Quote:
Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc
. So this package went from GA. to CA. without EVER being scanned that is scary . I don't understand how that is possible . Basically that say's that EVERY scan point across the nation didn't do their job . At least the package made it  |
(hubs might be different but when I worked there a few decades ago..)
Process:
1). Package cars come into the building and backed up to an unload belt line. Unloaders put everything on that, which dumps to a massive slide at main sort.
2). Main sort pulls from that into colored boxes of a carousel , which drops onto a series of belts to the separate load lines.
3). The loaders check addresses and pull packages for their destinations from those belts. There was usually 1 scanner person and 1-2 loaders inside the truck, but it was not uncommon for one person to load several semis by themselves and do the work of four people. Hopefully the shift manager printed out a "cheat sheet" of zip codes/states but that sometimes didn't happen.
4). The weak link is the scanners (handheld and overhead). They never beeped for mis-sorts. It was not automatic. Apparently the company never bothered to tie that into their database I guess to save money. The overweight 70lbs+ often got mixed in with the others. Oooh those guys moved really slow. Shift managers got graded on the most work with the fewest employees in the fastest time. They'd walk around screaming the entire shift and were the lowest on the expendable totem pole. Higher ups had to rotate them to prevent lawsuits and fights. They brought in "temporary outside workers" to supplement the union staff at peak and with the blessing of the union. Some did jack-shyte and some worked their tails off. Maybe they made the double digit IQers permanent. IDK.
5). Sometimes when everything was jammed up, shifts understaffed, and the burnt-rubber smell of slipping belts with NOX from the motors mixed with the crunch of boxes and envelopes being crushed by poorly sized transitions or were pouring over the sides below, loaders just tossed boxes into trucks without even scanning or checking the destination. Thus an address destination across town ends up on a semi destined across the country.