"On Topic" When you were in high school was UPS employment your career plan?

[jaker]

I have my AA and worked in my dream field , but when I moved to help my mom no was hiring at the time

So I worked job to job and a driver got me a job as PT and I here now

The sad part is my dream job top out at 25 a hour and I don't remember the benefits , but I know ups has turned into the better job

 

[raceanoncr]

Didn't have UPS here when I was in school. Think REA was the big mover, then. UPS didn't come to this state til '71.

Didn't even HEAR of UPS til construction hit a snag (I was a heavy equipment operator and getting stunted to 8 hrs and no OT). Wanted out. Friends were saying to go to UPS. "What the hell is THAT?"

Saw package driver deliver to big K-Mart close to where we were leveling a hill. Parked my machine, ran down and asked if they were hiring. Driver said, "He's the one to talk to". Unlucky for him, he had a rider that day.

Talked to him and he, arrogantly smirked, "You'll never get on here". A month later when center manager was walking me around the building in a pre-hire tour, I got "re-introduced" to this guy. I said, "Oh, you're the one that said I'd never get hired here?".

That was '78. He got shipped out-state for transgressions here, got fired shortly after. I retired 32 years later.

 

[burrheadd]

I have my AA and worked in my dream field

Didn't know your were a friend of Bill W

One day at a time my friend

 

[rod]

UPS first started up here when I was in about 11th grade. I saw my first UPS driver when I was working in my Dads office supply/typewriter repair shop after school. I was like everyone else back then and assumed they were part of the Post Office. REA was the big guy on the block back then. It was said they were too big to fail------(there's a lesson there). I never thought about what I was going to do after High School because I knew I was destined to be drafted because I hated school and didn't want to go to college. My "Plan " after I graduated was to party and avoid the draft as long as I could. That worked for about a year then Uncle Sam caught me.

 

[km3]

for some reason or another, failed to reach their dreams and aspirations and somehow ended up with a career at UPS.

UPS is the pathway to my so-called "dreams."

I have no false pride as to why I am here.

I have no pride whatsoever. I hate this place. May it burn to the ground...after I'm done using the tuition benefits.

 

[FrigidFTSup]

I've dreamt about screwing Teamsters with 12 hour dispatches and ignoring their requests since infancy.

 

[Integrity]

So because I didn't become the paleontologist I wanted to be at 5 I'm a failure?


Glad you could point that out for me.

To clarify; Actually 5 would probably not fit into the age range that I was referring when I said youth in the OP.

The teen years, middle school,or high school age is actually the age range that I was referring to.

 

[Re-Raise]

What a grumpy-butt thread topic!

This most certainly IS a job to be proud of, especially if you're dumb and uneducated like myself. You probably make a lot more money than your friends.

How about college educated people? Why are they here slinging cardboard with a college degree? I'd be pretty disappointed if as a parent, I had paid for that education only to see my child squander it slinging cardboard. This is a crap job if you could be making equal (probably more) money sitting at a desk somewhere with your framed degree on the wall.

I live in the Midwest on my family's farm outside of a small town. I graduated high school with As without ever putting in much effort.

I took the ACT one time and got a 31 on it. Everyone said I should be an engineer.

I went to college about an hour from where I grew up and graduated with a 4.0.
While I was in college I started working pre-load for the extra money. I could do the math in school and could BS my way through my other classes by figuring out what the professors thought and regurgitating it.

I decided I didn't want to spend my life in an office punching numbers into a computer or sitting in endless meetings talking instead of actually doing something. So I stayed with UPS after graduating and became a driver.

My brother took the engineering route and was hired by Caterpillar straight out of college. He was forced to travel around the country on meetings. He quickly gained 80 pounds, is twice divorced and no longer with Caterpillar. He rents a house and has declared bankruptcy when he tried to open some phone stores.

My wife and I built a house, haven't had any debt for about 20 years, paid for two daughters to go to college and have assets totaling over a million, not including our pensions.

I have over 30 yrs in now and while I sometimes hate my job, other times I really enjoy it. I don't believe I failed at anything that brought me to UPS. I just chose this path and I don't regret it.

 

[By The Book]

UPS for me was a big step up. I was working a job six days a week for little pay/benefits. I was climbing a ladder that led to somewhere maybe but it didn't want to stay there. I went to the UPS facility in town and was interviewed and filled out an application that day. I was hired in a week and never looked back. It has been a good fit for me throughout the years. At the time of being hired I was aiming for the big boy on the block, a place that wasn't going out of business. I think I reached my potential as I have never went to college. But to your question, no I hadn't thought of working at UPS before I was 22.

