Hello, I'm new

[UPSwannaB]

Hello, I'm new here, and I'm actually not a UPS worker. But, I want to be a UPS worker in the future. You see I'm only 16 right now. Everyone thinks I should go to college, but my dad doesn't think it's necessary. He says there are alot of good jobs that pay good money that don't require college. He said UPS truck drivers get paid well, but I want to be a delivery driver. College just doesn't appeal to me at all. I wanted to do concept art for video games, but first you have to go to school, which is quite a bit of money, then for the actual jobs, I'd have to move a few states away to work in a studio. Unfortunatley I like it here. So I started looking for other career choices.

I think that being a UPS guy would be awesome. Staying close to home, driving the truck, making people happy when they get their parcels. I don't know if anyone will get mad at me here, as I do not know much about what a UPS driver has to do. It may be hard work, but even still, it just seems like something I'd like to do. I've been trying to find out information, and when I found this place it was a relief. I hope to learn alot here.
Sorry for writing so much.

 

[cast]

Go to college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[trickpony1]

I agree with "Cast".
Try looking 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Where do you want to be?
a) an old beat up, can't walk in the mornings, pkg driver or;
b) an educated, degreed or certificated, individual who has his health and marketable jobs skills.
The glory, gloss and glitter of being a pkg driver wears off as your health deteriorates.
Think about it.

 

[UPSwannaB]

I'm not trying to argue or anything, I respect your opinions, but after so long couldn't I get a cdl and then drive semi?

 

[dragracer66]

I dissagree with trick and cast, if you can, get into parcel at age 17 or 18 do your thirty years and retire at age 48. I was 18 when I started here as a mechanic I have 8 years till I retire I too will be 48. I will be collecting a $8700 a month pension and will probably have a parttime job at some local race track 3-4 times a week!!! Not too shabby!!!!

 

[brownmonster]

Dragracer your'e killing me. At 48 I'll be making $7000 a month working 50 hours a week and looking forward to my last 10 years of driving. Youngster, go to college or at least tech school and learn a marketable trade.

 

[trickpony1]

I'm not trying to argue or anything, I respect your opinions, but after so long couldn't I get a cdl and then drive semi?

It depends on if you're working at a big hub that has alot of "semi" runs outbound to bid on. Since the weight limit on pkgs has been increased to 150 pounds almost every pkg driver wants into "semi" so be prepared to wait 10-15 years to get into "semi". If you are at a small center out in the "sticks", you might as well forget "semi".
Regarding the poster that thinks, if you start now, you can retire at age 48.......good luck. It depends on what area of the country AND what pension plan you're under and WHAT IT WILL BE BY THE TIME YOU REACH RETIREMENT AGE.
Please invest in yourself first. Get an education (degree, certification) in a job field that won't get outsourced to India anytime soon.

Question: what are you gonna do when you're a 50 ish crippled up pkg driver and the company gets rid of you for some chicken**** reason? You will be out in the cold, no marketable jobs skills (besides fast food) and no one is gonna hire you.
Think about it.

 

[Covemastah]

kid,this is america do what you want ups is a very hard job with a lot of stress and physical demands on your body!!! if you start young,18 or so you will be loading or unloading trailers or brownies then sorting. sign up the list to drive at 21.you will get the feel of ups during this time .dont get discouraged by the long list in front of you ,these people are weeded out quick!!put $$ into ups stock & 401k plans you are young and you wont miss the money.with the right work ethic you will go far here.most of your friends will have had several jobs in there life time but you will have a great pay check with great benefits but most of all great job security,the years fly by quick here before you know it you will be in feeders {semi trucks}there will be alot of tough days ahead of you here,but the day allways ends, and you go home .good luck in your dreams mike

 

[raceanoncr]

Hello, I'm new here, and I'm actually not a UPS worker. But, I want to be a UPS worker in the future. You see I'm only 16 right now. Everyone thinks I should go to college, but my dad doesn't think it's necessary. He says there are alot of good jobs that pay good money that don't require college. He said UPS truck drivers get paid well, but I want to be a delivery driver. College just doesn't appeal to me at all. I wanted to do concept art for video games, but first you have to go to school, which is quite a bit of money, then for the actual jobs, I'd have to move a few states away to work in a studio. Unfortunatley I like it here. So I started looking for other career choices.

