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I have a friend who's a UPS delivery driver and he's sent photos before of his truck when he first sees it in the morning. It's so full of boxes/packages he ca

I have a friend who's a UPS delivery driver and he's sent photos before of his truck when he first sees it in the morning. It's so full of boxes/packages he can't even walk into it. Super disorganized. All just stuffed anywhere they can be by the loading crew. Strewn about the floor. But he's sent similar photos in the past as well. So I can't imagine how much worse it can get.

stephenboyd 6y ago
I was a truck loader for UPS for one holiday season. They always maximize the truck space with boxes wedged up to the ceiling. But if they are short-staffed they will have too few loaders for too many trucks and the packages won't be arranged in a findable way for the delivery drivers. The trucks would actually be less full since the loaders won't have time to play Tetris with the boxes.
- spike021 6y ago
  Ah, yeah that's a great point. Definitely don't think they're taking advantage of all the possible space. I feel like drivers have a bit of a thankless job. I definitely appreciate them more after learning this kind of stuff.
russdpale 6y ago
That is standard peak practices, trust me I have seens trucks so full you can barely open any of the doors. It looks disorganized but is not as bad as you think.
- spike021 6y ago
  Well, considering my friend has said he sometimes will get to work extra early so he can unload and try to re-load and organize his load I'd say it's still fairly bad.
  - russdpale 6y ago
    Sounds like he has a bad and /or inexperienced loader(s), but in their defense sometimes, especially during peak, the volume on the belt is so much that you can barely pull your work off the belt much less think about where it has to be loaded.. usually you stack everything until volume slows down, then you load it. But in peak there is never a slowdown, its just balls to wall the entire time, everyone in the entire facility has been stacking out boxes so everything is piled up everywhere, sometimes this goes on for 7 or 8 hours or more in the midst of the peak season. Eventually, the driver gets there for their shift and its huge pressure to just get everything loaded so the driver can get out of there.

stephenboyd 6y ago

I was a truck loader for UPS for one holiday season. They always maximize the truck space with boxes wedged up to the ceiling. But if they are short-staffed they will have too few loaders for too many trucks and the packages won't be arranged in a findable way for the delivery drivers. The trucks would actually be less full since the loaders won't have time to play Tetris with the boxes.

spike021 6y ago
Ah, yeah that's a great point. Definitely don't think they're taking advantage of all the possible space. I feel like drivers have a bit of a thankless job. I definitely appreciate them more after learning this kind of stuff.

russdpale 6y ago

That is standard peak practices, trust me I have seens trucks so full you can barely open any of the doors. It looks disorganized but is not as bad as you think.

spike021 6y ago
Well, considering my friend has said he sometimes will get to work extra early so he can unload and try to re-load and organize his load I'd say it's still fairly bad.
- russdpale 6y ago
  Sounds like he has a bad and /or inexperienced loader(s), but in their defense sometimes, especially during peak, the volume on the belt is so much that you can barely pull your work off the belt much less think about where it has to be loaded.. usually you stack everything until volume slows down, then you load it. But in peak there is never a slowdown, its just balls to wall the entire time, everyone in the entire facility has been stacking out boxes so everything is piled up everywhere, sometimes this goes on for 7 or 8 hours or more in the midst of the peak season. Eventually, the driver gets there for their shift and its huge pressure to just get everything loaded so the driver can get out of there.