Fed Ex Express driver about to make switch, but have a few questions

[Requiem4hvywht]

if you think 100 miles is a rural route, then you have never run a rural route

Your taking the number too literally. It's a 100+. Why would I bother to track it accurately. Also not all rural rtes will be the same. A rural rte in north Cali is usually bigger than one in south Cali. And neither probably compares to one say in Montana.

 

[Requiem4hvywht]

Also if you are hired now it wont be 30 days......your 30 days wont start till dec 26 because of freeze out periods......again im not sure how sf is

No there isn't any freeze out period. I asked and was given a 30 day probation period after 1 week of courier class. But thanks for heads up. I will clarify this again just in case it was something HR overlooked. The HR guy seemed informed and forthcoming, as I had a 20 min conversation about various policy questions.

 

[TooTechie]

There's a difference between a rural run and a country run. I used to run a rural route that averaged 137 miles. Dirt roads, woods and 2 mile driveways.

 

[Requiem4hvywht]

There's a difference between a rural run and a country run. I used to run a rural route that averaged 137 miles. Dirt roads, woods and 2 mile driveways.

No I hear you and that's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[aiian]

Hell I have a city route and often run 1OO miles.

I'll never understand the "my route is better/tier than yours" types.

 

[Requiem4hvywht]

Hell I have a city route and often run 1OO miles.

I'll never understand the "my route is better/tier than yours" types.

That's an extremely unusual. Define city? Los Angeles, San Francisco, NY, Chicago type cities? That isn't happening. Maybe suburbs of LA it's possible but not major metro areas. That must be an interesting rte.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Realistically it will. I make more now. Ups in SF start their drivers at 18.75. I make $23 and do 55-60 hrs every week. I'm going to lose 3 weeks vacation and 8 years seniority.

What makes that worthwhile is maxing out in 4 yrs as opposed to 20 + yrs with fed ex because they have gotten rid of merit wage increases. The increases now are based on years of service and are extremely small.

Yeah the complaining on this forum has kind of rattled me. And most who have responded haven't mentioned their relationship with their coworkers or supervisors in a positive way. That troubles me to say the least.

Don't let that startle you. Many of the drivers on this board, and at UPS in general, would complain no matter what their work environments were like. Sure, we have problems but I'll be the first, and probably the last and only driver) to say that some of the problems we face are the result of drivers (both past and present) shooting themselves in the feet to accomplish something short term and then paying for it later in the long term.

 

[TooTechie]

Hell I have a city route and often run 1OO miles.

If it's a true city route, that doesn't add up. My record is 33 miles on my city route and that's high. I average 25-28ish and the guy next to me averages 13 miles.

Do you mean a suburban route?

I'll never understand the "my route is better/tier than yours" types.

Yeah, all routes have tradeoffs and have parts and nice parts. The first half of my day I'm in climate controlled buildings getting paid to wait for elevators, but the second half I'm in the ghetto in high crime areas. I have virtually no pickups (like 12 or 13 on area and scheduled pickups) and my pickup pieces average 50ish--mostly envelopes, but I have to deal with no one answering the door and filling out infonotices all afternoon. I usually only have like 220-240 pieces, but have to deal with a dinosaur 28 year old truck. I don't have to walk off long ass driveways (most houses are like 10-20 feet from my truck), but when I step out of my truck there is a good chance I'm gonna step on broken glass.