The Parking Lot Olympics

To all shifts at the Hagerstown Hub: We need to talk about one of the more dangerous and frustrating parts of our shift that don't really get much attention—taking place after you clock out or before you clock in.

We call it the Hagerstown Parking Lot Olympics—a daily competition where dozens of cars, trucks, and pedestrians compete for the same square footage of asphalt—a competition we can blame exclusively on scheduling.

The Problem: The Chaotic Consequence to Overlapping Shifts:

The chaos happens because our incoming and outgoing shifts are not staggered properly.

• The outgoing shift (Shift A) is trying to leave and reclaim their personal time. (To get lunch, sit down and relax in their cars, etc.)
  

• The incoming shift (Shift B) is trying to arrive to clock in on time and avoid being late.
  

This creates a high-tension traffic jam that results in:

1. Lost Personal Time: How many times have you been stuck for 5-10 minutes in the choke points just trying to exit the lot? That is your time. You are not on the clock, yet the company’s administrative failure is costing you precious minutes you could be recovering from the high-stress work you just endured.
   

2. Increased Safety Risk: The parking lot becomes a frantic, low-visibility danger zone. The mix of tired drivers trying to leave, rushed drivers trying to enter, and pedestrians trying to get to the entrance creates near-misses daily. It’s an accident waiting to happen, and it's completely unnecessary.
   

3. Stress Before Work: Starting your shift already frustrated and stressed because you had to fight through a traffic jam only decreases your focus and increases the chance of an error inside the building.
   
   

The strain of this parking lot jam is compounded by the stressful conditions of our 30-minute lunch breaks. Management states your break is only 30 minutes from the moment you clock out until the moment you must clock back in. Given the sheer size of the Hagerstown Hub, it can take 5, 8, or even 10 minutes just to walk from the docks to your car or the break room. This means that a mandated 30-minute rest period is, in reality, often cut down to a hurried 10- or 15-minute window of actual rest. This is not a break; it’s a sprint, and it defeats the entire purpose of mandatory rest.

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