UPS 7.5t multidrop driver, £14 ph Monday to Friday

[carryfast]

fatboystu1:
Feeder driver (class 1) jobs are now pretty much dead mans shoes…and for good reason. Some drivers are on 40k+ pa.

It would be interesting to see how the wage structure changed and ramped up between around 2000-2018 in that case.It was certainly less than £20,000 at the former time and that included London Weighting.That works out at a more than 100 % increase in less than 20 years.

Are you sure that’s not being confused with Line Haul operations at Barking ?.In which case even in the day that was seen as an attractive job as it had been as Seabourne before the takeover.From memory I think they were also exempt from the warehouse work requirement which applied in the case of Feeders.

[andrewg]

£14ph and a free workout every day with hand balling heavy parcels, whats not to like. Give it time and you;ll be fitter and stronger and live longer than most drivers out there…

[lolipop]

Same old thing, apply get an interview and ask the questions you want answers to,get the info straight from the “horses mouth” and if you don`t like what you hear walk away.
One mans meat is another mans poison

[fatboystu1]

Carryfast:

fatboystu1:
Feeder driver (class 1) jobs are now pretty much dead mans shoes…and for good reason. Some drivers are on 40k+ pa.

It would be interesting to see how the wage structure changed and ramped up between around 2000-2018 in that case.It was certainly less than £20,000 at the former time and that included London Weighting.That works out at a more than 100 % increase in less than 20 years.

Are you sure that’s not being confused with Line Haul operations at Barking ?.In which case even in the day that was seen as an attractive job as it had been as Seabourne before the takeover.From memory I think they were also exempt from the warehouse work requirement which applied in the case of Feeders.

I don’t know the exact wage structure for feeder drivers i can only tell you what I’ve been told. All small pack depots now send their parcels to either Tamworth, EMA or the new depot at Tilbury for sorting. I got told that the feeder drivers were on 34k basic and with overtime were topping 40k. This would certainly seem to fit in line with what the small pack 7.5t drivers get. I know quite a few of them that are clearing between the afore mentioned figure of 2-3k a month. UPS has many different branches and small pack being the flagship branch and money generator, their staff are better paid.

[mjallby]

I know the wage negotiations are done by the union which has been a 6% increase over past 2 years & the night rate increase is an extra couple hundred £ a month. Not quite my 1% & no night rate increase my company has coughed up.

[winseer]

mjallby:
I don’t know the hourly rate but I do know the class 1 drivers are getting net £2600-£3000 a month depending if they do a couple of sundays a month.

I’m already in that range for no overtime, & no saturdays.

[trapped_in_hell]

lolipop:
Same old thing, apply get an interview and ask the questions you want answers to,get the info straight from the “horses mouth” and if you don`t like what you hear walk away.
One mans meat is another mans poison

Of course you’re right by saying “get an interview and find out what you want to know” in some respects, i.e pay and hours worked etc but… unfortunately some of the more real aspects of the job can only best be answered by the drivers going out and doing it.

For me trying to get an idea of a job from the drivers themselves is important as normally, if overall it’s a good job, then you’ll get that impression. My job being a prime example, used to be great but has changed for the worse in most drivers opinions.

[trapped_in_hell]

fatboystu1:
I work for UPS on the freight side not the small pack side, so I’ll tell you what i know…

I’ve been with them 10 years and I’ve found them as a whole to be a decent company to work for.
If you apply for a small pack (brown van) job you’ll have to go through the companies driving school. Believe it or not they set very high standards and you are expected to stick to them and learn them off by heart.
Uniform and personal grooming standards are quite high and enforced.
You dont load or unload your van that is done for you.
You will possibly be signed on to a 36 hour contract which has its plus and minus sides.
Some small pack depots do run 18t on their daily collections, depending if what they are collecting is bulk or irregulars.
You may have a very busy route with 100+ drops in off peak.
Feeder driver (class 1) jobs are now pretty much dead mans shoes…and for good reason. Some drivers are on 40k+ pa.
They are good at promoting from within, especially in the small pack side.
Overall the job/company suits some but not others. Like i said as a whole I’ve found them a decent company to work for.
Hope that helps.

