How Large is Your Hub?

360waves

Member
Where exactly is the largest UPS hub located? I have heard that the one I work at is anywhere from 4th to 7th in the nation (but thats only by word of mouth), and ours is pretty large so im wondering who works at a larger hub, and how large is it... How many PDs?How many floors?
 

barnyard

KTM rider
I thought that CACH is the largest ground hub and Louisville the largest air hub. I thought I heard that CACH and Louisville were featured on Modern Marvels on the History Channel....

TB
 
I've been to a few hubs for various assignments. Louisville is of course the largest air hub and CACH is the largest ground hub.

CACH has some very impressive stats:

120 unload doors
1100 load doors (one for every preload in the US I've heard)
10 bullfrogs (for smalls)


I've been to the Jax hub, Pdale hub, and Hialeah hub. Every hub I have been to has a mezzanine level.

Jax: supposed to be the largest ground hub behind CACH and has broken many volume records during peak. 4 sorts per day, each around 200k or more in volume. During peak the 4 sorts combined broke the 1 million mark for volume processed in a 24 hour period. I think there is somewhere around 15 outbound pd's in Jax. Not sure how many total doors there are.

Pdale: not as big as Jax but still 4 sorts a day around 150k per sort. 40 unload doors and around 160 load doors. About 14 outbound pd's.

Hialeah: under-utilized hub. 3 sorts a day, each under 100k in volume. 40 unload doors (not all are used) and 100 load doors. About 11 outbound pd's.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I work out of the smallest of the three Hubs in the Atlanta area. Forest Park Hub is located a few miles south of the airport and was originally built to handle a now closed JC Penny Catalog Center. We now have two Centers with about 120 routes that deliver somewhere around 37K packages a day, and have a small Feeder Dept with about 36 drivers.

UPS originally came to Georgia in 1965 and the first Atlanta Hub is located off Fulton Ind Blvd on the west side. I was hired there originally as a Loader on the Midnight Sort. My first On Car Supervisors were all "Day One" drivers, they would talk about driving all over North Georgia with less than a dozen stops in a P400 back then. I don't know how many routes are there, but I heard the Feeder Dept has about 100 drivers. The Pleasantdale Hub is the largest, it was built in the early 1980s and is located north of I-285 and I-85 in an area we call "Spaghetti Junction". I think "P'Dale" has about 200-250 Feeder Drivers, most of the Atlanta volume flows through it.
 

Pollocknbrown

Well-Known Member
I've been to a few hubs for various assignments. Louisville is of course the largest air hub and CACH is the largest ground hub.

CACH has some very impressive stats:

120 unload doors
1100 load doors (one for every preload in the US I've heard)
10 bullfrogs (for smalls)


I've been to the Jax hub, Pdale hub, and Hialeah hub. Every hub I have been to has a mezzanine level.

Jax: supposed to be the largest ground hub behind CACH and has broken many volume records during peak. 4 sorts per day, each around 200k or more in volume. During peak the 4 sorts combined broke the 1 million mark for volume processed in a 24 hour period. I think there is somewhere around 15 outbound pd's in Jax. Not sure how many total doors there are.

Pdale: not as big as Jax but still 4 sorts a day around 150k per sort. 40 unload doors and around 160 load doors. About 14 outbound pd's.

Hialeah: under-utilized hub. 3 sorts a day, each under 100k in volume. 40 unload doors (not all are used) and 100 load doors. About 11 outbound pd's.


This could be a stupid question...but how can hialeah (i have no idea what hub that is to be honest) have 100 load doors and its 11 PDs and we have only 7 PDs and we got 85?
 

Big Babooba

Well-Known Member
Our building dates back to 1966 and in its current configuration there are 20 outbound and 8 inbound doors. We do about 110 routes and have about 20 feeder runs. It has been added onto twice and replaced our original building that was opened in 1957.
 
This could be a stupid question...but how can hialeah (i have no idea what hub that is to be honest) have 100 load doors and its 11 PDs and we have only 7 PDs and we got 85?

Like I said, Hialeah (hub for South Florida district) is under-utilized. There are lots of PD's (11) with few doors per PD (approx 9). Some of the sorts use more PD's than others and some PD's are not used at all. Your hub's 7 PD's spread amongst 85 doors is about 12 doors per PD. Do the PD's use every single door?

Another interesting note, some hubs were pre-designed to allow expansion up to 16 PD's (Hialeah was one of them but that will never happen). You can see this in the area around the sort aisles. There is hardware in place that looks like conveyors but they go nowhere and there is no conveyor belt on them.

