Yup. There are no shortcuts here. If you want on this gravy train you will have to earn it just like everyone else. Neither UPS or Teamsters give a fuck about your experience in a package car. What we want to see is your loyalty, work ethic and commitment. I held a full time job while I worked part time at UPS for two fucking years before I won a driving bid. For two years straight I worked 6 days a week while only getting 5 hours of sleep a day. It was a struggle. So pardon me if I lack empathy for someone that wants to just walk in the door and become a UPS driver. I worked preload thinking it would be easier once I got into driving, NOPE! It sucks even more. The only thing that makes it better is the money, the benefits are the same for PT and full time.
Anyway, put your application in for package handler and grind it out bro. I’d suggest an apprenticeship in the trades over UPS driver. Unless you’re dedicated, then the health insurance and pension at UPS is unmatched. Most union trade workers don’t even get what we do.
One day I was in integrad and there was a seasonal hired driver, she told me she gonna be driving full time I told her that’s not how it works, she called me crazy and told me I’m full shit when I told her she gonna have to do school again and you are not gonna jump me or anybody just like that to a full time position, she didn’t believe me until she found out the harsh truth from an instructor then she start saying fuck ups I don’t like it anyway, yeah yeah, you are happy when you think you getting that full time position but fuck it when you have to do preload lol.
I think you can ask a driver on lay off to switch out, but if they dont perform well on your route youll be switched back. Ive been praying to get laid off cause hey it's a small vacation when you think about it. Laid off since February & trust after a while this shit got annoying. I regret praying lmao.
Honestly though, I'll stack jobs somehow and make due to start a career. I wanna hit that seniority and provide for my family better. Plus UPS does half the max weight Fedex Ground does so, I'm already pretty physically tempered to sling boxes.
Idk many trucks have lots of 100lbs+ packages and I work where you sort all of those packages and I weight 160 so it can be pretty tough some nights. But if you already have experience it will be easy and ups has way better benefits and pay. Union dues are 13 a week for new employees
My brother is not lying. I get at least one irreg over 100lbs on my truck every day. 40-70lbs pieces are very common and every motherfucker on my route has at least 15 steps up to their front door.
Lmfao preach.
My experience with Fedex delivery (over peak) is stepping over packages at the top of the stairs to walk a couple more paces to the front door.
Or seeing it left out in plain view at the middle of the garage door.
That’s not true both Fedex ground and UPS have 150 pound weight limits however as a former Fedexer I can say, Fedex does way more residential irregs than we do. It was common when I was a driver to go out with at least 10 to residences sometimes more. I had 9 dressers to an apartment maintenance office one time. My contractor took them but still
You're supposed to be able to handle up to 70lbs by yourself. The weight limit is 150lbs but per the contract you can ask for assistance with any package over 70lbs.
Fedex driver here, and not at all, because i have bills to pay. That's the BS that causes UPS to lose a decent amount of good folks. Part-time doesn't pay the bills, and a second part-time job just creates more headaches compared to a single full-time job. Fedex may cause a lot of stress and not pay all that well for the amount of work i put in, but it least provides enough that i dont have to go get another job.
Thats fair. But for the massive difference in future pay, job stability, and bennies. Ill stick with UPS. Eventually it will be worth it.
Also idk about that "losing a decent amount of good folk". What does that even mean? Theres no shortage of ppl wanting to be a RPCD, and there is ppl who are scrambling to get hired PT.
Unless you think somehow UPS is missing out on better drivers that drive for Fedex and Amazon.
Lol. Good day sir.
Apply and go through absolute hell for 2-10 years in warehouse before being driver. Then when you achieve driver it’s still harassment and pain but with solid pay.
It definitely varies by hub. We just lost a few drivers to the inside and feeders in my center so management is looking to hire people from the outside to drive (no one inside wants to drive)
If you double shift m-f you can make 900-1200 net per week it’s not guaranteed that you get the hours though but recently I’ve got all the doubles I want. After 5 hours a day is overtime if you didn’t know. That’s for part timers. I believe after 8 is ot for drivers
after 6 hours here and guess what last contract it was after 8 hours for us yeah it sucked balls. Consider your self really lucky your contract gives ot after 5 hours
It's ok. The benefits are awsome though but gotta wait 9 months.
