Is this for real, UPS qualcomm or equivalent?!?

Looks and sounds like 'driver coercion' to me. And a pretty clear cut case at that!

As far as the whole speed thing goes, I lock my cruise at 60mph or the speed limit, whichever is lower. I still knock down my miles every day, still make my appt. times every time, and save fuel and wear and tear on my company truck (which is governed at 65mph). And as an added bonus, I get to generally stay out of the packs of cars and trucks doing 68-70+, which I can't keep up with or outrun anyway!

And oh by the way? I'm better rested from day to day, and far less stressed at the end of my day. All from cutting my speed back by 5mph. Just putting that out there for consideration.

 

I do the same thing with a car in traffic. The speeders make very useful baits for smokey.

I don't have a issue with 60's If that is a good strategy in so far defensive driving is concerned it is a good strategy. Now that leaves Dispatch making threats against those who are slow drivers. and what army? Safety? I think not.

Dispatch does collect all drivers who are going to be late against the fleet average of 45 mph come sunrise, for a small percentage of those who recieved the infamous call me messages on the Qcomm it's the last tday in the work place.

If Dispatch is so immorally stupid as to begin and make actual accusations of stealing time... then we as a Industry have a serious problem. I would be the first one out of that door leaving that truck wherever it may be... cinder blocks on them with downtown Camden comes to mind...

Perversely the only other way to resolve Dispatch crazy accusations of stealing time is to stop with this governor foolishness and crank everyone up to 85 which is a lawful speed limit in Texas and certain other spots. So they can get up and run.

Either that or recognize that Dispatch is now a bunch of Nursery staff holding hands of sobbing truckers who have been whipped both ways once too many times around the block.

 

If you're paid by the hour and decide to run 5-10 mph below the speed limit when traffic and weather will allow you to drive the speed limit, why are you doing that? 5-10 mph slower over the course of a day adds an hour or two to each day. Times 5 days per week. That could be $200/week you are stealing from the company by choosing to drag your feet...$1000/month...$12,000/year. If it is a large fleet, that's potentially MILLIONS in lost revenue because of foot dragging employees padding their paychecks.

 

Can't say if the message is real, or just a personal message sent to a single driver who's consistantly late, but this message wouldn't apply to the guys being paid cents per mile. It has to be the drivers that are paid hourly.

Hourly drivers are givin a certain time frame to deliver their loads, and usually they give you PLENTY of time to get their. So driving at a slow pace wouldn't necessarily mean stealing time, as long as you get the load their before the time period. When I worked for IBC, we actually had a signed contract stating we wouldn't go above 55 mph, and the Cadec system in our trucks made sure of that.

I've seen UPS trucks consistantly going 55 in a 65 zone, some going 45, even when bobtailing, although lately they seemed to of upped their speed all of a sudden.....hmmm.

 

Are you forgetting about the Tacograph? It generated a circular paper graph with speed, rpm, and what time and how long your breaks were. Not exactly a Qualcomm, but it was during the good old days. Mostly used by LTL fleets and major oil companies. But is was a tattletale!!!

And I don't think UPS corporate would post a message like that. Not in this day and age, when everything written gets posted and exposed. Can you imagine what the press and the lawyers would do with this info, after a bad accident? And I would think the Teamsters would be all over this too.

I'm very surprised that the FedEx drivers can drive as fast as they do, and seem to have so many accidents, without drawing major attention. I'm always getting passed by FedEx, no matter what speed I'm going.