Any 2DA Louisville Worldport UPSers out there?

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

Hey all,

I have a question for the UPSers who work the day shift in Louisville at Worldport. I'll be putting my transfer papers in to go from 1DA to 2DA this week. I keep hearing that the day sort is dying for help and can't keep anybody. Is there any truth to this? I heard it a few months back and still do now. The fact that the entire operation is desperate for people makes me think I could move quick. So what area do you work in and how is the staffing in it? Is it adequate is help needed? Small sort is where I'd love to go, but I could settle on going to a Wing if I would have a better chance staying as a loader or unloader.

Thanks and I can't wait to hear from you.

 

[watdaflock?]

Is Worldport air conditioned? If not, I can imagine day sort "dying for help" being Kentucky in July, August.

 

[Satuirus2000]

Hey all,

I have a question for the UPSers who work the day shift in Louisville at Worldport. I'll be putting my transfer papers in to go from 1DA to 2DA this week. I keep hearing that the day sort is dying for help and can't keep anybody. Is there any truth to this? I heard it a few months back and still do now. The fact that the entire operation is desperate for people makes me think I could move quick. So what area do you work in and how is the staffing in it? Is it adequate is help needed? Small sort is where I'd love to go, but I could settle on going to a Wing if I would have a better chance staying as a loader or unloader.

Thanks and I can't wait to hear from you.

I'm at Worldport and yes, the day sort is in desperate need for people. They especially were during Peak Season. Still, with all that said, I don't know about you being able to transfer from nights to days in a quick manner. That usually is a VERY long process here and many people like to go from nights to days, so, again, I wouldn't get too attached to the idea of you transferring quickly. It can happen, but I wouldn't say it's typical. They may be desperate, but UPS also doesn't want a robbing Peter to pay Paul relationship between nights and days either.

I work in a Wing. Staffing isn't awful, but could be a lot better. The biggest problems are normally attendance. No one seems to want to do anything about that. Small Sort was another area that desperately needed people during peak. I know at one point during that time, ANY new hire was being sent there instead of the Wings. Now that peak has died down, I'm not sure how much help they need . The Wings always need loaders (not Unloaders so much, in fact, some low seniority unloaders were forced to become loaders because the need was desperate) so you'd have a better chance trying to transfer doing that I'd imagine

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

I'm at Worldport and yes, the day sort is in desperate need for people. They especially were during Peak Season. Still, with all that said, I don't know about you being able to transfer from nights to days in a quick manner. That usually is a VERY long process here and many people like to go from nights to days, so, again, I wouldn't get too attached to the idea of you transferring quickly. It can happen, but I wouldn't say it's typical. They may be desperate, but UPS also doesn't want a robbing Peter to pay Paul relationship between nights and days either.

I work in a Wing. Staffing isn't awful, but could be a lot better. The biggest problems are normally attendance. No one seems to want to do anything about that. Small Sort was another area that desperately needed people during peak. I know at one point during that time, ANY new hire was being sent there instead of the Wings. Now that peak has died down, I'm not sure how much help they need . The Wings always need loaders (not Unloaders so much, in fact, some low seniority unloaders were forced to become loaders because the need was desperate) so you'd have a better chance trying to transfer doing that I'd imagine

Thanks for your response. Just curious, what wing do you work in? I was looking at the transfer lists recently and between the 2da wings and small sort there were about 50 people combined signed up. I figured that since there are 5 wings each with around 7-8 posis and not including all the unload positions, then they could move through that list fairly quick. I think there was 25 on the wing list, which is an entire posisorter worth of people, right? Do you guys get tons of double shifters from 1DA where you work? People from my belt over on 1DA seem to get double shifts almost every day.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

How would either of you describe the overall work atmosphere at Worldport?

 

[Satuirus2000]

Do you guys get tons of double shifters from 1DA where you work? People from my belt over on 1DA seem to get double shifts almost every day.

During the year, no, we don't get a lot of doubleshifters from 1DA. During Peak and currently right now we were/are, but peak is now officially dying down/dead. For the past few weeks double shifts have often been open to the district for nights and days. But that's going to be ending soon. As the year drags on, those chances to doubleshift will decrease as volume starts to normalize from the insane levels of peak.

