Should I move to feeders?

[trickpony1]

dave-socal,
I'm acquainted with the feeder operation, been in it for 25 years.
I vividly recall being instructed to never, ever, make a blind side back but then we don't have a Rodeo Drive in our state that a feeder driver might have to quickly cruise down during lunch break (humor intended).

What's this "....may have to go on a sleeper team..."? We don't have sleeper teams in my state but I thought the company couldn't force an existing employee to go. If no one wanted it I thought they had to hire from the street?

 

[xracer]

The choice to move into feeders is not one for everybody, I personally miss the human contact of being on delivery it was hard to make the change after 20 years of package car but I am enjoying my decision thus far but I am less than a year into it. In our center we rebid every 24 months and I can go back into package if I like, as our seniority is retained on one seniority list for both package and feeders. Our center is unique in the fact that we have almost as many feeder routes as we do package, 30 package and 20 feeder and I am actually higher on the feeder seniority list than I was on package. We also have runs that start at all times of the day and night so it is possible for me to work the same hours as the package guys, I prefer work a shift that starts in the afternoon so I can get things done in the morning before my shift starts, others prefer the shifts that start in the late evening so they can spend time with thier kids which while on package they say that they got home in time to tuck them in for bed and now they can spend the evening with thier kids and sleep while the children are in school. There is also the money issue, I was one of the top paid package car drivers in my center and the move into feeders resulted in pay raise of approximately $20k a year which is obviously the direct result of more overtime although I do make $.50/hour more than a package car driver as I haul doubles and Rod if you don't think that feeder drivers deserve a higher pay rate you have not hauled doubles through a white out from lake effect snow and your rear trailer keeps disappearing from your view as it wiggles back and forth through the snow drifts that is if your visibility is good enough to even see that rear trailer, or had an air hose blow out on a highway at 3am and the wheels on your trailer lock up.

 

[tieguy]

Parallel park in a feeder would involve a "blindside" back which we don't do.
Shame on you tieguy!
Does corporate have your current mailing address?

Explain?

We do a drivers side, blindside , straight back and dock back to qualify.

If you can't drivers side or blindside parallel park you may never be able to drop one in the "bowling alley" at Island city .

 

[stealth8]

Preloaders

Question for you preloaders out there. What do you think is a reasonable Christmas tip from your regular drivers?? I have had the same loader now for about 10 years and I give him $50.00 every Christmas along with 5 Lotto tickets. I also make it a point to bring him in donuts every Friday morning. He does a good job for me so I think I'm rewarding him accordingly. What do other preloaders think??

 

[westsideworma]

Re: Preloaders

Question for you preloaders out there. What do you think is a reasonable Christmas tip from your regular drivers?? I have had the same loader now for about 10 years and I give him $50.00 every Christmas along with 5 Lotto tickets. I also make it a point to bring him in donuts every Friday morning. He does a good job for me so I think I'm rewarding him accordingly. What do other preloaders think??

if you were my driver I would quit if they ever moved me to any other pull. To be fair the drivers I had before (before PAS...I've been moved all over since that started) tipped me very well. No donuts but the rest is very similar.

 

[over9five]

Christ, Stealth, good tip AND donuts every Friday??

(He thinks you want to sleep with him)

 

[MR_Vengeance]

feeders resulted in pay raise of approximately $20k a year which is obviously the direct result of more overtime although I do make $.50/hour more than a package car driver as I haul doubles and Rod if you don't think that feeder drivers deserve a higher pay rate you have not hauled doubles through a white out from lake effect snow and your rear trailer keeps disappearing from your view as it wiggles back and forth through the snow drifts that is if your visibility is good enough to even see that rear trailer, or had an air hose blow out on a highway at 3am and the wheels on your trailer lock up.[/quote]

damn right feeder should get 1 dollar more than pkg

 

[tieguy]

good point . Feeders is the promised land and the best job in the company until your riding down the road and you notice a certain shine to the pavement....

