Thinking about working at UPS - how's the job?

I'm an 18-year old college student and I'm in desperate need of a job during the summer (my vacation begins at the end of April). I filled out a preliminary contact sheet @ UPS.com and it told me that I'm invited to take a tour of their facility near me.

How's the work? I'm only 125 lbs. - I'm pretty strong, but I'm also pretty scrawny. I love the idea of working nights (I worked for my school's Dept. of Public Safety during the nights a lot last semester and loved it). I want to get strong, and I want to have a job I like. Would you recommend that I look further into a job @ UPS?

 

[T2T III]

From what I've hear, the work stinks. A friend had applied for a package handling position and was able to tell me a few things. The one thing that struck me as odd was:

1) Bathroom breaks are extremely limited - you can't take them unless it's an official break time.

However, I can understand UPS' position - they can't have a bunch of people taking continuous bathroom breaks when the packages are moving over the conveyor belts. But, if you're one to drink (8) 8 oz. glasses of water each day, working there might be tough.

 

[CallTheFBI]

Yeah, I think a job at UPS would be great. You should apply for the position of delivery man. You could drive through neighborhoods in your big brown truck and terrorize little kids.

 

[RossMAN]

I worked as a temp package handler for UPS and loved it.

It was a great workout, time flew by (shifts were 4 hours each) and the pay was good for being a 19 year old.

If there was a UPS closer to me and had hours which better suited my full time job, I'd gladly sign up for part time.

 

[csiro]

Working as a package handler that unloads the trailers is definitely a workout. I thought my arms were going to fall off. The best job of course is the delivery guy. I think the pay is like 25/hr plus overtime. But you'll have to work your way up from the bottom to land that job.

 

[bGIveNs33]

UPS Jobs

What were the hours like?? And the pay?

(for the package handling)

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: CallTheFBI
Yeah, I think a job at UPS would be great. You should apply for the position of delivery man. You could drive through neighborhoods in your big brown truck and terrorize little kids.

Its a unionized position. UPS is a company that embraces the "we promote from withinn" concept. All the suprivisors and account managers were drivers, and before they were drivers, they were P/T handlers.

You cant just apply for a driving job. Well. You can. AFAIK the wait list is 5 years long.

Basically: you have to wait for people to retire or die to get promoted. Their job security is that good.

-PAB

 

[CallTheFBI]

Originally posted by: PAB

Originally posted by: CallTheFBI
Yeah, I think a job at UPS would be great. You should apply for the position of delivery man. You could drive through neighborhoods in your big brown truck and terrorize little kids.

Its a unionized position. UPS is a company that embraces the "we promote from withinn" concept. All the suprivisors and account managers were drivers, and before they were drivers, they were P/T handlers.

You cant just apply for a driving job. Well. You can. AFAIK the wait list is 5 years long.

Basically: you have to wait for people to retire or die to get promoted. Their job security is that good.

-PAB

Jeez, things are getting competitive these days! :frown:

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: PAB

Originally posted by: CallTheFBI
Yeah, I think a job at UPS would be great. You should apply for the position of delivery man. You could drive through neighborhoods in your big brown truck and terrorize little kids.

Its a unionized position. UPS is a company that embraces the "we promote from withinn" concept. All the suprivisors and account managers were drivers, and before they were drivers, they were P/T handlers.

You cant just apply for a driving job. Well. You can. AFAIK the wait list is 5 years long.

Basically: you have to wait for people to retire or die to get promoted. Their job security is that good.

-PAB

Good info to know.

Do you know how UPS drivers and FedEx drivers compare, pay and benefits wise?

How much do UPS drivers make who have 5 years or so seniority?

 

[misle]

I used to work at a large warehouse, unloading trucks. UPS came everyday. The driver was a very cool guy. He had worked at UPS for about 25 years and he made good money. He also got 7 weeks of vacation per year.

I think that UPS drivers make more than FedEx drivers. I had a friend in college that drove for FedEx, and he didn't make that much money. Maybe around $10-12 an hour.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: PAB

Originally posted by: CallTheFBI
Yeah, I think a job at UPS would be great. You should apply for the position of delivery man. You could drive through neighborhoods in your big brown truck and terrorize little kids.

Its a unionized position. UPS is a company that embraces the "we promote from withinn" concept. All the suprivisors and account managers were drivers, and before they were drivers, they were P/T handlers.

