UPS Feeder vs FedEx Freight Linehaul

[Inevitable]

I was recently told by a friend about UPS feeder positions which I had never heard about until recently. I had only heard of UPS package delivery drivers (package vans) paying well (over $30/hr). I currently work at FedEx Freight in the Denver, CO area and am now convinced to consider a position at UPS as a feeder driver. I am trying to find out if FedEx Freight road driver (not city driver) or UPS feeder driver (essentially the same job: building sets, pulling them to adjacent service centers, etc.) would be the most profitable job overall. If anyone can give as much accurate information as possible to compare these positions, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have applied to UPS feeder and have interviewed/had orientation with an HR supervisor (who honestly didn't seem like she knew a whole lot about the position - rough numbers, etc.)

What I know:

FedEx Freight road driver:

Pay: Paid per mile with flat rate pay for non-driving tasks and hourly pay for delays and running containers to/from rail yard. Flat rates: 1/2 hour for each hook. 1/2 hour for each drop. 1/4 hour for each fuel. 1/4 hour for hooking up to already hooked sets (tractor-only). I believe 1/4 hour for chaining up.
My Specific Center: Cap pay (tier 4/4th year) for drivers after 3 years from starting with either the city or the road is currently $28.83/hr and $0.6832 CPM. Use the hourly rate to figure out flat rate pay.
Common Annual Gross Numbers: Capped drivers are making between $70k - $140k/year. It varies greatly upon bid (most senior drivers have first pick on bids and vacation requests) and availability/desire to work on Saturdays. Making above $115k in a year seems to be more rare. I personally know someone well on his way to make $110k for the year (I saw his pay stub this week) averaging 60 hour weeks (he runs from Denver, CO to Wamsutter, WY. Also, I'm basing his hours/week on the time he enters the yard for work to when he leaves the yard to go home). This driver claims to have seen someone pull mid 130's for a year. I know a driver from Grand Junction, CO (their drivers cap at the same pay as our drivers) that made $87k in his first year (demand for drivers in that area caused him and other new drivers to start at top of payscale).
Benefits: 1. 401k with match (first 3% matched 1:1. Next 3% matched 2:1, so if you contribute 6%, they match with 4.5%.
2. Paternity leave: 2 weeks off paid.
3. Vacation hours: Accrue rate of 1 week/year after 3 months probation. 2 weeks/year after 1 year. 3 weeks/year after 7 years. 4 weeks/year after 15 years.
4. Sick hours: 1 week/year.
5. Health, dental, vision (costs me $30/week for the cheaper plans for me, my spouse and two children - I know this isn't a whole lot of information)
6. No union dues.
7. Some kind of pension that I need to get more information on (I've heard it's relatively weak)
Things one needs to know: Linehaul/road drivers with little seniority seem to only get a couple of runs per week. Often times, they can take extra runs on the weekend, they can run containers for the hourly pay noted above, or work a city driver shift if work is available. These new drivers often say they make as much as they did in the city with significantly less hours. No ridiculous/ancient appearance policies - you're mostly expected to wear uniform properly.

UPS Feeder driver (per hand out and verbal conversation with HR supervisor this week):

Pay: $28.50/hr to start with cap pay at roughly $37.50/hr (give or take $0.50/hr according to HR sup).
Union dues: $250 initial fee (paid by withdrawing $25/week from paycheck). After that fee is paid, dues are $65.50/month.
Benefits: How does pension, paternity leave and vacation/sick hours work with UPS? How much do people tend to pay per week or month for medical, dental and vision with UPS?
Things one needs to know: I would really like to know about any caveats of the position. I'm well aware that is mostly a night shift position and may require bouncing from days to nights before enough seniority is attained (as is with FedEx freight and any company employing linehaul drivers). This isn't a seasonal position but I am curious as to what the possibility is for layoffs? Is there other work that a feeder driver may do such as "yard-shifting" if a run isn't available? Does this alternate work pay differently? Also, somewhere when I was applying online it was implied that the work is UP TO 50 hours/week (is there some kind of hours limitation?).