 

[over9five]

Did anyone see the video on the news this morning? Showed a highway during icy conditions. A pickup starts to fishtail, and then spins around. Theres an 18 wheeler right behind him.
Luckily, the pickup spun off the road. Not sure what the 18 wheeler driver could have done.

Lots of new underwear needed there.....

 

[feeder]

I never could understand how come feeder drivers were paid more than package drivers. Sit on your butt and drive. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year you have bad road conditions but otherwise you listen to the radio, CB or just enjoy the idea of not having some A-hole riding with you stepping on your heals trying to get more "production" out of you. Oh I forgot the air-conditioning. What pkg driver wouldn't kill for that. I would bet that any feeder driver that disagrees with me didn't start out their full time career as a package driver and if you did you can't remember what real work is. If you have a chance to get into feeders go for it.

I recommend pkg car drivers to cross, I did, I've never had a nite job before feeders but you never get used to working nites...You must have an understanding wife and It must work well with your life schedule, and it does.. I'm able to get my daily stuff during the week day, instead of being in pkg car having to do things only on weekends.. I've even have some of my neighbors fooled, they think I dont work at all, or maybe they never see me leave for work at nite ....With my senority rating in range I can bid feeders during the day doing trailer delivery/pickup but my nite run is so easy, I dont even have to touch a pkg, deal with customers, just do my routine route(driving from point A to point B, back to point A) and punch out, working day in feeders means that I have to work harder....And I make 15k year more than I did in pkg-car...I was an pkg-car driver, went into feeders... The reason we make more money because us feeder drivers have a skilled job meaning, if I should lose my job, I could get another truck driving job somewhere else making about 20 dollars a hour and you being a pkg car driver(non-skilled job meaning, I can do yours, and me to cuz I was a pkg car driver too) you would find yourself working at Wal-Mart or McDonalds.....

 

[rocking chair guy]

Tie , Amen to that shine on the road . Been there done that during 27 years in feeders out of the 31 I spent with UPS , we always laughed about you knew you were in trouble when you saw your rear trailer sideways in your mirror and could read the United Parcel Service on the side that it was time to grab your shorts .... done the pkg car bit too and they both have their good and bad ...thing I always told the guys wanting to come to feeders ( and this depends on your location ) but it kills your family life , not like pkg where if you have finished your day and come back to building and cant be sent back out , in our area soon as you came in off your run they sent you back out on pick-ups or to the rail yard , sometimes 2 or 3 times or more depending on what was going on , and and that was every day , only thing that saved you to finally not keep getting sent back out was to keep from running out of hours , didn't matter how much seniority you had , you happened to come in the gate and they needed you for extra work , back out you went so you never could make plans based on what time you thought you would get off ...missed more than one of my kids b-day parties and more one than one anniversary dinner that was already planned , wife loved those times . LOL No 8 hr request either , kind of hard to get one of those if you have a 9 or 10 hr run and always enjoyed getting ready to punch out thinking I was going home and being told that I was going have to stay and work more overtime because something went haywire with weather or someone calling in sick or train is running late with the TOFC's . The night driving is hard , seems like no matter how much sleep you get it is hard to stay awake and if you have small kids at home good luck on trying to get your sleep . And trying to pull a set of doubles on ice with the wind blowing is like getting beat with a 2 x 4 sometimes , make a old man out of you quick . And yes you do blindside trailers into parking spots , any feeder driver who has had to make pickups knows some places you have no choice but to blindside , I have had to do it many times , just part of the job . Like I said , pkg and feeders both have their good and bad so you have to decide what is best for you and your family , feeders is not for everyone just like pkg is not for everyone , saw several pkg car drivers over the years come to feeders and end up going back after a year just because of the nights or driving on bad roads wasnt for them . Good luck in whatever you decide to do .