The only exception is Sundays. If you work nights and are Mon-Fri, you can ALWAYS sign up to work Sunday and you will get it, because the attendance for that day is ALWAYS horrific. Again, don't get attached to transferring quickly. It doesn't matter that there are only 50 people on the list. UPS can't just start taking everybody from nights to staff up days. I've known people who found it VERY difficult just to transfer to day sort. Some had to have proof of hardship etc. Again, I've just never known it to be a quick and simple process. It usually takes a few years for Nights people to transfer unless they have a really good reason. It could happen though. I never thought UPS would be giving out thousands of dollars of bonus money to seasonal people but they did. I just want to keep your expectations realistic.

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

How would either of you describe the overall work atmosphere at Worldport?

I work in the old conventional sort buildings (called Grade Lane) where everything is sorted by hand and EVERY package has to be scanned manually and there is 35 years worth of dirt, dust, grit, etc. The work atmosphere at Grade Lane is intense. Jams on secondary belts are a common occurrence and once the jam is broke and secondary restarts the belt, be prepared to be buried in boxes! My belt ships to Kansas City (MCI airport) and every night we load an MD-11 aircraft (second largest bird in the fleet) most nights at capacity. On average our belt alone sees between 13,000-14,000 packages a night. There have been times where there was so much volume that we blew our plane up and had lots of service failures because we couldn't fit what was left over on the plane.

Once in a while, we will get downsized on our aircraft. If another route needs a larger plane, our belt is near the top of the list to give them one. When it is halfway through sort and the sup tells us that we've been downsized, everyone has to unload the incompatible containers and wait for re-spots. Heck there have been times where management couldn't make up their mind about whether or not we were downsizing and we kept unloading our containers and reloading them again and in the end, we never downsized.

But anyway, other than the archaic conventional sorting, there is the entire other world of automation in the wings and the core. I can't say much about over there because I don't have near as much experience working automation as I do conventional. This is where packages are only touched twice. Once in unload and once on load. The packages are sorted and scanned automatically, so you on't have to scan every package that goes into the container or feeder. If you haven't already, I'd take some time watching this documentary about how Worldport works. I think you'll find it quite interesting. I've attached all three parts of it here.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I have seen that show.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[Satuirus2000]

I'm in one of the Wings in the Feeder section. It's automated( I HATE Grade Lane and Building 1) but we also get a lot of jams. I think the atmosphere is just like any other UPS building across the US. People think the work is hard, too much volume shoved in the sort with too few hours to do it etc etc. You bitch about what you don't like and move on. Then rinse and repeat. I don't think ANYONE is actually happy here, but I don't know many who like physical labor, much less anyone who really LIKES their job anyway in America. It pays the bills and offers good health insurance though, so it is what it is.

Of course many people have left Worldport for Amazon, GE, Ford etc. So I guess the atmosphere isn't all that great. Worldport is very concerned with the amount of turnover,as over the years we've just bled through workers since the job market in Louisville isn't all that bad. People, especially the young, have more options and they're choosing the ones that aren't UPS.

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

I'm in one of the Wings in the Feeder section. It's automated( I HATE Grade Lane and Building 1) but we also get a lot of jams. I think the atmosphere is just like any other UPS building across the US. People think the work is hard, too much volume shoved in the sort with too few hours to do it etc etc. You bitch about what you don't like and move on. Then rinse and repeat. I don't think ANYONE is actually happy here, but I don't know many who like physical labor, much less anyone who really LIKES their job anyway in America. It pays the bills and offers good health insurance though, so it is what it is.

Of course many people have left Worldport for Amazon, GE, Ford etc. So I guess the atmosphere isn't all that great. Worldport is very concerned with the amount of turnover,as over the years we've just bled through workers since the job market in Louisville isn't all that bad. People, especially the young, have more options and they're choosing the ones that aren't UPS.

Interesting, I would think you wouldn't get as many jams as GL because the wings and core are automated and the computer spaces the packages out on the belts so they won't jam up.

I have worked in a Wing and have gotten the hang of it, but I always find it funny when people from conventional sort go over to a wing and they find it hard to get used to walking on caster decks/ball mats and the idea that they have to spot up their own can and pull it to the dock at the end of the sort. It was like culture shock to me when I first went to a wing. People in my area are used to the shifters bringing the re-spot cans to them and taking the can to the plane at pull time.

