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Crumudgeon

Crumudgeon

Guru of the Gobblydeguk Constitutionalist
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The TForce to-do list: 12 things TFI wants to fix about UPS Freight

UPS' freight segment was not its priority, which meant some things fell through the cracks. Now, as the division's new owner, TFI must roll up its sleeves.
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No doubt they bought UPGF to succeed, but at what cost to the employees?

Agreed freight pricing was bat crap crazy. Agreed hold freight was off the chart.

Concerned about "too many doors", IMHO terminal closures are certain. Look for some end of the line low volume terminals to be realigned.
Concerned while they state they will work with the Union, he mentioned the 2018 contract fiasco. Sense weakness?? Concerned, we strive for shareholder success. Hope it is not a profit before people mentality.

What was missing. Bloated inept management. Lack of a viable HR dept., that is actually concerned with HR issues. Incompetent maintenance of the fleet and lift trucks. Lack of training pertaining to evolving technology in the equipment. My first "ghost brake" with an auto-brake tractor was interesting to say the least.

The long term future might look bright, but the short term might be painful.

All IMHO of course... Be safe....
 
Crumudgeon said:
www.transportdive.com

The TForce to-do list: 12 things TFI wants to fix about UPS Freight

UPS' freight segment was not its priority, which meant some things fell through the cracks. Now, as the division's new owner, TFI must roll up its sleeves.
www.transportdive.com www.transportdive.com

No doubt they bought UPGF to succeed, but at what cost to the employees?

Agreed freight pricing was bat crap crazy. Agreed hold freight was off the chart.

Concerned about "too many doors", IMHO terminal closures are certain. Look for some end of the line low volume terminals to be realigned.
Concerned while they state they will work with the Union, he mentioned the 2018 contract fiasco. Sense weakness?? Concerned, we strive for shareholder success. Hope it is not a profit before people mentality.

What was missing. Bloated inept management. Lack of a viable HR dept., that is actually concerned with HR issues. Incompetent maintenance of the fleet and lift trucks. Lack of training pertaining to evolving technology in the equipment. My first "ghost brake" with an auto-brake tractor was interesting to say the least.

The long term future might look bright, but the short term might be painful.

All IMHO of course... Be safe....
Click to expand...
"Impossible, just can't happen, if system fails, it switches over to manual and you'll never know it happened"
This was told to me by a brake co rep who was visiting the shop.
2 weeks later I was bobtailing a 78 Brigadier, touched the brakes, nothing happened, no brakes, like stepping on a wet sponge.
Lucky there was no traffic.
Shop told me where to remove a fuse, they switched to manual.
Next week they disabled all the Brigadiers and U model Mack 121 systems
 
seabreeze said:
"Impossible, just can't happen, if system fails, it switches over to manual and you'll never know it happened"
This was told to me by a brake co rep who was visiting the shop.
2 weeks later I was bobtailing a 78 Brigadier, touched the brakes, nothing happened, no brakes, like stepping on a wet sponge.
Lucky there was no traffic.
Shop told me where to remove a fuse, they switched to manual.
Next week they disabled all the Brigadiers and U model Mack 121 systems
Click to expand...
When you say they disabled the brakes was it like this for you?
coffee starbucks GIF
 
The first Bull's hit is going back down to 65. The trucks are already so freaking slow already.

Buuuut everyone else runs 65.....................so..........i guess we'll do it too. According to alain's "logic." ???
 
Now, i actually agree with 3rd party fueling in order to minimize environmental risk. But it sure as hell isn't saving us any time.

And, we could go with above ground tanks?
 

Cargo claims​

The problem: At UPS Freight, claims being 1% of revenue was considered great, because the team had gotten it down from 2%, Bedard said. But TFI prefers 0.25%. And TForce is spending about $350,000 a month for spills. "I fell off my chair when I learned that," Bedard said. "Now we are working with the team to address [that] this is not normal, guys. I mean, how, what are we doing?"

The fix: Training. "It's the way you load the trailers, and there's many things like that," Bedard said.

Drug test dock workers !!!
 
ltl driver said:

Cargo claims​

The problem: At UPS Freight, claims being 1% of revenue was considered great, because the team had gotten it down from 2%, Bedard said. But TFI prefers 0.25%. And TForce is spending about $350,000 a month for spills. "I fell off my chair when I learned that," Bedard said. "Now we are working with the team to address [that] this is not normal, guys. I mean, how, what are we doing?"

The fix: Training. "It's the way you load the trailers, and there's many things like that," Bedard said.

Drug test dock workers !!!
Click to expand...
The Fix- Pay a wage to attract quality workers who give a :crap: . Allow the time to recoup, adjust skid placement, focus on headloads.
The unemployment office merry-go-round isn't working so well.
 
