package handler

delivery driver

retail sales associate

reservation center associate

customer service representative

Adverse behaviors vary from hub to hub, so be wise to do some research on your own before applying and accepting a part-time role at any specific hub location.  Some hubs strongly follow internal policy guidelines, others apply attention to policy only after instances of poor behavior occur - i.e. as a means of rubberstamping continuance with broad warnings against inappropriate behaviors of staff, supervisors, and sometimes managers as well.   If you are hired on as a permanent employee, be aware of all of the benefits and perks which apply to your employee level.   Don't take it for granted that your supervisor or manager will walk you through all of the right things: on day one, you should have safety training; you should have a badge; you should be given a document which clearly states all of the objectives which apply to your role; you should also know when your health benefits will kick in.  Eventually, especially in the cold weather months, you will need to visit a doctor when you are not on the job. Rationale:  most people get sick with colds, flu, or worse during this timeframe.  You will eventually get hit with a nasty little bug during the peak season, so be proactive in seeing your doctor for annual inoculation vaccines as soon as possible.  If you do get sick, you shouldn't lose out on pay, but if you do get sick, it is better to have a doctor's excuse or receipt for your visit depending on your manager's/supervisor's style of leadership.  Not all managers keep the employee's best interest at heart.   Some managers/supervisors do play favors, especially with other associates who have more seniority.  This is common anywhere [favoritism], and the flaw [favoritism] sometimes results in underutilization, poor performance, and higher costs when key influencers help other associates to cut corners while promising to help advance their careers at UPS (for the sake of friendship).  

Candidly, I can also tell you straight up:  if you're easily offended, the operations hubs may not be the right place for you.  There will be swearing whenever a belt goes down.  In the first few weeks, everyone is checking you out to see what you're made of: some are nice and some are not so nice in their approach.  Expect to be challenged and tested.  You may even experience being antagonized by a member of the management team as you are learning your way around the new digs. Likewise, you can also expect that there will be little one-on-one interaction between you and your direct manager unless you are friendly outside of work, have been referred into the job by a mutual contact, or if you have something particularly desired by the immediate level of management. It is what it is...  Ask other UPSers, permanent and seasonal employees, before you make the decision. You can expect at least minor variances to the rules and general policy guidelines.  Some hires, especially seasonal, never sit for the safety training because management is under heavy pressure to keep pace with demand... They don't take the time (consistently) to train.    Instead, they pick and choose who they will train - usually the least productive employees on day 1/day 2 are the first to receive training.  If you're productive on day 1, they need to keep you on the floor bad, real real bad.   Take it upon yourself to "find" training material and read everything you can, especially OSHA requirements. It might not hurt to do a little online studying of the U.S. Department of Labor requirements also.  There may be times when part-time associates work 8 hours without a lunch break, for example.  Good idea to know the laws that govern practices, especially in operations and logistics.  And yes, if you notice that someone usually talks about others while they aren't in the room, that means they are also talking about you when you are not in the room. That's called culture, throat culture.

Buyer Beware:  The hours vary (that's somewhat clearly stated in most of the part-time job descriptions), but the way schedules are managed can be a little messy.  Some supervisors, for example, start individuals with different start times instead of consistent team/job area specific general start times.  Also, because some part-time hours follow full-time or part-time jobs which end prior to the workday start at UPS, start times may conflict with other jobs.  For example, if your shift generally starts at 6 p.m., you may be asked to come in at 4:30 p.m. If your shift usually ends at 10 p.m., you may be asked to work after 11:30 p.m.  The good news is that overtime applies.  The bad news is no one from UPS is going to call your boss at your primary job to help you explain why you seem to have trouble keeping your schedule. 

If you're the new girl (or guy), quickly memorize your area's package handling zips, bays, etc.  Don't be the scapegoat for otherwise continual, well-known productivity issues which are largely driven by outdated logistics and infrastructure solutions.  If you're a college graduate or above and you have great ideas for how productivity may be improved, handle the presentation of your ideas with great care.  Consider the fact that your immediate supervisors (or peers) may feel threatened by good ideas from a less experienced employee.  Not everyone has the self-confidence required to openly encourage, accept, receive, and co-implement your ideas.  So, get to know your team members as a first priority before you decide to make those great Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, and Agile process improvements you learned while earning your black belt and PMP certifications.  People are people - develop trust through interaction rather than assume that its platform enforces trust throughout each interaction.

If you are an experienced professional planning on joining UPS as a part-time associate, be thoughtful for the situational circumstances you may face with this option.  Although many UPSers in operations get an early start in part-time operations roles, it may not be wise to accept a part-time role for the purpose of obtaining visibility of upper management for your potential.  Keep this in mind: almost everyone in management and supervisory roles is working towards goals to receive promotions.  If you have more experience and education than your manager or supervisor, you're probably not being utilized well and much of your capability [potential] may be at risk of being squelched by others who recognize your potential but who may be envious of your capabilities.  Think twice. Don't put your reputation at risk in such a situation.  Find suitable roles which match your background, apply to no more than a few and wait it out.  The part-time roles (including supervisors) are probably not the right "starting point" for a Ph.D. graduate who took a couple of years off to finish her (or his) degree.  Apply directly for the Ph.D. role which is relevant to your goals.  Though it should not be, it is true that other managers may otherwise "look down on you" because you accepted a job that was less challenging than your credentials depict per resume. If you want to work in a part-time role after you get "the" job, worry not.  During peak season, if you don't already have hands-on OM experience at UPS, there is always plenty of need for laborers throughout the holidays.  They'll be glad to have your help, just don't expect to get too dirty if you are hired on a corporate management role.  You should be applying your knowledge and capabilities optimally in either environment.   Helping with a few packages, clearing bottlenecks, etc. may come and go, but your expertise should emerge as a leadership competency.   Reciprocally, a good manager is a good manager because a good manager is a good manager.  An experienced manager never sees herself (or himself) as being "too good" to be hands-on in operations, but an outstanding manager keeps everyone, including the entire hub, much cleaner. 

