Package handling for UPS?

Pfactor8

Pfactor8

Well-Known Member
I hear that UPS is a great company to fly for if one is considering freight. I was thinking about being a part-time package handler while flight instructing. This would be a way to get extra money, and also a way to get my foot in the door with UPS (or FedEx). Has anyone done this? Is it a viable way of obtaining a frieght job with the big dawgs?

My biggest concern is not being available to students when they need to fly and also not bulding hours as a CFI as fast. The job would be 3rd shift 3.5 to 4 hrs, 5 days a week. Thanks!
 
well i don;t think it would help, but UPS is great with health benefits. my mom works for them and she says there are plenty of people that work part time like 20 hours a week for the benefits. you could do pre-load which is where you load the boxes ont the truck at like 4am in the morning until 8 or so.

adam
 
YOu could search, I am sure it has been covered her before, but if I recall.. DE727Ups has said that as far as getting into a pilot slot, the package job will nto help out all that much. You will need lots of Turbine time and a recommendation from a UPS pilot jsut to get a good look at.
 
I think I will concentrate on teaching and making contacts with pilots who are in the right places. I heard that after a year with UPS you are guaranteed an interview. Does anyone know if that is true, and if so is it in the same department or what? Thanks.
 
Listen to me when I say this.

Working as a pre-loader for UPS was THE WORST JOB I'VE EVER HAD!!!!!

Really, I almost lost all of my will to breath while working there.
 
"I heard that after a year with UPS you are guaranteed an interview."

I don't know what the interview would be for, but I guarantee it's not for a pilot job....
 
[ QUOTE ]
"I heard that after a year with UPS you are guaranteed an interview."

I don't know what the interview would be for, but I guarantee it's not for a pilot job....

[/ QUOTE ]

It's for 2nd shift loader!!
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[ QUOTE ]
"I heard that after a year with UPS you are guaranteed an interview."

I don't know what the interview would be for, but I guarantee it's not for a pilot job....



[/ QUOTE ]

Agree!
 
I am an aircraft loader(and winter time de-icer) for UPS at their air hub in Rockford, IL. There is no garaunteed interview for anything and there is almost no time for pilot networking. On that point it is a pretty fun job and you can't beat the benefits especially for part time work. I personally would never want to be in the building doing sort and loading trucks. I get winded just from loading one or 2 bellies(about 45 min-1 hour of work), but if that is what you want all the power to you.:) I go in for 3-4 hours and push cans of packages around. It is very easy and the most fun is driving the cargo loaders around(well actually in the winter its going up 50 ft in the air and spraying planes in my opinion.:)) Bottom line.....pilot career advancement, no..........free benefits and a easy part time job to make some extra cash, yes.
 
I hardly ever go to RFD but one thing about that sort sticks in my mind. The folks that need to smoke so bad they stand just outside the building in subfreezing temps where the crew vans drive inside. I think that must be the only place UPS allows smoking and they really create a scene all bunched up having a smoke.
 
With FedEx, if you already meet the quals for the job, you can get a guaranteed interview for a pilot slot. I think the time in position varies, but a year sounds right, and there are some other caveats as well that I don't know about offhand.
 
I think I will leave the package handling to someone else and stick to the flying stuff. Thanks guys.
 
Oh, don't rule it out with a flying job either.
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If you fly freight, you might be helping to load/unload, depending on who you fly for and what type of freight.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The folks that need to smoke so bad they stand just outside the building in subfreezing temps where the crew vans drive inside

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Hey I used to be one of those guys.:p We do have alot of smokers, lol. I would dare to say half the people on the ramp smoke if not more. The first thing my supervisor does when we start the day is release the crew for a smoke break, lol. Two guys off my crew just got fired so only the supervisor and one other employee on my crew smoke. Before that though half my crew smoked. I quit the end of last month. I do have to say though that a few pilots smoke and are generally easy to talk to in the smoking areas.

Side note to anyone looking at a ramp position at UPS: If your asked to pull an air start(or any piece of equipment) off of an airplane make sure it is disconnected first:) (the guys that got fired did not realize that fact, lol)
 
[ QUOTE ]
This would be a way to get extra money, and also a way to get my foot in the door with UPS (or FedEx). Has anyone done this? Is it a viable way of obtaining a frieght job with the big dawgs?


[/ QUOTE ]

Go to flightinfo, there is a post recently about going from package handler at FedEx to pilot. FedEx has a good internal hiring policy, and as long as you meet the mins for a pilot position you get an interview before an outsiders (i.e. people that apply off the street). This only applies if you work for a certain component of FedEx, I think it might be FedEx Express (not ground or freight or whatever eles there is).

There were some success stories in the past. I'm certainly considering it down the line.

As far as working for UPS, I loaded a 767 and 757 at MHT. (Manchester NH). It was the best part time job I've ever had. Contrary to what another poster said, it was one of the easiest jobs I've held so far. I worked about 45 mins in a 4 hour shift and (unlike pilots) got paid for those 4 hours. We'd unload and then wait for the sorters in the building to, well, sort, then load 'em up. The pilots would come on board and turn the A/C on in the back of the plane so it was nice and cool.

Mtsu might have been a package sorter (in the building). That job SUX! I had to do it once or twice because they were short and I can honestly say it would wear me down too.

It was a good part time gig - I did it while in high school. I don't recall any sort of "flow-thru" program like FedEx, however.

~wheelsup
 
[ QUOTE ]

Mtsu might have been a package sorter (in the building). That job SUX! I had to do it once or twice because they were short and I can honestly say it would wear me down too.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's exactly what I was. I seriously contemplated ripping my arms out so that I wouldn't have to do it anymore . . .
 
With an A&P in hand, was hired to fix and fly king airs with 500tt and 25 multi. In a little more than a year it boosted my time to around 1500tt and 1000 multi turbine. The learning curve was quite the challenge.
 
I did preload for awhile. It wasn't that bad. Hard work? Sure, but then again we all knew that when we took the job. For me, it was great money for my last year of college which led to a 2 1/2 year stint as a p/t ramp sup on PHX for The Brown Army.

Will it help get a job there? Yeah, guess not. I'd love to fly brown tails, and now that I have the flight time to apply, I will. Let's just hope I can get a call sometime in the next 10 years.
 
How are the benefits? Are they free or does it come out of your check? I was thinking of throwing boxes on a truck P/T while working on my flight training full time.
 
You get 100% free medical! Well, after 90 days. Ok, ok - after 90 [i[consecutive[/i] 90 days. This means that if you work for 89 days, and then have the flu, your 90 days will start again!!

If you like slave labor, and you know that's what you're getting yourself into, go for it! Some people love it.

OK, ok....they don't love it - it's just not so bad . . .
grin.gif
 
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