PT Car Washer
Well-Known Member
Not quite as bad as all that. If it was no one would do it for the little bit of money they pay.
Best way to get your foot in the door for a FT job.
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Best way to get your foot in the door for a FT job.
Different type of difficulty I suppose. We’ve had some pretty bad loaders and unloaders who turned out to be great drivers. I guess it’s all about a commitment to the job.
AwashBwashCwash
Well-Known Member
It's so different from center to center that it's hard to give advice.
I used to work night sort at a small center, 1 belt, about 30 routes total.
We didn't have one of those extendo things, you just had to pick up these huge 10 feet long metal rollers and connect them to the belt and add more of them as you went deeper into the trailer. They are heavy af, most of them are bent or broken somehow, and they barely work.
You'd also have to prop them up with load stands which were little piece of crap metal tripods where you could adjust the height by turning a screw that always came loose so your whole chain of rollers would fall down the whole shift.
The facilities are cramped, dangerous, and shoddy because UPS is a cheapskate company that doesn't care about you or your health until it affects their image. There's often not enough room to maneuver and there's pitfalls and places to break an ankle everywhere you look.
UPS does not even own the building I work at now. They rent it.
They've been renting it for like 30 years. It's the most ghetto thing I've ever heard of for a company of this size.
It's basically a big shed that they jerry-rigged up for loading/unloading, the whole thing looks like a crackhouse.
Bigger facilities have belts that automatically extend which must be really nice, but apparently you get chopped in half if the feeder driver decides to pull away and you get caught between the belt and the wall of the trailer, that has happened to a few people.
In general it's pretty brutal. The boxes will come faster than you can stack and they'll constantly be tumbling off the belt and onto the floor. The trailers sit out baking in the heat all day and by the time you come in to work they must be at least 130 degrees on the inside. There's been several times where I would puke on the floor of the trailer from the extreme heat.
you'll be asked to stack high so they can fit as much junk into the trailer as possible which is nice in theory but in practice you don't always conveniently get the heavy stuff first and then the light stuff later which means RIP to your rotator cuffs.
When you're an inside employee, there is no escape. They are always there watching.
My load qualities always sucked big time but we were always desperately short handed so I always got away with it. Your experience at UPS will greatly depend on the particular circumstances at your facility. As a general rule of thumb though, it's going to really suck and if you're going to work here you should have a long-term goal in mind because otherwise there is no point in subjecting yourself to this.
Keep in mind that if you are planning to be a FT driver, you will likely have to do this for years.
I used to work night sort at a small center, 1 belt, about 30 routes total.
We didn't have one of those extendo things, you just had to pick up these huge 10 feet long metal rollers and connect them to the belt and add more of them as you went deeper into the trailer. They are heavy af, most of them are bent or broken somehow, and they barely work.
You'd also have to prop them up with load stands which were little piece of crap metal tripods where you could adjust the height by turning a screw that always came loose so your whole chain of rollers would fall down the whole shift.
The facilities are cramped, dangerous, and shoddy because UPS is a cheapskate company that doesn't care about you or your health until it affects their image. There's often not enough room to maneuver and there's pitfalls and places to break an ankle everywhere you look.
UPS does not even own the building I work at now. They rent it.
They've been renting it for like 30 years. It's the most ghetto thing I've ever heard of for a company of this size.
It's basically a big shed that they jerry-rigged up for loading/unloading, the whole thing looks like a crackhouse.
Bigger facilities have belts that automatically extend which must be really nice, but apparently you get chopped in half if the feeder driver decides to pull away and you get caught between the belt and the wall of the trailer, that has happened to a few people.
In general it's pretty brutal. The boxes will come faster than you can stack and they'll constantly be tumbling off the belt and onto the floor. The trailers sit out baking in the heat all day and by the time you come in to work they must be at least 130 degrees on the inside. There's been several times where I would puke on the floor of the trailer from the extreme heat.
you'll be asked to stack high so they can fit as much junk into the trailer as possible which is nice in theory but in practice you don't always conveniently get the heavy stuff first and then the light stuff later which means RIP to your rotator cuffs.
When you're an inside employee, there is no escape. They are always there watching.
