75 hours pay guarantee per pay period
13 pay periods per year
21 hours of open time pickup max per pay period
3 hours pay per day of vacation falling on a scheduled day off
65 hours of sick leave paid if not used annually
223.55 current 12 year capt pay

On the 727/747 and DC-8 fleets at UPS over the last 10 years many pilots who live in SDF have chosen to bid reserve. UPS does not use pilots efficiently. They give up efficiency in order to have reliability. That reliability comes by having a lot of reserve coverage just in case someone is sick, doesn't answer the phone etc. If a passenger airline cancels a flight due to a pilot shortage it will have several hundred upset customers which they will put on the next flight a few hours later. If UPS cancelled a flight due to not having a pilot it would have tens of thousands of upset customers.

So in a normal 15 days a month of Reserve, many UPS pilots get used 2-3 days worth. The rest of the time they are being paid to live their lives at home carrying a cell phone. Not a bad gig. Sometimes they get used a little more than others and sometimes they don't get called at all during the 15 days of duty that month, but the average is 2-3 days. Since they don't work while on duty many pilots pick up 3-5 days of open time flying which takes them to their credit cap of 96 hours per pay period. (You can earn more than 96 hours in a pay period at the expense of having a lower cap the next pay period.) Those with 11 years of service get 28 days of vacation per year and many bid so the vacation days fall on scheduled days off (when guys get 20 years of service they will get 35 days of vacation). Vacation on a day off gets 3 hours pay per day and it does not count against the credit cap. Every January UPS pays for any unused sick time above a preset limit and that time is 65 hours.

Many, many, many UPS captains have done and are doing what I have described. During negotiations most guys do not pick up open time. But since the contract has been signed many guys are and I don't think anyone cares. Here's the breakdown:

75 X 13 X 223.55=$219,911 (guarantee pay)
21 X 13 X 223.55=$61,029 (open time pickup)
28 X 3 X 223.55=$18,778 (vacation on scheduled days off)
65 X 223.55=$14,531 (sick leave pay assuming no sick taken)


Picking up 21 hours of open time per pay period is 3-5 days of turns or layovers. If a guy only works 2-3 days off of reserve, that's still only 8 days a month of work. If a guy only works 8 days a month, does he really need to bid his schedule in order to have trips dropped due to vacation? The total compensation not counting any per diem or JA is $314,249. That's a lot of money but what amazes me is that UPS has guys making that kind of money and only working 104 days a year. FWIW.