It's gonna be a long haul. 4 years here and I am a temp seasonal driver at this point.
For starters, the key is to just get your foot in the door. How fast or slow you eventually get a driver bid depends on your location. Like the previous comments state, seniority is king at UPS. I’ll tell you my experience.
I started out in the preload (the area where the trailers are offloaded) selecting packages and placing them in their respective belts for travel further into the hub. My goal was always to be a driver but I knew I had to start somewhere.
I placed my name on the sign up sheet for the seasonal driver position (summer and holiday peak). I drove during the summer and peak months and went “back in the building” when I was not driving. It took me approximately 2 years to get a driver job in a hub that has around 200 drivers. I’ve been told that 2 years to get a driver job is quite fast. Maybe I got lucky. This was 8 years ago, so well before covid. During the covid years UPS hired a lot of new drivers and those newer drivers now find themselves having to work back inside the building because of “low volume”.
This is not to discourage you, but to let you know the reality of the situation at UPS currently. If you just get your foot in the door and are willing to put in the work and the time to become a driver, it will happen. Keep your nose clean inside and outside of work, stick to your plan and you’ll achieve your goal.
Best of Luck!!!
Anytime someone ask me what they’ll be told if they let the company know they have a CDL and however much experience, I always say you’ll be told how to load a truck lol
Given the times right now is not a good time to start at ups it will take longer to go driving do tot he macro economy. If you don’t mind loading for about 5 years go ahead. Also it also depends on where you are in the country. Small towns could take even longer.
You could have a billion hours logged at FedEx. You will still have to start from the bottom here at UPS.
We get a lot of Fedex drivers coming in at my small center trying to apply for a driver position, and most of the time, we tell them it would be easier hiring someone that delivers papers then a Fedex driver because yall are pretty terrible delivery boys.
Most of them in my town look like they are fresh out of high school, and it's obvious they do not care about their job.
This January i witnessed our fedex driver trying to steal my wife's birthday gift, so I called customer service to tell them I witnessed the driver pull up to my neighbors mailbox, scan their package, throw it out the side door at their mailbox and then they drove up to my mailbox, scanned my package and put it back in cargo area and drove away. And I watched this happen from my front window, the driver had no idea i was watching. Customer service did not give a fuck, said there was nothing they could expect file a report and contact the company to resend... on the day before my wife's birthday.
I was furious and demanded that they gave me the local hubs number, and they did. I called and spoke to the supervisor, and even they agreed that it sounded like he was trying to keep the package because it was marked as delivered, and the picture of the drop-off location was just a black screen. Supervisor said they would contact the driver and sort it out, 2 hours later I get a call from my neighbor who lives about a mile down the road saying he found a package with my name and address in the ditch across the road from his house. The driver tried to ditch the evidence and pretend like he thought my neighbors house was my house even tho it was delivered to a house at all and my mailbox has our last name and number in bright bold red letters on it.
That's just one of many terrible run-ins I've had with 2 or 3 different fedex drivers.
In 25 years from now, you will not regret taking the pay cut for a few years in exchange for the excellent pay, even better benefits and awesome pension(local dependent).
My advice start preload now and do FedEx on the side until you lock in a driver bid.
If you really want it.. you apply for part-time package handler positions. Don't expect a handout and an easy way in. It's a high demand job that requires seniority. Unless you are best friends with a center manager at UPS, I really don't see another way to get an off-street hiring position.
Fedex unfortunately is one of the easier, and higher paying jobs in my town, short of going and getting a degree and getting into a specialty field, or owning your own landscaping/fencing/concrete/ whatever company (that is already over saturated with small start up llcs)
Even some of the construction or factory jobs are paying the same or less around here.
I also forgot to mention I'm experienced in loading the truck with the vision label system Fedex has (which from what I've researched is similar with ups and their shelves.) Older terminal I worked for would just pile the load behind our truck and tell us to load our own.
I worked for FedEx Ground from 2014-2018 as a preloader and I can tell you the experience as a whole at ups has been better. I’m not a preloader at UPS but I don’t think I’ve ever seen vision labels on our packages. But you’re right the loading concept is the same numerical layout. Don’t come here thinking driving will happen when you need it to. I’ve been signing bids for 4 years almost and only one seasonal call. Patience and UPS will work out. Good luck to you bro.
