Going to feeders

bleedinbrown58

That’s Craptacular
Hey everyone they put up a feeder sign up sheet in my center today and I sign up... I already have my cdls. Some guys in feeders are telling me I will work , I have 4 years seniority what do you guys think I should do
It depends on your location...I signed the feeder list six years ago.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
I had a feeder driver tell me I was out of my effin mind to not sign the feeder bid... he looked like a tub of goo
(not flaming feeder drivers)

I've said this until I'm blue in the face, but feeders doesn't make you fat. You make you fat. The fact that your activity level drops drastically means you need to have a plan when you come back to feeders. If you don't exercise, eat healthy and rely on the high activity of package to keep you thin, you're gonna have problems when you get back to feeders.

But again, that is a YOU problem, not a feeder problem. You would be in the same situation in a office job. Personally, I see it as an issue of age. For the most part, you need some seniority to get back to feeders, which usually means older age. And no matter what job you have, you have to take care of yourself, with both exercise and healthy living.

It's a shame so many feeder drivers fall into the trap, but it's their life, I guess. I was into healthy eating and working out before I came back, so the transition wasn't hard for me. I did, however, need to adjust my diet by eating less calories even with exercise. It's hard to overestimate how many calories you burn running a package car route. I imagine a driver retiring from package car would be in trouble too, if he didn't adjust his routine.
 

Orion inc.

I like turtles
Why? Because I feel that I have more to offer than loading boxes on to a truck?
No because you look down them for being PT preloaders. You assume you're awesome because you were a off the street FT hire.

And yet management didn't even want you in their ranks because you got turned down numerous times for ORS.

Should your management team look down on you like you do PTers because you couldn't make their "cut"?


Some of the best drivers come from the PT ranks because they have a better understanding of the business and processes ups uses.

You're not any better Dave because you were off the street.
 

edd_tv

Cardboard picker upper
I've been wanting to get into feeders. It sucks seeing buildings where guys with two or three years seniority in a building an hour away going into feeders.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
Only a street hire couldn't appreciate a preloader. Granted, most of the preloaders were garbage when I left package car, but that is on management, not the loader. Training is practically nonexistent. They throw them to the wolves and expect miracles.

I preloaded for six years when you could use your brain, and I was a good loader because of it. Now they take all of the brain work out of it, and they get predictable results. It's all a numbers game.

It's funny, but when I preloaded, the drivers who complained the most, were the ones who never worked part-time. That is not a coincidence. I have never had time or patience with drivers who treated their loaders like :censored2:. Preloading is a tough job, no matter what the street hires think.

Preloading is what gave me the real lowdown of how UPS runs their operation. I used to bust ass to clear my cages, but per usual, low staffing took its toll, and they would drag off my pull to help on the slide sort. But the good news was they only did it long enough to stuff my cages again with less than an hour before the drivers started. But I learned and adjusted, and my drivers went ballistic on their supervisors because their trucks weren't loaded until waaay after their start time. They had my back.

Sounds like that is s thing of the past.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
And to be fair, plenty of street hires treated their loaders well. We called them normal, well-adjusted human beings.
 

moldsporh

Well-Known Member
I don't have a problem if someone comes in FT off the street, that's an agreement made by the union and agreed in the contract.

But, .... (not assuming anything) you don't get to give preload a hard time if your load is jacked up once in awhile. Having been in preload, loading and pick off ....pick off before PAS where we needed to memorize numerous charts....I did the grunt work and there are days that just suck because belt jams get you backed up all morning.

Anyone that gets to go FT here without any PT work is very lucky.
 
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