Locomotive Engineer looking for new career

[Poop Head]

Poop

hopefully i'm posing in the right section, apologizes if not. Like the title says, ive worked for the BNSF railway for 7 years,(5 years as Engineer. 2 as conductor) hiring out when i was 23. i live in the Pacific NW and can basically hold any Road job i want. i have really good seniority because i hired out at the right time, never been laid off or forced to work in a different terminal. In the time ive worked there, i average around $90k a year and can make more if i want. But as they say....Money isnt everything and i am so burnt out on Freight and having no schedule and crazy hours. Im looking for a change.

I see they are hiring for a Delivery Driver in Salt Lake City, i have family there. Can you actually start out as a driver? i remember applying a long time ago for a part time package handler, i thought that was the only way to work up to being a driver. Anyway, am i INSANE to do a career transition?? i cant imagine UPS being more chaotic then BNSF, but please prove me wrong. thanks in advance.

Have you run anyone over? I heard it's like 99% likley that an engineer will have that happen in their career

 

[PeakMode]

You trying to leave one with senority making 90k+ with crazy hrs for a job with no senority and no assurance of driving at a top rate for atleast 4yrs with crazy hrs. Better chance of winning a gun fight with a knife.

 

[rod]

RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN AND KISS YOUR LOCOMOTIVE---believe me if you traded working for the RR for UPS it would be the biggest mistake you ever made in your life.

 

[SkiandDestroy]

To answer you’re questions: you can only “preform service” for 12 hours. However once the train is stopped, they are in no hurry to get you off and throw you in a taxi ride for another 3-4 hours, I’ve been on a train for 21 straight hours before, the company does not care.
Yes, unfortunately I have hit someone when I was a conductor, which is worse because you have to run back and see if they’re still alive.
What makes UPS so bad to work for?

 

[UrFellowUpser]

To answer you’re questions: you can only “preform service” for 12 hours. However once the train is stopped, they are in no hurry to get you off and throw you in a taxi ride for another 3-4 hours, I’ve been on a train for 21 straight hours before, the company does not care.
Yes, unfortunately I have hit someone when I was a conductor, which is worse because you have to run back and see if they’re still alive.
What makes UPS so bad to work for?

Damn

 

[km3]

What makes UPS so bad to work for?

If what I've heard about the railroad is true, it's probably not much different other than the on-call stuff you have to deal with, and that you'd be giving up a good job you already have for a potentially good job that you may or may not even get.

Other than that, same most likely. Hanging your job over your head for no reason (especially if they find out you have family depending on you), complete disregard for safety, focus is all about production and little else. Again, if what I've heard is true, nothing you aren't used to already.

 

[burrheadd]

To answer you’re questions: you can only “preform service” for 12 hours. However once the train is stopped, they are in no hurry to get you off and throw you in a taxi ride for another 3-4 hours, I’ve been on a train for 21 straight hours before, the company does not care.
Yes, unfortunately I have hit someone when I was a conductor, which is worse because you have to run back and see if they’re still alive.
What makes UPS so bad to work for?

A million little things

 

[pickup]

What makes UPS so bad to work for?

Dude just read some threads to get an idea of how bad it can be.

 

[SkiandDestroy]

Yeah I think big corporations have a lot in common, making themselves rich at the expense of the worker. I really hadn’t thought about UPS in awhile, but wanting to relocate to SLC and saw they were hiring there. BNSF dosnt operate there and no way in hell would I join Uncle Peter, some advice, if your looking for a RR to work for, stay away from stUPid.

 

[Analbumcover]

I love choo choo trains.

Did Dinah blow your horn?

 

[Indecisi0n]

Did Dinah blow your horn?

Has she transitioned yet?

 

[km3]

Yeah I think big corporations have a lot in common, making themselves rich at the expense of the worker. I really hadn’t thought about UPS in awhile, but wanting to relocate to SLC and saw they were hiring there. BNSF dosnt operate there and no way in hell would I join Uncle Peter, some advice, if your looking for a RR to work for, stay away from stUPid.

Duly noted.

I can't say UPS is any worse or better than the railroad, having never worked for one. Just know that you have a good job now, and you'd be risking a lot by quitting and relocating.