Regarding Hialeah, it was build in 1986 and sits right next to ABC Distributors. At that time ABC Distributors was a huge multi-million dollar account that added 10k - 20k of volume daily to the Hialeah hub. A few years ago, the account was lost and Hialeah became the under-utilized hub that it is today.
 

HazMatMan

Well-Known Member
Let's see, About 60 bays for trailers to be loaded and unloaded, I would say about 9 or 10 centers and well over 200 package cars.
 

Pollocknbrown

Well-Known Member
Like I said, Hialeah (hub for South Florida district) is under-utilized. There are lots of PD's (11) with few doors per PD (approx 9). Some of the sorts use more PD's than others and some PD's are not used at all. Your hub's 7 PD's spread amongst 85 doors is about 12 doors per PD. Do the PD's use every single door?

Another interesting note, some hubs were pre-designed to allow expansion up to 16 PD's (Hialeah was one of them but that will never happen). You can see this in the area around the sort aisles. There is hardware in place that looks like conveyors but they go nowhere and there is no conveyor belt on them.

Regarding Hialeah, it was build in 1986 and sits right next to ABC Distributors. At that time ABC Distributors was a huge multi-million dollar account that added 10k - 20k of volume daily to the Hialeah hub. A few years ago, the account was lost and Hialeah became the under-utilized hub that it is today.

During the TWI sort, yes, we use every single door, during the nite we do not. we only use about half or so of all the doors on the nite, but use every door on PDs 6 and 7 (but FT management treats them like one PD and they get as much staffing as say PD 1-5 gets per each.
 

rocket man

Well-Known Member
ive seen the key west fl one mile marker 8 1 blelt tin roof looked like one office it was small . i was driving by had to look .no walls.
 

mathematics

Well-Known Member
in Island City (Queens, NYC), we have 32 unload bays, and 10 PD's (not sure how many outbound bays, approximately 150-160), plus the air sort finger with like 20 bays because we process air for JFK airport. non-peak volume ranges anyhwere between 60-90k on the night sort, not sure about the twi.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
We are small. Only a few doors that are used for unloading (preload) and then the same exact doors are used for loading (reload). We have between 25-34 drivers out on any given day. Small centers are cool because the part-timer/full-timer ratio isn't as broad as it is in most hubs. That means the wait time to become full-time is much shorter.
 

Pollocknbrown

Well-Known Member
in Island City (Queens, NYC), we have 32 unload bays, and 10 PD's (not sure how many outbound bays, approximately 150-160), plus the air sort finger with like 20 bays because we process air for JFK airport. non-peak volume ranges anyhwere between 60-90k on the night sort, not sure about the twi.


So thats where island city is! haha i always thought it was on LI.
 

edd_tv

Cardboard picker upper
We are small. Only a few doors that are used for unloading (preload) and then the same exact doors are used for loading (reload). We have between 25-34 drivers out on any given day. Small centers are cool because the part-timer/full-timer ratio isn't as broad as it is in most hubs. That means the wait time to become full-time is much shorter.


not the same where i am. avg 7-9 years to go full time. 34-37 routes any given day. good thing is that i am really good freinds with and know everyone i work with.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
not the same where i am. avg 7-9 years to go full time. 34-37 routes any given day. good thing is that i am really good freinds with and know everyone i work with.

7-9 years for full-time is a little long but it's still less than most hubs. My center's wait time is usually between 4-6 years. We've had a few people wait less than 4 and a few wait longer than 7. I have friends in other areas that have been part-time 10, 11, and even 12 years. I'd hate to be working in any of those places.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
Is CACH the Chicagoland hub? I heard its the largest also. You mentioned its outbound doors, but I was curious as to how many PD's there are?

I know its just packages, but when you think about the operations at our large hubs and air gateways its somewhat amazing. Even the coordinating BETWEEN these hubs is impressive by itself.

Just think about 1 hub and the coordination that must happen every day. Four sorts, 200 package cars and drivers, mechanics, P.E. employees, pre-load, unload, loaders, sorters, bulk sort, bulk trains, first responders, haz-mat autidors, small sort, metro sort, metro slides, high value clerks, revenue clerks, package center clerks, part-time sups and trainers, full-time sups and coordinators, center mangers, sort managers, division manger, shifter drivers, feeder drivers, feeder managers, air drivers, customer counter clerks, human resource.

All this under one roof. When I think of it this way, it truly blows my mind.

I know I must have left something out?

I assume all of this the responsibility belongs to the district manager. To me, that would be too much on my plate. Whatever he earns, I think he deserves. UPS being UPS probably underpays its DM when compared to a similiar postion in most other US companies.

Any thoughts?
 
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