Do you have a Class A license? If so get on with Express as a courier to get your foot in the door, do your time-in-station requirement, then apply through our weekly national postings called JCATS for a Ramp Transport Driver position that pays better than courier work with less hassle. And jobs are often posted with time-in-station requirements waived so you might get into a better job even faster. Helps if you are willing to transfer, might take years, if ever, to get a RTD position locally, depending on where you're at.
Questions regarding Express courier positions
- Thread starter FEDXER
- Start date
Do you have a Class A license? If so get on with Express as a courier to get your foot in the door, do your time-in-station requirement, then apply through our weekly national postings called JCATS for a Ramp Transport Driver position that pays better than courier work with less hassle. And jobs are often posted with time-in-station requirements waived so you might get into a better job even faster. Helps if you are willing to transfer, might take years, if ever, to get a RTD position locally, depending on where you're at.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
RTD's do tend to be have some major seniority.
You're right, our's has 30 years in. But I know one guy who's FT out of DFW with about 7 years, most as a RTD.
Jonathanus
New Member
Hi,
Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.
Tks again and pls keep posting.
Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.
Tks again and pls keep posting.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
If we haven't scared you off yet, you're exactly what Fred wants. Come on down!!
77in77inth
New Member
Hi everybody. For my first post, this is the perfect thread. Let's hope that that the gloves stay off. 
I've been a courier for FedEx for a few years and am currently trying to get a position as a UPS driver because of the guaranteed raises, benefits, and protections that UPS drivers get. I don't expect that the job will be more personally rewarding, but about $50,000 a year instead of about $30,000 a year would be nice.
FedEx isn't completely heartless. The one promise that Fred S has kept was the promise to never lay off FedEx Express employees. Despite the depression that the middle and lower class have been in for the last few decades, he hasn't. But I can't speak for the countless employees of the other branches of the company.
NOBODY that I work with buys their motto of PSP (People, Service, Profit). The enormously clichéd joke and belief is that the motto actually stands for Profit, Service, People. I've had very few good managers. And unfortunately for them, they all had their salaries cut by 5% during the rich-people-weren't-as-rich recession, and they don't seem to expect to ever get that back. At FedEx very few get nearly as much protection from upper management's whims as I believe I will get at a unionized UPS center.
Although anecdotes are so untrustworthy that they should usually be ignored, my anecdotal experiences at FedEx have been infuriating. If I get a job with UPS, I'll tell my story. Until then, I don't feel that telling my story is a safe thing to do.
I haven't worked for UPS yet. Because anecdotes and gossip are so untrustworthy, no UPS or FedEx employee should base their opinions on any story or anecdote or any collections of stories or anecdotes that they hear. Find facts and bottom lines instead.
All of my research into the relevant surveys has lead me to conclude that unionized workers are, at best, no more happy with their station in life than anybody else that hasn't achieved their life's goals is. HOWEVER, almost every survey that I found showed that the great majority of unionized workers wouldn't want a non-union job. My guess is that most unionized workers, when surveyed, would generally credit their unions for protecting them from the financial squeeze that the average middle class family has been enduring for decades. If somebody knows of any research (published by researchers, as opposed to being published by any for-profit media outlet) that addresses that specific point, please point the way.
All of this jives with my anecdotal experience of finding plenty of UPS and USPS workers that gripe about their jobs every bit as much as my FedEx coworkers do, yet finding none of the mythical UPS or USPS drivers who would rather be a FedEx drivers. If this forum is any indication, there are some out there somewhere.
I strongly recommend that if you have a choice between being a UPS courier or a FedEx courier, go with UPS if your bottom line is income and benefits. Every manager that I've asked has privately told me that no driver at FedEx who's been hired in the last decade will ever top out in pay. But of course, none of them will say that publicly.
As a funny footnote, I have figured out how to at least come close to topping out. Get hired, become a manager ASAP, and step back down to being a driver ASAP. From what I've been told, the rules say that a manager must make more money than any driver in their station, based on a 40 hour work week. They also say that if a manager steps down to being a driver, he or she will automatically be topped out. If somebody can verify or disprove that for me, please do.
I've been a courier for FedEx for a few years and am currently trying to get a position as a UPS driver because of the guaranteed raises, benefits, and protections that UPS drivers get. I don't expect that the job will be more personally rewarding, but about $50,000 a year instead of about $30,000 a year would be nice.
FedEx isn't completely heartless. The one promise that Fred S has kept was the promise to never lay off FedEx Express employees. Despite the depression that the middle and lower class have been in for the last few decades, he hasn't. But I can't speak for the countless employees of the other branches of the company.
NOBODY that I work with buys their motto of PSP (People, Service, Profit). The enormously clichéd joke and belief is that the motto actually stands for Profit, Service, People. I've had very few good managers. And unfortunately for them, they all had their salaries cut by 5% during the rich-people-weren't-as-rich recession, and they don't seem to expect to ever get that back. At FedEx very few get nearly as much protection from upper management's whims as I believe I will get at a unionized UPS center.
Although anecdotes are so untrustworthy that they should usually be ignored, my anecdotal experiences at FedEx have been infuriating. If I get a job with UPS, I'll tell my story. Until then, I don't feel that telling my story is a safe thing to do.
I haven't worked for UPS yet. Because anecdotes and gossip are so untrustworthy, no UPS or FedEx employee should base their opinions on any story or anecdote or any collections of stories or anecdotes that they hear. Find facts and bottom lines instead.
