Leave Ground for Express?

McFeely

Huge Member
When did they last NOT give an annual raise?

I forget, did the employees on Step 10 get a raise this year? Or just a bonus?

I realize it roughly equaled a 6% payout, but your 2018 pay rate is the same as your 2017 pay rate.

Guess we’ll see what happens next year...
 

!Retired!

Well-Known Member
Be sure to hire on wherever OF is located.

Working with such a ray of sunshine will complete you as a person.
This is where I stopped reading this thread. You really must love oldfart. Everytime he posts something, you have a rebuttal. Don't you have anything better to do?
 

59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
If you can't get in with Express, USPS or UPS then it's time to leave that segment of the economy altogether.
The problem with working for a contractor is that they exist for one reason and one reason only. That is to serve as a firewall to protect that company from rising trucking and labor costs resulting in an employer who will always be demanding too much while paying too little. So ask yourself, just what do you owe a person like that?
I started and ended as a single route contractor turning down every opportunity to take ownership ( I take that back you don't own anything) of additional routes despite being offered to me completely free of charge. Why? I knew that Ground would never give me enough money to pay what the person performing that life shortening job is entitled to....a family sustaining wage, an employer paid healthcare plan and something in the way of a pension plan.

Why is having a healthcare disability and pension plan so imperative? Simple. What did 23 years of that type of labor leave me with?....spinal stenosis and a double hip joint replacement .
When you go to that hospital and sign the authorization to treat form you are 100% economically liable for the full cost of treatment
Fedex Ground's profit margin is the industry's highest,double the industry average. They could easily provide revenues more than sufficient to give you a compensation package much more in line with what the others in the industry pay but it's just too damn greedy....and that contractor you work for is simply the personification of that greed.

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Fred's Myth

Nonhyphenated American
This is where I stopped reading this thread. You really must love oldfart. Everytime he posts something, you have a rebuttal. Don't you have anything better to do?
I'm his new bestest friend and I have to make sure he gets the proper recognition he deserves for his hard work.

Do YOU want to be my friend, too?
 

Oldfart

Well-Known Member
I forget, did the employees on Step 10 get a raise this year? Or just a bonus?

I realize it roughly equaled a 6% payout, but your 2018 pay rate is the same as your 2017 pay rate.

Guess we’ll see what happens next year...
Did they not give 1-9 a raise? All the whiners complained that they now have to wait 18 months on the next raise even though got that raise 6 months early.. If they gave 10 a raise, the whiners would complain that they are farther behind topped out people. Do we see a pattern here? Whiners complain when they get a raise. Whiners complain when others get a raise. Whiners will complain regardless.
 

El Burro

Member
UPS is the much better deal. Great pay and benefits. You’d work your butt off there though. Express is definitely a better deal than Ground. The insurance is doable, not the best, but better than nothing. As far as retirement goes, you’d get a Portable Pension which isn’t that great. You’d need to invest heavily in a 401k and other options to have a decent retirement.
The job itself isn’t that bad. I’m sure you wouldn’t work as hard as at Ground and our vehicles are maintained a lot better.

I don’t know why part timers wouldn’t be happy, they have it made. Work no more than they want to.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Is 35 too late in the game for UPS? Last I heard the waiting list around here in SoCal is 10 years to even get on a truck, whereas 10 years at Express would put me in a pretty good spot. Would I be stuck working 20 or less hours a week loading trucks for that entire time? I think I've heard you can drive during peak for top rate, though?

I know folks at UPS work insane hours but I gotta be honest -- I've never seen a UPS guy run like some of us Ground donkeys have to all day. I've gone 9 years using on average one vacation day a year, zero sick days, and typically don't have time to take lunch or breaks period for 10 hour shifts.

I love the freedom of working for Ground but I can never get any time off. My contractor always has a "we don't have anyone cover your route!" excuse.

To be honest, even pay aside, having a job with paid time off and a lunch break every day sounds so nice. Should I give UPS a try? It sounds risky in terms of how long it could take to become a driver. But also if the new contract passes they're going to be hiring TONS of new drivers.

The part timers at Express I know complain about never getting enough hours. How is it really?
 

El Burro

Member
Have you considered trucking?

I don't really have an interest in driving the big rigs. I really enjoy the FedEx Guy (or UPS Guy) persona of driving a van around the neighborhood waving at familiar faces and meeting new people every day. There are other jobs that pay more, sure, but I truly enjoy being a package delivery driver in the great SoCal outdoors. I just couldn't see myself sitting in a truck or office all day.
 

Operational needs

Virescit Vulnere Virtus
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Is 35 too late in the game for UPS? Last I heard the waiting list around here in SoCal is 10 years to even get on a truck, whereas 10 years at Express would put me in a pretty good spot. Would I be stuck working 20 or less hours a week loading trucks for that entire time? I think I've heard you can drive during peak for top rate, though?

I know folks at UPS work insane hours but I gotta be honest -- I've never seen a UPS guy run like some of us Ground donkeys have to all day. I've gone 9 years using on average one vacation day a year, zero sick days, and typically don't have time to take lunch or breaks period for 10 hour shifts.

I love the freedom of working for Ground but I can never get any time off. My contractor always has a "we don't have anyone cover your route!" excuse.

