Large hub an advantage?

[mach]

I've spent a lot of time on this forum over the past few weeks reading through posts that are both recent as well as several months old, and wow, this site has been a tremendous help. After peering over many messages, though, I was wondering something. People has discussed large hub locations as both advantageous and disadvantageous for different reasons of course. It sounds like it may be easier to be initially hired at a large hub due to larger turnover, but is it more difficult to gain meaningful seniority for driving jobs, etc. at such locations? Or do current drivers just need to be old regardless of the type/size of location?

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Old? Who's old? You get hired and wait your turn. Sometimes it's a long wait and sometimes it's not. Whether you stick around and see, is up to you.

I'm in a small center, by the way, and waited almost 3 years to the day to go driving.

 

[buttere]

My center has 30 routes and it took me 1 year of working preload before I was driving. Been driving full time almost 3 years now.

 

[over9five]

Waiting????

You guys had to wait to go driving? Wait for what???

 

[chev]

I'm in a small building too. It took me 4 1/2 years to go drive. Then again, I started when I was 19, so it was impossible for me to bid on a driving job for my first 2 years. I did however get into feeders after only 4 years in package.

 

[bubrub]

What is considered a small center and what is a big center?

 

[Cobra Agent]

I have worked in both small and large facilities. They both have their pros and cons. In a smaller facility it is more personal you know most if not all the people you work with. Now being in a larger facility a little storm called Katrina came through and opened alot for me. I normally would have to wait 10-12 year wait for a fulltime postion to open and it only took me 5 years. With that being said I was prepared to wait for the 10-12 years for a position to open up. That was something the wife and I weighed....I was still in college when the position came opened and i jumped on it. I was only 3 semesters from graduating but had to jump on it because as we all know....when is the next time that a postion will open up!

 

[Mike Hawk]

A hub that processes other buildings volume will have more PTers for every driver than a center that only processes it's own volume. My center has 25ish PTers and 40ish drivers, the driving wait is around 2.5 years.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

I waited 8 long years to go driving. The kids were still growing, in school with sports after, so it didn't bother me that much. I can see the wait being longer nowadays with the econ situation the way it is. Though, if you listen to all the pundits who say it will be years to full recovery, they are not always right. We had a three year drought going on out here awhile back and everyone said it would take years for the reservoirs to refill. Wrong: one wet winter was all it took. You just never know nowadays.

 

[Bad Gas!]

I'm in a big 5 center hub in the south.250-300 drivers.One big disadvantage is that corporate is 15 miles away. We get the visits from CEO on down.Our managers and sups have underware stains from the visits.

I think an extended center would have more retirement routes...i.e. more rural country routes....Just have heard managers and sups from small centers say they prefer the extended centers over the big hubs..

 

[scratch]

I'm in a big 5 center hub in the south.250-300 drivers.One big disadvantage is that corporate is 15 miles away. We get the visits from CEO on down.

LOL, Pleasantdale Hub. I'm in Forest Park, they don't wander this far from Glen Lake Parkway.

 

[rod]

LOL, Pleasantdale Hub. I'm in Forest Park, they don't wander this far from Glen Lake Parkway.

Must not be enough golf coarses in your area?

 

[scratch]

Must not be enough golf coarses in your area?

Probably too much gunfire........

 

[chev]

We are a 2 center building. I'm not sure how many package drivers we have, but we have 27 feeder drivers including our cover drivers.
I would say we are a small building.

 

[Jack4343]

LOL, Pleasantdale Hub. I'm in Forest Park, they don't wander this far from Glen Lake Parkway.

Scratch, he could be from Roswell also. I think it's around 15 miles from Corporate as well.

Yeah, we get the Corporate visits very often in P-Dale. I can always tell by the increased amount of suits I see on people that don't ordinarily wear suits when I walk in. Also can tell by how much cleaner the hub is that day. Afraid to let them see our true selves, warts and all.

Back to the original subject, the wait to go full-time driving is around 7 years here. It changes from time to time. It has been longer than 10 years before and as few as 5 years. I went full-time a few months ago with just under 7 years under my belt. Of course, I've been driving every day as a cover driver for over 4 years so there are ways to get the driver money without the FT classification. Also, you get to keep your cover driver pay when you begin full-time progression so you don't have to start out at beginning driver pay. Another plus is that you don't have to go through a 30 day probationary period again as you've already been qualified to drive once.

 

[1989]

Scratch, he could be from Roswell also. I think it's around 15 miles from Corporate as well.

Yeah, we get the Corporate visits very often in P-Dale. I can always tell by the increased amount of suits I see on people that don't ordinarily wear suits when I walk in. Also can tell by how much cleaner the hub is that day. Afraid to let them see our true selves, warts and all.

Back to the original subject, the wait to go full-time driving is around 7 years here. It changes from time to time. It has been longer than 10 years before and as few as 5 years. I went full-time a few months ago with just under 7 years under my belt. Of course, I've been driving every day as a cover driver for over 4 years so there are ways to get the driver money without the FT classification. Also, you get to keep your cover driver pay when you begin full-time progression so you don't have to start out at beginning driver pay. Another plus is that you don't have to go through a 30 day probationary period again as you've already been qualified to drive once.

I find it odd the difference in supplements....I have never heard of a part-time cover driver before being on this site....All the cover drivers I've seen have all been full-time. Only pt air drivers or walkers.

 

[Mike Hawk]

I think as a PTer on a sort, he went out and covered routes when they were short on drivers on an as needed basis.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Large Hubs

Pros:
easier to get hired due to turnover
more part-time jobs to choose from
more 22.3 jobs

Cons:
longer wait for full-time jobs
more routes to choose from as a driver
too many "big whigs" in the area

Extended Centers or Small Hubs

Pros:
easier work flow
less people, everyone knows each other
shorter wait time for full-time

Cons:
less part-time jobs to choose from
less routes to choose from as a driver

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Large Hubs

Pros:
easier to get hired due to turnover
more part-time jobs to choose from
more 22.3 jobs

Cons:
longer wait for full-time jobs
more routes to choose from as a driver
too many "big whigs" in the area

Extended Centers or Small Hubs

Pros:
easier work flow
less people, everyone knows each other
shorter wait time for full-time

Cons:
less part-time jobs to choose from
less routes to choose from as a driver

I agree with that all, except for the easier work flow.

 

[Jack4343]

I think as a PTer on a sort, he went out and covered routes when they were short on drivers on an as needed basis.

Exactly what the language of a PT Cover Driver does. However, the position is being abused a bit here and the open routes are being filled with PT Cover Drivers for extended periods of time and are not being bid out on a timely basis. To explain it better, before I went full time, I covered two routes for the past 3 plus years. One of them was finally bid out and the other is my current route that I will bid on when all of the center routes are opened for bid next year. We have one route in the center that a cover driver has been running daily for over 3 years. In fact, most people don't even realize he's a part-time driver. The only reason I know is he started on my sort aisle after I had been at UPS for a year.