All of my research into the relevant surveys has lead me to conclude that unionized workers are, at best, no more happy with their station in life than anybody else that hasn't achieved their life's goals is. HOWEVER, almost every survey that I found showed that the great majority of unionized workers wouldn't want a non-union job. My guess is that most unionized workers, when surveyed, would generally credit their unions for protecting them from the financial squeeze that the average middle class family has been enduring for decades. If somebody knows of any research (published by researchers, as opposed to being published by any for-profit media outlet) that addresses that specific point, please point the way.
All of this jives with my anecdotal experience of finding plenty of UPS and USPS workers that gripe about their jobs every bit as much as my FedEx coworkers do, yet finding none of the mythical UPS or USPS drivers who would rather be a FedEx drivers. If this forum is any indication, there are some out there somewhere.
I strongly recommend that if you have a choice between being a UPS courier or a FedEx courier, go with UPS if your bottom line is income and benefits. Every manager that I've asked has privately told me that no driver at FedEx who's been hired in the last decade will ever top out in pay. But of course, none of them will say that publicly.
As a funny footnote, I have figured out how to at least come close to topping out. Get hired, become a manager ASAP, and step back down to being a driver ASAP. From what I've been told, the rules say that a manager must make more money than any driver in their station, based on a 40 hour work week. They also say that if a manager steps down to being a driver, he or she will automatically be topped out. If somebody can verify or disprove that for me, please do.
77in77inth
New Member
By the way, I hear good things about being a USPS driver too. And my research was based on a papers found using Google Scholar.
Mr. 7
The monkey on the left.
I will only comment on this part.
It just so happens that I know an ops manager who is married to a swing driver. (driver works at a differemt station). I've been told, and I believe it, that the swing makes more money. You make a good point of the 40 hr. work week because we all know that ops. mgrs. work way more than 40 hrs. but, if annual income is your bottom line, a topped out swing will make more. (BTW, same pay scales at both stations).
Secondly, I recently saw a ~4 yr. CRR go to ops. mgr. and lasted about 1 yr. in that position. That person is now a topped out swing at a different station.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Hi everybody. For my first post, this is the perfect thread. Let's hope that that the gloves stay off.
I've been a courier for FedEx for a few years and am currently trying to get a position as a UPS driver because of the guaranteed raises, benefits, and protections that UPS drivers get. I don't expect that the job will be more personally rewarding, but about $50,000 a year instead of about $30,000 a year would be nice.
FedEx isn't completely heartless. The one promise that Fred S has kept was the promise to never lay off FedEx Express employees. Despite the depression that the middle and lower class have been in for the last few decades, he hasn't. But I can't speak for the countless employees of the other branches of the company.
NOBODY that I work with buys their motto of PSP (People, Service, Profit). The enormously clichéd joke and belief is that the motto actually stands for Profit, Service, People. I've had very few good managers. And unfortunately for them, they all had their salaries cut by 5% during the rich-people-weren't-as-rich recession, and they don't seem to expect to ever get that back. At FedEx very few get nearly as much protection from upper management's whims as I believe I will get at a unionized UPS center.
Although anecdotes are so untrustworthy that they should usually be ignored, my anecdotal experiences at FedEx have been infuriating. If I get a job with UPS, I'll tell my story. Until then, I don't feel that telling my story is a safe thing to do.
I haven't worked for UPS yet. Because anecdotes and gossip are so untrustworthy, no UPS or FedEx employee should base their opinions on any story or anecdote or any collections of stories or anecdotes that they hear. Find facts and bottom lines instead.
All of my research into the relevant surveys has lead me to conclude that unionized workers are, at best, no more happy with their station in life than anybody else that hasn't achieved their life's goals is. HOWEVER, almost every survey that I found showed that the great majority of unionized workers wouldn't want a non-union job. My guess is that most unionized workers, when surveyed, would generally credit their unions for protecting them from the financial squeeze that the average middle class family has been enduring for decades. If somebody knows of any research (published by researchers, as opposed to being published by any for-profit media outlet) that addresses that specific point, please point the way.
All of this jives with my anecdotal experience of finding plenty of UPS and USPS workers that gripe about their jobs every bit as much as my FedEx coworkers do, yet finding none of the mythical UPS or USPS drivers who would rather be a FedEx drivers. If this forum is any indication, there are some out there somewhere.
I strongly recommend that if you have a choice between being a UPS courier or a FedEx courier, go with UPS if your bottom line is income and benefits. Every manager that I've asked has privately told me that no driver at FedEx who's been hired in the last decade will ever top out in pay. But of course, none of them will say that publicly.
As a funny footnote, I have figured out how to at least come close to topping out. Get hired, become a manager ASAP, and step back down to being a driver ASAP. From what I've been told, the rules say that a manager must make more money than any driver in their station, based on a 40 hour work week. They also say that if a manager steps down to being a driver, he or she will automatically be topped out. If somebody can verify or disprove that for me, please do.
Very informative post. True about managers that step-down, but I'm not sure how long you have to be a manager before doing this. I would assume that you'd have to make it at least to your commitment date, but perhaps FedEx2000 can clarify that.
Had a mgr suggest that to me several years ago, go into mgmt then step down to topped out courier. I think she said you had to be a mgr a year. FedEx being what it is, I could see getting stuck for longer in mgmt, which I have absolutely no desire to be. Or the rules could change too. I'm sticking with just getting the el out before too much longer.
I had always heard it was 2 years....but I don't know for a fact. Depending on the payscale where you were a mgr vs. where you go as an hourly afterwards, you might not quite be topped out, but will still be very close...and would be in the next year or two with minimal raises. I know a swing who is in this situation currently. I.E. If you were a mgr in the lowest payscale and accept a crr position in one of the higher up payscales, you might not quite be at top-out.....but close.
Jonathanus
New Member
thank you.