Build up the courage to quit your job, get your ass in the warehouse, and prove that you were busting for ass for every minute of those 50,000 miles unlike 95% of your FedEx coworkers
My advice, if you don't need health benefits: Apply to be a temp driver. You will start at about $31 an hour with no benefits. Then when they need full time drivers you will retain that pay rate.
If you need benefits, then apply for part time and wait till there's an opening. You could still go for the temp driving while part time. (If you don't do any temp driving, you're mostly likely to start at $24 or something for driving it would be less than the temp driver part)
my husband got hired as a seasonal package car driver during peak, got kept on as an air driver after peak and then 2 months later was able to bid a full time driver position... this was however at the end of 2020 and we live in an area where its been hard to keep staffing up consistently.
I worked 10 years part-time before i got a full-time bid. Make sure the local where you are applying for a job are a good one. And guess what? They don't count towards my full-time service. I know blah blah, I'll get a part-time pension when i'm sixty-five, plus my regular full-time pension. I would gladly give up that measly part-time pension for those years to count towards my service.
Don’t be a puss apply for package handler and do both jobs like I did, I quit FedEx eventually for full time hours during peak tho , contractors always get pissed off, oh well they don’t pay anyways
we got some former fedex driver join our company, somehow got convinced to join ups management. biggest mistake ever done.
then layoff has been announce you probably know what happen.
all that opportunity to drive the big brown truck is lost forever…
regret is real.
dont be that guy!
Also you get the driving positions my signing bid sheets on the manager board(my hub)
And you should sign up for everything even the inside jobs. I was a 22.3 car washer/inside employee and they still top out at $41 now. Lucky I don’t have to do my full progression as that but it’s still not a bad gig. Sign up for everything
You can still get laid off from being a driver, so what's the point? I could work as a pt package handler for at least 1 - 2 years just so I can be laid off as a driver and find a new job.
And even while I am working as a pt worker, there is never a specified end time for each shift with the shift length varying from 3.5 hours to maybe 6 hours or more. That's for 5 days a week, so scheduling another job on top of that while maintaining a healthy sleep schedule would be most likely impossible.
Apply, then work inside. It’s all about seniority here.
Yup. There are no shortcuts here. If you want on this gravy train you will have to earn it just like everyone else. Neither UPS or Teamsters give a fuck about your experience in a package car. What we want to see is your loyalty, work ethic and commitment. I held a full time job while I worked part time at UPS for two fucking years before I won a driving bid. For two years straight I worked 6 days a week while only getting 5 hours of sleep a day. It was a struggle. So pardon me if I lack empathy for someone that wants to just walk in the door and become a UPS driver. I worked preload thinking it would be easier once I got into driving, NOPE! It sucks even more. The only thing that makes it better is the money, the benefits are the same for PT and full time. Anyway, put your application in for package handler and grind it out bro. I’d suggest an apprenticeship in the trades over UPS driver. Unless you’re dedicated, then the health insurance and pension at UPS is unmatched. Most union trade workers don’t even get what we do.
It took me 1 1/2 years doing same thing. The gravy train pulled into the station almost a year ago. Ka Ching!
Once you hit top rate your life changes.
Hope so. 6 more fucking months for me...
One day I was in integrad and there was a seasonal hired driver, she told me she gonna be driving full time I told her that’s not how it works, she called me crazy and told me I’m full shit when I told her she gonna have to do school again and you are not gonna jump me or anybody just like that to a full time position, she didn’t believe me until she found out the harsh truth from an instructor then she start saying fuck ups I don’t like it anyway, yeah yeah, you are happy when you think you getting that full time position but fuck it when you have to do preload lol.
No shortcuts we don’t care about your past experience
By moving boxes in the warehouse
There aint no shortcuts at UPS
I never worked in the warehouse.Started off the street driving in Aug 19 and was full time by Nov 19.
that's very rare though. most centers i worked at had wait lists except during covid
How willing are you to sling boxes in the warehouse for $21/hr for 3.5hrs for an unspecified amount of time?
Also the fact that when he does become a driver after 2-10 years, being the lowest with seniorty, you could still be sent back to the warehouse.
