I'll be the first to tell you that $8.50 for just about every UPS pt position is absolute horse****e when you factor in what the must do to their bodies and minds to earn it. Just the fact that starting wages have only gone up $.50 since I started 27 years ago is pathetic. Do they deserve more dollars to start, absolutely.
As far as the $32 I make in my position as a feeder driver, thank you very much. Do I think I earned it putting up with everything I have in those 27 years? Yes. Did I say 26 years ago to a senior employee that I should have what he had without putting in the time or doing whatever it took to put me in a position to get it? No. I saw it as a goal, something to strive for. I drove an hour each way to a large hub as a ptimer until a driving spot opened. I drove an hour and forty five each way until a feeder spot opened. I still drive an hour , and went to three hubs, to stay with that position and put my time in until I'm now a senior driver at my building. It was never just handed to me. There have been ****ey jobs on the way up. Less pay on the way up. Crap routes. Crap hours. But if you want it you stick with it or go find that greener grass elsewhere.
Don't take my posting the wrong way -- I feel you're entitled to the wage you earn. And in the 13 years I've worked PT, I've double-shifted, driver helped and pulled a couple hundred routes seasonally. I input my hours (separated by job) into Excel, and throughout most of my career here, I've averaged 40/hours per week - for many years, slightly more. But all as a "PTer" never grossing more than $30K. And I've always done this while juggling a second, low-wage job... most recently, after UPS purged our hours, I went to work for McDonalds as a 28-year-old earning $7.25/hour. When I've done seasonal driving, which is now nearly a $6/hour pay cut for me, I've pulled the worst routes in the facility, taking more stops than the regular driver. And you know what? It's a huge relief compared to my "day" jobs.
My whole point is that while I acknowledge you've made sacrifices in your career, the current generation of PTers have it much harder. They'll work 3.5-hours per day, starting near minimum wage, for up to 15 years -- heck, maybe even longer now that half the year is a free period & the union has given concessions for increased usage of TCD (*I believe it's a de facto two-tier pay system that will effectively reduce the number of FTers). Then they'll undergo a four year wage progression -- which will likely lengthen again (and again) -- somebody hiring in their mid-20s will be in their mid-40s before they ever see top rate. And that's fine, because if top rate holds & continues to keep pace with inflation, the rewards are huge for a group of people who otherwise wouldn't make anything close to that wage.
But some of the "old timers" really need to stop telling the PTers 'it's just a PT job, go find a "real" job if you want to make more than $8.50/hour.' The reality is, if many FTers lost their job for whatever reason, they'd discover that the only "real" job they'd be qualified for that's available is flipping burgers for $7.25/hour.
We respect what you went through, some of you need to respect what we're going through.