Cheers for that mate, a very informative post!

100+ drops does sound quite daunting, especially if you have to plan the route yourself! I consider 4 drops in my place a milk run!!

Out of interest what’s the job like on the freight side and is there anywhere in the North West?

[terry_t]

Tamworth were advertising for feeder drivers last year, advertised quite a bit on Indeed.

2am-11am or 7pm-4am. Said the 7pm-4am shift was £29k. Didn’t mention rate for the morning run. Dunno how people are hitting £40k based on that.

Maybe new starters are on less money. Our place do that. We have new drivers earning several quid an hour less than what I’m on for the same job. Quite why they stick it I don’t know and you’d assume they wouldn’t. But they do.

[fingermissing]

There is a diary on here somewhere from someone called nick i think that was he name .Don’t think he come on now. He was working for ups

[carryfast]

fatboystu1:
I don’t know the exact wage structure for feeder drivers i can only tell you what I’ve been told. All small pack depots now send their parcels to either Tamworth, EMA or the new depot at Tilbury for sorting. I got told that the feeder drivers were on 34k basic and with overtime were topping 40k. This would certainly seem to fit in line with what the small pack 7.5t drivers get. I know quite a few of them that are clearing between the afore mentioned figure of 2-3k a month. UPS has many different branches and small pack being the flagship branch and money generator, their staff are better paid.

I’m not sure if you’re describing a new seperate small package only division ?.

Or just seperating what you describe as ‘freight’ v feeder ?.

If it’s the latter nothing has probably changed much in that what you’re describing as ‘Freight’ is probably what was the Haulfast division of Carryfast ?.While Carryfast’s Parcels side ( which ironically also included pallets even for a time after the takeover ) was merged into/became the Feeder side which included the large scale move to hub system type operations as opposed to direct depot to depot trunking.

While Barking’s ( former Seabourne ) operations became the Line Haul side which was ( is ? ) mainly direct inter depot/hub trailer/box swap trunking operations.Including international draw bar changeover work which seems to be all that remained/s of Seabourne’s previous European trunking operations.

The Line Haul side of the job at Barking to my knowledge being the attractive dead man’s shoes side.Luckily in my case being the rare exception in the day of still mostly doing Line Haul type work although employed as a Feeder driver.

[carryfast]

Terry T:
Tamworth were advertising for feeder drivers last year, advertised quite a bit on Indeed.

Said the 7pm-4am shift was £29k. Didn’t mention rate for the morning run. Dunno how people are hitting £40k based on that.

That will possibly be for a contracted 50 hours per week with the 4 am finish being a best case depending on how fast the sort at the hub went.Also bearing in mind that the job can involve warehouse work loading and unloading at the hub and at base ( handball ) not just trailer swapping/waiting.

[dav1d]

Nickyboys day in the life

[jimmy_mcnulty]

They seem to be constantly advertising for Class 1 drivers in Dewsbury. Whether direct, agency temp to perm or via agency … always advertised at 40k plus, usually tramping.

[nickyboy]

Dav1d:
Site user nickyboy used to work for them, don’t know if he still does, but he did a ‘day in the life’ type post a few years back and it was a busy day with around 100+ deliveries, plus collections.
Unlike many white van men type courier/delivery people, UPS have standards to uphold.

I am indeed still there, 19 years in October

Most things have been covered. Starting wage is typically £23k going up £24k, £26k, £28k over the next 2 years plus overtime. Top earning drivers are a shade under £40k. Overtime is written into your contract although you can opt out, if you don’t then don’t expect 5pm finishes unless you have a good route. 1-2 hours overtime a day is pretty normal plus a rota for Saturdays. Saturdays are easy, Minimum 4 hours on Saturday premium, £22ph after 5 hours. Good introduction bonus, currently £600 for introducing a friend with C1, typically £250 for other roles. Generous holidays, 20 days to begin rising to 28 with longer service plus bank hols.

