the written complaint. A lady was charging that the driver was hanging around her kids, asking the 10 year old boy to do stuff like play catch and tried to give the girl a hug. When the mom confronted him, he even had the audacity to make amorous advances toward her also. The company’s case looked pretty strong. I knew my investigation would have to be quick, yet thorough. So I set to work. 
        Here is how a good investigation is done.
 
The first thing you want to do is learn the facts. 
           Who is involved. 
           What was said or done? 
           When did it happen? 
           Where did it happen? 
           And Why did it happen — what ‘s the underlying cause?
 
        In conducting a thorough investigation, you should interview all witnesses, request all relevant information from management in regard to the case, review the contract to see what violations occurred, look to see if a past practice was violated, and examine to see if there are grievance settlements on similar situations. Additionally, it is crucial that you document your investigation (take notes), especially interviews with witnesses, because if a case goes to panels, the panel may make its decision based on the evidence that you are uncovering.
        After you’ve investigated a grievance that does not involve a termination, you would want to present the facts and circumstances that led to the grievance, listen to management’s response to see if there is any room to settle, and if not, end the meeting. We call this agreeing to disagree. You are under no obligation to agree with management at this meeting. If you cannot resolve the grievance at this step, take the necessary action to move the grievance to the next step.
        In my case where the woman was accusing the driver of inappropriate behavior, I knew my first goal was to save this driver’s job. I interviewed my driver and he was adamant that his actions were not out of line. He didn’t understand why the mother was so upset, he felt he hadn’t done anything wrong. As often happens in a situation like this, the company’s iron clad case began to unravel as the investigation revealed facts not in the original statement. In this case for instance, it turned out that while the driver was often in uniform, all of the interactions had occurred after work at the house of the mother and the two kids. Could the company terminate an employee for actions that occurred after work?
        I wanted to interview the mother and kids, but you have to be very careful when the other people involved do not work for UPS. Always ask your BA for advice before conducting offsite interviews. In this case, I was allowed to speak with the aggrieved party on the phone and this turned out to be the crucial interview.
        In this case the driver’s job was saved because a thorough investigation brought to light facts that the company case did not reveal. This driver was one of many drivers in our building this summer working unbelievable amounts of excessive overtime. He had not been home before dark on even the longest of summer days, he had violated 60 hours on several occasions. The family that had he was trying to ingratiate himself to turned out to be his own family. They didn’t recognize him anymore since he only ate and slept there when everyone else was in bed.
        Doing a thorough investigation is a important part of a steward’s job.