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No Tolerance
I've never seen as many drivers fired as we have right now. Every week a couple more go out the door. Sometimes it's 2 or 3 a day. Most of them are under the age of 25 and not yet fully indoctrinated in the UPS mindset. Most of them have been accused of bringing back packages unsheeted and unattempted.
Now I know not running packages and then not sheeting them is serious mistake. But should it be a termination on the first offense? UPS claims that people just aren't getting the message and they have talked about it and talked about it and they aren't going to talk about it anymore. They are going to fire people and maybe they will give them another
chance and maybe they won't. They feel bagging packages involves a certain amount of dishonesty and being fired for dishonesty is not something you generally come back from.
 I know UPS is tired of talking about running misloads and tired of having drivers not do what they are supposed to do, but is that really so very different from how UPS conducts themselves on an everyday basis. Aren't all the drivers just as tired of hearing that management is
going to fix the misload problem. And that management is going to honor the contract and not do our work. Or that management is going to "fix the preload". How many times have you heard that one? I've been here 30 years and UPS management is still promising the same things and still not doing them. They have been promising for 30 years to improve load quality, reduce overtime and stop supervisors from working.
So what is so different from the way management operates and the way the drivers operate. We don't go out everyday thinking that we want to bag a package or bury a stop. We get put into a position where that looks like the best option. Just like management doesn't intend to violate the contract everyday, but they find themselves doing it. So should we
be getting fired for making a mistake when we are shown everyday by management that when the circumstances dictate, you do what you gotta do?
I don't think we should get fired the first time we get caught bagging a package. Management gets 24 hours to fix a problem courtesy of the grievance procedure and I think we should get a chance to fix our mistakes too. That would be fair.
But fairness isn't what UPS is about, is it.
The Road to Retirement
All of us are dreaming about retirement. But very few of us know any details about what hoops we will have to jump through when the time finally comes. I know someone who plans to retire next August, and he has agreed to share with us each month the steps of setting up his retirement.
Let's join him now as he prepares for the first big step, filling out the forms.
After writing for and receiving my pension estimate application and then getting a call from a UPS Retirement representative, I didn't mail in my application right away. After I gave her some information on the phone, I thought she was going to send me my estimate without the application. So I waited.
Two weeks went by and I began to panic. Maybe I should have sent in the application after all. But just as I was about to mail it, I got a letter from UPS. My estimate wasn't quite what I had expected. Based on our phone conversation, I thought they were going to estimate my benefits based on 29.9 years and I would get just short of $3000. NOT. You either have 29 years or you have 30. They don't do fractions. So my benefit with 29.9 years would be $2900. It also said my first payment, based on an estimated retirement
date of Sept. 6 would be Oct. 1. They pay on the first of each month for the month coming up, so I would not receive anything for Sept.6 through Sept.30. So it pays to retire on the last day of the month, otherwise you finish out that month without any wages or pension.
 So I put in a call to my UPS Retirement representative who encouraged me to resubmit my application for an estimate based on a date a month or so later, that way I would have worked 1801 hours or 40 weeks and would receive another pension year, and I would qualify for a 30 year pension. But she warned me to choose carefully because we are only supposed to get 2 estimates a year.
So I sent in my forms and estimated my date of "termination" to be Oct. 3. I rescheduled my vacations to reflect my pushed back retirement date. I did get a confirmation that compiling 1801 hours to qualify for a pension year does include overtime hours and vacation and option days. And I could retire on let's say Sept. 30 and begin pulling my pension and at that time take all 6 weeks of vacation and my option week and collect both at the same time. But I'm not going to do that, I need some vacation this summer or I'll go crazy.
Tricks of the Trade 
Here is a new feature on Denverbrown that I think everybody is going to like. It's called tricks of the trade and it's a place to share some of the things that drivers do that add value to the way they perform their job. This idea wassubmitted by a driver who calls himself the Diamond Plate Surfer. We all know the the diamond plate is the truck floor that we spend 45 hours a week on. These are good ideas and this will be an ongoing feature here on Denverbrown.
