UPS Schedule?
05-14-2017, 05:37 AM
#1
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jan 2012
Posts: 204
UPS Schedule?
I'm a corporate guy and was recently talking with a fellow corporate driver who was retired UPS. Long story short, he urged me to put my stuff in--something I had not really considered before.
My assumption was that living in an outstation city (but a big one--state capital) would mean commuting for a living again, just like at the regionals. He made it sound like the UPS route structure and contract would allow me to live where I do an not be on the road 23 days/mo like I used to be.
Any enlightenment here would be appreciated. Is this old freight dawg correct?
Thanks!
My assumption was that living in an outstation city (but a big one--state capital) would mean commuting for a living again, just like at the regionals. He made it sound like the UPS route structure and contract would allow me to live where I do an not be on the road 23 days/mo like I used to be.
Any enlightenment here would be appreciated. Is this old freight dawg correct?
Thanks!
05-14-2017, 07:10 AM
#2
Permanent Reserve
Joined APC: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,677
Your friend must be very senior.
About 10% of our lines are week-on, week-off with commercial deadhead on both ends, so you would be commuting on company time and $ (they buy you an airline ticket to/from work).
Obviously, these lines go senior.
New hire at UPS figure half the month on reserve (short call) or base line trips (7-11 commutes per month).
That said, you might get a decent schedule in a year or 2, but depends on hiring.
Reserve lines work 14/28 days and flying lines work 11-16 days out of 28 (we bid 8 week schedules - 2 x 28 day periods)
Initially your life will suck as a commuter but slowly get better, and in 5 or 10 (or more) years you can hold a line like your friend.
So move to domicile or embrace the suck.
About 10% of our lines are week-on, week-off with commercial deadhead on both ends, so you would be commuting on company time and $ (they buy you an airline ticket to/from work).
Obviously, these lines go senior.
New hire at UPS figure half the month on reserve (short call) or base line trips (7-11 commutes per month).
That said, you might get a decent schedule in a year or 2, but depends on hiring.
Reserve lines work 14/28 days and flying lines work 11-16 days out of 28 (we bid 8 week schedules - 2 x 28 day periods)
Initially your life will suck as a commuter but slowly get better, and in 5 or 10 (or more) years you can hold a line like your friend.
So move to domicile or embrace the suck.
05-14-2017, 07:26 AM
#3
Layover Master
Joined APC: Jan 2013
Position: Seated
Posts: 4,310
Originally Posted by navigatro
Your friend must be very senior.
About 10% of our lines are week-on, week-off with commercial deadhead on both ends, so you would be commuting on company time and $ (they buy you an airline ticket to/from work).
Obviously, these lines go senior.
New hire at UPS figure half the month on reserve (short call) or base line trips (7-11 commutes per month).
That said, you might get a decent schedule in a year or 2, but depends on hiring.
Reserve lines work 14/28 days and flying lines work 11-16 days out of 28 (we bid 8 week schedules - 2 x 28 day periods)
Initially your life will suck as a commuter but slowly get better, and in 5 or 10 (or more) years you can hold a line like your friend.
So move to domicile or embrace the suck.
About 10% of our lines are week-on, week-off with commercial deadhead on both ends, so you would be commuting on company time and $ (they buy you an airline ticket to/from work).
Obviously, these lines go senior.
New hire at UPS figure half the month on reserve (short call) or base line trips (7-11 commutes per month).
That said, you might get a decent schedule in a year or 2, but depends on hiring.
Reserve lines work 14/28 days and flying lines work 11-16 days out of 28 (we bid 8 week schedules - 2 x 28 day periods)
Initially your life will suck as a commuter but slowly get better, and in 5 or 10 (or more) years you can hold a line like your friend.
So move to domicile or embrace the suck.
Thanks.
05-14-2017, 07:37 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2014
Position: Retired from APC.
Posts: 507
Hey,
Check out: http://inside.ipapilot.org/tools/jumpseats/index.php
&
flightaware.com (UPS only and specific airports only give a lot of info)
See what your commute would look like to SDF to start with. Plan on 1-2 commutes per 4 weeks but keep in the back of your head that you may need 3 commutes per month or need to head to ANC, ONT, or MIA for a relatively short time as a new hire. With a small amount of seniority you can live and commute from a whole lot of places. With a little more seniority you could live anywhere in the world and make it work.
There are some easy commutes. Look where UPS has a high frequency of flights. Out of SDF, the NE (PHL, EWR, BDL, MHT) has flights 7days a week and multiple times per day with a good amount of passenger flights to sdf as well. Orlando is another that has a bunch of flights. Hub to hub (SDF-ONT or OAK) stuff can get you to and from the west coast pretty easily. Cities within driving range (6hrs) of a domicile w/ UPS can be good too especially if they have passenger flights (ORD, ATL)-use the car as an emergency backup.
On ups flights we have an online jumpseat reservation system on a first come first served priority system and a standby list if the planes are already full. Planes have a minimum of 4 jumpseats, 5 on MD, and 7+ on 747. If you flight cancels, mechanicals, gets delayed, regardless if it's on a UPS or a commercial flight you are commuting on, you won't be subject to any administrative issues or harassment from the company. You will lose pay for what you miss though.
Much easier being able to reserve a JS on company. Timing of the flight won't always be perfect but it is the closest thing you can have to a paid ticket. We also have quite a few lines with either position or depositioning dead heads which use commercial flights that you can deviate from and go right from your home airport. Doing this enough will give you a nice chunk of airline miles that you can then use to get to work or back home if other options don't look so hot. And you can also buy a ticket here and there. I've found some really cheap flights one way that were too good to pass up and with the pay you'll get after year 1 it's really not a dent in the wallet at all.
