Unloader Looking Towards Driving Jobs

[Truemac]

Hello, everyone. I'm an unloader who just hit my 30-day seniority date. I know it's still pretty early but I want to start planning ahead for future positions, particularly anything that can get me out of the warehouse and into a vehicle. I've been lurking these forums since I started back in July, but I have a few unanswered questions.


-Someone recommended that if I wanted a driver's position, that I should bid on a P/T air driver slot. I plan to get my Class E license later this month. Is it too early for someone like me to start bidding on other jobs?


-What's the job called where you used the tugs in the yard to move trailers from dock to dock? How much seniority is usually needed for a job like this?


Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[barnyard]

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[packageguy]

Welcome aboard brown cafe, when time time comes put your name on a transfer list, part time to fill time. In the mean time, show up for work on time willing and able to work. Work smart, work as directed. Ask your steward for a contract know your rights. Good luck

 

[Dracula]

Hello, everyone. I'm an unloader who just hit my 30-day seniority date. I know it's still pretty early but I want to start planning ahead for future positions, particularly anything that can get me out of the warehouse and into a vehicle. I've been lurking these forums since I started back in July, but I have a few unanswered questions.


-Someone recommended that if I wanted a driver's position, that I should bid on a P/T air driver slot. I plan to get my Class E license later this month. Is it too early for someone like me to start bidding on other jobs?


-What's the job called where you used the tugs in the yard to move trailers from dock to dock? How much seniority is usually needed for a job like this?


Thanks in advance for your help!

The tugs? That's called feeders. If you're young, and you can figure a way to pay for college, and have the potential to get good grades, I would put driving a truck out of your mind. Last I checked, UPS had some decent reimbursement programs for higher education. Driving for UPS isn't what it used to be. Many of us old timers are wondering what kind, or if we will have much of a pension when we retire.

Stay or get in school, man. Be a crummy lawyer, that's where the money is.

 

[Justaname]

Hello, everyone. I'm an unloader who just hit my 30-day seniority date. I know it's still pretty early but I want to start planning ahead for future positions, particularly anything that can get me out of the warehouse and into a vehicle. I've been lurking these forums since I started back in July, but I have a few unanswered questions.


-Someone recommended that if I wanted a driver's position, that I should bid on a P/T air driver slot. I plan to get my Class E license later this month. Is it too early for someone like me to start bidding on other jobs?


-What's the job called where you used the tugs in the yard to move trailers from dock to dock? How much seniority is usually needed for a job like this?


Thanks in advance for your help!

Preparing for the future is getting a good second job, getting your class E, and being patient. I've been with he company 5 years and drove for my first time this past peek. Becoming full time takes about 9 years in my center on average. Just put your name on the bid sheets when posted.

 

[anonymous4]

Lawyers have it real easy right now, right? Stop giving crummy advice. Self pity or poor financial planning on your part, it is difficult to beat UPS pay and benefits with a bachelors. Telling someone to put themselves into serious debt chasing a law degree because everyone you know thinks college is the way to go is dumb. To OP, probably in the range of 2-10 years. Ask around, not many have a clue but you might run into a few who can give an answer as to how long people are currently waiting to drive.

 

[Dracula]

Lawyers have it real easy right now, right? Stop giving crummy advice. Self pity or poor financial planning on your part, it is difficult to beat UPS pay and benefits with a bachelors. Telling someone to put themselves into serious debt chasing a law degree because everyone you know thinks college is the way to go is dumb. To OP, probably in the range of 2-10 years. Ask around, not many have a clue but you might run into a few who can give an answer as to how long people are currently waiting to drive.

With the direction the company is taking, the way we are progressively getting treated worse and worse, and the uncertainty about our pension? No way would I recommend a UPS driving job to someone I cared about. Especially if they have their future ahead of them. What's wrong with being an attorney? No matter what happens, an attorney ALWAYS get paid. There are many good jobs to those with a solid brain on their shoulders.

I didn't know I was pushing out a self-pity vibe. I've done well here, but every year, and every contract gets worse. For guys coming on now, things will only get worse, and if you can't see that, you've got blinders on. So to say getting a college education is a "dumb" idea, well i don't understand your thinking. Especially when UPS helps with tuition.

 

[anonymous4]

My point was you blindly said go be an attorney, please look at the unemployment rate for fresh attorneys. I have several friends emerging from law school in debt that is nauseating, unable to find a job worthy of taking a chunk out of that debt. We are being treated worse and worse, yet we are still paid more than a huge portion of what a 4 year degree would get you. Every job has its struggle, you deal with what comes your way and if the pay isn't worth it move on. They can "harass me" a ****load more, just keep paying me! Also, UPS tuition reimbursement does not stack with financial aid, which is usually of greater value depending on what grants you can get.

Step back and look at it, you are not in a position to prophetize what UPS may or may not be. Things are not bad here right now compared to a lot of companies. Show me a college degree with a more secure future as of today? What about better pay? Benefits? You would need to pick carefully. Can you do better in 20 years as your career progresses? Again, you would need to pick carefully depending on how our contracts are negotiated. I don't personally want to drive, I am here because I weighed my options and that job is a better backup than a degree without the mental effort that I apply elsewhere. Maybe I just looked at it differently, but I know for a fact a lot of the people I know would earn more with a better benefit package driving for UPS than they would using their degree.

What does all of this mean? I think it's wrong to write a ****ing paragraph disparaging someone from maintaining a job here while telling them to put themselves 250k in debt with a 6-8 year time commitment after which they can't find a job that pays more than 30k a year for the next half decade while all that interest builds. K!? Depending on where you are, you can make more, faster with less invested driving for UPS. I am not at a place where such is the case, by the way.

 

[menotyou]

My comp lawyer makes less than I do, when I am collecting my pay directly from UPS, vs a third party(Liberty).

 

[PiedmontSteward]

Hello, everyone. I'm an unloader who just hit my 30-day seniority date. I know it's still pretty early but I want to start planning ahead for future positions, particularly anything that can get me out of the warehouse and into a vehicle. I've been lurking these forums since I started back in July, but I have a few unanswered questions. -Someone recommended that if I wanted a driver's position, that I should bid on a P/T air driver slot. I plan to get my Class E license later this month. Is it too early for someone like me to start bidding on other jobs? -What's the job called where you used the tugs in the yard to move trailers from dock to dock? How much seniority is usually needed for a job like this? Thanks in advance for your help!

Getting to drive or getting a FT 22.3 Combo job take a while.. in my hub, the last bargaining unit employee given a spot in package cars (he was the alternate in the driving school class and two other guys dropped out) had over 20 years of seniority. Combos haven't been bid out in 4 or 5 years and there's people with 15+ years or more waiting for a shot to go full-time as a combo. The company is refusing to fill 22.3 vacancies as of right now.

 

[sortaisle]

Depends on where you are bud. The West Coast Teamsters Pension is doing fine. If you're in the midwest or Atlantic area, the pensions are a little more sketchy. If you have no aspirations of going to college and you don't mind blasting your body for the foreseeable future then yeah, package car or feeder is a good choice...it's not getting any better that's for sure. The company went from a service base to a production base which is against what made UPS great. It's been a slow slide down the wrong direction. I've been with the company for almost 16 years and yes we get paid well and yes the benefits are good. My plan is to go feeder...that way if things really get out of hand at UPS then at least I'll have my CDL to keep on making ok money.