If you have a good idea that could help your fellow drivers get through the day a little easier (without violating the methods) and want to share it, then send me an email. You can use your real name or a pseudonym, like the Diamond Plate Surfer.
Greetings one and all. Here is a use for a old Diad holder. They are floating all around the center, I found this one swept into a corner. I attached it to what is left of the rack in my P7. It works great as a dog biscuit holder. Be careful because eventually the dogs on your route find out the source of their treats and use it a feed bag.
 I buy my biscuits at the local grocery store. Buy the cheapest and smallest ones you can even the meanest of dogs love a
Scooby snack no matter what its size and it can get expensive depending on your generosity. I keep three with me when I leave the truck. I Let the subject biter sniff the contents of my hand then give him one. let him eat it then toss one in the opposite direction of the door you are delivering to. Walk with a sense of urgency, be sure to allow yourself enough of a throw to get package placed and make sure that Chopper sees that you have another treat in your hand. Never Ever turn your back or make eye contact to an angry dog.
That is when you will get bit. When you step out of your truck walk while you are facing him. They will not approach you if they cannot flank you. ALL dogs attack from the rear of their subject. If you get into a pickle drop what your are carrying and go into a boxing stance. No dog will approach you knowing he is going to get punched. If he invades your bubble then give him a surprise kick in the mouth. Dogs do not have the ability to kick therefore they will not sense it coming. Don't forget its ok to say no and not deliver at all. I hope my experiance can help.
And here is another good idea from the Diamond Plate Surfer.
My hand truck is standing where it always does in this exact position. It is not tethered down in any way. If you put your hand truck here,
 back to the the lip of shelf 4, blade forward, IT WILL NOT MOVE! There is a secret however.
The blade has to be perfect. If it is bent up at all it will tend to roll forward. This is easily fixed with a heavy load to get her back into square.
If the blade is square and the hand truck moves you need to slow down and drive more carefully. Also if you need to access packages behind the hand truck just pull it forward like you were opening a dishwasher and just let it rest on shelf 2. By doing this It has taught me to take care of my hand truck and its blade. We all know how irritating it is to hear things rolling around in the back of our trucks. Also the blade of your hand truck should never get bent anyway as long as you load it while its laying on its back.
Send your ideas to george@denverbrown.com
Out of the Circle
On May 12 of last year I got my 24 year safe driving award. I've been sitting on pins and needles ever since then hoping to make the Circle of Honor, the 25 year safe driving club. I've thought about it, worried about, talked about it and even dreamed about it.
But I won't have to lose any more sleep over it because on Feb. 21, I drove out of the building, hit the door frame and broke my mirrors off. 24 years, 9 months and 11 days of hard work shattered on the ground like so much broken glass.
I can't believe I did it. I can't believe it's over. I have a tremedous sense of loss. I feel like I've lost a child or a pet. I nurtured that baby for a long time. Especially the last 6 months I have thought about it constantly, been extra cautious, used the 5 seeing habits until I was nearly exhausted. I was so close, so very, very close.
 On that fateful morning, I had been Stewarding since 8:15 and I was running late. It was 9:15 and it's 20 minutes out to my area. I had about a dozen Next Day Airs, all 10:30 commits. It was going to be a tight one, the kind of morning where I sheet up my last NDA at 10:29. As I pretripped my car, another driver walked up with a question about TAW and whether his trip to the doctor that
morning should be paid for time or not. We talked as I got back in my truck and I fired it up and creeped up towards the door and he walked along beside me. We were talking.
When I got to the door, it was closed and I pulled onto the sensors, cut the engine and waited for the door to open. As it went up, we finished our talk and he stepped back. I started the car and drove thru the door in first gear, honking. But I was not centered in the doorway and to my horror, my
right side mirrors hit the door frame and slammed back against the truck. They shattered on impact and 24 years of safe driving crashed to the pavement. I was stunned.
Of course I stopped immediately, secured the car and got out. I couldn't believe how close I was to the door frame. What had I been thinking? Where the Hell was my brain? It's funny how distorted a package car looks at the scene of an accident. Gone was the warm and friendl
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March 2008