Overall, UPS is a great place to work.  I refer to UPS as one of America's last standing operational relics.  You can have fun working for UPS if you don't get too mentally bored while waiting for a more challenging opportunity while you're loading packages onto a truck, using a hand truck to move heavy boxes, or doing paperwork. (Yes.  The company still uses a lot of paper to keep track of operational data and information before someone transfers the information via data entry.  Good job security!!!) 

Best advice:  Get to know the drivers who transport the packages. Take time to talk to each one of them and allow them to share the history of what they have seen "work well" for the careers of others.  Ask them how the operations teams impact their goals of meeting high-quality customer service objectives through package delivery.  Then, find time to speak with senior sorters, loaders, and clerks to understand what has worked better over the years while discovering why changes have taken place.  Find out who the union leadership and members are.  You need their input, perspective, and guidance for success.  Finally, ask your immediate manager or supervisor (after you have been there for a while) if they would feel comfortable assigning work to you that involves visibility of broader management teams.  Work the extra hours consistently, but don't lose your husband, wife, family, pet, or health through work-life imbalance.

If you read this, I just gave you everything, the good, bad, ugly, and prized beauty of the veil.  I hope you do well at UPS and if you are currently a UPSer, I hope you do better. 

- UPS Fraternity Brother
(Metro Atlanta:  Roswell and Pleasantdale location)

I could honestly write a book about how garbage this place is because there’s so much bad about this place than there is good and I’m sure a lot of people who have worked here can agree. I’m only speaking in my experience working here and specifically the location I worked at as I cannot speak for other UPS locations so read what I just said carefully. Where do I begin? Well, first off if you’re thinking about applying to the UPS warehouse as a package handler/ pre loader, I just wanna say apply here if you don’t mind waking up around 3am every day, you’re in good shape because how they’re gonna work you there, you’re gonna need to be in shape the way you’re going to be moving at the pace you will have to move, want a part time job that will give you insurance free after 9 months and if you like meeting all kinds of different personalities. Warning tho, my advice is to go in to the job and don’t trust anybody, a lot of ppl there are snakes and the drama that goes on is pretty wack if you ask me. Be prepared to get thrown to the wolves. When you first start as a new hire, you may either have a belt supervisor give you 1 or 2 trucks to load on your first day. Hopefully you get a supervisor who will train you properly and explain as much as possible how to efficiently do the job. Eventually you will have to do 3 or 4 cars on your own, usually by the 5th day you have been loading on the belt. UPS only cares about money and not you so they want to cram as much work in as possible in a small window of time so all the packages will come down to you at one time and you’ll get overwhelmed, now imagine that every single day. Some days you will get an easy day and some days you’re gonna get your butt kicked moving at 99 mph from start to finish and may or may not get help. Now on to the steak and potatoes of this review. I was a pre loader at this place for 7 months but I did my job well enough to become a supervisor and because I got tired of loading. And everyone gets tired of loading because of how stressful and tedious it can get trying to load 1000-1100 packages into 4 trucks in only a 5 hour time frame with one 10 minute break. It’s not even enough time to walk to the loo and grab a drink of water because by the time you do that it’s already time to start again. So once I became a supervisor I really started to see how the job was quickly starting to nose dive. 98% of the employees there are lazy. The good workers get punished while the bad workers are rewarded. So eventually the workers who were good turn into wack jobs because they realize how being good doesn’t get you anything. If you bust your butt all day you’re more likely to get put on a harder loading set versus if you don’t care and are lazy you’ll get an easy loading set for the day. Most of the employees there are grown adults who act like 8 year olds but on a grand scale. UPS is like a giant day care.Most of the time, people who have been there a long time feel entitled to stuff and do what they wanna do thinking they run the place. Being a supervisor is the worst decision to make, be prepared to not be listened to or taken seriously. Being management is not for the faint of heart. Ppl will test your gangster and talk to you crazy as if they can’t get the hands outside of work. You pretty much have to have thick skin to survive there, but even with that it gets old having to constantly try to get people to do their jobs and when you try to do it they have a tantrum and call for their union steward to come to their rescue like little kids. The drama their is unreal. Ppl there talk so much that even if you keep to yourself, you still will know someone’s business even if you don’t know who they are. So it’s best to not tell anyone there a thing about you unless you want everyone knowing. The Full time supervisors are no help. One of them is an older woman who has terrible communication with ppl and talks with like the utmost sarcasm in her voice and the other one is a big guy who tries to do the right thing but wants to do it his way which does not always work. The operation is ran like garbage. They want the loaders to do all these methods while trying to load so many packages in a tiny time frame and preach safety while doing it. It’s unrealistic and when they don’t do it the supervisor gets blamed for it even tho you tell them over and over to do it. The grievances there are just the pettiest thing. Ppl there will file grievances on supervisors for stupid stuff. Granted the rules in the book states that supervisors can’t “work” or touch packages. But sometimes we have to because people there don’t want to do their jobs and you have to step in and do something or else you’re being thrown under the bus for it. Or if it gets too crazy and someone is on the brink of getting hurt because they can no longer walk in their area  and you decide to help for 5 minutes, someone can file a grievance on a supervisor and they get a free triple pay, it’s just dumb. You get thrown under the bus for helping and you get chewed at for letting stuff get bad to the point where someone gets hurt. Belt supervisors pretty much get paid to get blamed for everything. Every single day there’s ppl who call off or flat out just don’t show up, no call no show. It’s like this every day and the union and upper management don’t do anything about it. So every day we’re pretty much understaffed and have to have drivers be called in to help during the pre load just to be staffed before they go to actually do their jobs. Be aware of the mental games they try to play with you. If you’re a new hire or you only been there like 3 months. They’re gonna mess with your mind a bit. They’re gonna hire only ppl for Tuesday-Saturday and never Monday thru Friday personnel. So if we’re always short staffed ppl on mondays, the full time supervisors are gonna tell you they’re “forcing you to work Monday” and if you don’t comply they threaten to discipline you. So of course you come on Monday because of the psychological warfare they place on you and if you miss a Monday after that they’ll do it again and if you still don’t go on Monday they will write you up. So pretty much work on your day off or get disciplined. So pretty much UPS runs the risk of turning a good employee bad because they aren’t smart enough to hire Monday-Friday personnel instead of only hiring Tuesday-Saturday and nothing will happen to them anyways since the union has their backs so all of it essentially is for nothing and another person falls victim to the system. Drivers are lazy too especially the ones who been there 30+ years. Not all but some. These guys make top dollar to be lazy and it’s honestly just sad and nothing happens to them either. And the problem is they aren’t protected by the union either. The bathroom breaks  are out of control. It’s mostly the girls there who do it but there’s some dudes there who do it as well. The girls will ask to use the bathroom and as a supervisor you gotta cover it for them and they will just disappear for like 15 minutes… sometimes they say they gotta go to the bathroom and they come back with a bottle of sprite and chips in their hand. It’s like geez I didn’t know there was a vending machine in there. At the end of the day we know they’re not just solely using the bathroom, they’re in there on their phones most likely and the full time supervisors know this as well and still nothing is done about it. I could write more but I’ll be here all day. That’s just my experience as a supervisor/pre loader in Tampa and some of the things that go on. A lot of small things need to be fixed in order to fix the big ones as well. Since 2021 started it’s just been terrible all around hands down nearly on a daily basis but for sure a weekly basis. I’m sure others can agree with me. I feel one day it’s just gonna get so bad that corporate and HR will be forced to step in and fix stuff that needs to be fixed, or maybe I’m wrong and nothing will happen and one day the building just has chaos ensue one day

