I started at 21 yrs old (Sept. 1999) so I'm going on 9 years. Not driving. Everyone is told 3-4 years and after 9, I am still not at the top of the list. I'm high on the list and probably half of the people above me will not become drivers (they have 15+ years in), but yeah- 9 years. I loaded in the trailers for about 6 months, was in smalls for about a year or so, and have been loading on the air dock ever since.
This goes to show how varied things are at UPS from location to location. I started about the same time as you at age 25. 5 months later, I had a full-time job.
I like driving for UPS and really can't think of anything else I would want to do in the company or in the world for that matter!
I know there are better jobs, but for the money, I like where I am. Teaching would be great, as I do have a B.A. degree, but I wouldn't earn nearly as much as I do at UPS. This is why I stayed a driver. Every entry position I looked at offered a starting salary in the 39-45 grand range. After making 70+ at UPS there was no way I was leaving.
Yes, the job hurts physically, but once we punch out there are no worries for us! Do you think your center manager has this luxury? If you compared his salary to the highest earning driver (a driver that gets 56-59 hours) in the center, I'll bet there is not much of a difference! The difference is one is thinking about his center all weekend while the other could care less!
As for other jobs that pay as well as UPS that doesn't require an education? I can think of a few. Crab fishing in the Bering Sea? Manual labor for operations in Bahgdad? Roofing a coned part of a chuch 100 feet above the ground? Window washing the empire state building?
I think I want to stay at UPS. Even jobs that require a skill like auto mechanics, sheet metal, auto body, roofing, flooring, painting are not easy. I'd rather deliver packages than do any of the above jobs.
Then you get to the other jobs that many people have with just a high school diploma. Fast food clerks, receptionists, landscapers, shippers and recievers, postal workers, Fed-Ex and DHL couriers, waiters and waitresses, custodians, etc. I don't know how they get by. I know each and every one of them would jump at a UPS job.
How does a forklift drivers making $13/hour support a family?
I really can't complain about UPS when I think about many other's lot in life!