My load qualities always sucked big time but we were always desperately short handed so I always got away with it. Your experience at UPS will greatly depend on the particular circumstances at your facility. As a general rule of thumb though, it's going to really suck and if you're going to work here you should have a long-term goal in mind because otherwise there is no point in subjecting yourself to this.
Keep in mind that if you are planning to be a FT driver, you will likely have to do this for years.
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Heavy Package
Well-Known Member
Wally
BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
Trade school. My buddy does drain cleaning, has two houses and is home every night by 5.
PT Car Washer
Well-Known Member
Pretty much everything you say here is true. But somehow we all survived. Sometimes for decades. I put up with everything you wrote and more but for $36/hr, 7 weeks vacation, the best health insurance for my family and now a pension I am getting ready to use for the rest of my life, I think it has been worth it.
Drink Craft Beer
Well-Known Member
NEVER EVER stack 70 pound+ packages when loading trailers.
They all go on the floor regardless what anyone tells you!
They all go on the floor regardless what anyone tells you!
BigUnionGuy
Got the T-Shirt
Except this....
They are called "extendo's" and no, you wouldn't get chopped in half.
Never happened to anyone. Maybe.... you get a ride around the yard.
We did.... didn't we ?
AwashBwashCwash
Well-Known Member
Except this....
They are called "extendo's" and no, you wouldn't get chopped in half.
Never happened to anyone. Maybe.... you get a ride around the yard.
We did.... didn't we ?
Chopped in half was a cartoony way of describing it but I'm pretty sure someone died like that last year.
Probably not literally chopped but caught between the trailer wall and the extendo and squished
AwashBwashCwash
Well-Known Member
Have no choice, we used to load big shipments from a cigarette company here, nearly 200 70-80 lb boxes a night every night.
Would stack them to the ceiling.
Poop Head
Judge me.
My first real day loading trailers, guy pulled as we were towards the end. I was left hanging onto the chute. I knew right then, that this is the place for me
Drink Craft Beer
Well-Known Member
I'd tell them that's not the proper loading procedure and to go
themselves.They preach constantly about safety first. That sure as hell isn't safe.
Justaloader
Well-Known Member
Some of us do it because of the benefits - not because of the pay. You can make more than 14 an hour being a janitor (atleast in my area of the US anyway). However, the medical benefits here are worth their weight in gold. Once I become eligible (May of this year), I can shut down my medical coverage at my 8-4 job (and my wife can shut hers down as well)....that'll save my wife and I about a grand a month. That, to me, makes it worth it.
Loading trailers (I'm a twilight loader) is as hard as you make it really. My advice - drink water during the shift, even during the winter. If you aren't used to manual labor, tylenol, advil, or (my personal favorite) Alieve right before the shift helps a lot with soreness, as you will be sore during and after the shift. But, with time, you get used to it and your body becomes acclimated to the point where you may not need the tylenol or whatever your vice is before the shift.
That said, work at a pace that is comfortable. Going in all gung ho and busting ass is admirable - until you burn out about 2 hours into the shift and then need someone to jump in your trailer with you just to help you keep up. Better option is to work within your means. As you get "used" the demands of the job, the speed will come.
Other than that - as others have said - work as directed. Build walls as they want you to, use the load stand (if you need to), and try to keep one side of the trailer clear of boxes that fall off the roller line at all times (egress concerns). That's pretty much all there is to it.
Last, but not least - pay attention to the weather, and dress appropriately. If it's going to be really cold, a few layers are a good idea (remember you can always take layers off as you go through the night, start sweating, etc). Nothing worse than showing up in clothing not suited for the weather, and having to deal with freezing your ass off all night on top of having to do the job. I've seen guys show up in tshirts and shorts and say "well as long as I keep moving, I'll be fine"...only to end up hating life by the end of the night due to the volume / flow being light, resulting in them standing in an ice cold trailer with nothing to do except "trying" to keep moving in order to keep warm. Watching guys do jumping jacks just to keep moving is always hilarious.
Best of luck!
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They always go on the floor. If you run out of room, the packages get left in the building or you get a new trailer.
barnyard
KTM rider
Learn to use the search function to find answers that have been asked and answered time and time and time again.
Package Stick
"Send it."
I like driving the trains, enjoy unloading the daughter cart I just dropped..
AwashBwashCwash
Well-Known Member
Not sure what dream world you are living in but I work at UPS.
If you're afraid to play the safety card, just say so.
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