General Culture:
UPS is an "old boy's network" - primarily comprised of former operations employees who transitioned into management positions.  Essentially, the pay scale, advancement opportunities, promotions, etc. are reserved for employees who began their employment in UPS hubs or centers.  The exceptions prove the rule.  I've been here over a decade, and to this day, am still referred to as being "hired off the street".  Generally, technical or skill-type positions (programmers, analysts, database admins, etc.) will likely be managed by a boss who has never done actual application development in their life.  The company is currently extremely top heavy with a lot of pending retirement dead-weight, and they are actively trying to force out the pensioners - but that's easier said than done.  Nepotism (management employees married to each other)/favoritism is a huge problem - especially given that most of these managers have worked for UPS for a couple of decades, being able to transition within the company to get away from a horrible boss is nearly impossible. 

Technology:
Technology-wise, everything is about 15 years behind the curve.  Only a few new niche applications are using anything current.  This causes most employees - especially new employees - to have to accept that getting really good at your job at UPS means not keeping up with the outside world.  SQL Server 2008 is in full effect, my friends.  In my first app dev job at UPS, I was forced into using ColdFusion 8 - which at the time was already 5 versions out of date.  I spent about 4.5 years becoming extremely adept at ColdFusion 8 development - which means I was making myself pretty much USELESS for working anywhere else.  I made sure to keep taking classes and training on current languages, frameworks, et., and eventually managed to make a jump to a different position.  Even so, THAT position was using really out-dated practices, versions, etc. UPS makes it's established IT employees use sub par and outdated tech, and have basically frozen promotions and pay for these employees, opting instead to attempt to hire a few recent college graduates who might have some exposure to more recent dev practices/apps/tech (more on this below).  Expect legacy applications - where people have retired, quit, jumped teams, whatever - to be steaming hot messes.  Mentioning "best practices" to management or anything that might even remotely affect their (inadequate) budget is a sure fire way to end up on their "list" - they will tell you to shut up and grab a shovel.  

Compensation:
The employee reviews/ratings are utterly meaningless - and do not reflect your actual ability, experience, contribution, etc.  You can spend years in a technology position, and growing in skill/experience/responsibility/ability - but UPS will not increase your pay/promote you unless you have a competing job offer, either from a different department, or from outside the company.  Do not expect fair compensation for your work - the ONLY applicable rule is: you either have it over on them (you are going to leave the job, and it forces their hand out of desperation), or they have it over on you.  Also, given that the "old boys" think you should be paid according to how they got their jobs and salary - trying to explain what the going rate is for your education, training, skill set, experience, capabilities, etc. isn't really going to work.  Remember, all they understand is whether they have their thumb on your or not - I've seen management brag about how cheaply they have certain "work horses" slugging away in their department.