I had sent the HR supervisor with UPS an e-mail containing some of these questions but she has yet to answer. Thank you so much for any contribution to this conversation.

Edit: I suspect that there is likely more opportunity for higher gross numbers per year with FedEx Freight because the pay model doesn't discourage drivers from working over 40 hours/week (they don't have to worry about overtime).

However, I feel that one MAY make more per hour with the UPS feeder position. Is it common for feeder drivers to work 60 hour weeks?

 

[Poop Head]

How much do people tend to pay per week or month for medical, dental and vision with UPS?

0

 

[brett636]

I cannot speak specifically for the Denver area, but I have worked in the Indianapolis UPS feeder department now for 9 years. Here new hires start @$20.50/hr. up from $18.75 under the old contract. All drivers top out over a 4 year period called the progression period where you get periodic raises up to whatever the top rate is after 4 years of working for UPS(currently $37.005/hr.) The vast majority of runs are straight hourly pay, but a select few get to work mileage runs that pay much better(around .86 CPM plus hourly delay pay for things such as hooking up, fueling, and traffic delays) although usually only your top seniority drivers get to run these. Benefits are paid for by the company which includes top notch health insurance for you and your family, credit in a pension plan which may or may not be in good financial health, and paid vacation which starts out at 2 weeks after one year, 3 after 3 years, all the way up to 7 weeks after 25 years of service. Personal holidays, paid sick time, etc. vary by area supplements so what is true for me may not be true out there.

Your work schedule will start out as an on call driver where you get called in to cover runs in seniority order, and these runs could be for drivers who have called in, scheduled off, or unscheduled loads. Life as an on call driver can mean getting called in first thing at midnight on Monday, but not being called in till the afternoon by Friday or perhaps not getting called in at all. We usually have plenty of weekend work to sign up for so I'd imagine that is true at most larger facilities which can be helpful for the weeks you don't work everyday. As you gain seniority you will be able to cover jobs for drivers who are on vacation and eventually get to bid on your own run. How fast this happens and what kind of jobs are available are completely dependent on your area and what the needs are for feeder drivers there. Most larger buildings are hiring feeder drivers pretty heavily due too the fast growth of the E-commerce sector along with the economy in general, but I am not aware of the feeder driver situation in your area.

Overall, I can say I have been happy to work in the UPS feeder department, and I don't see myself going to work for any other company. It seems like you don't have it too bad either so weigh the pros/cons closely before making the leap.

 

[Feeder665]

I can’t speak for Colorado, as I am in California. Different Union rules and different Supplement. So take what I say with that in mind.

I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can in order.....

1) we have 401k but no match
2) I used vacation / sick pay and state paternities pay to take 3 months off when each my kids were born. Paid.
3) 2 weeks vacation after probation. 3 weeks at 3 years. 4 weeks at 5 years. 6 weeks at 10 years. 7 weeks at 20 years. 8 weeks at 25 years. 9 weeks at 30 years is the cap.
4) 9 sick days a year every July 1st. Max accrual is 45 sick days saved.
5) full coverage for health, dental, vision.
6) $60-90/month in union dues depending on union.
7) peer 80 pension plan vested after 5 years. Age + years of service = 80 you get full retirement.

I don’t know much about the mileage jobs as we don’t have any in my area (currently, supposedly we are about to get some).

Current pay is $37.89/hr with $3.45 in raises over the next 4 years every August 1st. Double time for 6th punch days. In my supplement our feeders do NOT have a progression. Any feeder hired outside or inside bumps straight to top pay.

I average 50-60 hours a week with peak season over 60+ hour shift. Depends on your hub and the job / runs you cover. There is almost always more overtime if you want it.