 

[3 done 3 to go]

What a grumpy-butt thread topic!

This most certainly IS a job to be proud of, especially if you're dumb and uneducated like myself. You probably make a lot more money than your friends.

How about college educated people? Why are they here slinging cardboard with a college degree? I'd be pretty disappointed if as a parent, I had paid for that education only to see my child squander it slinging cardboard. This is a crap job if you could be making equal (probably more) money sitting at a desk somewhere with your framed degree on the wall.

I went to college. Got a degree. The college got me all the grants to cover the college cost. I just had to get a loan of 2k to cover my books.

Hell my parents were ecstatic. I was the 1st on both sides of the family to ever graduate college.

I wanted to become a nys trooper. At the time I needed to find work. As my wife and I were expecting our first child. Ups had me as a casual. Couldn't believe how much money they threw at me. With ot everyday. Plus I wasn't getting shot at. I just wish I could have started as part time. For vacation time. We are comfortable not rolling in it. But, I know I've got a full brown truck waiting for me each day. Now they make sure I get in each day. I still very good at catching the cash

 

[Richard Harrow]

No.

Glad I got in when I did though.

I'll be retired before my friends are done paying off student loans.

 

[ski or die]

My intended career path when I was much younger was to be a Chippendale dancer. Great tips and excellent benefits. But I had some shortcomings. So I applied to UPS, got my 30 years and walked away. Thinking about my past dreams and considering working the nursing homes now.

 

[Turdferguson]

First went to school to be a psychologist. Got bored changed major to history all the while working at UPS part time. My father who raised the six of us by himself was getting progressively sicker. And a full time slot opened up. So to help out with him I bid on the full time job. When I got it he was probably happier than when my older brother got his doctorate in University administration, because he knew that I had a job that I would have a pension and full benefits for life. It crushed me to have to DQ myself the first go around because of the lack of hours and take home pay difference. He had died before I was able to bid back again in a year.
Maybe I am diffrent but knowing how proud he was I am a full time UPSer and happy he would be if he could see me makes this my dream job.

 

[Babagounj]

In HS all I wanted to do was get into college , I barely made it into the last one I applied for .
I was doing fair . Until I started spending more time in the bar across from the library then in the library .
My pa used to do legal work for the local and tried to get me a few jobs. Screwed up everyone of them until UPS . I liked it , working midnight -4 am. I still had my days free and tried to stay in college but no way could I make those early classes . So after 7 yrs I gave up college and stayed at UPS . What a place we started at $1.00/ hr less than top rate and after a few months you got top rate,( $8.65/hr , considering min wage was about $2.30/hr ) which gave me plenty of beer money and a workout , too.

It was no dream career.
I look back to all my college friends who went the corp route , sure they made more money and spent most of it too. They had to show off their wealth , but with every down turn of the markets I kept a steady job while many of them ended up scrambling to find work.

 

[baklava]

I was already working for UPS in high school.

When I was younger UPS was always my backup plan because I had other ideas of what I wanted to do with my life. I wouldn't say I failed, rather realized a different set of priorities and decided on the stability of UPS.

I'm proud of my paycheck and benefits. I don't regret becoming a driver.

 

[Wally]

False pride can really be simply viewed as not admitting one's mistakes.

In this discussion it may appear as those who actually thinked they have succeeded in life by ending up with their job as opposed to being grateful for ending up with a decent job in spite of their failures and dysfunction.

Appearances can be deceiving, like this thread.

 

[Mechanic86]

I have noticed quite a bit of management personnel walking around the hub with almost a look of envy, I sometimes wonder if they are proud of their decisions and ending up here.

 

[BaggyPants]

This is a good thread. People like to tell their stories.

 

[haller]

No i don't believe i'll become a driver. My knees and management are to blame.

 

[silverbullet2893]

Im the opposite. My "dream" as a child was to work at UPS. Sadly, I let the "you need to go to college" narrative get to me and I did. I graduated with a bachelors in zoology. Couldn't find work in it so I do contractor work. Hate it. And let me explain BY hate. I like the work, I enjoy doing it. Learn stuff everyday, BUT, it's not stable. I may go a week and work 50 hours and the next be sitting at home all week. I did a seasonal gig this winter and loved it. Absolutely loved it. So, I'm not a permanent employee, but I figured I would add to your thread.