Tech Outsourcing:
UPS in Louisville is currently subsidizing it's college workforce with tax payer dollars.  Instead of UPS paying it's workforce a living wage, there's this "college program" where KY state government pays half of the college program kid's tuition, and UPS pays the other half.  However, instead of hiring these tax payer educated college grads, UPS is outsourcing as many IT jobs to India as they can.  When I asked for a raise 1.5 years ago, I was told, to my face, "I can pay some guy in India 2/3 of what I pay you." I switched teams a few months after that.  The turnover rate for offshore contract workers is incredibly high. Literally, you will have a totally new off-shore person assigned to the application every 3-6 months - with no resulting on-boarding or training for the replacements at all - resulting in no one understanding or being able to effectively maintain or do new development on the applications.  UPS thinks they are budgeting less for IT - but getting absolutely NOTHING for it.  It's a truly insane choice to make.  

New Hires:
The few new tech hires that UPS brings on board are usually for very specific niche applications.  Some of these hires are rapidly promoted up to senior level positions - but this is purely a desperate attempt to keep them from jumping ship from the new application - since they haven't been able to outsource it's maintenance yet.  However, this tactic simply doesn't work.  For one, even these newer niche applications MUST interact with existing legacy code/applications - which are not in great shape - and the new hires quickly find out what's in store for them.  Also, once that app dev work is completed, the only other options for the newer hires is to accept positions on existing applications - which aren't in great shape (see above).  

Also, the "promotions" don't actually correlate to being compensated well.  UPS's mentality is that your pay is based on the old boy system of "paying your dues", not on what you actually DO.  ALL of the new college hires I've seen in the past 3 years have quit UPS.  Most of the promotions didn't result in much better salaries, because the pay scales get wider the higher you go up the rungs - with the top rungs always overlapping the lower ones.  There's not much point in taking on Sr. level app dev work load and grief for a low single digit percent increase over a salary you started at 2.5 years ago.  Add to this the inordinate and completely unprofessional stress/badgering by upper management, and the general inanity of the chaos it causes - this doesn't work out. 

Stress
UPS thinks constant high levels of stress is normal.  It's cliche', but just the blatant truth. Which is why I'm writing this review on Indeed.com in the first place.  Most of the stress is due to all of the factors listed above resulting in over-worked, poorly managed, poorly compensated, low morale workers developing a high tolerance/resignation towards incompetent IT management.

So let's first talk about the reasons why you should work here:
-If you want to advance into driving (brown package truck or semi-truck/feeder.)
-If you are in college
So, delivery drivers in the brown package trucks make bank. I believe you start at $19-$20/ hour, then you max at anywhere between $40-$45 ($83,200-$93,600/year). Very good benefits along with a great pension plan too. That salary doesn't even include peak season (Black Friday-New Years) pay which is the busiest season for UPS so you get a lot more hours and overtime. So delivery drivers can easily make $100k/year. All I know about the semi/feeder drivers is that they make a good amount more than the delivery drivers. So, working here to be either one of those is a great idea. If you are in college it's also good to work here because they will pay either $20,000-$25000 for college tuition. But, I think It's like $5,000 per semester. I'm not 100% sure about that though. You can advance into management, but it's not worth it unless you want something impressive to put on your resume, higher pay, or if you get tired of loading/unloading. Because the first step into management is a Part-time supervisor. These are the guys who run each area (a total of 8 areas). However, they do have to run said area and make sure the area runs smoothly. Their pay is around $19-$20/ hour with raises each August/each year. They also get more hours, but recently they cut the part-time supervisor hours from 8 to 5 hours If I remember hearing that correctly. After a part-time supervisor is a full-time supervisor. There are only 2-4 of those I'm pretty sure. However, to get into one of those spots you have to have a good amount of seniority or wait until one of the full-time supervisors retires or quits. Waiting will take a while because all of them are pretty young like upper 20s-30s. 
One important thing to note is that this is a part-time job, but you get full-time benefits after a certain amount of time. So, the average hours per week is 25-28 I would say. But, in peak season you can expect to get upwards of 30-33 hours. One thing to counteract the low hours is you get paid overtime (time and a half) after 5 hours each day. When you start working here you will be a package handler and there are different areas you can work in. These are the loading areas from best to worst in my opinion:
-Cash Night
-Toledo
-Indy
-Sunrise
It also depends heavily on the supervisor who runs the area and the people you are loading with. There are 4 other areas where you don't load. First is primary: You unload the trailers rather than loading. Super easy. Second is Metro: Again, you unload, but instead of unloading trailers you are unloading the brown delivery trucks. This is tied for the easiest spot in the building. Third, is Small Sort: Literally, all you do is scan the package and a blue light will pop up onto a slot and you put that package in there. You only deal with very small packages and envelopes. This was the other area that is tied with the easiest place in the building. Fourth is Sort Isle: I've heard good and bad things about this spot. The packages the primary unloads onto the belt go to sort isle where the people on sort isle puts the packages onto another belt where they go to the other areas. So you don't have to load or unload, but sometimes It's hard to lift super heavy packages up onto a belt above you. Also, in any loading area, you will lift heavy stuff. So, if you are worried about not being able to lift heavy things it will be okay. You do have to be able to lift at least 50lbs by yourself, but they really stress lifting the proper/safe way and having someone help you if it's too heavy. Plus, after being there for a while you get used to it. Going back to the hours as a loader/unloader, you are on 2nd shift schedule. The start times are different every day, but sometimes it can be the same. Example start time would be anywhere from 2:30pm-5:15pm. It all depends on what day of the week it is and how many trailers you start with for that day. At the beginning of the week you will usually have earlier start times and towards the end of the week you will usually have later start times. However, during peak season you will pretty much have early start times which can be as early as 1:30pm. You also get done whenever everything is done. So, there's no set time that you get off at. Another thing, you don't know the time you start until later that night. So say it's Monday and you get done working, you only know tomorrow's start time when you go to clock out which is posted on a piece of paper. It's not too bad because usually its only a 15-30 minute increase if that makes sense. There is also a 1st shift which is super early in the morning like 4am-9am. I have heard of people of who work the 2nd shift go in for 1st shift and then go in for 2nd shift that same day for more hours and money. Because say you work the 4am-9am, then that is 5 hours already. So, then you go back in later for 2nd shift and you work for 5 hours that shift. that means the whole 5 hours of the 2nd shift you just worked is time and a half. so you get 10 hours for that day, but 5 of those hours are time and a half. And you can choose to only go in one morning a week if you want or you can go all 5 days if you are able to do that. You also only have one 10 minute break which kinda sucks, but at the same time if they made it longer say for example like 30 minute break then you would obviously get done later and it would more than likely be unpaid because it slows things down. So, it sucks but its understandable. Also, if you start at 2pm or before that then you get one 5 minute break and one 10 minute break. Another thing, when you get hired in you are on like a probationary period for 30 days where you have to keep you scans per minute up to at least 300/hour or close to that, then you will get hired in. If you are bad and can't get up to that then you will be fired. That's all I can really think of for the job. You have to be 21 for any driver position and at least 18 for the job and 18 for entry management position. UPS also has a union and I will say it is good and bad. They can protect lazy people from getting fired but can also help you with stuff too. 


