Should I move to feeders?

[tieguy]

depends on you. Package is harder on the body but its a day job.

You generally have to grind out some night hours in feeders to get to the day job. You have to look at where you fall on the seniority list and what kind of bidding rights you get with your seniority and then try to get a feel for how long it may take you to earn a permanent position in feeders. That would be dictated by possible openings and how many retirees you might see in the next year.

 

[[email protected]]

Need info from all of you feeder drivers. I work in a small center in northern Colorado. We have 3 feeder drivers and 2 of them have 31 years in and will be retiring when the contract is up in 2 years. I've been in package cars for 13 years and want to move to feeders to save my body and make it to retirement.

UPS runs feeder schools a couple of times a year, so all I need to do is get to feeder school and get my CDL. Once I'm qualified all I need to do is wait til one of these guys leaves and I can bid into the job. Most package drivers here don't want to work nights, so I shouldn't have any problems getting in. The last feeder slot that opened up went to a driver that only had a couple years in.

I would keep all of my seniority and not have to start over as the low guy on the feeder seniorty poll. Most likely I would be the top guy out of the 3 when these 2 retire.

What do you think. Should I move?

 

[ol'browneye]

I am new to the brown cafe and was wanting to start a thread on just this subject! (By the way, for future reference, how do you start a thread?) Here's my situation. I have 21 years in pkg car. I have a rural route at a satelite center in my home town and get to go home for lunch on my route. I really like my route and have been on this one for 12 years now. The bs part is my boss installed a preload here (for 8 routes) and instead of starting at 7:45 and loading our own trucks we start at 9:45.Many times we don't hit the road til' after 10:00 because what the hub doesn't get on our trailer, a pkg car driver has to bring out on a shuttle car. We end up working til' 8:00-9:00 many nights a week. On top of that we've had the PAS system for 2 years now and the routes are so screwed up it isn't funny! I had surgery for a ruptured disc in 1999. I had surgery for the same ruptured disc in 2003. UPS fought me on that one but I eventually won. Last April I had surgery on a knee for torn cartlidge from work. As many of you know, this job takes it's toll on the body and mine has had enough! I'm seriously looking at feeders. We will be having a school in Feb. this year and the feeder manager says they have 70 feeder drivers eligible to retire and expect 30-40 to go this year. Right now I would fall smack dab in the middle of 244 feeder drivers seniority-wise and would only move up as drivers retire. It would be hard to give up my situation right now as I love going home for lunch and I really like my route and the people on it. I am looking for some feedback on how the tractors ride. My back still bothers me sometimes and probably always will. I am wondering if a feeder run of 3,4,or 5 hours (and back again) might be worse on my back than what I do now. At least now I drive a couple of miles than get to get up and stretch my legs. I know there are feeder runs that make pickups and switch trailers so I guess one of those would help.I am sorry this is so long winded but since I am at a satelite center I don't get a chance to talk to other feeder drivers much for their input! I appreciate any insight the members can give me. As far as family is concerned, I have 2 kids. One in college and one beyond college and my wife is a school teacher and has plenty to keep her busy if our schedules would end up different. Another concern is if I really hate it or it bothers my back too much I am stuck there for 3 years. Thanks for any input!

 

[thebrown_clown]

that would be a hard to decide, with the benifits of yr rual route , i can put some input on the part of how the tractors ride, our center still have some older models and they are terrible compared to the newer internationals and vision and sterlings, not sure what your hub has but if you all have newer stuff that would be a plus as far as hurting our back more, my backs in pretty good shape although as you mentioned after 11 or 12 hours being beat around on bad roads, with just a 1 hour lunch and a turn around it does take its toll, so as some others have sugested to others on this thread you may need to start a fitness program not only for your weight but to keep your back properly stretched and fit, hope this helps, and i belive you said your feeder school starts in feb. thats a bad time for training in my opion (if) your in a area that gets snow and ice, because it would be much better if you could shift and downshift properly and get accainted with the tractors before your in that situation, well good luck with your decsion and becareful

 

[feeder53]

I have just started feeders P/T and it is good. I drive the snow and ice and have for over 30 years. I can not comment on package car to feeders as I have never driven a package car. The road is the road, the rules are the rules. I hope to get there by the time I retire from the military. Good Luck.

 

[HazMatMan]

I hope he made up his mind by now, after all this thread was started in June of 2006..lol