As with most companies we are seniority based. Your bid / job coverage will be based on seniority. Yes most jobs have some type of shifting you can fall back on. Occasionally you may have to deliver packages. In such a case they would have to train you, and the package side hates that, so they just pay you feeder pay to stay home. So I’ve been told by a few it’s happened too.

Be careful of HR, they love to leave things vague and lie to get what they need.

Also check out this thread Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

It has more answers as well.

 

[thecamel]

If you have put in the time over there at fed ex and are in a decent situation stick with it.
There are many opportunities here at ups, however, starting over, seniority rules, availability of work, etc could make this a challenging start. The grass is brown over here.

 

[542thruNthru]

I can’t speak for Colorado, as I am in California. Different Union rules and different Supplement. So take what I say with that in mind.

I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can in order.....

1) we have 401k but no match
2) I used vacation / sick pay and state paternities pay to take 3 months off when each my kids were born. Paid.
3) 2 weeks vacation after probation. 3 weeks at 3 years. 4 weeks at 5 years. 6 weeks at 10 years. 7 weeks at 20 years. 8 weeks at 25 years. 9 weeks at 30 years is the cap.
4) 9 sick days a year every July 1st. Max accrual is 45 sick days saved.
5) full coverage for health, dental, vision.
6) $60-90/month in union dues depending on union.
7) peer 80 pension plan vested after 5 years. Age + years of service = 80 you get full retirement.

I don’t know much about the mileage jobs as we don’t have any in my area (currently, supposedly we are about to get some).

Current pay is $37.89/hr with $3.45 in raises over the next 4 years every August 1st. Double time for 6th punch days. In my supplement our feeders do NOT have a progression. Any feeder hired outside or inside bumps straight to top pay.

I average 50-60 hours a week with peak season over 60+ hour shift. Depends on your hub and the job / runs you cover. There is almost always more overtime if you want it.

As with most companies we are seniority based. Your bid / job coverage will be based on seniority. Yes most jobs have some type of shifting you can fall back on. Occasionally you may have to deliver packages. In such a case they would have to train you, and the package side hates that, so they just pay you feeder pay to stay home. So I’ve been told by a few it’s happened too.

Be careful of HR, they love to leave things vague and lie to get what they need.

Also check out this thread Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

It has more answers as well.

Where are you that you get 9 weeks of vacation after 30?

I've never seen that before

 

[Feeder665]

It’s really 7+A&B but that equals 9.

NorCal

 

[barnyard]

If you sent a list of questions like that to HR, I would doubt that you will get a call to interview. The questions you asked, you could have answered yourself with a google search.

 

[silenze]

Id say go with ups if you are young or have no family. If you are old or have kids and need a steady income for the first few years stay at fedex

 

[0702]

How high are you on your road driver board?

 

[35years]

9 weeks at 30 years is the cap.
4) 9 sick days a year every July 1st. Max accrual is 45 sick days saved.
5) full coverage for health, dental, vision.
6) $60-90/month in union dues depending on union.
7) peer 80 pension plan vested after 5 years. Age + years of service = 80 you get full retirement.

Plus double time on 6th punch!!!!
And peer 80!!!!!!!

Ridiculous
We get 19 less paid days off than your guys with the same years in. No sick days here.
We get 1.5x pay on 6th punch not 2x
To get the full pension I would be 62 with 37 years in....equivant to per 99.

It is a crime how much more you guys get.

 

[DoctorPepperManiac]

Im from Colorado and I previously worked at FedEx Freight and am now currently a Denver UPS Feeder Driver. If all you care about is the money, UPS easy. You are guaranteed work and we generally work 60 hour weeks, meaning they actually expect 60 hours, though you can generally work less if desired. They have been hiring in an unprecedented manner so maybe they want to cut down on overtime but that would be a complete change of the way this company operates.

Be warned though, the grass is very brown on this side. When package drivers go Feeder, they keep their seniority and you will be very low on the seniority board for decades. Don’t expect to be running mileage , unless you get a lucky week on the various board but even then, slim chances. Hostling is part of our job category, so you might end up doing that a lot. Otherwise expect to go to the rail yard a lot as well as bringing loads to our other centers and overall expect to be their bitch.