 

[rocket88]

What is the training and qualification period like for feeders. I am giving it some thought. I am coming off of reconstructive shoulder surgery(on the job,UPS did not contest it) and will be out another 5 to 6 months before Dr. will clear me for unrestricted full-time duty. I am beggining to to have creeping thoughts that I may actually not be able to do my pkg car job and if I can do it,does it mean constant pain and aching and soreness. I have never driven anything larger than a P800 and can't even back up a boat trailer when I go fishing with friends,let alone a 53 footer! Do they actually train you do all the job requires? our building maintains a qualified list for feeders and I understand that there will be a school in the early spring then another in late summer around August(I may be back to work by then) We have about 200 feeder drivers on the board upstairs and about 225 package car drivers split between 3 centers downstairs. My friend/t senority puts me right about 1/2 up the feeder board. What are your thoughts? Should I give it a try? If I don't like it I know too bad. I will be locked into feeders for 3 years and can only bid back down into pkg. cars on a "new opening" utility bid.

 

[Mystakilla]

I say go for it! They train you in all the aspects that you need to know, although rather quickly, you will definetly improve over time, most people have problems learning to downshift and backing, but give it some time and you will be a pro!

I definetly recommend it!, save your body, you dont need more abuse after a surgery!

Good Luck!

 

[over9five]

Should I move to feeders?

My dilemma also. I took the UPS CDL school last year, and have my CDL.

Did not bid on any openings that were posted since then. Annual bid is next month. Do I want to go to some weird night schedule? (Of course, they can force me over at their convenience. I owe them two years, which I will happily do).

Just not sure I want to volunteer just yet....










help

 

[rocking chair guy]

Rocket , Mistakilla is right , they will give you the basics of being a feeder driver but the "gear jamming" comes with time , not like shifting a stick shift pkg car at all , you actually learn to listen to the rpms of the engine in your shifting and downshifting , and if you dont hit it right you will be grinding gears all over the place , course they train to you to use the tack by watching your rpms for shifting gears but after awhile it will be second nature to you , you will get so you can shift or downshift without using the clutch simply by listening to the engine , but that is a company no-no so it isnt done never saw anyone climb into a tractor right off without any prior experience and be able to go up and down the road shifting or downshifting right away , takes awhile to get used to it but everyone ( well almost everyone ) does ....same with backing , trying to learn at the start for me was very frustrating , for awhile I didnt think i was ever going to catch on and after awhile I could back anywhere without thinking about it ...takes some getting used to having that much equipement behind you when you look in your mirrors also but again that comes with time and experience ....most of the feeder drivers you see went thru all the learning process just like you will have to before they felt comfortable doing their job on a daily basis ....just comes with time and experience .....course I am sure by now that UPS has all its tractors with automatic transmissions and navigational systems to help you when they send you to another hub in a city you have never been to before and you get to try and find your way around with a set of doubles behind you in rush hour traffic and wonder what the heck you got yourself into . LOL Seriously , it just comes like everything else , with time and experience you will feel more comfortable in handeling your equipment , so if you go for it , just hang in there and it will get easier as you go . Hope your injury heals ok . Luck

 

[rushfan]

After last peak, and being on PAS, I'm saying yes to feeders.....(after the 10 above me say yes )

 

[IndyScott]

Donot miss the opportinuty. The school cost nothing and once you get the class A its yours andnot UPS.

The school cost you a week of pay!! its in the contract. Look it up. Unless you have a loco override...
Scott

 

[antimatter]

Move to Feeder and enjoy the rest of your career! It's the best move I ever made at UPS!

You will have to work out a bit and watch what you eat, but that is good advice no matter what you do for a living!

A.

 

[Sammie]

There aren't many package drivers I know of who have stayed there for the duration (20-30 years). Package driving is for the young and fit. You won't have the "package" pressure in feeders, it is a whole new ballgame. From what I have seen, feeder drivers are treated with a bit more respect from above
than pkg drivers so GO FOR IT!!!!!

 

[MR_Vengeance]

feeder drivers are treated with a bit more respect from above
than pkg drivers so GO FOR IT!!!!!

is it because we have class A license?