should I go into feeder?
- Thread starter rowan
- Start date
Brownslave688
You want a toe? I can get you a toe.
Do it. I'm not even a feeder but if you have a chance go. I'm the same as u nervous about driving a big rig. All my friends that drive one though say no big deal after a week or so.
rocket man
Well-Known Member
what are you waiting for its the greatest
Anonymous 10
Guest
Man up you're going too a better place.
It's not driving the big rig you have to worry about. It's the oddball hours. Will you be awake and alert at 4 AM when you started at 4 PM? Now it's 4 AM, you have 11 hours in, but you still have 2 available. They can and will send you back out. Now can you stay awake till 6 AM, 14 hours after you started?
Oh by the way, next week you start at 2 AM.
Oh by the way, next week you start at 2 AM.
I just finished my 40 hours and start my production training (5 days doing actual feeder work) after Labor Day. I was a bit of a Nervous Nellie about driving tractor trailer (due in part to a bad familiarization experience on a tractor trailer in the military). It hasn't always been pretty but no one has gone without life, limb, or property as a result of my training.
I found my package driving experience to be useful coming into feeders. I not only know the verbals... I have some experience applying them. The hardest thing that I seem to struggle with is adjusting my decision points on stale green lights in regards to applying the verbals.
The hours is something that you will have to contend with. Barring exceptions due to weather and operations, the shifts are pretty consistent with start time and finish time in Alaska for the bid feeder drivers. As a backup feeder driver, I come out of package (days), cover a feeder route for week(s) at night, and return to days in package. I am not sure how well I will contend with that but I suspect it will be better than my wife contends with it if this weekend is any indications *shrugs*. I have to make the transition back to package mid-week (and travel 350 miles back home) because of Labor Day (I have to make up my fifth production run on the following Sunday/Monday due to four day work week this week) so that will not be fun.
Regardless of how all of this shakes out, I don't regret bidding into the backup feeder driver slot yet and I don't foresee that any regrets will likely be with driving the tractor trailer. Even with the stress of learning to drive the tractor trailer in a large city (Anchorage, AK) that my trainer (from Portland, OR) and I aren't very familiar with (has led to a few learning opportunities), the week was better than being in package operations back in Fairbanks up to this point. Not that we have worst scenario in Fairbanks (nor the best) but it was compelling to learn a new skill set at UPS as well as the opportunity to see UPS from a different perspective.
I still have a long ways to go but it has been worth it so far and I had some misgivings myself as I bid the position and prepared to embark on this endeavor. I hope you receive some good advice and are able to make the best decision for yourself and those you love.
I found my package driving experience to be useful coming into feeders. I not only know the verbals... I have some experience applying them. The hardest thing that I seem to struggle with is adjusting my decision points on stale green lights in regards to applying the verbals.
The hours is something that you will have to contend with. Barring exceptions due to weather and operations, the shifts are pretty consistent with start time and finish time in Alaska for the bid feeder drivers. As a backup feeder driver, I come out of package (days), cover a feeder route for week(s) at night, and return to days in package. I am not sure how well I will contend with that but I suspect it will be better than my wife contends with it if this weekend is any indications *shrugs*. I have to make the transition back to package mid-week (and travel 350 miles back home) because of Labor Day (I have to make up my fifth production run on the following Sunday/Monday due to four day work week this week) so that will not be fun.
Regardless of how all of this shakes out, I don't regret bidding into the backup feeder driver slot yet and I don't foresee that any regrets will likely be with driving the tractor trailer. Even with the stress of learning to drive the tractor trailer in a large city (Anchorage, AK) that my trainer (from Portland, OR) and I aren't very familiar with (has led to a few learning opportunities), the week was better than being in package operations back in Fairbanks up to this point. Not that we have worst scenario in Fairbanks (nor the best) but it was compelling to learn a new skill set at UPS as well as the opportunity to see UPS from a different perspective.
I still have a long ways to go but it has been worth it so far and I had some misgivings myself as I bid the position and prepared to embark on this endeavor. I hope you receive some good advice and are able to make the best decision for yourself and those you love.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
I suppose it could be worse---you could be heading up the Dalton.
cachsux
Wah
If you have a stable supporting family they'll remain so. If you have family troubles they'll remain that way too. Feeder is just going to be one straw on the camels back either way.
That said, a big part of the responsibility rest on you making the time you are with them quality time even if that might mean giving up some of the things you like.
That said, a big part of the responsibility rest on you making the time you are with them quality time even if that might mean giving up some of the things you like.
oldupsman
Well-Known Member
That's some real sound advice.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Sorry, even with the extra $.50 or $.75 per hour, you couldn't pay me enough to drive one of those things down the Northway at 3am during a blizzard.
oldupsman
Well-Known Member
So is this. And it's the biggest reason I never went into feeders. I have always been a daylight kind of guy. Just never saw myself being able to adjust to those kind
of hourly changes. It's always been a wonder to me we don't have more poor bastards falling asleep and getting killed then we do.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
You adjust. When I was military I went from working nights to afternoons to days all within the course of 18 months. Your body adjusts.
Thanks for the advise. My wife is ok with it she knows it will better for me in the long run. And for driving I think I can handle the hours just nervous about driving in bad weather. Everyone says you just go slow but still. So ill give it a try for sure and see how it goes.
cachsux
Wah
The only thing that will come up is "feeder pants".
There's quite a few of us on here. The easiest way to tell who's who is when the topic turns to
dispatches, add cut routes, over 9.5 days, crappy customers, etc, the feeder guys are the ones laughing about it.
Look at it this way about the weather. If you're a safe driver in package you'll be a safe driver in feeder. If you're a hotdog then you'll be in a ditch. They accelerate slower, stop slower, take more room to maneuver, and will crush you like a bug in a heartbeat if screw around. The big thing is whether or not you have respect for the equipment, don't cut corners on safety, and don't let them bs or pressure you into driving the way you shouldn't.
Take your time, you'll be fine.
There's quite a few of us on here. The easiest way to tell who's who is when the topic turns to
dispatches, add cut routes, over 9.5 days, crappy customers, etc, the feeder guys are the ones laughing about it.Look at it this way about the weather. If you're a safe driver in package you'll be a safe driver in feeder. If you're a hotdog then you'll be in a ditch. They accelerate slower, stop slower, take more room to maneuver, and will crush you like a bug in a heartbeat if screw around. The big thing is whether or not you have respect for the equipment, don't cut corners on safety, and don't let them bs or pressure you into driving the way you shouldn't.
Take your time, you'll be fine.
cachsux
Wah
Ask some of the female feeder drivers how they manage.
Dracula
Package Car is cake compared to this...
cachsux is right. No way would I ever go back to package car, and I know of no feeder driver that would, regardless of what that guy was saying last week about feeder drivers going back to PC. Not happening. Feeders is much easier than package car, physically. It is way easier to work more hours back here than it is in PC. And it takes more than a week to get comfortable, but it does get easier to drive this equipment. Since I came back here two years ago, the push for production has spiked. Now, that's no different than PC, meaning it's up to you to fight it off. You can't rush things back here, because if you make a mistake, you can't say you were rushed. And mistakes in feeders can have serious consequences.
Only you can answer the questions about how your family will respond to this job. My kids are almost out of the house now, and I work nights, so for me, it's not really an issue for me. As far as working nights, as long as you can sleep during the day, you should get used to it.
Only you can answer the questions about how your family will respond to this job. My kids are almost out of the house now, and I work nights, so for me, it's not really an issue for me. As far as working nights, as long as you can sleep during the day, you should get used to it.
Indecisi0n
Well-Known Member
Maybe.
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