If you want the money, come on over at your own discretion. The equipment here , work/life balance , and atmosphere is honestly much worse than FedEx Freight. If you’re happy there, stay there, but if not, come on over.

 

[Mack37]

I would say it depends on which place is going to get you up the seniority list faster. We have a driver that left FedEx Freight to come to the postal service for some reason. He only had maybe four years in but had a Grand Rapids turn 5 days a week, cleared 100k easy. Now he makes maybe 50K starting at the bottom here.

I have the urge to go back to UPS but starting over on another seniority board is painful. Although, I'm fairly sure package car guys don't retain seniority if the come to feeders here.

 

[Poop Head]

If you're gonna make the switch, the sooner the better. The next contract will surely bring 22.5 drivers. They'll load up your cab with nda. Or a neighborhood or two in the back of the back box, that are right off the freeway, and deliver it on your run. Or put the trailer on the door and unload it. The sky's the limit.

 

[542thruNthru]

9 weeks at 30 years is the cap.
4) 9 sick days a year every July 1st. Max accrual is 45 sick days saved.
5) full coverage for health, dental, vision.
6) $60-90/month in union dues depending on union.
7) peer 80 pension plan vested after 5 years. Age + years of service = 80 you get full retirement.

Plus double time on 6th punch!!!!
And peer 80!!!!!!!

Ridiculous
We get 19 less paid days off than your guys with the same years in. No sick days here.
We get 1.5x pay on 6th punch not 2x
To get the full pension I would be 62 with 37 years in....equivant to per 99.

It is a crime how much more you guys get.

We work harder in the west.

 

[KoennenTiger]

I would say it depends on which place is going to get you up the seniority list faster. We have a driver that left FedEx Freight to come to the postal service for some reason. He only had maybe four years in but had a Grand Rapids turn 5 days a week, cleared 100k easy. Now he makes maybe 50K starting at the bottom here.

I have the urge to go back to UPS but starting over on another seniority board is painful. Although, I'm fairly sure package car guys don't retain seniority if the come to feeders here.

Feeders have their own seniority list here as well. Though you keep your progression.

 

[silenze]

If you're gonna make the switch, the sooner the better. The next contract will surely bring 22.5 drivers. They'll load up your cab with nda. Or a neighborhood or two in the back of the back box, that are right off the freeway, and deliver it on your run. Or put the trailer on the door and unload it. The sky's the limit.

I heard they are eliminating feeder drivers and replacing us with self driving trucks. If you want to keep your job you can be a feeder helper unloading your trailer and delivering in a golf cart.

 

[Inevitable]

If you sent a list of questions like that to HR, I would doubt that you will get a call to interview. The questions you asked, you could have answered yourself with a google search.

One of the very first statements I made was that I have already interviewed with UPS. I have searched Google, Bing and this website and have not found concrete, up-to-date answers to these questions yet. I admit I could have dug deeper than I already had in the Feeder FAQ and possibly found some answers. However, if it takes that thorough of a search to find this basic information, it's obvious that a thread containing a lot of compact, up-to-date information on the first page (like this one) will be beneficial - at least to people outside of UPS considering a job with them.

I am currently not a road driver with FedEx Freight so becoming one will reset my seniority for bids (unlike UPS, my company seniority is only respected for things like vacation, etc.) which puts becoming a UPS feeder driver on an even playing field on that subject.

Im from Colorado and I previously worked at FedEx Freight and am now currently a Denver UPS Feeder Driver. If all you care about is the money, UPS easy. You are guaranteed work and we generally work 60 hour weeks, meaning they actually expect 60 hours, though you can generally work less if desired. They have been hiring in an unprecedented manner so maybe they want to cut down on overtime but that would be a complete change of the way this company operates.