When I started we had a good solid management team with plenty of experience workers. Couple of years ago they got rid of all the experience managers.

Now there are all new management and a lot of inexperienced employees. Not proper training and too much pressure on supervisors. And many don't know some of the basic things needed in their particular operation.

So many don't get the training that the veterans have. There's a big push to get everything done on time. They talk about safety first. But the main thing is to get the packages on the planes quickly.

Too much red tape to get equipment that is needed or repaired.

Too many young experience workers. It does take a skill set to do these jobs. Not as simple as putting a package on a belt loader.  Some refuse to help out when need. A lot of playing on the phone. Not enough direction. Which makes it unsafe for everyone.

So if you handful of employees may do more than intense physical or trained work. Other just trying to do the very minimum, no motivation to help the team.

And also hurts the team when you have a handful of people that constantly undermined everyone. Work dangerously. And with certain people constantly getting away with this behavior; it brings down the morale and it causes confusion. 

We wonder if the safety rules and a code of conduct and respect is important. When year after year. The same dishonest unsafe workers stay there. 

But for some the job is real easy. They can float from one place to another or hide. But for the core team that has to get this Freight out; that work on the air ramp, ball mat and the hub, it's real hard work. 
You work three large planes (6 on Friday) to unload. Seven smaller ones to load. Plus multiple Cans to load and unload and move or drive to point a to b. Basically 3 to 5 hours.

But they are also really good solid decent people who work there. We try to look after each other and help one another. The people who really want to learn who take the initiative they're able to do the job.

It seems that upper management is mainly concentrated on the numbers. Middle management on keeping things looking like they're going smoothly on paper. And lower management feeling the pressure of getting things done. Without the tools in training that they need.

There's a whole group of people that no one even knows each other. We used to have within each work section. So each person knows the work they're going to do that day.  Where we have a shortage at; where we need to move to; who needs more help in this area; or less.

Not just waiting at the last minute to call people over to help. If you know your crew and who's on it; that makes things go smoothly.

Now they may be a group meeting a couple of times a week where you're going over general stuff. It's the same stuff from the handbook. But no  nothing specific for each team. 

Without that personal accountability, you're getting people that's falling through the cracks. With the training that's needed and the information that can help feel included.

We have a new group of supervisors. But never any real interaction. 
No one introduced themselves; no one asked you your name; you just make sure everything's done on time. 

It's like this person is waiting for that person to do this or that there's no initiative.

Certain things are a easily fix. Example if you know that the plane is ready to be loaded; call the pilots back to the plane. So we can start loading. 

Also train the people who don't know how to load. So they don't be waiting for 15 minutes for other people to finish with another plane. And then at the last minute you got to hurry up. 

We can get it done earlier but there's people that; just refuse or feel insecure about doing their job.

But you have to go back to management, that will talk to people instead of screaming at individuals.
 There's like a separate group of people that just informed management and pretend like their friends. Just to get what they want. They undermine their team. Some people feel like they're too good to do certain types of work. 

They take multiple cigarette breaks. Other people can barely have enough time to go to the bathroom. Were rushing to loan multiple cans Non-Stop. Others are going to multiple planes Non-Stop. To can get everything out on time.
 Others think because they've been there a long time, they don't have to load cans or planes. And you got some new people who just they transfer some boxes and do paperwork but they're not going to try to do too much physical work if they can get away with it. 

There needs to be mutual respect and people that feel like they're not going to be punished if they speak up.

It's just a lot of hiding of some of the bigger problems. And we definitely need to start doing drug test annually. Some people the union have gotten their job back, and they shouldn't have because it puts the rest of us in danger.

That won't happen because of money. And you would have an even higher turnover rate.