You cant just apply for a driving job. Well. You can. AFAIK the wait list is 5 years long.

Basically: you have to wait for people to retire or die to get promoted. Their job security is that good.

-PAB

Good info to know.

Do you know how UPS drivers and FedEx drivers compare, pay and benefits wise?

How much do UPS drivers make who have 5 years or so seniority?

I know that the FedEx ground guys are independent contractors. Basically, they're an outsourced crew. I'm not sure about the pay, but I'll say this.

Anyone ship anything FedEx Ground for Christmas this year? *cough*SuperSix*cough*

The independents did not have the resources to deal with the rush. Over on another forum, one of their members was a FedEx CSR. He posted about what the situation was with all the packages not getting delivered. Paraphrasing, he said the following:

You're ****ed. You get your package when we say you get it. They've suspended the day definite guarantee and you're at the mercy of the drivers, who may or may not be working weekends to cover the increased voulme (Read: Independent contractors mean exactly that. Independent.)

I have no clue how FedEx express work or how the pay is.

UPS integrates their ground and air services, unlike FedEx. That can be a good thing, but I've routinely seen UPS drivers leave the center at 8:55 AM only to be back at 7 or 8 PM. I've heard from a boss there that they make around $68k or so to start with overtime. I'm not sure thats so true, because since they're union their pay is based on seniority. Which means, every year you have on the job your pay grade increase accordingly. That would mean the 20 year guys should be pulling excesses of $100k then. I've heard from a driver that they make around 50 cents a minute on overtime. Which works out to around $20/hr plus some of the best union benefits on the planet, but that may have just based on his seniority.

The responses vary, but the universal truth is that its good money. My account rep was a driver once and moved into a white collar position. He's got 20+ years there and IIRC he has 10+ (I believe it was around thirteen) paid vacation WEEKS a year.

-PAB

EDIT: Usually the part timers dont work for the pay. Over the course of an 12 hour workday, they rotate 3 office people. They all tell me the pay isnt great, but the benefits are.

 

[alm99]

starting rate for FedEx driver s is $17/hr
starting rate for UPS driver is $23/hr

Unloader/loader at UPS start at $8.50/hr. After 90 days you get a .50 raise.

I am an unloader in the evenings from 6-9pm after my day job. I have been there for 4 months and the job sucks. You get completely taken advantage as far as pay and workload. Forget about calling in because you are sick or injured, they completely blow you off and treat you like dirt. I now have shoulder problems because of this job and went to see the doctor yesterday and had X-Rays. Called in and let them know this and all I got was "Do you think you can come in tonight, what about tomorrow?"

Don't get me wrong the company is great, but its slave labor until you become a driver. That can take 3-5 years depending on the waiting list. As far as vacation goes after one years worth of work you get a week off, 2 years get 2 weeks off and so on, I don't know the limit to how many weeks off a year you can get.

EDIT: Benefits are great, buy if you are in school and are covered by your parents insurance, I would look for a job elsewhere. Because unless you work throughout the school year without any breaks you lose seniority and if your goal is to become a driver then you must remain working at UPS. You can't transfer to different facilities if you were to move and keep your seniority either, so if you are to make a career out of UPS, don't move or you start at the bottom.

EDIT #2: I just reread my post and it sort of comes across as the driver is some great job. Trust me the drivers are earning there pay, its not an easy job unless you have 20 years invested in the position and by then you have an easy route.

 

[iamwiz82]

a buddy of mine was an intern there. He spent his days scanning packages that went down the conveyor. He hated more than anything because of the summer heat, from what i recall.

 

[Mallow]

what class drivers lisence do you need to drive those trucks?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Mallow
what class drivers lisence do you need to drive those trucks?

CDL

 

[MuffD]

I did it about ten years ago for about one week and realized that it was wayy to much labor for me. I'm more of a point and click worker

I would seriously eat very good, drink lots of water, and dress lightly. You will earn every dollar you are due to make if you go with this job.

 

[Ferocious]

You will definately EARN your money working for UPS.

 

I'm thinking UPS might not be the job for me - every job I've had has been "Get paid much more than is proportional to the amount of work you do." I'd rather get a job as a cashier at Target or something. Plus, I don't know about working in a hot warehouse all summer.

 

[IGBT]

Don't mess up my packages..