feeder position

[gray squirrel]

Any package car drivers made the transition to feeders? Our feeder driver has retired, and the bid is up. The only drawback I can see is the night hours. Is the pay the same. The bid is for a 9 hour day. What about training?

 

[pickup]

Any package car drivers made the transition to feeders? Our feeder driver has retired, and the bid is up. The only drawback I can see is the night hours. Is the pay the same. The bid is for a 9 hour day. What about training?

I can't answer the pay question. The training part? - we had a pretty good thread earlier in the year (that I contributed to , but also learned a bit from). Here it is: http://www.browncafe.com/community/threads/i-start-feeder-next-week-any-advice.212099/

 

[cachsux]

The pay is a tick higher here. The best part is your body will no longer be abused like in package. I went feeder back in 95 and I`ll quit before I go back to package.

 

[pickup]

The pay is a tick higher here. The best part is your body will no longer be abused like in package. I went feeder back in 95 and I`ll quit before I go back to package.

Does a guy who goes from package have to go through the pay progression of feeders?

 

[cachsux]

I didn`t. I would think if you`re at top scale for package you`ll go right to the top for feeder.

 

[over9five]

Just remeber, Gray....Any answer you get here is for that persons supplement/region.

Here in NNE, I went from Package to Feeder a little over 2 years ago. No progression, you go from top Package to top Feeder pay.
HERE, you have to already have your CDL to bid the job. (I had already taken the UPS CDL school). Other locations will train you if you win the bid. If you have a CDL, but haven't driven a tractor trailer in a long time, don't worry. A sup will be with you for your first 40 hours.

Good luck, and make sure you ask people where you are how it works!

 

[brownrod]

Any package car drivers made the transition to feeders? Our feeder driver has retired, and the bid is up. The only drawback I can see is the night hours. Is the pay the same. The bid is for a 9 hour day. What about training?

Thousands of package drivers have made the transition. The pay probably depends on how many trailers you are pulling and your supplement. Our feeders haul doubles and make an additional.25-.30 or so. Our drivers get 2 weeks of training. First week is in the hub, one on one with a supervisor going over all the safety stuff. Second week is on road with the sup.

We have a bunch of feeder runs with different start times. One run has same start as package car. Some start in the afternoon and some start as late as 10 or later at night.

 

[lastoasis]

Do it, I stayed in pkg car way too long. The nice thing is when you have you CDL you have more option beyond UPS.

 

[lastoasis]

Just remember this, pkg car is, by far, the most difficult at parcel. Feeders is, by far, the easiest. Training will be a little tough in the begining and then suddenly you'll "get it". As far as pay goes; you have the potential to make 100K

 

[JimJimmyJames]

Transferring to feeders is like quitting and going to another company.

Imagine a job where they treat you with respect. Where calling out does not put knots in your stomach. Where overtime is something you want, not something you dread. The list goes on...

Ok, I am just going to say it...I love being a feeder driver!

As for training, in my neck of the woods the company sent me to a private school for two weekends in order for me to get my CDL license. The company paid for the school.

After that, I had to wait a couple of months for an opening in the feeder department. The first two weeks in feeders I was trained by a manager, one "unproductive" week (where they train you on UPS methods and equipment), and then one "productive" (where you pull live loads).

As for the pay, as cach says, it's a tick more than package, a tick above that if you pull doubles+.

 

[NEFARIOUS]

In nor cal our pay is 29.54 for a full time driver. Feeder pulling a single is 29.71 and doubles are 29.89. Our work is at night so you also get the .35 shift deferential. Its not for everyone almost all the work is at night so you need to be able to sleep durring the day sounds easy but some people can't do it. I love it its long hours but good pay our run is like 10.5-11 hours.

