Hello all, I have been working for the ups company for two whole months now and I am thinking about leaving. I wanted to be a ups driver after having a career of delivering pizzas but after loading trucks for the last 60+ days I am second guessing if I want to become a driver for the next 25+ years. Here is what I learned in my 60 days as a preloader.
The drivers who come in are insanely depressed and worn out physically and mentally. I don't know how many drivers that I load for complain to dispatch because they were given an extra split or that their back hurts. These drivers complain that they have 200+ stops and pick ups. These people just seem like they hate their life but they have worked for the company for too damn long to think about leaving to start a new career. They feel that if they left now, all the years spent to be a driver would be a waste.
There is also another driver that I load for who works 10-12 hours a day and he just recently told me that he got a divorce and his wife gets the majority of the custody because he's never around to go to their softball games or back to school nights. He told me how depressing it is to leave his house in the dark to go to work and doesn't return home until after dark as well. He said its heart breaking to see families huddled around the living room watching a movie or eating dinner while he's delivering pointless Amazon packages at 8:30-9:00 PM.
The money made as a driver is great but I feel that a lot of drivers are trapped or complacent and stop counts are only going to rise in the future because it seems like management would rather pay 4 drivers 12 hours of work then pay 6 drivers 8 hours each.
It's depressing to me to see in the 60 days that I have been there so many people complaining that their knees are shot, that their backs ache, or that they think they tore something in the shoulder. I have seen a lot of people go on disability to get surgerys.
sorry for the rant, I just feel like you drivers go through a lot of crap and your home life suffers because of it due to the constant increases of stops and expectations and it doesn't seem to look any better in the future now that we are offering Saturday ground now. Yes the money is great but money doesn't buy happiness.
In addition, I know a lot of you hard workers are going to say things like "bye rookie, stupid millennial, or this guy doesn't get it" but I'm just reporting what I have seen as a preloader in my 60 days working at UPS and talking to some senior drivers. I respect all of you for what you do.