Be warned though, the grass is very brown on this side. When package drivers go Feeder, they keep their seniority and you will be very low on the seniority board for decades. Don’t expect to be running mileage , unless you get a lucky week on the various board but even then, slim chances. Hostling is part of our job category, so you might end up doing that a lot. Otherwise expect to go to the rail yard a lot as well as bringing loads to our other centers and overall expect to be their bitch.

If you want the money, come on over at your own discretion. The equipment here , work/life balance , and atmosphere is honestly much worse than FedEx Freight. If you’re happy there, stay there, but if not, come on over.

Did you ever work linehaul for FedEx Freight in Denver? Technically located in Henderson. Also, the UPS HR supervisor didn't seem sure about the payscale for UPS feeder drivers here. Do you know the exact pay rates for the progression? Can I expect about 60 hours per week from the beginning at this center? Are you paid the same rate when you hostle? Edit: And yes, I'm about the pay/benefits + job security above everything else.

Feeder665, does UPS have paid paternity leave separate from vacation/sick days? I didn't know what you meant by state paternity - I'm assuming you have a law in your state concerning paid paternity leave?

Thank you everyone for contributing so much to the topic.

 

[KoennenTiger]

One of the very first statements I made was that I have already interviewed with UPS. I have searched Google, Bing and this website and have not found concrete, up-to-date answers to these questions yet. I admit I could have dug deeper than I already had in the Feeder FAQ and possibly found some answers. However, if it takes that thorough of a search to find this basic information, it's obvious that a thread containing a lot of compact, up-to-date information on the first page (like this one) will be beneficial - at least to people outside of UPS considering a job with them.

I am currently not a road driver with FedEx Freight so becoming one will reset my seniority for bids (unlike UPS, my company seniority is only respected for things like vacation, etc.) which puts becoming a UPS feeder driver on an even playing field on that subject.



Did you ever work linehaul for FedEx Freight in Denver? Technically located in Henderson. Also, the UPS HR supervisor didn't seem sure about the payscale for UPS feeder drivers here. Do you know the exact pay rates for the progression? Can I expect about 60 hours per week from the beginning at this center? Are you paid the same rate when you hostle? Edit: And yes, I'm about the pay/benefits + job security above everything else.

Feeder665, does UPS have paid paternity leave separate from vacation/sick days? I didn't know what you meant by state paternity - I'm assuming you have a law in your state concerning paid paternity leave?

Thank you everyone for contributing so much to the topic.

I can't speak for that local but here you get one week unpaid. But you can use your vacation and option days (basically vacation). If you really want time off you file fmla and then use the 12 weeks or whatever to take more time off. Personally I've just taken the week plus used some vacay then the wife gets to start raising that baby.

 

[DoctorPepperManiac]

Yes I worked at the Henderson building. I started off P&D and then went Linehaul and they were only using me once a week , therefore I left, among other reasons. I was making more as a city driver over there, but I started at 4am in the city so got more hours than your average P&D driver. I definitely miss the schedule I had there as well as working the city. Linehaul sucked though but some guys can stick it out and it works for them. At UPS , at least in Denver, we have set start times every week, none of that on call bull.


UPS is a union job so payscale is all laid out in the contract. That being said, Denver is currently paying Feeder drivers in progression 28.50 , so you would stay at 28.50 every year without a raise until you top out after 3 years. However, that 28.50 was originally temporary and is under no circumstances guaranteed. In other words, they could make you go through the actual progression starting off at 21 then 23, 24, 28.50, to top pay if they want to. It’s a union job, so what is in the contract is ultimately what we agreed to; I’d recommend looking at the contract.


You are paid the same rate when you hostle or do any work with the exception of mileage which is paid at the mileage rates with delay time and extra work paid at overtime rate I believe. I would say you can expect 60 hours, but with the mass hiring they’ve done recently, I am hesitant to say so. 50 for sure I think but only guaranteed 40. Better then FedEx where you’re guaranteed nothing.