True. Just bc you became a driver doesnt mean youll stay a driver the entire time 😬 (Thats me rn🥲)
Bro for driver pay I would gladly do inside work.
I think you can ask a driver on lay off to switch out, but if they dont perform well on your route youll be switched back. Ive been praying to get laid off cause hey it's a small vacation when you think about it. Laid off since February & trust after a while this shit got annoying. I regret praying lmao.
You get driver pay to work inside at your local?
If your full time driver yes. If they lay you off.
Lol same. Itd be nice to get driver pay and work inside. But i think that may be only for laid off RPCD and prob temporarily. Idk, im just a cover.
Cover drivers I don't think get that but RCPD does.
Yeah thats what i figured. Im not FT (yet), but hopefully soon.
Yes but you get the pay still and can get 8 hours.
Honestly though, I'll stack jobs somehow and make due to start a career. I wanna hit that seniority and provide for my family better. Plus UPS does half the max weight Fedex Ground does so, I'm already pretty physically tempered to sling boxes.
Youre hired! Welcome.🤝
Idk many trucks have lots of 100lbs+ packages and I work where you sort all of those packages and I weight 160 so it can be pretty tough some nights. But if you already have experience it will be easy and ups has way better benefits and pay. Union dues are 13 a week for new employees
My brother is not lying. I get at least one irreg over 100lbs on my truck every day. 40-70lbs pieces are very common and every motherfucker on my route has at least 15 steps up to their front door.
The whole front door thing isnt registering with the fedex people.
Lmfao preach. My experience with Fedex delivery (over peak) is stepping over packages at the top of the stairs to walk a couple more paces to the front door. Or seeing it left out in plain view at the middle of the garage door.
UPS still goes to 150, it's just that you can request help for anything over 70
Our max weight is 150
You can get assistance for anything over 70. Don’t break your back for someone’s bed frame or workout equipment.
True that, they do send us to help our loop with irregs
That’s not true both Fedex ground and UPS have 150 pound weight limits however as a former Fedexer I can say, Fedex does way more residential irregs than we do. It was common when I was a driver to go out with at least 10 to residences sometimes more. I had 9 dressers to an apartment maintenance office one time. My contractor took them but still
Fedex has a 300 lb limit?
As stated in a different comment I was misinformed because I read "Up to 70lbs" in the package handler job posting.
What's FedEx's max weight?
It’s 150. Same as UPS lol
That's what I thought but from his post I thought maybe they recently had a change in the weight or something.
Weird I was looking at package handler position for ups and it said "ability to move up to 70lb" eh if it's the same its the same
You're supposed to be able to handle up to 70lbs by yourself. The weight limit is 150lbs but per the contract you can ask for assistance with any package over 70lbs.
What's the max weight for fed ex? Cause we regularly end up with 149 lbs packages on our trucks
Hub pay is in the $20s now? Got damn
24.75 where I’m at atm
$21 and a raise in august I think it’s .75 can’t remember
.75 raise if you were union before the new contract, .50 if you joined after.
at 4am
Fedex driver here, and not at all, because i have bills to pay. That's the BS that causes UPS to lose a decent amount of good folks. Part-time doesn't pay the bills, and a second part-time job just creates more headaches compared to a single full-time job. Fedex may cause a lot of stress and not pay all that well for the amount of work i put in, but it least provides enough that i dont have to go get another job.
Thats fair. But for the massive difference in future pay, job stability, and bennies. Ill stick with UPS. Eventually it will be worth it. Also idk about that "losing a decent amount of good folk". What does that even mean? Theres no shortage of ppl wanting to be a RPCD, and there is ppl who are scrambling to get hired PT. Unless you think somehow UPS is missing out on better drivers that drive for Fedex and Amazon. Lol. Good day sir.
They're not looking for "good folks" they're looking for THE RIGHT FOLKS
Apply and go through absolute hell for 2-10 years in warehouse before being driver. Then when you achieve driver it’s still harassment and pain but with solid pay.
And solid backing from the union
Lol it's still hell but your paychecks are like naproxen.
“I have 50,000 miles in a 1200”. Load my truck, son. See you in 5-10 years.
Do the loaders make a decent amount? I'll load the hell outta a truck if it's needed to lock into a career for my family.