 You already have a lot that quit after 2 weeks. When they have to get out there, in the element. Eepecially in the rain they can't handle that. If it rains three times a week the same people will call out everyday. 
So you got people twice the age of some of these youngsters doing hard physical work.  Because some new hires, never had to push through. They don't have to worry about being the only one paying the bills.

Everyone knows about and talks about the problems. But hid it from the big boss.

But I have a lot of respect for the people that do the right thing. There consistent year after year. Because they just have that passion. They help others, learn and grow.

I began working at the Bluegrass Location as a package handler and enjoyed the small facility and camaraderie. We were given snacks twice per week and during peak season we had catered food almost every day. 

I was then promoted to management and moved to LCH, remaining in the preload shift (essentially overnights). The culture was very different there. The facility was much larger with 4x more employees. Snacks and food were few and far between and there was barely enough to go around. Though there was a lot of computer training, there was little to no hands-on training or transitional period and I was expected to perform similar to other supervisors (even being informally reprimanded when I didn't do something right) though I was in a different facility with a different setup, procedures, definitions of terms, employees, and volume expectations.

For months we were understaffed and instead of progressively being introduced to management responsibilities and rotating me with other supervisors I was used as backup labor and wasn't dressed for this (this was also true anytime upper mgmt felt necessary or were trying to meet production goals, though technically the union prohibits supervisors working). I struggled greatly with the culture where everyone felt pressured to make decisions quickly but therefore did not make good stable decisions and did not communicate those decisions to everyone relevant so procedures changed back and forth many times within minutes. Often we were all 1-2 seconds behind or ahead of each other and if someone waited between 2 seconds and 2 minutes to make a good decision things may have run more smoothly and we would have looked more competent in front of our employees.

Sometimes due to limited staffing and/or production deadlines we were expected to do up to 4 different employee jobs at once and then were verbally reprimanded for not supervising properly. Upper mgmt would walk by and see problems but instead of always asking if we had a solution for them or simply informing us, we were often criticized or micromanaged without being kept in the loop when decisions were made in our area apart from us. This resulted in chaos and confused employees. Safety seemed only important after an injury or when production was going smoothly and it was sometimes a battle with upper mgmt to make decisions and provisions to keep employees safe.

Part time supervisors were officially limited to 27.5 hours per week, but there would be extended periods of time (outside of peak season) when we would easily work 45-50+ hours. This was subject to change however whenever the company wanted to enforce the 27.5 rule (even during peak season) and hours would be immediately cut back to part time. This was difficult when one was accustomed to working full time and getting higher paychecks.

Aside from these things, some upper supervisors had a severe anger problem which expressed itself in tantrums, yelling, and cussing out other supervisors. Often when upper mgmt was asked questions they would get frustrated and it seemed to be a hindrance to them to give clear answers, instructions, and reasons why a decision was being made.

Other part time supervisors would often come in late or call in regularly with little to no consequences so those who did show up were responsible for the workload of others without warning or time to prepare and could be responsible for it the entire shift, easily doubling or tripling their responsibilities and therefore their criticism for not performing at an equal level as if it were a normal day.

There is much more that could be said, but it wasn't all hard and bad. Though the benefits were not as good as a union employee, they were still better than many companies, especially for part time. The pay was probably higher than most any other part time job you'll have and it was fair for the high stress environment. Beyond this there were sweet times of camaraderie among other part time supervisors where we knew we were "in it together" and would help and support each other, trading duties, and setting each other up for success. This job is a solid preparation of leadership for learning how to manage people and problem solve a variety of issues quickly. Working with a variety of managers you also are given a good education by observing both good and bad leadership of those around you. The key to success for me was treating my employees well while it was within my ability, being very honest with employees, accommodating them when reasonable, training and encouraging them (though this too regularly brought a battle with upper mgmt due to production deadlines), caring about their personal lives, etc. I noticed that those supervisors were not merely managers but were leaders got the most out of their employees, had the most employees show up for work, and had the most employees who requested to work under them that day. It was encouraging for me when I was leaving to have employees give me a hug in tears, express their sadness at my leaving, and even suggest throwing a going away party.

I left the job primarily due to moving out of state and would have remained had I not moved.

A typical day:
Private Vehicle Drivers (PVDs) arrive at center (or designated meet spot) to sort, organize and load packages into their own vehicle.  The company provides a cell phone that is programmed with the assigned route for the day along with helpful information about each stop.  The PVD then delivers the packages to each address.  Packages that need to be returned to the center due to customer unavailable for signature or refused, or pick ups, are returned to the center or a designated UPS driver.  Above all, the focus is on SAFELY delivering the workload - safety on the road, at residences/businesses and while loading/unloading to prevent and mitigate injury to people and damage to property. The company also is careful to keep packages that are more than 70lbs from going to PVDs.

Management:
There are several different members of management that the PVDs interact with for training, work assignment and normal HR matters. The location in Flint, MI (north center) has a management team that is highly supportive. Every single staff person from the director, dispatcher, office personnel and route drivers was informative and helpful, showing the highest amount of appreciation and insight. 