Richie

 

[spif91]

I got in feeders in 2004 but had the chance to get in 1999............biggest mistake I ever made not going sooner....My 2 boys were small and I didn't think I wanted to be gone from the house at night as the bid run I got and still have is a 9pm start Sunday nite thru Thurs nite. It is so much easier after the first month or so after your body clock gets adjusted to the change in sleeping habits. Is this going to be out of a center or out of a hub? Mine is the same center I worked pkg for 27 years so I still get to see my buddies I have worked with for years. We make triples pay here every night (singles is 29.35, doubles is 29.76 and triples is 30.16 hr) but am in one of the few states that allow triples so I don't know what your case would be in Ohio(don't believe they pull triples there but correct me if I'm wrong), very little supervisor contact in my case (I talk to my sup. maybe 10 times a year and he rides with us 1 night a year) as we know what our job is and go out and get it done without much problem or fanfare, the bad weather is a drawback and I'm sure you would have more trouble in Ohio than we have here, a 50-55 hr week is real commom but it is so much different working those hrs in a Mack or International tractor with am-fm cd player, a/c and a decent heater, XM/Sirrius radio and cb radio than doing it in a pkg car believe me.....My training was 4 days of classroom and driving a tractor around the vicinity of our hub and then a 5 day ride with a sup on my actual run...If you can drive a truck at all you'll be ready after that 5 night ride to get out there by yourself and get after it....the freedom you'll experience is well worth it....In closing I wouldn't pass up the chance. If I had I wouldn't have got another opportunity for 10 to 15 years unless something tragic would have happened to the 2 guys in front of me. Good luck and let us know what you decide..............

 

[cachsux]

Any package car drivers made the transition to feeders? Our feeder driver has retired, and the bid is up. The only drawback I can see is the night hours. Is the pay the same. The bid is for a 9 hour day. What about training?

The "night hours" is only talk. I can bid any time I want now but stay on the midnights so that when I am home it`s during the waking hours with my family. I have never had to miss a ballgame,etc anymore.

Transferring to feeders is like quitting and going to another company.

Imagine a job where they treat you with respect. What branch are you working for,lol? If they hear that out of you they will drug test you. SOME feeder managers are every bit as big a d-bags as their package counter parts. Whats on your side is now you`re a more experienced ,wiser,employee who won`t be intimidated as you were in package.

 

[feederdriver06]

I went from package to 22.3 to feeders. Take the job. Its the best thing you can do. I would have quit the company if I didn't end up where I did and certainly would never go back to package - not even for 5 minutes. You can make night work work to your advantage - don't buy into the myth that "working nights means less family time" because its all BS and there are plenty drivers rolling at night that would back me up on this. Also your'e driving when there is the lightest traffic and public interaction - another bonus of the night side. You'll get used to it and you'll never look back at package and regret that you left.

A class A drivers license costs 2000.00 or more to obtain. Having the company pay for this is a beautiful thing. I look at it as being part of your overall benefits and is one benefit that not everyone gets to take advantage of.

 

[rod]

Do it, I stayed in pkg car way too long. The nice thing is when you have you CDL you have more option beyond UPS.

Also remember that with a CDL comes the chance of getting a DUI when you blow a .04 (I'm talking after work hours here) instead of a .08. Some states may be different. I'm not saying this is wrong- just once again- thats the way it is. CDL = less beers---or none at all

 

[Old International]

Best damn move I ever made. Spent one week in the classroom on my dime(513.00) and then a week on the road with a supe on their dime. Cheapest CDL training anywheres. Did coverage for 5 years, then full time ever since. If I go back to package, there will be two furrows in the concrete where they dragged my heels. Pay here is 28.97 single, 29.47 doubles.

 

[cachsux]

Also remember that with a CDL comes the chance of getting a DUI when you blow a .04 (I'm talking after work hours here) instead of a .08. Some states may be different. I'm not saying this is wrong- just once again- thats the way it is. CDL = less beers---or none at all

Actually it`s DWI, it`s drink at home or don`t. And that covers DUI also,such as any medication too.

 

[NEFARIOUS]

Also remember that with a CDL comes the chance of getting a DUI when you blow a .04 (I'm talking after work hours here) instead of a .08. Some states may be different. I'm not saying this is wrong- just once again- thats the way it is. CDL = less beers---or none at all

Also dirving point system is doubled (one point violation for a class c lic = 2 points with a class A) and no traffic school option for class A.

Richie

 

[dannyboy]

the only position i have ever seen a feeder in is seated.

back to the regularly scheduled diesel smellin program

d

 

[Highwayman]

I started in feeders 21 years ago. Tried package for 3 days and I won't try it again. Sign the bid! Don't forget we CAN hook up our radios in the tractors. They provide the power and speaker hookups and the antennas.