As someone who has been inside TFI for a few years now, they will definitely be leaning your operations out over time. You can't turn around the Titanic in a hurry, so be patient.

TFI does not function at the cost of low-level employees. Drivers are important, dock workers matter. They know the business doesn't function without us. They've been in LTL since they got their start back in the 1970's as Transport Cabano, and they have acquired several operations in the years since, most of them Teamster. Their largest operation besides you guys is TST-CF Express, a 100% Teamster-run operation formed from the merger of TST Overland Express (formerly TNT, partner of Holland and Red Star before the break up) and Canadian Freightways (read: Consolidated Freightways Canada) into a single national entity.

Alain Bedard has been running TFI since they bought Overland in the 90's and the company has done nothing but grow since. The man is smart, he knows what he's doing. The company I started at, Highland Transport, functioned with 1/4 the management staff it had before TFI. Contrans, where I am now, has trimmed a lot of unnecessary management staff in recent years.

If anyone at TForce Freight needs to be sweating, it's management. As big shots retire, they will not be replaced. As smaller, less profitable terminals close, more management will disappear. Some terminals will become remotely managed satellite terminals to cut down on terminal managers.

Basically, if you're not mission critical you should be watching for the axe man. Drivers can be relocated, dockworkers too. Do more work with less waste, that's the philosophy.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
As someone who has been inside TFI for a few years now, they will definitely be leaning your operations out over time. You can't turn around the Titanic in a hurry, so be patient.
Click to expand...
Appreciate your input. If TFI only knew what was actually going on other than what the current UPGF leftover managers show them the would be appalled.
The conditions at some terminals are disgusting, use the, {or try to use} the restrooms at GAF you would be sickened, some are locked, the rest are overflowing, trash everywhere, skids, cardboard, freight everywhere. Dark, no safety lanes, no crosswalks to the dock. The main drivers entrance to the dock is between two working doors!!! There are reports of a Va. terminal with no water or rest facilities!!!
As far as management when a terminal has 7 drivers on the street and 4 people in the office, and they are trying to hire another, something is wrong.
I know it has only been a short time and I am sure things will improve, but we are losing good people unsure of the future. The mortgage and car payments are now, not down the road.
If I may offer one suggestion to Mr. Bedard, it would be to send a team out to do surprise inspections at the facilities, see them how they are, not when given notice to put on a show.

IMHO of course... Be safe.......
 
Crumudgeon said:
Appreciate your input. If TFI only knew what was actually going on other than what the current UPGF leftover managers show them the would be appalled.
The conditions at some terminals are disgusting, use the, {or try to use} the restrooms at GAF you would be sickened, some are locked, the rest are overflowing, trash everywhere, skids, cardboard, freight everywhere. Dark, no safety lanes, no crosswalks to the dock. The main drivers entrance to the dock is between two working doors!!! There are reports of a Va. terminal with no water or rest facilities!!!
As far as management when a terminal has 7 drivers on the street and 4 people in the office, and they are trying to hire another, something is wrong.
I know it has only been a short time and I am sure things will improve, but we are losing good people unsure of the future. The mortgage and car payments are now, not down the road.
If I may offer one suggestion to Mr. Bedard, it would be to send a team out to do surprise inspections at the facilities, see them how they are, not when given notice to put on a show.

IMHO of course... Be safe.......
Click to expand...
It might take a couple of years but the people in charge can't hide the closets from view forever.
 
Gaffney is an absolutely disgusting place to work. We've had water and plumbing issues for months. Dayshift Supervisors upstairs playing on their phones while drivers are consistently getting out late. We still have a couple Supervisors around that are more worried about harassing their workers than worrying about freight.
 
We have a dock that’s pretty much considered open doors. No one cleans it. It’s a dock dust bowl as well.
Roll up doors all broken and dangerous to even move without it unraveling.

They have exposed insulation in the inner roof (go figure). The birds do flyby’s and pluck out pieces of fiberglass while building their nest holes, which in turn produce fiberglass dust that fly all over the dock for us to breathe. Very obvious when the morning sun is shining through dock and you see all the particles.

Generations of birds have been building nests in them and they still find it an appropriate expense to replace insulation that serves no purpose.
Bird poop all over customer freight, an occasional bird that flies right by your face and dive bombing birds when we get too close to a nest and yes….the occasional egg and/or new born dropping to it’s death and having an evil dockworker run it over and spread the guts down the dock. Etc….

When we were UPS Rejects, our customer/competition would occasionally swing by to do a dock drop off or pick up. Many comments on how nasty our place looks.
 
If James Casey was alive today he would take a flame thrower to UPS and its executive board.
I am soooo glad they sold us. I am hoping for the days when drivers were free to make decisions, and as long as we got the work done, we were left alone.
I do feel that the heavy hand is gone. Get the trucks loaded, get the freight delivered, make the pick ups, rinse and repeat.
 
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