UPS Package Handler
 

I am thinking of getting a job as a package handler for UPS. There is an available position in my hometown, and it is compatible with my flight schedule. I recently heard that UPS flight group will not consider an employee for a flight position if you work or have worked in another sector of the company. Is this true? Thanks in advance.

Regards,

TJ

I know of a few guys who worked peak to get a recommendation from station managers. So, I would say false. Unless, they changed their policy since then,

Good luck

I don't think that is true at all. Make sure that you stay on the managers good side though!

OTH, Isn't a ramper job at FDX a much surer thing as far as getting an interview?

Not true at all. I worked for UPS for 4 years in the early 90's and got hired back as a pilot. Leave on good terms and maybe when we hire again in 2015, you will get the call.

Thank you all for the reassuring info.

i'm a ph over at cinci hub for 2 1/2 years now and I hate it lol...The main reason I do it is so I can have references in the future when I apply for UPS Air. I will say that I've made more then enough connections and getting used to the brown culture really is a good idea if you wanna work their in the future. The downside is that for new hires the pay is horrible and benefits don't kick in until 18 months after hire date. Another crappy part is that the full timers could care less about part timers and always vote in their own favor on a new contract at the expense of the guys who do the hard labor. (God I hope a driver dosen't read this cause i'd prolly be flamed to heck lol)

I honestly can't stress how horrible the job can be at times...especially for the loaders but it really is a great place to work and the benefits are worth more then my yearly gross lol...

If I was you and your bent on working their, I would work your ass off for a few months and jump over to supervision.


ps they used to have a deal where you could sign a contract with the company that would allow you to quit and then come back and fly for them once you get your hours in...though i'm 99% sure that they discontinued that program.

I don't know about that but I threw boxes for a short time in the early 90's and was rehired as a pilot 10+ years later.

At my pilot interview, they asked why I'd quit. I was honest and told them the job was conflicting with the flying schedule I had. They said they understood and moved on with the interview.

Tipsy

I sorted the belt for UPS. Make sure your manager would check the "I'd hire him back" box, or you are out. It gave me something to talk about in the interview.

Buggs is right, it's all about how your superviosors and coworkers perceive you...

My friend and I ended up in the same class here at UPS; he threw boxes for several years and only has part 91/135 experience... He often says that they hired him mainly because the lady who did his interview used to throw boxes herself...

Who knows if he's right but make sure not to burn any bridges...

I believe that's for Fedex. You only qualify for an interview if you had worked for fedex express for a period of 12 months. And I also believe the interview has to be done while you're still a Fedex express employee. You obviously need to meet the flight mins. Nice thing to know when Fedex hires again...

2.5 YEARS?? Uh.. you deserve to be a chief pilot when they hire you. I did about an 8 month stint as a handler at UPS and I thought it was the hardest job ever, another month and I was pretty sure I was going to be recruited in a gang.... Nothing more rewarding than hard labor though, plus the money was good. Not sure how much it will help when I apply to UPS in 2017!!!

I know where you are coming from because I've been working toward the same thing. I started at UPS in 1991 as a package handler, moved to PT supervision, graduated in IT and moved to the technology department. I have been flying in the military for 8 years and tried to apply for a flying position the last time the window was open. The first problem I ran into was that the online system recognized my SS number as an existing employee and wouldn't let me apply. The system says "You are currently a UPS employee and should contact your manager for opportunities within the company..."

Here's another problem... The air group and ground group are on two different sides of the planet and don't talk to each other. My manager is a smart guy and really wanted to help me out, along with several other managers that I have known over the years, but had no idea how to make it happen. No one could get my resume to the right person to land me an interview. In fact, my manager forwarded my resume and three letters of recommendation to the air group manager directly and asked him what I needed to do to apply. He basically said that unless a candidate has the following hours they will probably not be considered:

Competitive Qualifications:
Total Time 4883
Total PIC 2879
Jet PIC 1497
M/E Turbo PIC 1977

(this info came directly from air HR in 2007) I had almost 3000 hours of C-130time, 1500 PIC, and almost 16 years at UPS when my resume was sent.

Pilots aren't hiring pilots at UPS any more. HR managers are hiring the pilots and the computer does all the work to find the qualified individual. So, if you work for UPS and have the above time you probably have a 100% chance of getting hired at some point. I'm going to hit the next job fair that UPS attends and try to get some face time with a hiring manager. I will have nearly 20 years with the company by the time we start hiring but will never have those minimums with only flying the KC-135 in the Guard (I recently switched to tankers).

The other problem I had was that my UPS pilot friends couldn't even write a letter of rec since I couldn't apply through the online system. The two are tied together like smoke and mirrors.

