Anyone worked for UPS?
 

after my highly successful 2-day stint working at Guitar Center I'm thinking about doing P/T package handling at my local UPS distribution center for a bit of xtra cash- anyone done this? the shifts are short -4 hr p/day, and the pay's pretty good, plus w/e's off- I presume it's pretty hardcore physical labour though?

My buddy did this for for some cash while he was in school. He lasted 2 months. It is 4 hours of non-stop physical work. He hated the job. The only positive he said was that it was the best workout he had ever gotten and was in the best shape of his life when he quit.

My nephew did that for UPS while he lived with us (funny, my wife and I are FedEx employees), and aside from the hours, was incredible back-breaking work. He's a big strong guy, and hard work doesn't faze him, but that type of job is not for everyone!

You'll have to pass a physical and be tested on your ability to lift a prescribed amount, so you'll know soon enough if you're hardy enough for this type of work.

I worked for UPS for about 6 months during college. They have some of the worst working conditions I have ever experienced and I have worked in a lot of different places. Employees cannot go to the toilet without permission from their supervisor. At one point, I was at the end of a conveyor belt feeding boxes down into a semi-trailer for other employees to load. If those emplyees slowed down, or I failed to work fast enough, more boxes would come down the conveyor, piling up, over my head, knocking me down and falling everywhere. Never would the supervisor approve the stopping of that conveyor to rectify the problem.
In addition, at that time, after x (39?) consecutive working days, an employee automatically joined the union. It was routine for management to call employees on the 38th day and tell them not to come in to work the next day. The 39 day period would then have to start all over again. My brother-in-law worked full time for them for a couple of years and was never able to get the required number of consecutive days of employment to join the union.

So, while the pay was pretty decent, the company verifies Marx's view of corporate capitalism quite nicely.

When I was 17, I worked there for all of one hour.

Like Kerry Said, initially, you will be a mule, loading or unloading onto a conveyor belt, in the rear iof a semi with no ac. Brutal. Additionally, you have to keep a certain pace o you're gone.

A lady was our trainer and she kicked my ass unloading boxes so I quit.

Pay is better than most manual labor places but it's a killer.

hmm, maybe I'll look for something else then... :) -thanks for the replies.