Driving positions at UPS are not guaranteed. You have to go through a qualification period, and these days it's not so easy to successfully complete it. Orion, dispatching, saturday routes, and know-nothing OMSes and supervisors are making life really hard on new drivers in my building right now.

Not to mention, this time of year, any driving position you get hired off the street for, regardless of what your application or posting says, is a seasonal position. They might keep you afterwards. They might not. But regardless of what they say, it is seasonal right now.

If you think it's worth the risk, then go for it. I just don't think it's a good idea to throw away something good for something that isn't guaranteed. But that's me. It's your life.

 

[UrFellowUpser]

In other words dont do it

 

[barnyard]

Nothing nearby...not yet. I always watch the RR jobs though on UP and BNSF.

That is not all the current openings. Here in Mn, there are hiring bonuses of $20k at rural terminals and $10k at Northtown for conductors. There are also openings all along the Hi line (Hwy 2) across MT.

I would think that working for the railroad would be like being on the extra board in feeders. We do not work some holidays, the rr is 24/7/365. I have several cousins that retired from the BNSF. Both worked until they could hold a yard job, worked the yard job until the saw retirement and then went on the extra board to stuff their bank accounts.

If the OP is only making $90k, then he/she is not working very hard. My cousin retired 10 years ago, working out of the KC terminal and was over $130k/yr when he retired. I cannot remember how much vacation he had, but he always took November off.

 

[Special UPS Operator]

Work-Life quality in America sucks everywhere you go.

Europeans have it better.

 

[Undertow]

To answer you’re questions: you can only “preform service” for 12 hours. However once the train is stopped, they are in no hurry to get you off and throw you in a taxi ride for another 3-4 hours, I’ve been on a train for 21 straight hours before, the company does not care.
Yes, unfortunately I have hit someone when I was a conductor, which is worse because you have to run back and see if they’re still alive.
What makes UPS so bad to work for?

I had a conversation with a locomotive engineer last year and he said much the same thing. The money was good, but the trade off consisting of sleep deprivation and often having to be awake during all the dark hours was becoming too much. It's not a great job when the end result is keeping you from having any life much less a healthy one.

I guess with that in mind, I'd be hesitant to declare driving for UPS as a better long term career move since the company seems bent on creating as much "flex" scheduling and route area shifting as it can into the future. 6 or 7 years ago, a long day was 8am to a little after 8pm in the month of December. Now, it's 9am to often past 9pm just in the summer and 1030pm was literally every single night last peak season and that gets extremely draining in bad weather. It's demanding enough even making the full scale wage. If I were a new hire making nowhere near that for years on end, I can't say I'd tolerate the working conditions that have persisted these last 5 years. If you're willing to start over making far less money and even willing to relocate in the process, then you might well have choices that could be far more personally fulfilling than UPS would ever be. My advice would be after having to put up with an employer that could care less about you or the lousy work environment they stuck you with, then if you are going to leave then move on to something you have a good idea you will derive a sense of personal satisfaction while doing - whatever and wherever that might be.

 

[Box Ox]

I have several cousins that retired from the BNSF. Both worked until they could hold a yard job, worked the yard job until the saw retirement and then went on the extra board to stuff their bank accounts.

How were their bodies holding up when they had wrapped up? Being able to be pain-free (or relatively so) in retirement would be amazing.

 

[SkiandDestroy]

Keep the information about UPS coming guys, thanks. As far as the posts speculating on the RR job being a dream job, we have a name for you, “Foamer”. It’s alright, we have people follow us around taking photos all the time. The guys I have seen that have met retirement age have a body shape that “requires” them to wear overalls, a few have died right after retirement. Vacation is 1 week first year, 2 weeks for your 7 years, 3 weeks after 15 years...etc. The people that were mentioned making over 130k a year “old heads” had several different family’s at the away from home terminals, no joke. Even in my generation of Railroaders I have seen that happen.

 

[Maple Grove MN Driver]

Work-Life quality in America sucks everywhere you go.

Europeans have it better.

But they live in Europe.
Most of Europe is a Socialist Craphole full of unshaven women and lots of muslim immigrants.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I love choo choo trains.

think long and hard!

@Indecisi0n