The End…

I got laid off last night- i actually thought i might survive these cuts a little longer, but they didnt seem to happy about cutting me loose, which made me feel pretty good. either way, i’m back on the job hunt.

U.S. Postal Service, Here i come!

This has been a bad week for DHL- since Tuesday 5 people have been laid off… 4 drivers and a dock worker.  Those of us that are still there are scared shitless that today could be our last day.  Here’s what really sucks.  I get my vacation starting on November 15. and i’m praying that my job lasts long enough for me to get that vacation- and when i do get my vacation, I am going to have to spend it lining up my backup job.

I sure hope the Post Office will take me- Angela and i were talking about this last night.   Starting pay for a mail carrier in New Mexico is 18.00 an hr. my problems would be over.  I have worked for DHL for more than a year, and i barely got them to give me a raise back in july- and when they did give me that raise, it was only enough to cover the health insurance that i never got.  Theres not too many reasons to stay with this job other than to get my vacation. That really sucks too, because now that i’ve gotton used to my route, I like it. but freight has been dropping- a normal day can be up to 80 delivery stops and 25 pickup stops.  i’m down to about 40 deliveries a day and i picked up a new pickup route area on top of my downtown/old town stuff… so at least i’m semi-busy.

time to get ready for work

My New Route

DHL is downsizing, scrambling to find ways to hang on to some money.  if you read the previous blog about my job, you remember that my route was cancelled recently and i was placed on the dock.  Sticking around and waiting for something to happen paid off… sort of.

A few weeks ago Rich informed route 301 that he was going to be taking over route 335s area on top of the area he already had.  That driver quit the next day.  plan B was to get the driver from 335 to do it.  He took everything out, delivered everything on 301’s side, and wasnt able to deliver anything on his origional side of the route.  Rich told him at the end of the work day that he had to take all that other stuff out, and he refused to, (mostly cuz they were all businesses and they closed at 5) so rich fired him haha.  So Rich finally turns back to me.  ” do you think you can handle it?”  he says… to which i replied, YES!!!

so i come back in Monday morning ready to bust out this monster route… this picture does not do it justice but heres basically what it looks like.

i deliver inside the green lines

on a slow day i take out 70 stops.  the route doesnt seem like its that hard, the tricky part is figuring out how to make it flow.  i can practically do the downtown side with my eyes shut, but the area in the heights is messing with my head.  i cannot seem to get the order of the streets down, and it seems like i’m only making left turns.  its a Race with the clock.  i have to have some things off my truck by 10:30 am, some other things off by noon, and some other things off by 3:00.  in the middle of all that theres ground pieces that can be delivered whenever, as long as they get delivered, and i have a pick up route on top of all of this.  Some places want their stuff picked up by 1:00 pm, which throws everything off.

The first day i took over this route, my gps unit got smashed in the back door of my van.  That messed everything up for me… making me resort to the ever confusing map book. Thats too hard for me to use, so i actually resorted to google maps.  When i had the gps, i would enter all my addresses, and when i’d get to a stop, i’d look to see what the next closest one is and go there. it saved me soooo much time.  so when the gps broke, i had to come home and google all my addresses and write down directions to each place- sounds like alot of work, but actually it saved my butt haha.

the old Gps after gettin smashed in the back door of my van

the New GPS

i went out on wednesday and bought a new gps unit.  this one is a lot different from the one i had before… better in a lot of ways, and at the same time, trickier to use.  i havent figured out how to make it route for me like the other one did.  i’m sure i’ll get it, but its gona take some experamenting, which requires time, which i dont really have while on route- but i am getting the hang of it.  The last 2 days of my route, i got attempts on every piece of freight in my van, and brought back like 5 peices that could not be delivered because of things like signature required or a COD payment.  when i master this route, im hittin em up for another raise, and then im gona take a vacation.

i will say this… I’m not bored on this route. LOL