So take it from someone who practically bleeds brown… times have changed since the days of UPSers getting hired with 50 hours PIC!! There are way too many extremely qualified pilots in the pool for any airline to have to hire someone with average/low time.

Good luck and keep flyin'!

very honest appraisal UPSer. I'm sorry that you have gotten caught in the UPS red tape, but since you've been here a while you should be familiar with it. You have to wonder if they would prefer you to get another thousand hours in a 150 just to make their computer's limits.

I thought the same thing... The biggest one is the PIC Jet time since most of my time was in a 130. I just crossed over to 135's but it will take me a while to get 1600 hours in the plane, though it's all PIC.

I'll just keep flying my butt off and I'll hit up the first hiring conference once the flood gates open again.

FWIW, I think that they loosened up on the jet requirements the last time around. It's gonna be a while until we hire again though. My understanding is that they set the times that they want and enter them into a computer. The selection is blind to eliminate favoritism and discrimination claims. It is a shame that this would leave internals in a bind.

Why say only has 91/135 experience? Before I was hired at my current 121 job I had 91/135 and 121. I can tell you that my former 121 "experience" was degrading whatever skills I had. Think about it. In part 121 you have very little flight planning to do and full automation, at least I did, 737,767 etc. And you must ask mommy and daddy before you do anything. Sometimes even go over 3 months without landing.

What ever little skills I had to pass a sim ride came from my 91/135 background of having to do everything yourself and little automation, circling approaches at night to unfamiliar airports etc. etc.

Now that I am back again in the 121 world for the last couple of years I can tell you I am not the pilot I was when I was flying around the world 91/135 in crappy airplanes. If I get furloughed I might have to take some flying lessons to get my next job.

I always thought "jet" time was a silly requirement? They are LOTS of really good C-130/P-3 pilots out there ...

At the time UPS and the FAA were very concerned about the very real possibility of 3 year 747-400 captains up in ANC. Of course after age 65 and the economy melt down, it seems sort of funny now

I don't know what you guys are talking about...I was hired in 2007, and all my PIC time was in a Herk. All of my Part 121 "jet" time was SIC.

Just curious, did you have the minimums I posted above? I only had 1500 hours PIC in the Herc, no 121 time.

What about some "managers?" who had less then 2 years exp and very little pic time? and low total time? The FAA looks the other way on that..

I was hired July 2007 with no PIC Jet. My only PIC was turboprop, but I did have 747-4 SIC time.

I had more total time, roughly 3000 PIC (mostly Herk, and other Turboprop), a couple thousand jet SIC (part 121), and a lot of international experience.

Since I retired from the military, I haven't flown one hour of PIC (the joys of being junior on a seniority list).

I didn't mean to 'degrade' non-121 experience at all... If you check some of my previous posts you'll see that I think it's great we have folks here from many different aspects of aviation...

I mentioned it simply because it's still quite unusual to be part 91/135 only; it's great but not as common... If anything I meant it to be encouraging that anything is possible...

UPSer - have you checked if they'd allow you to take a leave of absence to build your time quicker and then come back?

It's such a shame we don't take a better care of our own employees who'd like to become pilots...

:eek:

Some things never change.

From a manager when UPS was starting the airline, as told to me by a Captain who was there ...

"What do you mean you need water onboard the aircraft. If we start catering water on the flights, next thing you guys will start crying for ICE. We can't have that ... "

Some of this stuff would be funny, if it wasn't true.

But I digress ...

When the hiring doors open, I hope UPSer finds a key to unlock the system. I don't think the total times should be a problem.

My times were similar to Archie Bunkers, without any military experience. All PIC (1500 hours) was Dash 8 turbo prop. Followed by years of 121 SIC jet ops ... FWIW. UPSer's times should work. At least they have in the past.

I've heard that story too except the version I heard was "if we put water on our airplanes (fast feeders ;)) we'll have to put water on our trucks I mean package cars too..." :)

Actually, I have the most understanding boss because I've been on military leave since November of 2003 for Iraqi/Enduring Freedom etc... The problem came in 2007 when they BRAC'd my unit and the flying virtually came to a halt. I was still on orders but worked on the BRAC committee to help move the base from Milwaukee to Pope AFB. I hung on and flew here and there but primarily have been working in staff positions. I recently changed units and had to go back to school for the tanker and I hope to fly more now. Although I am in Turkey now on an AEF and just got moved into another staff position... My boss knows my goal is to fly for the company so he will do whatever it takes to make it work out for me if he can. On the other hand, I don't want to keep yankin' his chain when I'm not getting any flight time. I will say the active duty pay check beats that of a UPS Technology Support Technician! I'll go as long as I can on full time military until he makes it clear that it's time to come back.