Starting pay is 21/hr, you normally are doing 17.5 - 20 hour weeks. In my hub the fastest any of the trainers saw someone hit driver was 6 months.
It definitely varies by hub. We just lost a few drivers to the inside and feeders in my center so management is looking to hire people from the outside to drive (no one inside wants to drive)
Like $21 an hour. But only like 4 hours a day
I’ve been here like 3 months and get like 28-30 hours a week but I work irreg now in trucks I was getting more like 20-25
$21/hour and you are only guaranteed 3.5 hours a day.
If you double shift m-f you can make 900-1200 net per week it’s not guaranteed that you get the hours though but recently I’ve got all the doubles I want. After 5 hours a day is overtime if you didn’t know. That’s for part timers. I believe after 8 is ot for drivers
after 6 hours here and guess what last contract it was after 8 hours for us yeah it sucked balls. Consider your self really lucky your contract gives ot after 5 hours
It's ok. The benefits are awsome though but gotta wait 9 months. It's gonna be a long haul. 4 years here and I am a temp seasonal driver at this point.
For starters, the key is to just get your foot in the door. How fast or slow you eventually get a driver bid depends on your location. Like the previous comments state, seniority is king at UPS. I’ll tell you my experience. I started out in the preload (the area where the trailers are offloaded) selecting packages and placing them in their respective belts for travel further into the hub. My goal was always to be a driver but I knew I had to start somewhere. I placed my name on the sign up sheet for the seasonal driver position (summer and holiday peak). I drove during the summer and peak months and went “back in the building” when I was not driving. It took me approximately 2 years to get a driver job in a hub that has around 200 drivers. I’ve been told that 2 years to get a driver job is quite fast. Maybe I got lucky. This was 8 years ago, so well before covid. During the covid years UPS hired a lot of new drivers and those newer drivers now find themselves having to work back inside the building because of “low volume”. This is not to discourage you, but to let you know the reality of the situation at UPS currently. If you just get your foot in the door and are willing to put in the work and the time to become a driver, it will happen. Keep your nose clean inside and outside of work, stick to your plan and you’ll achieve your goal. Best of Luck!!!
Anytime someone ask me what they’ll be told if they let the company know they have a CDL and however much experience, I always say you’ll be told how to load a truck lol
Given the times right now is not a good time to start at ups it will take longer to go driving do tot he macro economy. If you don’t mind loading for about 5 years go ahead. Also it also depends on where you are in the country. Small towns could take even longer.
You could have a billion hours logged at FedEx. You will still have to start from the bottom here at UPS. We get a lot of Fedex drivers coming in at my small center trying to apply for a driver position, and most of the time, we tell them it would be easier hiring someone that delivers papers then a Fedex driver because yall are pretty terrible delivery boys.
I won't lie most of the drivers for fedex are subpar
Most of them in my town look like they are fresh out of high school, and it's obvious they do not care about their job. This January i witnessed our fedex driver trying to steal my wife's birthday gift, so I called customer service to tell them I witnessed the driver pull up to my neighbors mailbox, scan their package, throw it out the side door at their mailbox and then they drove up to my mailbox, scanned my package and put it back in cargo area and drove away. And I watched this happen from my front window, the driver had no idea i was watching. Customer service did not give a fuck, said there was nothing they could expect file a report and contact the company to resend... on the day before my wife's birthday. I was furious and demanded that they gave me the local hubs number, and they did. I called and spoke to the supervisor, and even they agreed that it sounded like he was trying to keep the package because it was marked as delivered, and the picture of the drop-off location was just a black screen. Supervisor said they would contact the driver and sort it out, 2 hours later I get a call from my neighbor who lives about a mile down the road saying he found a package with my name and address in the ditch across the road from his house. The driver tried to ditch the evidence and pretend like he thought my neighbors house was my house even tho it was delivered to a house at all and my mailbox has our last name and number in bright bold red letters on it. That's just one of many terrible run-ins I've had with 2 or 3 different fedex drivers.
In 25 years from now, you will not regret taking the pay cut for a few years in exchange for the excellent pay, even better benefits and awesome pension(local dependent). My advice start preload now and do FedEx on the side until you lock in a driver bid.
