UPS Freight Diary:

1) This was a combination of 1 day road and the other 4 days city, so not too bad.
However, my YTD is lame. Funny how my company has the highest pay rate, but i have the lowest YTD of all the linehaulers posting here----SEE, THIS IS WHY WE POST CHECKS. To get an accurate representations of what you could make.
Now, in all fairness many/most UPS freight linehaulers have either reached, greatly surpassed, or are near-approaching the 100K mark right now.

a) i'm a little laid back in that i would pass freely to the junior guys so as not to burn myself out. So, that's likely a large reason why my YTD is so lame. This is no longer an option for reasons that are too complex to discuss right now.

2) This was a very dark week for us as a company, with possible unfavorable/negative ramifications directed back to linehaul. Will update probably next week.
a) i'm also in a foul mood for reasons unrelated to work and other than above AND the fact that i'm niteliner BULLPLOP for a while for reasons that are too complex to discuss right now even though the actual dockwork is simple and easy. Although the company related reasons ARE partially a reason why i'm in a f'd up mood right now.

3) i am on niteliner bullplop for a while for reasons that are too complex to discuss right now. The actual dockwork itself is not difficult at all, so that's not the reason why i don't like it. Although it IS getting cold as mofo here in the northeast.....

 

1) Well, first off, if we are both going to work tonight, we both need to get to sleep, if i may be sold bold, sir? i may or may not work tonight because i just did a Sun-thurs hub run / (niteliner bullplop). So, technically i'm off tonight, but may work if i'm needed because i need $$$.
Or, maybe you get to sleep a few hours on your run each night---and yet still blow my ### out of the water YTD-wise......how does that work......???

2)


This IS NOT necessarily an accurate representation of what you could make doing niteliner bullplop; i "take my time" coming back from lunch, if you know what i mean? (we go to lunch immediately upon arriving at the hub---after dropping trailers) And then sometimes i take longer than 1/2 hour (we're allowed 1 hr).

At my terminal, you can come in a work outbound for a few hours before leaving on your run, thus with only a few hours each night before leaving, you can gross at, around, or beyond $2000 per week.

As you can see, in my personal case, i can gross more working city vs. niteliner---with the drawback of more hours required to do it. One advantage with niteliner is you get home early and at a consistent time, for example, 9pm to 6, 7am ish and done. And only about 9-10 hours a night.

i tend to sleep better doing niteliner than extra board because i get back so much earlier on average.

i can say, with authority, that the actual dockwork of niteliner is not strenuous at all AND much easier than city delivery, which in itself is not that difficult esp compared to food and beverage.
i think this whole past week the most strenuous thing i did was move two rectangular beam-type load bars halfway across the dock: Note, it's probably best to only carry one at a time as they can get heavy after a while.

That is all the good i can say about niteliner bullplop.

i think the reason why i'm turned off to dockwork is i'm just not in love with it. Sure, operating a forklift and unloading/loading trailers is actually fun and a bit interesting to me, but i'm just not in love with it. Not excited enough to really want to do it. i like driving the most.

May comment further. Too tired right now.

 

That's unfortunate. But you must do what you have to do.

Looking at my last two checks, it might seem local might actually pay higher than niteliner bullplop because with local there is a likely potential for OVERTIME.?

This is not confirmed yet for reasons such as, more actual time/hours put in when working city, i'm slower/less willing to work the dock---hence possibly less hours when working niteliner, etc.

Many drivers think the advantage for niteliner is easy work, less BS---putting up with customer's bs etc., early and consistent return home.

 

Ok, back to me. i wasn't going to put this in here, but it is a diary.

i need to get off nightshift ASAP.

Last night, i did not work. So, around 11:30p, i got real cozy and magnetized towards bed---it just felt natural to want to go to bed. And, i slept GOOD..............except: i think i was missing out on the deep sleep all week, so last night when i finally DID get some good deep sleep, it WAS TOO DEEP:

i dreampt i/we went to a secluded hotel---like the Overlook. No problem, there were a lot of people there(at least at the beginning). Then, these two girls were there, and we started "messin around" together, but then they tried to strangle me. Then they morphed into something i can't describe. The next thing i know, i'm being taken down some dark strange hallways, which the hallways themselves weren't so bad, but the fact that i'm being taken somewhere/somewhere unknown and i have absolutely no control over it was absolutely terrifying to me. This started to become beyond terrifying----can't really explain it in words. i yelled out repeatedly---in the dream. i did not know i was dreaming at this point so i have no idea if i really yelled out physically?

However, i have been questioned by one of the girls i live with when i had previous bad dreams about yelling, so it's likely that i DID/DO yell out when i dream? (i wasn't sure if this was possible because i thought you are paralyzed when you dream?) After i woke up, i realized i was alone in the basement while one of the other girls was upstairs doing dishes or something so i don't know if she heard me?

But, i definitely lost my friggin mind for a few moments. This is, i think, the first time this has ever happened to me and it WAS NOT good, trust me.

This job is screwing up not only my physical health, but also my MENTAL health. And, i think mental health is more, much more important; At least when your physical health is in trouble, you're still pretty much in control. If your mental health goes, YOU AIN'T IN CONTROL.

From now on, when i see a homeless person in the street and they are ranting about something, i will have more sympathy and understanding.


2) Now more about dockwork:

i will have to say that the dockworkers here do a dam good job. i figure Anybody that voluntarily comes in to work the dock in the middle of the night probably has some aptitude for it. i'm sure it's the same way at fedex.

i think some of the reasons why i'm generally turned off to hub dockwork are as follows:

a) the sheer chaotic-ness of it all-----about 20 forklifts frantically going all out in any/every possible direction. Trying to avoid crashing all night is stressful to me.
The noise----3am ain't the time for this. We talked about possible using electric forklifts, but that likely isn't possible because not enough time to recharge---maybe.

b) the regiment-ness of it all, things have to be done by a certain time, trailers have to be closed at a certain time and be gone. The regiment-ness is not a big deal in itself, but to me it doesn't jive at 3am in the morning. i think the middle of the night is more of a peaceful, "quiet" time----ideal for driving.

c) The grumpy-ness at most hubs does not help. Again, maybe this has something to do with being up at this hour?
(note: not everyone is grumpy)

d) The cold is not actually a super-turn off to me, but it's certainly not a plus.

E) Here, at browntown we have what's known as dimesioning: This is a large 3D scanner that you must run each one of your pallets thru IF origin terminal (the terminal that originally picked up the freight) does not have a scanner at their terminal.
So, you have to bring your freight to the scanner, drop it into a painted off square, back out---so that the scanner doesn't pick you or the forklift up as part of the measurement. Then, and only , then may you proceed taking the freight where it needs to be.

This WASTES TIME. i'm sure ex has it too? Or if not, ex will soon follow because whatever brown does, ex will soon follow and vice-versa because there is a lot of monkey-see-monkey-do in LTL.