From: "John Oellrich" 

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Folks,

After a bit more than a month of some pretty intense training, I am now =
officially a FedEx courier and will start doing real, live delivery's =
tomorrow. Of course this is absolutely the worst time of year to be a =
newbie on a delivery route (the norm for FedEx is to put new hires on =
pickup routes, there is a bit more slack time-wise on pickups). = Hopefully
folks will be full of holiday cheer when I arrive with their = package that
was due at 10:30am at some undetermined later time ;->

I am still pretty amazed at the complexity of the job (at least as I = know
it from training). Particularly on the pickup side there is just a = ton of
paperwork involved, especially with International shipments, but = even on
delivery there is still a bunch. And I don't want to get in to = the
computerization. Well, OK, I will. The system was deployed in 1986 = (can
we spell long in the tooth? I knew we could). While it is = effective, the
three devices the courier use are still MS-DOS era = systems (sorry Tony).
The systems are: 1) the Tracker, essentially a = hand held computer with a
user interface from hell that includes a 2x~20 = character LCD display, an
alpha/numeric keyboard laid out in a most = bizarre fashion, and two
scanning devices; 2) DADS, a larger terminal to = get/send messages over a
radio link or upload information from the = Tracker via a docking cradle,
this also has a very bizarre keyboard (and = here it doesn't make any
sense, QWERTY could have been done here), and a = green screen that
displays 20x20 characters and has a 6 screen buffer. = Oh before forget,
both the Tracker and the DADS unit support a character = set less than what
the Baudot code could. 3) the ASTRA label printer. = This is probably the
most effective part of the system, it generates = adhesive routing labels
using thermal printing, basically just works. = Battery life could be
better, and the paper routing system could be more = user friendly for
installing a new roll, but those are nits.

But I got off track. In the last 5 days of training I had to take 3 =
tests. The combined score of those three tests determined whether one =
becomes a courier or is back out on the street (no shit: pass, stay; =
fail, so long, goodbye). And the passing mark is pretty high, 89% = correct
(I got 98%). There were also two other tests earlier in the = training that
had the same dire consequences, Dangerous Goods and = Defensive Driving.
But they didn't weigh as heavy, because they were so = early on and one
hadn't invested a lot of effort yet.

Tomorrow it is out in to the cold, cruel world, figuratively and =
literally. Right now it is 18F with winds about 20MPH. Brrrr!

--=20
john

oellrich{at}earthlink.net
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Folks,
 
After a bit more than a month of some pretty intense training, I am =
now=20
officially a FedEx courier and will start doing real, live delivery's = tomorrow.=20
Of course this is absolutely the worst time of year to be a newbie on a = delivery=20
route (the norm for FedEx is to put new hires on pickup routes, there is = a bit=20
more slack time-wise on pickups). Hopefully folks will be full of = holiday cheer=20
when I arrive with their package that was due at 10:30am at some = undetermined=20
later time ;->
 
I am still pretty amazed at the complexity of the job (at least as =
I know=20
it from training). Particularly on the pickup side there is just a ton = of=20
paperwork involved, especially with International shipments, but even on =

delivery there is still a bunch. And I don't want to get in to the=20
computerization. Well, OK, I will. The system was deployed in 1986 (can =
we spell=20
long in the tooth? I knew we could). While it is effective, the three = devices=20
the courier use are still MS-DOS era systems (sorry Tony). The systems = are: 1)=20
the Tracker, essentially a hand held computer with a user interface from = hell=20
that includes a 2x~20 character LCD display, an alpha/numeric keyboard = laid out=20
in a most bizarre fashion, and two scanning devices; 2) DADS, a larger = terminal=20
to get/send messages over a radio link or upload information from = the=20
Tracker via a docking cradle, this also has a very bizarre keyboard (and = here it=20
doesn't make any sense, QWERTY could have been done here), and a green = screen=20
that displays 20x20 characters and has a 6 screen buffer. Oh before = forget, both=20
the Tracker and the DADS unit support a character set less than what the = Baudot=20
code could. 3) the ASTRA label printer. This is probably the most = effective part=20
of the system, it generates adhesive routing labels using thermal = printing,=20
basically just works. Battery life could be better, and the paper = routing system=20
could be more user friendly for installing a new roll, but those are =
nits.
 
But I got off track. In the last 5 days of training I had to take 3 =
tests.=20
The combined score of those three tests determined whether one becomes a = courier=20
or is back out on the street (no shit: pass, stay; fail, so long, = goodbye). And=20
the passing mark is pretty high, 89% correct (I got 98%). There were = also two=20
other tests earlier in the training that had the same dire consequences, =

Dangerous Goods and Defensive Driving. But they didn't weigh as heavy, = because=20
they were so early on and one hadn't invested a lot of effort yet.
 
Tomorrow it is out in to the cold, cruel world, figuratively and =
literally.=20
Right now it is 18F with winds about 20MPH. Brrrr!
-- john
 
oellrich{at}earthlink.netmailto:oellrich{at}earthlink.net">oellrich{at}earthlink.net
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