They work you hard though, don’t expect 40 or 50 drops, typically 60-70 is the lowest but that will be a rural route. C1 drivers will mostly be doing in the region of 90+, a busy town or city can be 130+. I’m still doing the same route as in my diary but in a smaller area with more drops. The villages have gone but the town has got a lot busier. You’ll go to bootcamp for a couple of weeks which is based on the US way of doing things, not sure if it works over here but they’ve spent millions on developing it, you’ll be expected to pass the assessments otherwise they won’t employ you. We’ve had guys from the likes of Tuffnells come in thinking they know the job but not even pass the training assessments, best advice is forget any experience you might have had, it’s good on paper but that’s it. Let them teach you the way they do it and once you are on your own you can use your knowledge.

Forget the old trucks in my diary, they’re pretty much all gone, major fleet replacement has taken place over the past 5 or 6 years, most trucks are less than 5 years old but there’s still a few old knackers about.

Feeder drivers basic i think is around £34k, you can work up to feeders but they will be mainly based out of Tamworth or Stanford Le Hope, they always promote from within first and foremost

[carryfast]

nickyboy:
Feeder drivers basic i think is around £34k, you can work up to feeders but they will be mainly based out of Tamworth or Stanford Le Hope, they always promote from within first and foremost

If that means based at the hubs ? that would have to mean the feeds running from base empty to all the regional depots.Then loading the stuff.Then running it back to the hub.Then transhipping it in the sort.Then running it back to the depots.Then tipping it.Then running back empty to the hub where they are based.IE totally defeating the object of the hub system and creating loads of empty running and wasted time.

While Stanford replacing the Barking based line haul operations ? would explain those specifically being Essex based as before.

While Tamworth would replace Nuneaton feeder hub operation ?.Which was mainly just a transhipment operation of the regionally based feeder operations for obvious reasons I’ve described ?.In which case I’d guess that you might be confusing line haul operations with feeders and any possible differing recruitment process between them.Which might be the case in theory but not in the real world of an Essex based job needing drivers who live in or near to Essex.Except for the very rare situation of a Line Haul type trunk based at a regional Feeder Depot but which will still be subject to Feeder terms and Conditions not Line Haul.On that note I was never aware of either Feeder or Line Haul driver job offers being based on internal promotion.But more a case of Line Haul openings being few and far between.For obvious reasons,unlike Feeders,being more a case of just trailer or box swaps,probably also better paid and no warehouse work and obviously realistically limited to Essex based drivers.

[nickyboy]

The ones based at the hubs pick up from major customers, Amazon etc, one i see daily from Tamworth collects from one of my customers, drops a box at EMA then drives to Rotherham to swap a box at a customer before taking it back to Tamworth.

The line haul drivers you talk about i assume you mean the ones from the depots? They still take full trailers from the depots to the hub, those closer to the hub may then collect trailers from local customers or trunk to EMA from Tamworth before returning to collect the mornings trailer for the depot. They’re all classed as feeders now whether they are depot to hub or customer to hub drivers.

Class 1 driver jobs at the depots are rare, there is typically only 4 or 5 drivers, all of ours have been there as long as me, the hubs however always have jobs, lots of casual/agency due to the nature of the work, contracts can be won/lost on a weekly basis so you have a lot of permanent drivers and a load more that will come and go with the work.

[carryfast]

nickyboy:
The ones based at the hubs pick up from major customers, Amazon etc, one i see daily from Tamworth collects from one of my customers, drops a box at EMA then drives to Rotherham to swap a box at a customer before taking it back to Tamworth.

The line haul drivers you talk about i assume you mean the ones from the depots? They still take full trailers from the depots to the hub, those closer to the hub may then collect trailers from local customers or trunk to EMA from Tamworth before returning to collect the mornings trailer for the depot. They’re all classed as feeders now whether they are depot to hub or customer to hub drivers.