How to be successful:
1. Each day, arrive to your location early and ready to work, with focus. The most physical aspect of the position is early in the day when unloading from trucks and loading your own vehicle. The workload will go much more smoothly when you are organized.  UPS labeling system and the phone provided structures your organization but you will need to load the vehicle orderly and with intentional planning to make sure you can access the right packages when you’re at each stop.
2. LEARN your route.  Learn which roads go east/west or north/south.  Learn which roads intersect. Learn what direction addresses count up (or down). Learn which side of the road have even/odd addresses. Learn which houses are far off the road, have “roundabout” driveways or wide-open turnarounds. Learn your repeat customer’s names.  The more you know, the less you will have to rely on navigation assistance and the more efficient you will be.
3. Safety - the principles that are covered in training...know them and be able to apply them on the road and while delivering. The principles themselves are common sense if you listen and understand WHY the company has adopted them.  Keep a bright flashlight in your vehicle for after-dark deliveries. 
4. Customer Service - UPS sets themselves apart in the industry by the service they provide. You won’t see every customer, every day but when you do, smile/wave and introduce yourself.  The customers appreciate your work and they’re accommodating when they understand who you are.  Remember, you’re in an unmarked, private vehicle so they don’t understand why a stranger is in their driveway. Bag multiple packages in the company provided plastic bags.  Bag packages that might get wet from rain/melting snow.  Leave packages where it’s convenient for the customer to retrieve AND not in plain sight.  Since this position is near the holidays, make some attempt to NOT ruin a surprise - if you’re delivering Barbie’s dream house, knock and let the customer know or leave at the back door with a quick note on the front door. Know the assigned UPS Driver for your route - have their name and contact information and use it for any questions or uncertainties. 
5. Scheduling:
Plan your seasonal schedule around your work.  The closer the calendar gets to Dec 25th, the heavier workload you will have. Make every attempt to be available to start early or end late. The workload fluctuates and is determined by customer demand...and it’s why the company needs the PVDs - be available.
6. Positive Attitude and self-motivation:
Every company in the world wants an employee with a positive attitude, UPS is no different. Your co-workers, management team and customers will notice a positive attitude; curve balls and uncontrolled circumstances will occur - being prepared for the unexpected will make your day more manageable (and enjoyable). Regarding self motivation - this role is on the road and being by yourself for most of your day, a successful person will need to be motivated without having someone constantly checking in with you. For me, I liked to pay attention to how many deliveries I could do per hour. Or, could a certain portion be completed before a break, etc. Finding ways to measure my own performance was a creative way to cultivate continuous improvement.

My personal experience there was pretty decent. First things off, speed and numbers matter. Don’t slack or hold back. I was a loader during the twilight shift whose job was mainly to load up truck trailers for shipment out to other centers, hubs, and warehouses. There is a certain number of packages you are expected to  hit every hour, which gets tracked progressively through out the workday. They don’t expect you to be able to hit that number right off the bat. Instead they let you build up to that point over a period of time they find is appropriated. I personally had a lot of support and encouragement from my supervisors and tips from my co-workers. When it is slow you would probably have time to slowly meander back/forth and chat a little. However, when it gets busy it can turn into an intense and high tension environment where you have to be at the top of your game. 

Sometimes packages could be really heavy( 100+ pounds) but in these cases the work culture stresses teamwork. I was always able to ask around for help when the package was too heavy for myself to do alone. Whether it be a co-worker, a passerby, my supervisor, and even management themselves, they were all more than willing to help out. Team-lifts are a thing here!

My supervisors(went through a couple and once in a while they shuffle them around) and Management was pretty nice and understanding overall. During my employment period at UPS over 2 years, there were times where I had situations where I needed to leave work early, got sick , or got involved in some accident or circumstance and had to miss a day in short notice. There was rarely any nagging or harping on it. At most I’d get a “we really needed you man”, which I really appreciate as I felt needed and also those were things I couldn’t  workaround at the times. Besides the supervisor, the management were also rather encouraging and supportive. It makes sense as when it comes down to it, whether they get through the load for the day depends on the workers. They also had a great sense of humor. We had a great deal of joking around at times. 

Through out most of the year work volume fluctuates. During periods where there is very low volume sometimes people might be asked if they want to go home early. However when the holidays roll around, the hours out in is akin to a full-time job, with opportunities for overtime. Speaking of overtime, they had optional saturday shifts throughout most of the year which is counted as overtime pay. Also, had sunday shifts sometimes around the holidays which pay is doubled if you take it. 

Now the negatives. If you are consistently slacking or not managing to hit the minimal numbers for whatever reason even after like 4 months of employment then of course you would get asked to talk about it on the side. They didn’t have a habit of public shaming or anything whenever someone seemed to be slacking or made a mistake. It was usually addressed off to the side with only the worker and supervisor present, sometimes management too. But still quite awkward when asked “ is something the matter lately, you don’t seem to be doing too well”, when you were just slacking a bit. In my case the supervisor at the time actually sounded like they cared so I couldn’t honestly respond. I tried hard to not have that happen a second time. The biggest gripe I personally had was the pay but then again it was a bottom tier job after all so it’s normal, just wished pay would better match the amount of sweat being put in.

The position of package handler is actually an umbrella that includes several roles. When you are employed you are put in either as the role of a loader, unloader, sorter, and a few others. Most of the roles you can ask to be switched into depending on openings, current manpower on your section, and season. You might also be tasked to help around in different sections or roles from time to time. 

In this job seniority matters as in the amount of time you have spent there. The choice of going home early, whether to stay in your section or help out somewhere else, and etc would go down the line in order of seniority.

This position is rather suited to straightforward and hardworking people. It’s a job where you have to earn your respect, which was just fine with me as I detested people who act like they are privileged and special just by breathing and existing. Gotta earn your keep.

Disclaimer: I worked for UPS as a seasonal employee. 
That being said, I encountered a lot of full time employees.

