Thank you to all the UPS/FedEx personnel

gassux

Member
Mar 14, 2010
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18
What is a good tip for the UPS dude? I had the same guy for 20yrs and now it seems to be a rotation of drivers. My friend does a route near the city and he can pull in 30k in tips in a good year. I'm pretty sure most shops are teamsters as well.
 

six5creed

Member
Jan 6, 2016
1,046
58
48
N.C.
What is a good tip for the UPS dude? I had the same guy for 20yrs and now it seems to be a rotation of drivers. My friend does a route near the city and he can pull in 30k in tips in a good year. I'm pretty sure most shops are teamsters as well.
I usually give ours half my Christmas bonus. It varies, one year I got a box of peanut brittle and last year I got 3 weeks pay.
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
21,681
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Phoenix Az
I feel for my driver. super nice guy and hes been telling me just how packed up they are on packages right now too. We have been trying to get all UPS shipping done for him by Noon when he comes by to drop packages off. Generally he does another swing by at 3:00 to pick up out going packages, this way he can skip us at the end of the day. We always give him a pack of fairytale brownies. he loves them things :D
 

2004LB7

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2010
6,987
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Norcal
Thank you. :thumb: I will get roughly 15-20hrs OT weekly from here until the third week of January. Christmas does not end on Christmas in this business. DOT limits us to 60hr weeks otherwise it'd be even more.
Besides, if we were not busy this time of year, Id be scared about my pension. UPS predicts a 14% increase in volume this year....which I think is low. We're already seeing very heavy volume now.

Its really not a thankless job. Most people are very appreciative when they get a package. I do my level best to help parents hide obvious gifts (pkgs with pictures on them), too.

I have fun simply b/c I'm one of Santa's Elves this time of year and its really the only time that I'm challenged on my route. I come off "autopilot" in December. :roflmao:


we have had a few different UPS drivers on the route that drops off at my work. all have been great guys. the latest to run this route has been outstanding. remembers our names, prefered drop off times, will joke with us if he's got the time, etc.

we thank him often and appreciate their hard work :beer
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,611
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Mid Michigan
I wonder if they are just dropping a semi trailer in big neighborhoods and having an army of golf carts come and unload it? I haven't seen any golf carts in our area yet.

Keep giving us updates Tom I find it very interesting how your workload changes for the holidays. And lastly thanks to all of you that help get our gifts to where they're going this holiday season.

No idea on the whole "golf cart" deal. Confuses me, too.

Today's follow up was 165 stops and 385 packages, all in one trip. Loader did a phenomenal job. Honestly could've done a lot more work if dispatcher would've given it to me. Noticed on my board that I was being "followed" around electronically by someone in management. Hope they learned how to run a route efficiently and intelligently.

I suspect UPS delivers late to my dirt road because driver had truck stuck in large mud puddle.

One day driving my dually to the Sisters, just slowly driving down a dirt road coming up to an intersection with stop sign, I see the big brown turn onto the road I was on and :spit: through a huge puddle on the opposite side of road.

You're delivered late in the day b/c thats how the route is designed. The Grand River really screws with routing out there.

Oh god....so you were the guy who did that to me? :hehe: That's ok, I actually like mud-bogging in a brown truck, so go right on ahead and force me over into the yuck. Our car-washers hate me.
It's that damn low spot out front of your house that SUCKS! I always catch some person coming down the road who forces me to stop before hitting that damn thing. Probably end up in Russman's field if I hit that spot at speed.

BTW guys, if you havent figured it out yet, I'm chevor's UPS guy. :hehe:

I thought next day air with UPS had to be there by 10A.M? Am I wrong on that?

Depends on service level selected by shipper and consignee's location. Standard NDA is 10:30 or noon, depending on distance from the Center. NDASaver is 3:00 or 4:30 for businesses (follows the same guidelines as NDA), but end of day for residential.
In rural areas farther than 40 miles from the Center, commit times are waived. That matches the level of service that FedEx gives for that area.
I have three zip codes (the entire outer half of my route) that is like that.

What is a good tip for the UPS dude? I had the same guy for 20yrs and now it seems to be a rotation of drivers. My friend does a route near the city and he can pull in 30k in tips in a good year. I'm pretty sure most shops are teamsters as well.

Whatever you want to give. I get cookies, bags of mints, boxes of candy, $$, and an occasional bottle of booze. ;) Its not something we expect to get, but really appreciate it when someone thinks of us. Sounds like your route got changed to a training area. My apologies. I pray that doesnt happen to my route when I finally retire. Yes, we're all Teamsters, but Hoffa and Hall suck. They've sold the membership down the river.
 
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chevor

Highway hauler.
Sep 17, 2015
192
0
0
On the Road
Dad has a few reasons do to the cause of that low spot.
Didn't have standing water there before the gravel pit next store pushed top soil into the swamp by the road.

Years ago plow truck blade set low caught the drain tile in that spot. Dad said truck had to be pulled out. They used to really put a on crown in the road until that happened. Plow truck also cut the phone cable there.
 
