Package Car Driver vs. Feeder

brownrecluse · 10-20-2007, 08:35 PM

Greetings. Newbie again... I am a new seasonal package car driver with UPS career ambitions. Assuming that I will have to serve more than one season as a temp - I am curious as to the differences (pay, benes, hours, etc.) between package car and feeder driving positions? (I hold a Class A CDL)

Do you recommend one position over the other... and/or would I have to progress from one to the other?

Also - as a seasonal driver - can one mix and match driving positions from season to season... Ie. package car @ Christmastime and feeder @ vacation times or similar.

I apologize in advance if these questions are naieve... Thanks!

rushfan · 10-20-2007, 09:52 PM

I did package for 7 years:

Pros of package:
You get to meet people and get to know them
Once you get to know your customers, they will invite you for their lunch potlucks, Christmas/Holiday parties
Tips
Better looking ladies

Cons of package:
You will hurt in places that you didn't know existed
You will pull muscles you didn't know you had
Many stops per day

Pros of feeder:
Low stop count
knees and back don't hurt anymore
Christmas/Holiday season low stop count

Cons of feeder:
Sleep schedule screwed up
You have to watch your diet
Chaining up with triple railers
Lot lizards

If your lucky enough to be in an area where you can skip package to feeder, do it. You won't regret it.

Pollocknbrown · 10-20-2007, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rushfan

I did package for 7 years:

Pros of package:
You get to meet people and get to know them
Once you get to know your customers, they will invite you for their lunch potlucks, Christmas/Holiday parties
Tips
Better looking ladies

Cons of package:
You will hurt in places that you didn't know existed
You will pull muscles you didn't know you had
Many stops per day

Pros of feeder:
Low stop count
knees and back don't hurt anymore
Christmas/Holiday season low stop count

Cons of feeder:
Sleep schedule screwed up
You have to watch your diet
Chaining up with triple railers
Lot lizards

If your lucky enough to be in an area where you can skip package to feeder, do it. You won't regret it.

By triple railers i assume u mean triple trailers? NOT IN MY STATE, illegal up the @$$ to have more than two trailers on the road at once.....hell most roads in my state dont allow doubles, only the highways for the most part.

Pollocknbrown · 10-21-2007, 01:05 AM

should note, i dont live in rest of NY, most roads around my area (buffalo).

brownrecluse · 10-21-2007, 04:05 AM

Is the pay scale generally the same?

xracer · 10-21-2007, 04:41 AM

Pay scale in Feeders is slightly higher than in package car, you get an additional 15 cents per hour to drive feeders and 35 cents more on top of that to haul doubles, and you only have to haul doubles once during your shift to qualify for doubles pay for your entire shift and just having a dolly behind your trailer even without a second trailer garners doubles pay, I don't know what you get to haul doubles because we can't haul them here in Upstate NY. Double 40's also get more money but I am not sure of the difference on that either since in my center we can only pull 28's..

brownrecluse · 10-21-2007, 04:46 AM

Thanks to you all. Good food-for-thought!

Fnix · 10-21-2007, 04:53 AM

whats a lot lizard and can someone give me an exact definition of a Feeder?

feeder · 10-21-2007, 05:02 AM

In pennsylvania, we get .50 cents to pull doubles

One of the benifits of having a "doubles run" , meaning everyday pulling of doubles on your run, like I have is that you get the doubles rate tacked on your Sick Days, Personal Days, or Vacation paycheck too....

I used to be a pkg-car driver also,
I have a question for the pkg-car drivers: When driving that mini-trailer attached to a pkg car(that is scheduled everyday) do you get that .10 cents on you payrate when sick, personal or vacation applies, just curious...........

Ibt804Hammer · 10-21-2007, 09:23 AM

hey feeder,
under new contract you get .85 cents to pull em now. GRATS

Pollocknbrown · 10-21-2007, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xracer

Pay scale in Feeders is slightly higher than in package car, you get an additional 15 cents per hour to drive feeders and 35 cents more on top of that to haul doubles, and you only have to haul doubles once during your shift to qualify for doubles pay for your entire shift and just having a dolly behind your trailer even without a second trailer garners doubles pay, I don't know what you get to haul doubles because we can't haul them here in Upstate NY. Double 40's also get more money but I am not sure of the difference on that either since in my center we can only pull 28's..

according to the Contract, Double forty's get you an extra buck an hour, on top of the 15 cents for driving feeders., i only see one set of double 40s come into my hub tho when im driving to work, the guy is usually running late, my question tho, what about a double one thats a 40 and a 28? because i have seen them pulling in and leaving the hub.