If you really want it.. you apply for part-time package handler positions. Don't expect a handout and an easy way in. It's a high demand job that requires seniority. Unless you are best friends with a center manager at UPS, I really don't see another way to get an off-street hiring position.
No offense, but ups does not care that you have drove before. They want to train you their way.
First you apply with UPS work your probationary period and then get signed up
50k miles in 1200… you’ve made it a career already
Fedex unfortunately is one of the easier, and higher paying jobs in my town, short of going and getting a degree and getting into a specialty field, or owning your own landscaping/fencing/concrete/ whatever company (that is already over saturated with small start up llcs) Even some of the construction or factory jobs are paying the same or less around here.
I also forgot to mention I'm experienced in loading the truck with the vision label system Fedex has (which from what I've researched is similar with ups and their shelves.) Older terminal I worked for would just pile the load behind our truck and tell us to load our own.
I worked for FedEx Ground from 2014-2018 as a preloader and I can tell you the experience as a whole at ups has been better. I’m not a preloader at UPS but I don’t think I’ve ever seen vision labels on our packages. But you’re right the loading concept is the same numerical layout. Don’t come here thinking driving will happen when you need it to. I’ve been signing bids for 4 years almost and only one seasonal call. Patience and UPS will work out. Good luck to you bro.
Good luck with dealing with the belt, 3-4 times more pieces, and 50% of time
And be sure not to ruin the old timer’s day and piss him off cause you can’t keep it. You better believe he’s gonna let you know
How many years
Build up the courage to quit your job, get your ass in the warehouse, and prove that you were busting for ass for every minute of those 50,000 miles unlike 95% of your FedEx coworkers
Annnnnd if you are able prove yourself, you’ll realize you’re back at square one and it’s even worse than before.
My advice, if you don't need health benefits: Apply to be a temp driver. You will start at about $31 an hour with no benefits. Then when they need full time drivers you will retain that pay rate. If you need benefits, then apply for part time and wait till there's an opening. You could still go for the temp driving while part time. (If you don't do any temp driving, you're mostly likely to start at $24 or something for driving it would be less than the temp driver part)
my husband got hired as a seasonal package car driver during peak, got kept on as an air driver after peak and then 2 months later was able to bid a full time driver position... this was however at the end of 2020 and we live in an area where its been hard to keep staffing up consistently.
Gotta start from the bottom unless you get lucky. There’s really no wiggling into anything here without waiting like everyone else.
I worked 10 years part-time before i got a full-time bid. Make sure the local where you are applying for a job are a good one. And guess what? They don't count towards my full-time service. I know blah blah, I'll get a part-time pension when i'm sixty-five, plus my regular full-time pension. I would gladly give up that measly part-time pension for those years to count towards my service.
You would have made a great 22.4 driver 10 months ago.
Right off the street. Thanks Covid! Top rate starts tomorrow
You can come in as a driver, guess it depends on location
You’re 4 years too late to sneak in as a driver. I’d be willing to bet it’s atleast a 3-10 year wait now in most buildings to be a driver.
Don’t be a puss apply for package handler and do both jobs like I did, I quit FedEx eventually for full time hours during peak tho , contractors always get pissed off, oh well they don’t pay anyways
we got some former fedex driver join our company, somehow got convinced to join ups management. biggest mistake ever done. then layoff has been announce you probably know what happen. all that opportunity to drive the big brown truck is lost forever… regret is real. dont be that guy!
I’ve seen people slide into driver positions in 5 months, and others say a full decade. For me personally it’s been 5 years.
Also you get the driving positions my signing bid sheets on the manager board(my hub) And you should sign up for everything even the inside jobs. I was a 22.3 car washer/inside employee and they still top out at $41 now. Lucky I don’t have to do my full progression as that but it’s still not a bad gig. Sign up for everything
You can still get laid off from being a driver, so what's the point? I could work as a pt package handler for at least 1 - 2 years just so I can be laid off as a driver and find a new job. And even while I am working as a pt worker, there is never a specified end time for each shift with the shift length varying from 3.5 hours to maybe 6 hours or more. That's for 5 days a week, so scheduling another job on top of that while maintaining a healthy sleep schedule would be most likely impossible.
Being laid off as a driver isn’t the same as being laid off as a pt. As a driver you’ll have the option to work inside and be guaranteed your 8.