Work for UPS or USPS 2018 thoughts!

[Hoonstarr]

hey one new to UPS I recently did my first driving job as a seasonal driver and I was hired in the week as a full time driver at a prett busy hub where I’m at now is I also got a job offer this week for the USPS the same office as a friend of mine with well over 100 routes with an old workforce I’m trying to get some input this is a hard choice for me because I want either to be my career I’m 27 and want to figure it out! You can behave a regular route at the post office In three years is UPS like this I just need help!

 

[MyTripisCut]

You can behave a regular route at the post office In three years is UPS like this I just need help!

You can behave lotta stuff in America is great place my friend go for both!

 

[Box Ox]

UPS often sucks, but as a USPSer, your deliveries are considered essential government services. Have a USPS guy in my neighborhood who’s worked well over 14 hours (18-20) during the holiday season because DOT hours restrictions do not apply to him.

 

[Hoonstarr]

I feel you guys.. right now I’m trying to do a pros and cons list and each has their perks which is nice it’s a good dilemma to have I guess I just have no idea I enjoyed the time I spent at UPS seasonal driving 70 hours a week in a budget rental truck getting my ass kicked I didn’t mind the work at all just that when you hear government job to me at least you think security and long term and not going anywhere

 

[Jkloc420]

hey one new to UPS I recently did my first driving job as a seasonal driver and I was hired in the week as a full time driver at a prett busy hub where I’m at now is I also got a job offer this week for the USPS the same office as a friend of mine with well over 100 routes with an old workforce I’m trying to get some input this is a hard choice for me because I want either to be my career I’m 27 and want to figure it out! You can behave a regular route at the post office In three years is UPS like this I just need help!

i bet your pension is more secure with the government then ups

 

[Box Ox]

OP might want to ask the USPS folks over on Reddit how things are looking internally over there. Could see strong points for going either route.

But if Amazon ever stops using USPS wholly or partially for package delivery, which they very well may, it’d probably decimate the lower USPS ranks.

UPS seems far more diversified in its delivery revenue streams.

Edit: And how much propping up USPS receives in the future might depend on nothing more than the prevailing political winds at the time.

 

[Poop Head]

hey one new to UPS I recently did my first driving job as a seasonal driver and I was hired in the week as a full time driver at a prett busy hub where I’m at now is I also got a job offer this week for the USPS the same office as a friend of mine with well over 100 routes with an old workforce I’m trying to get some input this is a hard choice for me because I want either to be my career I’m 27 and want to figure it out! You can behave a regular route at the post office In three years is UPS like this I just need help!

My best friend is a mail carrier. He made "regular" and got his own route after about two years. He loves it. Sounds very not stressful, like they actually care about their employees over there. A bit less pay and bennies though.
I'll tell you what, if I was in your shoes now, I wouldn't go ups. It seems the company is on a path of self destuction at this point

Also, I've never seen a mailman frantically running to deliver the mail. Just saying.

 

[Box Ox]

I'll tell you what, if I was in your shoes now, I wouldn't go ups. It seems the company is on a path of self destuction at this point

Also, I've never seen a mailman frantically running to deliver the mail. Just saying.

The lesser stress on the body alone might be worth the lower pay and benefits. Running over 200 stops a day of up to 150 pounders pays well, but probably isn’t the most stable/sustainable career path.

 

[DOK]

UPS often sucks, but as a USPSer, your deliveries are considered essential government services. Have a USPS guy in my neighborhood who’s worked well over 14 hours (18-20) during the holiday season because DOT hours restrictions do not apply to him.

Not around here, USPS is not permitted to work past sundown here because of safety concerns, I real perk during the winter months.

 

[TG43]

I used to be a city letter carrier for USPS. Now tcd at UPS. In my experience, being a city carrier at USPS was way easier than being a UPS driver. I'm not saying being a letter carrier is easy, it for sure isn't. The big thing to me is how late you work. Letter carriers here get done around 4:00. I'm often way later than that as a UPS driver. I hate working in the dark. The impact on legs and knees is way more at UPS carrying heavy stuff. Everyone is different, you might like UPS. USPS Rural Carrier is where it's at!....they have a different union...they get paid by the day...often done by 1:30. In other words, they work 6-7 hours but get paid 8, except for peak of course they might work more than 8.

As a City Carrier you can get on an 8-hour list and not work over 8 hours a day. That would be sweet. At UPS it's 9.5. Or Two lousy 8-hour days a month which aren't even 8 hours, they're 8.5.

Big negative at USPS is you will work most Saturdays of course.

 

[sikidiki]

I applied for usps and passed all the tests, then when i went to work they said i needed a right hand drive vehicle. I couldn't afford to buy one and i didnt get the job, so keep that in mind. Also after working for ups for a year i have made friends with a few different usps mail carriers on my usual route and they are out just as late as i am some days. UPS has great benefits, while usps might not be as stressful ups is a great place to work and getting paid every week is awesome!

