Just had the tour - have some questions

[cae]

Hello everyone. I just took the tour of the ground hub in Columbia, SC. I'm looking at a part time job as a package handler. It seemed the gentleman from HR doing the tour wanted to do nothing except convince us not to take the job. He said the pay is very low, the conditions are awful (they didn't look so hot on the tour either), etc. He told us to take a day to think about it before getting back to him.

I suppose my questions to you guys would be why did you do it? Are the benefits great? Did you want Full time opportunities, though I think he said to expect to wait 5-7 years on that at least? Are their nice discounts on other services? What's the real attraction for $25-30 a night after taxes?

Thanks!

 

[scratch]

It sounds like the HR guy was being very honest, I hope they all do this.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Truth be told, you can make the same money and work a lot less harder at any of your local fast food franchises.

 

[Anonymous 10]

I guess you could say the attraction is the weight you will lose working there this summer. It's like weight watchers meets Jenny craig.

 

[robot]

The hub is probably tired of people showing up for one day and never showing up again

 

[cae]

He did mention the really high turnover. In any event, I suppose I could stand to lose a few pounds. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Oh Long Johnson]

It seems all of the guys on the preload shift, at least in primary where I am, all have second jobs, or have their own businesses (painters, landscapers) and use the job for the benefits. I took it because I just started college classes in the afternoons and evenings and needed a p/t job to supplement the housing allowance from the GI Bill. Plus it's a foot in the door. Regardless of the wait for driver, or friend/t, management, whatever, no one stays forever so stuff will open up eventually...I hope. Make sure it'll work for whatever your situation is.

 

[splozi]

When I did my walkthrough/tour, the HR guy said the same sort of things. Low pay, part-time hours, hard work. This is probably the only time management is REALLY going to be honest with you. They don't want new hires thinking they will be doing light work in a comfortable environment.

If you are loading/unloading trailers, you will start at $8.50, and you will get a $1 raise after 30 days. If you are doing anything else, you will start at $9.50, same raise. You get another $1 raise every year after that, and I believe there is no cap on this. So if you're still working this same part time job after 20 years, you'll be making $30/hr.

You can make similar starting pay elsewhere doing easier work with more hours, but you're not going to get these kinds of health benefits, and they won't be free. The health benefits kick in after one year (not sure if one year from hire or from seniority). You also will not get a yearly raise like this. I was hired last year, and by Christmas this year I'll be making $11.50/hr. This is still basically crappy pay for someone my age, but where I live there's no way in hell I'd make this much per hour working the types of jobs others here suggest.

There's still go guarantee you will get an interview, even if you're interested. But if you want a challenge, and you like being verbally abused, I say go for it if the opportunity if there.

 

[ORLY!?!]

In reality, robot is half right. They're tired of hiring people one day and they never come back. It happens often, quite often. The other half of this fact is that UPS spends about 1700 dollars on the processing on people being hired. They come to work, then leave is an losing investment in their eyes. So their job is to try and scare away the weak ones before the effort and money is put into them.

 

[Notcool]

When I started I didn't have to wait for benefits plus the economy hadn't tanked yet so I was optimistic. I'm here because I want to drive. I maybe 30 years old or more before I get the chance, started when I was 20 but worth the wait to me for the money some of these guys make. You learn to live with the low loaders pay and supplement some income doing other things. Our hub hasn't hire any new loaders in a couple years. Whats the point they all quit.

 

[upsman2940]

Yeah that's the 509!! They through 40000 trying to fill 2500 positions last year.

 

[ORLY!?!]

Yeah that's the 509!! They through 40000 trying to fill 2500 positions last year.

Oh yea, most buildings host 70%+ turnover rate. My center had 100% turnover last as it was. Losing money on people who wont, cant and never do the job. 40000 to fill just 2500 spots, sound like a huge waste of money. Get senority now, when you can get it, keep it!