There are crappy commutes: if you live a couple hours drive from your closest airport that only offers pax service (no UPS or FedEx) and it's a regional airport that will require a two leg commute to SDF or wherever - unless you are buying tickets that would be downright horrific especially as a newhire. ANC is shaping up to be a royal pain in the behind due to the huge volume of guys that are doing it. There are some easy back doors depending on where you live though. And if your city has a UPS flight but no good pax options things can start to suck pretty quick as a junior guy too: most domestic UPS cities only get service during weeknights so if you have a weekend start or finish, UPS isn't an option.
At the end of it all, the biggest factor is really the schedules you can hold that will determine how your commute will end up being. Best is hometown overnights followed by commercial tickets on either end or both. Next are trips that you can jumpseat directly into and/or out of (no major wait in between work and commute). From there it starts being tradeoffs for whatever works best for you and your family. Guys will say that your QOL will increase significantly with living in base. Well, your time at home will increase significantly. The quality of that time won't if you and your family hate living in that base, aren't close to friends and family, etc., YMMV but there a ton of guys who commute at UPS for those reasons, it's a commuter truckingairline.
Hope this helps a litte.
Check out: http://inside.ipapilot.org/tools/jumpseats/index.php
&
flightaware.com (UPS only and specific airports only give a lot of info)
See what your commute would look like to SDF to start with. Plan on 1-2 commutes per 4 weeks but keep in the back of your head that you may need 3 commutes per month or need to head to ANC, ONT, or MIA for a relatively short time as a new hire. With a small amount of seniority you can live and commute from a whole lot of places. With a little more seniority you could live anywhere in the world and make it work.
There are some easy commutes. Look where UPS has a high frequency of flights. Out of SDF, the NE (PHL, EWR, BDL, MHT) has flights 7days a week and multiple times per day with a good amount of passenger flights to sdf as well. Orlando is another that has a bunch of flights. Hub to hub (SDF-ONT or OAK) stuff can get you to and from the west coast pretty easily. Cities within driving range (6hrs) of a domicile w/ UPS can be good too especially if they have passenger flights (ORD, ATL)-use the car as an emergency backup.
On ups flights we have an online jumpseat reservation system on a first come first served priority system and a standby list if the planes are already full. Planes have a minimum of 4 jumpseats, 5 on MD, and 7+ on 747. If you flight cancels, mechanicals, gets delayed, regardless if it's on a UPS or a commercial flight you are commuting on, you won't be subject to any administrative issues or harassment from the company. You will lose pay for what you miss though.
Much easier being able to reserve a JS on company. Timing of the flight won't always be perfect but it is the closest thing you can have to a paid ticket. We also have quite a few lines with either position or depositioning dead heads which use commercial flights that you can deviate from and go right from your home airport. Doing this enough will give you a nice chunk of airline miles that you can then use to get to work or back home if other options don't look so hot. And you can also buy a ticket here and there. I've found some really cheap flights one way that were too good to pass up and with the pay you'll get after year 1 it's really not a dent in the wallet at all.
There are crappy commutes: if you live a couple hours drive from your closest airport that only offers pax service (no UPS or FedEx) and it's a regional airport that will require a two leg commute to SDF or wherever - unless you are buying tickets that would be downright horrific especially as a newhire. ANC is shaping up to be a royal pain in the behind due to the huge volume of guys that are doing it. There are some easy back doors depending on where you live though. And if your city has a UPS flight but no good pax options things can start to suck pretty quick as a junior guy too: most domestic UPS cities only get service during weeknights so if you have a weekend start or finish, UPS isn't an option.
At the end of it all, the biggest factor is really the schedules you can hold that will determine how your commute will end up being. Best is hometown overnights followed by commercial tickets on either end or both. Next are trips that you can jumpseat directly into and/or out of (no major wait in between work and commute). From there it starts being tradeoffs for whatever works best for you and your family. Guys will say that your QOL will increase significantly with living in base. Well, your time at home will increase significantly. The quality of that time won't if you and your family hate living in that base, aren't close to friends and family, etc., YMMV but there a ton of guys who commute at UPS for those reasons, it's a commuter truckingairline.
Hope this helps a litte.
05-14-2017, 07:51 AM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2014
Position: Retired from APC.
Posts: 507
Originally Posted by navigatro
..... or base line trips (7-11 commutes per month).
That said, you might get a decent schedule in a year or 2, but depends on hiring.
Initially your life will suck as a commuter but slowly get better, and in 5 or 10 (or more) years you can hold a line like your friend.
2. I got a decent schedule since my first bid period off IOE. Nothing I really wanted but nothing horrible either. The times I got some crap thrown at me I was able to trade into what worked for me. A couple times I've traded into schedules that would make guys at the top of the list envious. Guys I know that started within the last year aren't complaining about their lines or their commutes, but all look forward to more seniority to make things easier.
3. The common saying here is that the difference in bid awarded schedules of the senior guys vs junior are that the senior guys get the days off they desire, junior guys don't but everyone is flying the same stuff.
05-14-2017, 05:08 PM
#6
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2005
Position: 757/767 Capt
Posts: 642
It would help if you told us what city you commute from..the state capital of California is a lot different than Vermont. I live in New Jersey, so I can commute from Newark, or Philadelphia, which is probably the best commuting scenario you can have..
05-15-2017, 03:58 AM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2005
Position: 767 captain
Posts: 2,695
Originally Posted by PotatoChip
What if you were commuting out of a hub such as PHL? Same? Or would it slightly improve your lot?
Thanks.
Thanks.
05-15-2017, 06:59 AM
#9
Layover Master
Joined APC: Jan 2013
Position: Seated
Posts: 4,310
Originally Posted by 767pilot
Would improve a TON if your fleet lays over there. A friend of mine describes living in phl and flying the sdfz as "stealing money". Like everything though, seniority counts.
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