I think that being a UPS guy would be awesome. Staying close to home, driving the truck, making people happy when they get their parcels. I don't know if anyone will get mad at me here, as I do not know much about what a UPS driver has to do. It may be hard work, but even still, it just seems like something I'd like to do. I've been trying to find out information, and when I found this place it was a relief. I hope to learn alot here.
Sorry for writing so much.

My opinion? Go to school! Sure UPS whatever's make good money but will it continue? Maybe! Maybe not!

I'm like you. Had no desire to go to school. Worked menial jobs (AND WAS HAPPY DOING SO, I might add, but not making any $!). Was working heavy equipment in the mid-70's making pretty good but had to work the snot out in good weather so we could ride out the bad, no-working weather. Construction went down, we didn't work when we shoulda. Something called UPS was fairly new here so I jumped and got hired.

VERY hard at first. I was 31 and trying to run my hinney off just to qualify. Never did like package car. Made it to feeders ("semi's), which is what I got hired for in the first place. Been in that dept for the last 26 yrs. Also been very hard. How?

Roads, hours, sometimes equipment failures, family, sleep, I could go on. I ain't complaining but it ain't for everybody. It just fit for me.


This company is not exploding (in business) like it was. Opportunities, at least in my opinion, will not be here like they once were. You get stuck in part time, you may be there alot of yrs. You get stuck in package car, you may be there alot of yrs. You get stuck in management, you may not like what you see or have to put up with.

What I did in my life worked, as I said, for me. I have not regretted anything I have done, but....could I have done better? Maybe! Maybe not! It WILL not work for everybody.

My advice? Try to get on w/UPS but STILL go to school. You CAN do both, whether you are full time or part time. THEN, with education in hand, you can just about write your own ticket!

Good luck!

 

[UPSwannaB]

Hey I really appreciate all the help. Most of you think I should go to college, but I don't know what I'd go for. I'll have to look into it more I suppose. Does the UPS help you pay for college after you work for them so long? I thought I saw somewhere that said they did, but it's been pretty hard to find information on it. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Findlay Ohio, but the plant or whatever you call it, there in Findlay, is probably where I would try to get into. It's a fairly large city, nothing like Columbus or anything, but I'm not sure how their semi oppurtunites there would be. Do you need a degree to move into management?

 

[dragracer66]

Hey I really appreciate all the help. Most of you think I should go to college, but I don't know what I'd go for. I'll have to look into it more I suppose. Does the UPS help you pay for college after you work for them so long? I thought I saw somewhere that said they did, but it's been pretty hard to find information on it. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Findlay Ohio, but the plant or whatever you call it, there in Findlay, is probably where I would try to get into. It's a fairly large city, nothing like Columbus or anything, but I'm not sure how their semi oppurtunites there would be. Do you need a degree to move into management?

Parcel does have tuition reimbursment for full or part time. And as for management to be a sup no you don't need a degree but you are required to go to school. Just get your foot in the door before you jump that bridge. You may like being a hourly, like most of use on here are!!!

 

[toonertoo]

I say go to college too, try to get into UPS part time and go to school while you are doing that. When you first start college, just take general studies, to get those out of the way, you have to have those for any degree. Go to the job fairs that the colleges sponsor, and they will tell you the fields that are hot, and hiring. Even if you dont finish a degree, you can always go back, and even if you dont stay at UPS, having worked there looks great on a resume. I never really knew what I wanted to be either, but I got a degree, which helps get a job anywhere, they look at it like you have a drive, because it isnt easy to go to college and work. Good Luck

 

[tieguy]

nothing wrong with wanting to be a UPS driver. Its honest work and well respected.

 

[HazMatMan]

I dissagree with trick and cast, if you can, get into parcel at age 17 or 18 do your thirty years and retire at age 48. I was 18 when I started here as a mechanic I have 8 years till I retire I too will be 48. I will be collecting a $8700 a month pension and will probably have a parttime job at some local race track 3-4 times a week!!! Not too shabby!!!!

8700 dollars a month pension???? Who you workin for?????