To be honest, even pay aside, having a job with paid time off and a lunch break every day sounds so nice. Should I give UPS a try? It sounds risky in terms of how long it could take to become a driver. But also if the new contract passes they're going to be hiring TONS of new drivers.

The part timers at Express I know complain about never getting enough hours. How is it really?
If I was 35, I’d go to UPS. No one here can predict what will happen at UPS, even the UPSers. It’s different everywhere.
 

McFeely

Huge Member
Did they not give 1-9 a raise?

1-9 *did* get a raise. Step 10 didn’t.

I’m merely pointing out if they repeat 2018’s pay action in 2019, I’ll be getting a raise and you’ll be making the EXACT SAME as you received this year.

Unless you got an actual pay raise at step 10. Did you? Because that was my question. I’m not 10 so I don’t know.
 

Brown_Star

Methods Man
I've been a package delivery donkey with FedEx Ground for nine years. At 35 years old the prospect of no future (retirement) and no benefits to beat up my body carrying mattresses and treadmills has gotten me thinking about greener pastures.

I have an opportunity to get into Express and was initially excited about the top pay ($32 in my zone) and benefits. Reading some of the threads here, it seems most people believe the benefits suck. Additionally, I've read about drivers being with the company for 15+ years and nowhere near top pay whereas UPS drivers top out in 3 or 4 years.

How does the step system work in 2018? Step 10 is top pay, right? What determines advancing a step?

To be honest I'm friendly with multiple Express guys on my route and none of them are beaming with joy about the job, especially the part timers. But it certainly had to be better than Ground.

Any advice on making the switch from ground to express would be greatly appreciated!
Ups needs you!
 

Oldfart

Well-Known Member
1-9 *did* get a raise. Step 10 didn’t.

I’m merely pointing out if they repeat 2018’s pay action in 2019, I’ll be getting a raise and you’ll be making the EXACT SAME as you received this year.

Unless you got an actual pay raise at step 10. Did you? Because that was my question. I’m not 10 so I don’t know.
You are badly mistaken. I will not be making the same in 2019 that I did in 2018. I won't be here. The bonus versus the raise worked out great for me. I got money that I wouldn't have gotten if we had gotten the raise in Oct. I got a 6% bonus and come November I will have earned my yearly Portable Pension deposit. $$$
 

vantexan

Well-Known Member
You are badly mistaken. I will not be making the same in 2019 that I did in 2018. I won't be here. The bonus versus the raise worked out great for me. I got money that I wouldn't have gotten if we had gotten the raise in Oct. I got a 6% bonus and come November I will have earned my yearly Portable Pension deposit. $$$
How wonderful for you! And as you don't believe in hanging around a forum about a company one no longer works for, how wonderful for us! :)
 

vantexan

Well-Known Member
I don't really have an interest in driving the big rigs. I really enjoy the FedEx Guy (or UPS Guy) persona of driving a van around the neighborhood waving at familiar faces and meeting new people every day. There are other jobs that pay more, sure, but I truly enjoy being a package delivery driver in the great SoCal outdoors. I just couldn't see myself sitting in a truck or office all day.
I agree, once you've had the freedom of being on your own all day, hard to imagine sitting in an office. If you can deal with the heat you can probably go right into driving for UPS in Bullhead City, AZ. Knew a Ground guy there who did that. But then they can hit 125+ with no AC!
 

Route 66

Slapped Upside-da-Head Member
Have you considered trucking?
I dunno, van, that’s a horror show these days as well. What with electronic logs and suffocating HOS regs, guys spending weeks at a time away from family, shippers and receivers who expect you to show up at their docks on time but have no qualms whatsoever about making YOU wait all day long - and then coming home with litte to show for it. It’s no wonder at all the industry is experiencing a critical shortage.
They better hurry up with those autonomous rigs, or start increasing drivers’ wages - or pretty soon nobody’s going to be getting anything.

Flipping burgers is more enticing these days - and probably just about as lucrative.
 

Oldfart

Well-Known Member
How wonderful for you! And as you don't believe in hanging around a forum about a company one no longer works for, how wonderful for us! :)
Yep. My manager is trying to convince me to work a Monday Tuesday FO rt for a short time but I want to walk away. Might wait the necessary 6 months and be a casual but haven't decided yet. Depends on how far the medical lump sum money goes.
 

vantexan

Well-Known Member
I dunno, van, that’s a horror show these days as well. What with electronic logs and suffocating HOS regs, guys spending weeks at a time away from family, shippers and receivers who expect you to show up at their docks on time but have no qualms whatsoever about making YOU wait all day long - and then coming home with litte to show for it. It’s no wonder at all the industry is experiencing a critical shortage.
They better hurry up with those autonomous rigs, or start increasing drivers’ wages - or pretty soon nobody’s going to be getting anything.

Flipping burgers is more enticing these days - and probably just about as lucrative.
Yeah, you're probably right. Definitely a single person's job.
 

vantexan

Well-Known Member
Yep. My manager is trying to convince me to work a Monday Tuesday FO rt for a short time but I want to walk away. Might wait the necessary 6 months and be a casual but haven't decided yet. Depends on how far the medical lump sum money goes.
Now don't hang around just so you can stay on the forum! Make that clean break and become a NASCAR deadhead. We're rootin' for ya!
 
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