Class 1 driver jobs at the depots are rare, there is typically only 4 or 5 drivers, all of ours have been there as long as me, the hubs however always have jobs, lots of casual/agency due to the nature of the work, contracts can be won/lost on a weekly basis so you have a lot of permanent drivers and a load more that will come and go with the work.

I think I get it.As I said as usual the hub based vehicles obviously can’t run the depot to hub feeds at night.While there’s now no distinction between what would have previously been night trunk drivers which,as in my case,is what became Feeder drivers.As opposed to day bulk delivery/collection drivers ? which logically seems to be the main type of work which you’re describing for class 1 at the hubs ? as opposed to the usual night trunk ( feeder driver ) jobs at the depots.

As for line haul that was a totally different operation just based at Barking after the takeover of Seabourne.Usually doing only trailer and box swap direct inter depot trunk runs or international cross channel changeovers.As I’ve said one of the key differences with that being that they seem to have been exempt from warehouse work.To the point where they sometimes also did run into the Nuneaton hub,in addition to direct inter depot runs but,unlike Feeder drivers, didn’t have to get involved with loading and unloading as part of their trailer/box swap only working agreement practices.Of which the old Carryfast terms were actually very similar to theirs before they got given away ( don’t ask ).

IE unless something has changed,anyone looking at Feeder driver jobs needs to factor in that they can be expected to help to load and tip the vehicle no pallets and all hand ball.

[fatboystu1]

The Haulfast/Carryfast side of the company is now known as Contract logistics. They have nothing to do with either the small pack or freight side of the company. They are basically a logistic/haulage arm of the UPS brand.
Small pack do all the work under 70kg. The freight side of the company was originally Menlo Worldwide until UPS bought them out. We deal with anything that moves via the air cargo network or the ocean freight network. Small pack do move some of our stuff if it comes into the hub at EMA, we then collect it from our local depot (dewsbury) and move it to destination. Likewise we sometimes move our small stuff via the small pack network if its more cost effective.

Goldstar now handle all our stuff in the North West as far as I’m aware. And any class 1 work you see advertised at Dewsbury will be out of contract logistics at Shaw Cross. They’re always advertising so make of that what you will.

[carryfast]

fatboystu1:
The Haulfast/Carryfast side of the company is now known as Contract logistics. They have nothing to do with either the small pack or freight side of the company. They are basically a logistic/haulage arm of the UPS brand.
Small pack do all the work under 70kg. The freight side of the company was originally Menlo Worldwide until UPS bought them out. We deal with anything that moves via the air cargo network or the ocean freight network. Small pack do move some of our stuff if it comes into the hub at EMA, we then collect it from our local depot (dewsbury) and move it to destination. Likewise we sometimes move our small stuff via the small pack network if its more cost effective.

Goldstar now handle all our stuff in the North West as far as I’m aware. And any class 1 work you see advertised at Dewsbury will be out of contract logistics at Shaw Cross. They’re always advertising so make of that what you will.

Blimey it’s all changed a bit.Haulfast was always a seperate haulage ( tramping ) division of Carryfast.

Carryfast became the Feeder side of UPS going from direct inter depot trailer swap trunking to mainly hub system type operations,eventually also including air freight operations to EMA.

While Seabourne at Barking became the Line Haul division,which worked along similar lines as the old Carryfast trunking operation.Including their established,but seemingly largely reduced,European trunking operations which seem to have turned into mainly if not all trailer/box changeovers across the Channel with the foreign operations.All of that obviously better than hub system Feeder work which also can mean,or at least meant,the driver having to help load and unload and not just trailer/box swaps.

It’s my guess that it’s the Essex based operations that still probably won’t have changed much and as in the day is probably where any hearsay about a ‘dead man’s shoes’ type job originates from.While the description of the new ‘Freight’ division seems similar to that too ?.But can’t believe that Feeder work would/could have ever become that.