Which is the hardest of the 3? Loader, Unloader, or Sorter.

[BryantheLion]

I officially started working at UPS, but I have no clue which of the 3 jobs Im going to get. This is how I see the jobs in my opinion.

Loader - Has to scan and lift packages, then set them down and build walls. He must do this at a quick pace and must be able to lift up to 70lbs by him/herself.

Unloader - Doesnt have to scan, but must work at a quick pace. If a loader loads about 500 packages onto one truck, the unloader must unload at least 3 times that.

Sorter - Must sort packages and memorize a lot of stuff, but gets paid a dollar extra than the loaders/unloaders.

I know all of these are hard jobs, but which is the easiest of them all?

 

[omgitsnick]

i think unloader would be the easiest. im in the same situation though

 

[MonavieLeaker]

IMO sorting is the easiest...if you decide to take the sorter position and have a question about which belt a certain package goes you can ask a sorter around you....loading is the hardest having to scan and build decent walls

 

[LiL"Comet"]

UnLoader has very little responsibility they only onload were as a sorter has to know the zip codes (destination) to know where to send the pkgs. If you are sending them to the wrong place than u will here about it, through out the night sup will come to and changes things up, not dramatically but u may send things to another belt bec that trlr may have blown out. Loaders have alot of responsibility to load correctly by making sure you load what goes in trlr.( out bound) No misloads. There alot more i could go on but ?? are you on pre-load or re-load... before i say anymore.

 

[drewed]

unloader all physical
sorter- mostly mental
loader-split 50/50

it just really depends the kind of work your use to, or want...ive done physical jobs before, so i got into the sorter position and loved it, it was challenging but was cake too so i could wear my shirt and tie when i was selling cars too

 

[BryantheLion]

Im going to work the twilight hours (5pm-10pm), but I havent been assigned what I will be yet. I wish I can choose which I job I want, but I think they choose which they think is best for me. Personally, I think unloader suits me best, because I love physical work. I'm also good at memorizing a lot of stuff, just as long as it doesnt go overboard. Loader sounds decent, but Im too paranoid that I will mess up packages..loading them on the wrong truck..etc.

 

[LiL"Comet"]

If your a newbie than more than likely you will be loading, most of the time U being new you start at the bottom, in my center the unloaders sen. people and they unload. So good luck to you.. remember to work safe at all times..

 

[sx2700]

Unloading is the best, you get to set the pace. Sorting sucks, it is easy but so boring, the night just drags.

 

[360waves]

In my opinion its the sorter..maybe i am biased because I am one( or was one..just got moved to smalls sort yesterday... ) but i hate having to keep on the door of a lunatic unloader while having them send up opens and irregs... only to have to stop the belt and hear it from your sup... We are almost at the mercy of the unloaders.. And when the belts go off due to the outbound getting backed up..things get even worse...

 

[IDoLessWorkThanMost]

The hardest job? It depends on your management and supervisor team.


Usually the hardest job should be loading trailers. But it depends on the amount in your load. Any average to above load, you are at the mercy of the system - be it 50 boxes in a minute or 10 minutes, breaking jams, blowing out trailers before their pull time, having a pull time too early then backing the belt up only having another pull on and facing 150 packages right at the start......it goes on and on...

But if your supervisor sucks on the sort aisle, then you're in trouble. You could be sorting 2 guys unloading and having to shut down the belts every 10 minutes because of unsafe flow and packages falling.
Or, IT could be that one of the primary direct belts is blown out and you have to start stacking.
the worst is when you have a super fast ( I call idiot) unloader that goes 2500 an hour wasting his back, and you are buried in minutes and having to tell him to shut down....

Unload is probably the easiest as far as snafus. yes, you will unload bulk (sometimes 20-100 peices, which sucks). yes, you will dig into dirty, nasty trailers. yes, you will have to unload drop frames and struggle to get all the packages underneath. But you can set your own pace, don't kill yourself, and there's no skill. Put your labels up or out and fire away.

Basically it depends on how the ball bounces. Usually the easiest is the unload, IMO. But if you have a good sup, the sort aisle can be OK. The load, stay away, unless you can wiggle into an easy load and walk off bulk or missort packages while the flow is light. Most of the people doing that have seniority and experience, it takes time to get into a good load.

 

[Joebeans]

sorter is the hardest

preload is a close 2nd depending on the day

unload is easy...I started lousing on the preload because I was pissed that I'd always end up getting stuck with 3 of the toughest routes and 4 if someone didn't show up

they took me up to unload and I was fine, though when I was doing too well at that, they threw me back down on the belts

 

[But Benefits Are Great!]

unloader all physical
sorter- mostly mental
loader-split 50/50

it just really depends the kind of work your use to, or want...ive done physical jobs before, so i got into the sorter position and loved it, it was challenging but was cake too so i could wear my shirt and tie when i was selling cars too

Best answer, I believe-

If you are a gorilla, strong as a bull, do the unload.