The good: I was paid $21.00 an hour, which is pretty good by my standards especially since the job is very straightforward and if you're in decent shape or at least used to working laborious jobs chances are you wont find it difficult at all. Working to that tune I found it pretty hard be be overly annoyed about anything. Just goes to show if you pay people enough to make them feel like they're valued, you'll have happier and more productive employees. Most days you wake up by 8:45-9:00am and within an hour someone drops off your packages, you organize and deliver things in the way that works best for you and when you're done, you're done. The app is easy to use despite connections being a little hit or miss and you have plenty of backup options. Additionally, at the end of the day the routes are fairly easy to learn and after a couple weeks max you don't really need any help navigating beyond reading the addresses on your packages

The bad: Very disorganized company, and every level of leadership seems to have different priorities. I cant say I'm very surprised because UPS is a big company and the sheer volume of packages that passes through even a small facility like the one where I live, is ridiculous. No one goes out and buys anything anymore apparently, not even paper towels. Still, you have very little support once the packages have been scanned and left the building. They just want them out of their hands and into yours. I was constantly delivering incomplete stops(not even including late air, which is beyond anyone's control), so I can't imagine how this works out on a larger scale like in cities or highly populated suburbs.  The communication could be miles better, it was difficult to get accurate answers to literally any questions I had that weren't directly related to my own behavior. Every time I met a new employee it was like a game of roulette whether I was going to get someone who loved their job and was super polite and organized and willing to help, or someone who hated their job and cursed management and had nothing but complaints. The two direct supervisors who trained myself and my sister were both very nice and professional and probably one of the best parts of the entire process, but whenever I would call the main hub I got someone who's immediate answer was "i don't know" followed by a long pause that told me they either didn't want to help me or expected me to be satisfied with that answer. I was constantly given wrong information or no information at all. Sometimes no work would show up at my house and I would call the center only to find out that I wasn't needed that day, other times I would have completed my work only to have more work dropped off to me hours later without notice and I was expected to clock in again and go deliver it. This left me feeling like I had to be available during all hours of operation even after my work for the day was complete and I was supposed to be done for the day. This was super frustrating not only because It made it harder for me to be organized and do my job efficiently, but also because the position is advertised as a full time 9-5 position and you are definitely not working a GUARANTEED 40/hours a week. I was told the position would go until early/mid January and I haven't had a day of work since Christmas eve. The slight upside of this is if you deliver to a wealthy or highly populated area, I don't think you would have this issue and I even think you would have the chance for some amazing overtime. 

All things considered, If they offer this position next year, I'll definitely do it again. It's a nice paying straightforward job that puts a lot of control in your hands as long as you can kind of roll with the punches. I probably have more sympathy for the company than some others would because I've worked for other large companies before and it seems like every single one is at least a little more disorganized than they could stand to be. It's also a job that makes you feel good because delivering a large amount of packages and taking part in some good old fashioned outdoors lifting is a rewarding feeling and a nice change of pace from most jobs.

I've had the honor and privilege of changing several positions in this company. By no means does this company have any position here that is easy, cozy or establish a fair work life balance. If your part-time, you'll have no problem doing that, if your full-time however, be prepared to give everything you have physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

I've been a preloader to becoming a Dispatch Planning Supervisor over seeing the planned day for a region's fleet. I can tell you through laterally moving and climbing positions there's not one job here to take for granted with each having its own pros and con's. Each one position of the several I experienced can break you psychologically and spiritually for a few moments only to find yourself a new even stronger, more skilled and advanced than you ever could imagined. 

Subordinates, coworkers and management and even the most trusted will try you, challenge you and inadvertently will place you in the most harsh predicaments that require high levels of tact, severe problem solving to help internal and external customers in getting what they need. 

This companies profit culture looks at what statistics previous week and year and try to set new records by the day, followed by its ever increasing drive to make everyone within that work stratosphere to follow along increasing pressure on all ends from grassroots to the top of the hierarchy. 

You can look at like Wallstreet culture of sharks that are less venomous to each other and actually a bit caring in a team coordinated effort. 

Many of us are not always in smiles and are in some cases psychologically broken due to the intensity and nature of that pace to beat from the previous record. However many of us are actually united and pull each other through that intensity further bringing our collaboration together regardless how unrealistic some of the companies expectations are. 

In United Parcel Services you'll learn about yourself, what it takes to be committed and stay by your word and meeting deadlines when your soul screams to want to quit. The money gets you a 6 figure income that puts your family in a safe nest. Which is what we are fighting for, to get to the top and secure our families place. However in doing so with this company just remember you'll always have to grind and improve constantly driving out of you a level of perfection that the company demands from you.

We help move the world's commerce in mass, and because of such large scale the company pushes each and everyone of us to improve along with the times during financial gain and profit loss, cultivating a sharper sword mentally.

You'll be put to the test in making complex hard decisions of things you know nothing of, on the spot, and relied upon to fix those problems on a moments notice further refining your ability to make decisions on the fly. 

You will learn by trial by fire with surrounding firefighters, so to speak, to help you through it all and help you understand the process. 

Almost everyone here who's gone up in rank here has earned it wholeheartedly through commitment, pain, mistakes with feeling of anguish followed by a good team to help each one get carried through furthering our bond. 

If you do decide to come and join United Parcel Services, prepare yourself physically workout and eat well, prepare psychologically for you will be challenge to do hard things constantly outside your comfortable zone make you tougher in resolve and most importantly this job will make you a more empowered person helping you develop into a leader and tackle your personal problems more proactively removing old lazy ways, this is no easy job, any of it, so keep that in mind. 

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