 

[Satuirus2000]

Nah, jams happen all the time because people in the unload don't pay attentin to weight limits or box dimensions. Plus, there's only so much volume a belt can handle at a time. UPS has flat out told me that they only have a guesstimate of how much volume they send down to a chute or posi. The don't know the actual number till it's already there. So that creates jams when too much volume comes down.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean about pulling cans to the dock. That's not something loaders do. There's a specific position for that and they're called Shifters. They move the cans to the dock and the ramp people put it on the planes. Loaders shouldn't be doing that. The only cans they should be moving are holdover cans or tote cans at the end of the day, and those are taken to the unload. Loaders do get their own cans to respot, although technically the Shifters should be doing that too. But their supervisors don't make them get off their asses to do so, so whatever.

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

Nah, jams happen all the time because people in the unload don't pay attentin to weight limits or box dimensions. Plus, there's only so much volume a belt can handle at a time. UPS has flat out told me that they only have a guesstimate of how much volume they send down to a chute or posi. The don't know the actual number till it's already there. So that creates jams when too much volume comes down.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean about pulling cans to the dock. That's not something loaders do. There's a specific position for that and they're called Shifters. They move the cans to the dock and the ramp people put it on the planes. Loaders shouldn't be doing that. The only cans they should be moving are holdover cans or tote cans at the end of the day, and those are taken to the unload. Loaders do get their own cans to respot, although technically the Shifters should be doing that too. But their supervisors don't make them get off their asses to do so, so whatever.

Yeah unload sucks sometimes. We got slammed with a bulk of over a hundred poles that should have went through irregs but for some reason were unloaded on the parcel belt. This resulted in our belt jamming every 2 minutes and our area manager, division manager, and even air district manager were called over to our area to assist. It's rare that all three of them are called to one belt at the same time.

In the middle of the sort, loaders close their own can, push it back, and the shifters will pull the can to the dock, but at the end of the sort there is a pull time where everyone on the posi has to pull the cans to the dock. At least that's how it works in Wing E (I've worked in Wing B but at the feeder posi so I can't say much about it).

 

[Satuirus2000]

In the middle of the sort, loaders close their own can, push it back, and the shifters will pull the can to the dock, but at the end of the sort there is a pull time where everyone on the posi has to pull the cans to the dock. At least that's how it works in Wing E (I've worked in Wing B but at the feeder posi so I can't say much about it).

Hmm, maybe that's just a nights thing. I've never seen that happen in any of the Wings I've worked in on days. Although I've never been to Wing E.

 

[rod]

I'm confused? What's the difference between working 1DA and 2DA? Don't they both go down conveyor belts and slides? Is it different pay scales? Is one a night job and one a day job? I know nothing about World Port other than I did watch that show on TV.

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

I'm confused? What's the difference between working 1DA and 2DA? Don't they both go down conveyor belts and slides? Is it different pay scales? Is one a night job and one a day job? I know nothing about World Port other than I did watch that show on TV.

They're two different sorts. 1DA (or NDA) is the night shift which handles all Next Day Air packages. 2DA is the day shift where Second Day Air and Three Day Select packages are handled.

 

[rod]

They're two different sorts. 1DA (or NDA) is the night shift which handles all Next Day Air packages. 2DA is the day shift where Second Day Air and Three Day Select packages are handled.

Thanks for the explanation. I just assumed it was all garbage in- garbage out. everything mixed.

 

[MoarTape]

They're two different sorts. 1DA (or NDA) is the night shift which handles all Next Day Air packages. 2DA is the day shift where Second Day Air and Three Day Select packages are handled.

I'm confused about the grade lane part. I was under the impression the whole place was automated.

 

[PinkbluebeltsplitMCI]

I'm confused about the grade lane part. I was under the impression the whole place was automated.

There are two types of sorting at Worldport. Conventional and automated. Yes, the majority of Worldport is now automated, but there are still a few buildings from the hub's original structure that still operate and are not automated. Every individual package has to be sorted by hand and scanned manually in these buildings. The term "Grade Lane" comes from Worldport's street address 911 Grade Lane. It's a term simply used to distinguish a group of buildings from the others within the air park. These old buildings are the closest to the road known as Grade Lane.

I've attached a picture of Louisville International with a full view of Worldport. It is circled on the right and under the letters "UPS" are the group of buildings known as Grade Lane. The rest of the complex to the left is where the automation is. The square building with other buildings branching off of it is the core. This is where packages are sorted after being unloaded. The buildings that branch off the core are called wings and this is where the aircraft are unloaded and loaded.

Hope this helps. In case you're curious, The building in the bottom right corner of the UPS circle is the World Freight Facility and this is where the large freight is handled