Ther easiest job (but you need a brain) is the sorter. Loader appears to take the bad from all & puts into one job.

 

[The Brown Santa]

Loader - Has to scan and lift packages, then set them down and build walls.

Loaders still build walls??????

 

[360waves]

lol...not in the past couple of years they havent..

 

[Pollocknbrown]

In my opinion its the sorter..maybe i am biased because I am one( or was one..just got moved to smalls sort yesterday... ) but i hate having to keep on the door of a lunatic unloader while having them send up opens and irregs... only to have to stop the belt and hear it from your sup... We are almost at the mercy of the unloaders.. And when the belts go off due to the outbound getting backed up..things get even worse...

simple solutions to your problems....if you get alot of opens, set them off to the side, and hold your unloader up, walk over and get a tape gun and tape them up curing your open problem. IF you get irregs, kill the aisle and make the unloader come and get the irreg that they sent you, unless its like 71 pounds then ill cut them some slack ont he pound and through it to the side for when the aisle is being wrapped up. And if your having to listen to it from your sup for shutting down your unloader or the aisle tell him you cannot work at your best surrounded by opens and irregs. Now as for the pace of the unloader, i feel as long as they give u nearly all labels (90+%) there is no reason if they dont send opens and irregs, that you should not be able to sort them, they are a human being they can only go so fast and will tire out before you because of the fact they are in a hot truck sweating their balls off and you have a fan blowing air on you . And with the belts going down if your getting yelled at and the unload sup tells them UL to go again...just kill the aisle tell them to hold up and reset the aisle...where do you plan on putting these package...if you stack them on the belts the aisle will just go down even faster because their will be more labels facing every direction for the picker slowing his(or her) efficiency down. just my 2 cents how i handle idiocy. And i've never loaded personally but i always felt Unloading and sorting are jokes of jobs, the sort isnt that hard unless you have like 10+ belts in your hub (we only got....10 including the air belt and not including the small sort (i dont use it anyways since it never is on).

 

[SoyFish]

I've loaded personally, and unloaded the air containers on occasion. Loading is just more complicated that the other jobs I think. Loaders just have more to worry about on a day to day basis. At the end of the night the trucks have to leave, the right packages have to go into each truck, the walls have to be decent so everything fits. Sorters and Unloaders don't have to worry about missorts. I'd be bored if I wasn't loading so it doesn't really bother me that I have the "hardest" job of the 3.

Also I just realized I work at the same hub as Pollocknbrown. Nifty huh.

 

[MR_Vengeance]

unless you like to suck in dirt, sort is the way to go.

 

[360waves]

simple solutions to your problems....if you get alot of opens, set them off to the side, and hold your unloader up, walk over and get a tape gun and tape them up curing your open problem. IF you get irregs, kill the aisle and make the unloader come and get the irreg that they sent you, unless its like 71 pounds then ill cut them some slack ont he pound and through it to the side for when the aisle is being wrapped up. And if your having to listen to it from your sup for shutting down your unloader or the aisle tell him you cannot work at your best surrounded by opens and irregs. Now as for the pace of the unloader, i feel as long as they give u nearly all labels (90+%) there is no reason if they dont send opens and irregs, that you should not be able to sort them, they are a human being they can only go so fast and will tire out before you because of the fact they are in a hot truck sweating their balls off and you have a fan blowing air on you . And with the belts going down if your getting yelled at and the unload sup tells them UL to go again...just kill the aisle tell them to hold up and reset the aisle...where do you plan on putting these package...if you stack them on the belts the aisle will just go down even faster because their will be more labels facing every direction for the picker slowing his(or her) efficiency down. just my 2 cents how i handle idiocy. And i've never loaded personally but i always felt Unloading and sorting are jokes of jobs, the sort isnt that hard unless you have like 10+ belts in your hub (we only got....10 including the air belt and not including the small sort (i dont use it anyways since it never is on).

yessir..i agree on all accounts.. I was the type that formed a rep early on for being the fastest sorter on the sort aisle..So the sups didn't bother me much..That gave me a little leeway to shut down the whole quad when i felt like it without having to hear it from the sups..they know im about business so when an unloader becomes an idiot i immediately shut down the whole operation...lol...well as i said i moved on to a hopefully better job on smalls sort..trying to get the hang of bagging..

 

[Sac Hub Sorter]

small sort...had some friend/t show me the methods...hah.... only go sort if you can handle the flow...load/unload does not affect your fellow employees, YOU HAVE TO EARN THAT DOLLAR!,

 

[blackcircle]

Don't load. If your center uses PAL labels then sorting isn't mental at all. I like unloading. At our center contrary to what another person said in this thread they send the really slow unloaders out to load trying to get them to quit >_>