 

[helenofcalifornia]

I feel your indecision. I would also say try to get on PT with UPS while still going to school. It is a tough job, harder for women, but I find the "community" of UPS great. Some of my best friends are my fellow workers. But, again, its a TOUGH job. If you like hard work,this is the one for you. Where else can you get paid $70,000 a year with FANTASTIC benefits and not have a college education. (Though most drivers do have some college.)
Good luck in your decision-making. You still have at least two years until college to figure it out. I think if I knew I was going to be with UPS for 25+ years and the toll it has taken on my body, I might have chosen a different path. But, I wouldn't want to lose all my great memories and friends. A conundrum. Hmmm.......

 

[trickpony1]

Scoreboard:
go to college-6
don't go-3

hmmmm...........

 

[UPSwannaB]

70k a year? That's a ton. I would imagine that's what the truck drivers get paid? (you guys call them feeder drivers??)

As far as the tough work goes, I guess I'm just the kind of person that likes to get out, not sit in an office all day at a desk. And if I can stay in the area I live in now, I'd love it. But I'll definatley take your guys' advice and look into other options as well. I found a photography course online for 700 bucks. Seems pretty cheap, but I've been kinda interested in photography, not to the point of a job though.

Also just to clear it up, since I don't know a whole lot, when you say the job is really tough, is that aimed more towards the truck drivers or package delivering, or both? Delivering seems more appealing to me, my dad's a truck driver and he works quite a bit. I imagine you have to load your own trucks up, so it's pretty much the heavy lifting?

 

[HazMatMan]

nothing wrong with wanting to be a UPS driver. Its honest work and well respected.

I agree.. it's also physically and mentally challenging.. not to mention future problems (possibly) (most likely) with your health...Are you willing to face that noob???

 

[Sammie]

Hello, I'm new here, and I'm actually not a UPS worker. But, I want to be a UPS worker in the future. You see I'm only 16 right now. Everyone thinks I should go to college, but my dad doesn't think it's necessary. He says there are alot of good jobs that pay good money that don't require college. He said UPS truck drivers get paid well, but I want to be a delivery driver. College just doesn't appeal to me at all. I wanted to do concept art for video games, but first you have to go to school, which is quite a bit of money, then for the actual jobs, I'd have to move a few states away to work in a studio. Unfortunatley I like it here. So I started looking for other career choices.

I think that being a UPS guy would be awesome. Staying close to home, driving the truck, making people happy when they get their parcels. I don't know if anyone will get mad at me here, as I do not know much about what a UPS driver has to do. It may be hard work, but even still, it just seems like something I'd like to do. I've been trying to find out information, and when I found this place it was a relief. I hope to learn alot here.
Sorry for writing so much.

You may want to work part time in the hub to cover some school costs, but UPS is on such an outsourcing mode that who knows what the future holds for newer UPS employees!?!

Most of the UPS administrative jobs; accounting, payroll, customer service,etc. has been outsourced.

I've heard rumors about outsourcing some tec support positions.

UPS has already outsourced some of their pilots; UPS Supply Chain Solutions has China Airlines flying into Nashville a few hundred times a year from the Far East...

Who's to say that our package and feeder drivers down the road will remain 100% UPS??....

1

 

[Working4TheBene's]

Everyone is right in some aspect of their advice. There are those that suggest that you need a college degree for everything....not necessarily true. Nowadays you seem to need a doctorate defgree in order to get a good job. The days where a bachelors degree was sufficient are over. Most companies now know that they can get away with paying "fresh meat" (college grads) only 18-20K a year for full time. They know that they will work hard because they feel like they have a job right out of college, but face the reality of student loans and a job that you have to work 50-60 hours (not to mention the low salary) as well as the rising cost of health care.

Now I am definitely not advocating that one should or shouldn't go to college, but it just seems like unless you are planning to get at least a masters degree, decent paying jobs will be hard to come by... on the other hand, if you work at a place like UPS, you can get some college re-imbursement thereby getting best of both worlds (Going to school and working). And who knows, after you get your degree, by that time, you may become a driver (depending on the wait)...and hopefully the benefits (fyi- medical costs are rising all the time) and the money will still be good.

In the end, I just wanted to make sure you knew that just a bachelors degree today, doesn't guarantee you a job, especially a good paying job like in the old days. But of course, working at UPS as a package handler, driver, etc. you will get a great workout to say the least. And you may be the few that get the driving positions, but just know that one day you will get older and you will feel pain more and more frequently.

Only one thing you can count on nowadays is that with the way the economy is turning, you will be working harder and harder for that not so mighty dollar.

Hope this helps!