MonavieLeaker · 10-21-2007, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fnix

whats a lot lizard and can someone give me an exact definition of a Feeder?

Lot lizard is a lady who hangs around truck stops looking for sex(glorified hooker basically)...Feeders are the Semi trucks that pull the loads to other buildings

rushfan · 10-21-2007, 01:09 PM

Here it's $1.00 more an hour for triples or twin 45' trailers.

diesel96 · 10-21-2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pollocknbrown

according to the Contract, Double forty's get you an extra buck an hour, on top of the 15 cents for driving feeders., i only see one set of double 40s come into my hub tho when im driving to work, the guy is usually running late, my question tho, what about a double one thats a 40 and a 28? because i have seen them pulling in and leaving the hub.

I don't know the rules of the road in your state but here in Fla. there's no way of driving of the Turnpike on city streets with a set of 40's. We have what you call exchange pads where the double 40's are assembled and dis-assemble and taken in and out individually to and from the hubs. We also don't mix trailer sizes either.

Pollocknbrown · 10-21-2007, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diesel96

I don't know the rules of the road in your state but here in Fla. there's no way of driving of the Turnpike on city streets with a set of 40's. We have what you call exchange pads where the double 40's are assembled and dis-assemble and taken in and out individually to and from the hubs. We also don't mix trailer sizes either.

I know what you speak of, there is one near the entrance to the thruway in my area, however, it is too far away for UPS to even consider using it, its closer to the air port than my hub, im just saying what i saw, the only reason i noticed dbl 40s or a 40 and a 28 was b/c of the amt of axles on the trailers.

Hangingon · 10-25-2007, 07:44 PM

Anyone know anything about new feeder runs being turned into 22.3 jobs? One of my co-workers who went to the contract meeting said this was brought up but he really didn't now if he caught the gist of it correctly.

local804 · 10-31-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangingon

Anyone know anything about new feeder runs being turned into 22.3 jobs? One of my co-workers who went to the contract meeting said this was brought up but he really didn't now if he caught the gist of it correctly.

wording in the new contract favors this type of move.

brownrecluse · 11-02-2007, 05:54 PM

22.3 job...?

hondo · 11-04-2007, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by protrucker

22.3 job...?

Article 22, section 3 of the UPS-Teamsters labor contract (see UPS NMA elsewhere on this site). It seems that language was originally intended to create full-time job opportunities for part-timers by combining two consecutive part-time jobs into one full-time (with 8 hour pay guarantee). It would appear now UPS would like to avoid creating new, true full-time jobs. As an example: the latest "22.3" or "combo" job up for bid in my barn is PM air driver (5:30pm-9:30pm) then carwasher (10:30pm-2:30am). BTW, the leading candidate has a seniority date of 1992, my point being permanent full time jobs can take a loooooong time to get. My advice, while on the job as a seasonal talk to everyone you can (fellow drivers, union stewards, center management, etc.) to get a truer picture of potential wait for permanent hire status.

brownrecluse · 11-04-2007, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hondo

Article 22, section 3 of the UPS-Teamsters labor contract (see UPS NMA elsewhere on this site). It seems that language was originally intended to create full-time job opportunities for part-timers by combining two consecutive part-time jobs into one full-time (with 8 hour pay guarantee). It would appear now UPS would like to avoid creating new, true full-time jobs. As an example: the latest "22.3" or "combo" job up for bid in my barn is PM air driver (5:30pm-9:30pm) then carwasher (10:30pm-2:30am). BTW, the leading candidate has a seniority date of 1992, my point being permanent full time jobs can take a loooooong time to get. My advice, while on the job as a seasonal talk to everyone you can (fellow drivers, union stewards, center management, etc.) to get a truer picture of potential wait for permanent hire status.

Thank you Hondo... I appreciate your advice. Man-oh-man - with exactly one week experience @ Big Brown... and absolutely no union experience whatsoever... I've got a lot to learn - and fast!