CactusCrew

What's a UPS Hogan test ? Does it prove that you are certifiable to work here ?

Rocco

For those wanting to work at UPS its is a good job. Good pay(compared to some of the new TA's getting passed around from other carriers). Great Union. Awesome people to work with. Really the best part for me is the pilots I get to work with. You will not find a more unified group of people in the business IMHO.

Lots of people talk about not liking it hear. I think they are just voicing frustrations on the whole "interweb" thingy Cheap therapy!!! They think they work at an airline. Your UPS badge may say CREW, but it should read "package delivery employee".

Just remember you cannot think you are getting an airline job if hired at UPS. It is a trucking company. Plain and simple. They DO NOT like the fact that they own airplanes. They HAVE to own airplanes to remain in the game. They do not really like anything about the pilot group, including our really messed up management system. I DO NOT like the FQS system we have here. It is screwed up from the get go. Having someone that has been at the airline for 25 years getting "checked" by someone that has been here a year seems crazy to me(thats how the truckers do it). The FAA signed off on it. And did I mention they LOVE trucks and dislike airplanes VERY MUCH.

UPS is a good job. Lots here will complain, but they show up to work year after year. Just know the "culture" here before you apply and will not regret it.

Good luck to all those wanting to work here. You will love the pilots you fly with not find a finer group of people!

CL300

Good post Rocco. Right in line with the opinions of the pilots I've talked to about the company. Thanks.....

whalesurfer

I agree with Rocco's sentiment and I too am happy ..or at the very least content here.

Having said that, do not discount the opinions of the "negative voices here", they all have those negative opinions for a reason. I, and I think most of us here, share their disgusts with some aspects of how employees are treated here, we simply disagree on how to deal with it.

I recently met a new-hire who's already contemplating Delta. Why is that?
Don't let the doomsayers cloud your view but at the same time have an honest look at the morale here and ask yourself - why would people who're making fairly good money be so miserable?
If I was younger I too would be looking at other options. Not because I'm miserable here, because I'm not, or because I hate it here, because I don't, but because I worry about our future.

This company used to be all about the CUSTOMER! Heck, we had jets circling in the air ready to "rescue" stranded packages due to aircraft mechanicals, etc. The customer was always right, we bent over backwards for them. Now? Not so much. Employees still do for sure, we all do because we care about this company and our futures. The upper management? Well, I'm starting to think that as long as the dividend check looks good they'll be willing to keep shrinking the airline and our overall market share. ..or how about the numerous business decision failures? Menlo integration, DHL, Postal Contract, TNT..

I'm trying to stay optimistic, I think most of us are, hoping that one day new leadership will take control of this ship and realize what's going on and will take this company back to its roots because we have a fantastic workforce, great know-how and some incredibly talented people here ..but for now...

Yeah, be smart, listen to people on both sides and then make up your mind. The naysayers are all good guys/gals, they wouldn't be scaremongering if they weren't worried about what's going on here...

Either way, wish you the best. If you join us I hope you and I and everyone else here will find ourselves very positively surprised one day...

.

brownie

Jan 1st 2008 when Davis took the big seat the first thing he did he vetoed customer service and his legacy continues to this day and beyond. Hell Thier model was synchronization of world of commerce till they realized they can't even do that so they decided to take that slogan off the paint schemes.

Commando

Anyone younger than 35 should Bolt. Unless you want to be on a shrinking Airline and reserve for a decade. This place will probably not be around in 30 years when one at 35 would turn 65.

The ONLY reason people come here and hold out hope is because of our DB plan.

CL300

All good info, thanks for posting. Is there anything going on in the company that makes you think it's a shrinking airline that may not make it 30 more years? With the exception of no new airframe orders in the foreseeable future? Just curious what it is that makes you guys think it won't last.

Swedish Blender

I know one of our guys who has been here 8+ years and is contemplating Delta.

Several of the AA guys are thinking about going back who have been here 8+ years. They still have almost a year to decide.

All the ones I know thinking about leaving, it is a QOL choice. You can be at UPS for 8 years and still be in the bottom 10-15%. Go to a legacy now and you have that after 1 year.

Archie Bunker

That would be a tough pill to swallow...to leave year 9 FO pay at the Brown Stain, and start as a new hire at Delta.

I'm at that seniority level now (8 1/2 years), and we make good money, and are creeping up on 4 weeks of vacation with conflict bidding. Delta has PBS, and you would never have as much time off as you do at Brown, and that's a fact. It would also take a long time to make up the pay difference, if ever.

If you were a Brown probie, I could see leaving...but as a guy coming up on 9 years with the company, I would never do it.

CactusCrew

Its not a thought, its a fact. Over that last few years our hiring has not kept up with attrition so our seniority list has shrunk overall.

In the past three years, our total pilot group has gone down.

Oct 2012: 2,590
Jun 2013: 2,549
Aug 2014: 2,538
Today: 2,563

I don't know the exact number, but it probably peaked at 2900ish in 2008 prior to the parking of all our DC-8s and classic B747s.

We "think" it won't last because from the inside, you truly get to see how little, if any investment UPS is willing to make to preserve the airline , the airframes, and the associated support facilities.