 

[watdaflock?]

hey one new to UPS I recently did my first driving job as a seasonal driver and I was hired in the week as a full time driver at a prett busy hub where I’m at now is I also got a job offer this week for the USPS the same office as a friend of mine with well over 100 routes with an old workforce I’m trying to get some input this is a hard choice for me because I want either to be my career I’m 27 and want to figure it out! You can behave a regular route at the post office In three years is UPS like this I just need help!

The Postal Service is a dumpster fire. The POTUS calls USPS 'dumber and poorer' while Congress allows proposals to die immediately. Saturday delivery costs USPS so much it's ridiculous and Congress, under Article 1 of the Constitution, won't let it end.
Congress "demands" a high level of service, even though it's causing USPS to lose money.

With all of these furloughs and shutdowns the past few years, you'd be insane to want a Government job.

 

[Hoonstarr]

I really appreciate all you guys input being offered a ft driver job at ups and a cca spot at the post office has been stressful in thinking where I want to go! I want this to be my career and I’d like to make the right decision. My experience at ups during peek was a good one I liked job even when I got stressed out the paycheck at the end of the week made me feel much better! I just read about people getting off late not having time for their family... is it really that bad ? Isn’t that what the weekend is for doesn’t working the five days a week make it feel better??

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Keep in mind that the company is pushing toward a 6 day work week.

 

[Analbumcover]

I really appreciate all you guys input being offered a ft driver job at ups and a cca spot at the post office has been stressful in thinking where I want to go! I want this to be my career and I’d like to make the right decision. My experience at ups during peek was a good one I liked job even when I got stressed out the paycheck at the end of the week made me feel much better! I just read about people getting off late not having time for their family... is it really that bad ? Isn’t that what the weekend is for doesn’t working the five days a week make it feel better??

It really depends on your center and the type of route you have for UPS. I spent the last 3 weeks covering for a sick driver on a route that had maybe 110 stops on a bad day. Mostly country residentials, no air commits and some oddly placed industrial parks out in the middle of nowhere. I never punched out after 6:30pm and was home in plenty of time for dinner.

I feel sorry for the urban drivers if I go into the city. Poor guys driving around at 8pm on cramped city roads. I had several USPS drivers tell me they wish they had my job for the pay and benefits. It's a matter of perspective it seems.

 

[TG43]

I respectfully disagree about being insane to want a government job. Do you know about the pre-funding of future retirees pensions? You probably do, but some here may not. The post office, since 2006 has been required to pre-fund its future expected retiree pension and healthcare benefits at the cost of 5.5+ billion dollars a year....this is for people that don't work there yet and haven't even been born yet! This is extremely rare. This is where many of there "losses" come from. When was the post office most profitable? You guessed it...right before this kicked in! They basically had a bunch of "extra" money they had to figure out what to do with!

A quote from the LA Times article "Trump says the Postal Service is 'dumber and poorer,' but he and Congress deserve the blame" ---->

"What the Postal Service's critics (including Trump) almost never mention is that the real drag on its earnings is another congressional directive. I wrote in 2012 that the USPS' fiscal crisis was "as artificial as they come" — it was the product of a 2006 congressional mandate that the service must prepay over the next 10 years all its future expected retiree healthcare benefits.

Those payments totaled $38 billion through 2011, with further installments of between $5.6 billion and $11.1 billion a year due through 2016. At least $34 billion is still owed, according to the annual report. Conservatives who maintain that the USPS should be operated profitably, like a private business, fail to explain why the service should be burdened with a prepayment mandate that its competitors don't face".

The Post Office has been around since 1775, I don't think they're going anywhere.

 

[JackStraw]

If you want to make money, work long unappreciated hours, have your body beat up then UPS is the way to go. Postal service is catching up with UPS as far as technology is concerned but they won't brow beat you over performance like UPS does. The job as a mail carrier is a walk in the park compared to a UPS package driver.

 

[dudebro]

Keep in mind that the company is pushing toward a 6 day work week.

The company is pushing toward a 7 day work week. They probably also want the flexibility to have one driver work 4-14 hour days and another work 3-14 hour days so they can maximize the use of the package car, feeder, and hub sortation assets - mathematically speaking this would be my guess.

What the Teamsters agree to will be another story.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The Union cannot tell the Company how to run their business.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I really appreciate all you guys input being offered a ft driver job at ups and a cca spot at the post office has been stressful in thinking where I want to go! I want this to be my career and I’d like to make the right decision. My experience at ups during peek was a good one I liked job even when I got stressed out the paycheck at the end of the week made me feel much better! I just read about people getting off late not having time for their family... is it really that bad ? Isn’t that what the weekend is for doesn’t working the five days a week make it feel better??

Go to school and get an education or skill. UPS is last resort desperation and not where you want to be, ever. The lesser of two evils is definitely going to be USPS.