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clrussell

pro-procrastinator
Sep 23, 2013
5,928
399
83
In all honesty I never dreamed of tipping my ups driver... Thanks for the idea!
 

chevor

Highway hauler.
Sep 17, 2015
192
0
0
On the Road
FedEx showed up today and with a new driver......A YOUNG LADY. Found first package then bent over in front of me twice trying to find the second......Makes me think she's trying to get more than just a tip.:drool:


I sorry to say Tom your in a distance second place now.
 

moparkxracer

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2010
2,309
33
48
Out and about
Or she's trying to get the "tip"..... LMOA!!

FedEx showed up today and with a new driver......A YOUNG LADY. Found first package then bent over in front of me twice trying to find the second......Makes me think she's trying to get more than just a tip.:drool:


I sorry to say Tom your in a distance second place now.
 

jlawles2

Well-known member
Jan 28, 2010
1,058
40
48
Danbury, TX
And UPS is using a golf cart and little garden trailer around here to deliver packages. WTF?

I live in a small town (11 streets or so). Both the GF son and next door neighbor are UPS delivery drivers. They use the golf carts and trailer thing to help the driver make multiple deliveries at one time. They fill the trailer with packages, and the helper delivers. GF's son had the mall before becoming full time driver and they would drop off a UPS trailer, then he would show up in his personal vehicle, make all of the mall drops and pickups, then call in and tell them he was finished. Another UPS truck would come by and pick up the trailer.

UPS has been doing everything they can think of to help make the insane number of deliveries needed to keep people happy. I can say at this time of they year its not uncommon for both the neighbor and GF's son to work till about 10pm making deliveries. I also know they are a brotherhood (most of them) and if they finish early, will meet another driver to take deliveries from him so they can all get home at a decent hour.
 

mpeters0991

Member
Aug 17, 2010
312
0
16
34
Southeast Iowa
Are you guys (ups guys) shipping more stuff by road this year? It doesn't seems like I'm seeing as much ups stuff on our trains as what I figured, granted there still is a lot but I figured we'd have significantly right now.
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,611
1,868
113
Mid Michigan
Im not sure, Mike. Maybe they're using the sleeper teams moreso this year?

So, to recap peak first week:

stops/pkgs (this is on about 1/3 my "normal" area, too)

Fri: 140/285
Mon: 181/406
Tue: 165/385
Wed: 167/305
Thu: 175/353
Fri: 153/274

...AND I saved miles over the computer every single day. :rofl: One heckuva week. Monday (tomorrow) is supposed to be more of the same.:thumb:

UPS has been doing everything they can think of to help make the insane number of deliveries needed to keep people happy. I can say at this time of they year its not uncommon for both the neighbor and GF's son to work till about 10pm making deliveries. I also know they are a brotherhood (most of them) and if they finish early, will meet another driver to take deliveries from him so they can all get home at a decent hour.

The thing I'm worried about is if we get bad weather, or the package count continues to grow out of control and we just dont have the manpower to handle it (b/c how would we know?), then no matter how good a job we do it just wont be good enough for some people, and the media will have a field day making us look like bumbling fools.
 
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mpeters0991

Member
Aug 17, 2010
312
0
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Southeast Iowa
I've been seeing them as well. We've gotten pretty good at spotting what looks to be ups loads haha. I know I passed a train on my way home from Chicago today that was about 90% ups. Needless to say it was pretty hot. Our train today was late on the way home going to around the Stockton CA (Northbay facility) and the dispatcher told us to turn all our power online and run it like we stole it. It's always music to our hears hearing that.
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,611
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Mid Michigan
Forgot to update this last week...

Peak week #2:

Date/Day/stops/pkgs

12/5-Mon 177/313
12/6-Tues 172/373
12/7-Wed 162/275
12/8-Thur 128/226
12/9-Fri 140/241

You can see that 1st week volume carried over to Mon/Tues, and then things started falling off on Wed. But here's the thing....even on Wed-Fri, the overall volume in our center was over our peak day last year...and we set records last year for volume. Mgr came up to me this morning to tell me we had 6 trucks working the area that I and my closest co-worker do the rest of the year. 3x the volume just in our loop alone. Amazing.

Its crazy how online shopping has grown so quickly. This is good for my pension and 401K, though. Keep it up people! :roflmao:
 
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TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,611
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Mid Michigan
Peak Week #3:

Date/Day/Stops/Pkgs

12/12-Mon 145/252
12/13-Tues 158/283
12/14-Wed 160/285
12/15-Thur 144/248
12/16-Fri 146/244

We always go thru a "lull" somewhere in the second/third week of peak, the period between all the people who take advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday and those who procrastinate. :hehe:

Numbers exploded Monday, thats for sure. But thats for another post. Thanks again, everyone. :)
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,611
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Mid Michigan
Drop off? What's that? :rofl:

It usually doesnt slow down until the middle of January.