The City of Toronto, Ontario has officially recognized PPS Shipper/Receiver Mohibur “MD” Rouf twice in the last five years for the quality of the gardens in front of his house. It’s not much of a stretch to realize that many of the skills Rouf needs to be a successful gardener also apply to working successfully in shipping and receiving at the Toronto PPS plant.
To begin with, gardening takes managerial skills to manage budgets, garden equipment—including machinery and tools—and, above all, time management. Gardening, like shipping and receiving, requires learning skills to keep up to date with new guidelines and trends in the landscaping and gardening industry. And, both gardening and shipping and receiving demand physical and machinery skills.
Time management can be especially challenging for a shipper/receiver because every delivery person expects to be first in line. “None of the drivers has time to wait,” Rouf said. “Always, they want their service first, as well as fast. Sometimes, these drivers won’t secure the loads they bring and I need to unload cargo from their trucks after reorganizing things inside their trailers.”
Rouf, who began with PPS in 2008, appreciates that he can work independently and manage his own schedule to ensure all his duties are completed on time. “Every day is the busiest day for me,” he said of his job at PPS. “There is no fixed time for any particular job during the day and you always have to be ready for anything.”
Learning skills are very important whether working in the garden or at PPS. “There are so many challenges in shipping and receiving,” Rouf said. “We’re always dealing with new customers, new products, new pricing and new ways to process things.” There is much to process. Before shipping, Rouf records the quantity of paint stripped parts ahead of packing them for transport. And then, he either arranges for pick-up with the customer or schedules a delivery.
When receiving, Rouf does a quantity check of the received products to verify with the customer’s paperwork and inform the customer if any sort of delay is anticipated. Another major role is creating customer invoices. “I need to make almost all the work orders and packing slips for all jobs. I also do the draft of Certificate of Compliance for all jobs that need this certification,” he said. “Whenever I get a moment, I organize the shipping area for shipment and I maintain the physical and digital inventory of all supply items, PPE and customer parts.”
Body strength is a must for carrying out manual labor associated with gardening and shipping and receiving. And, with all manual labor, safety is a concern. In addition to the regular PPE, Rouf said it’s important to have someone doing traffic control when loading and unloading flatbed trucks outside of the plant, particularly when it’s snowing during a cold Canadian winter.
But, during Ontario’s warm season, what Rouf does in his free time is predictable. “I also have a small summer vegetable garden at the back of my house,” he said. “I love to manage my gardens with my whole family.”