Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of DHs best friends is a driver at UPS. You can make decent pay after several years. Getting to full time driver is not that easy as several people are waiting for those slots. You don't need a college degree to be a driver (DH friend doesn't have one either) so it attracts a lot of people. His friend started with UPS straight out of high school working the floor and then he became a driver. The job is demanding. His friend works very long hours and although he is only 31, he has a lot of back problems.

I think this is a bit more realistic. Everyone loves to say "o they make 100k" but the reality is that only a very very very small percent who work an insane amount of hours make 3 figures. My brother is the only one of us sibs that wasnt cut out for college so he thought this would be a good route to go. He is 34 and been with the company 14 years, been fulltime for about 9 and makes around 70k....working ALOT. He has alot of joint and back problems and often wishes he would of become a plumber or similar trade.

Drivers working in a bonus Ctr or feeder drivers have no problem making 100k plus a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of DHs best friends is a driver at UPS. You can make decent pay after several years. Getting to full time driver is not that easy as several people are waiting for those slots. You don't need a college degree to be a driver (DH friend doesn't have one either) so it attracts a lot of people. His friend started with UPS straight out of high school working the floor and then he became a driver. The job is demanding. His friend works very long hours and although he is only 31, he has a lot of back problems.

I think this is a bit more realistic. Everyone loves to say "o they make 100k" but the reality is that only a very very very small percent who work an insane amount of hours make 3 figures. My brother is the only one of us sibs that wasnt cut out for college so he thought this would be a good route to go. He is 34 and been with the company 14 years, been fulltime for about 9 and makes around 70k....working ALOT. He has alot of joint and back problems and often wishes he would of become a plumber or similar trade.

This! My friend worked with UPS for a long time. Decent pay but so many health problems. The constant walking and being on your feet all day. Constant lifting. His back still hurts him years later. He said that even with the pay, it just wasn't worth it and he left.

Anonymous wrote:One of DHs best friends is a driver at UPS. You can make decent pay after several years. Getting to full time driver is not that easy as several people are waiting for those slots. You don't need a college degree to be a driver (DH friend doesn't have one either) so it attracts a lot of people. His friend started with UPS straight out of high school working the floor and then he became a driver. The job is demanding. His friend works very long hours and although he is only 31, he has a lot of back problems.

I think this is a bit more realistic. Everyone loves to say "o they make 100k" but the reality is that only a very very very small percent who work an insane amount of hours make 3 figures. My brother is the only one of us sibs that wasnt cut out for college so he thought this would be a good route to go. He is 34 and been with the company 14 years, been fulltime for about 9 and makes around 70k....working ALOT. He has alot of joint and back problems and often wishes he would of become a plumber or similar trade.

One of DHs best friends is a driver at UPS. You can make decent pay after several years. Getting to full time driver is not that easy as several people are waiting for those slots. You don't need a college degree to be a driver (DH friend doesn't have one either) so it attracts a lot of people. His friend started with UPS straight out of high school working the floor and then he became a driver. The job is demanding. His friend works very long hours and although he is only 31, he has a lot of back problems.

I have a family member who made the change last year. It is hard.

They hire a lot of temporary staff at this time of year to get them through the Christmas season. And then after the holidays, will move maybe 1 or 2 of the top performers to full time.

Don't expect to have a day off before or after a holiday. (given by seniority.) If you take a "sick" day before or after a holiday, the holiday will be unpaid.

Your husband will not have off Saturday morning between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I think people who started 15+ years ago had a very different experience.

Also - if you ever want to move, there may or may not be routes available at your new location.

Ups drivers reach top paid with 3 years of seniority 80-120 k it differs from route overtime and bonus routes checkout the browncafe.com retired driver here.

OP here. Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm not feeling so bad about the change now.

It is great that your husband had decided to make a lifestyle change and that you supported the decision.

My dad had 34 years safe driving with them (not that I'm proud or anything), and it paid for a decent, middle-class life for us. The holidays are bananas (12-14 hours on and off your feet moving as fast as you can, five days a week, for several weeks. Which I realize doesn't sound extreme, but he was drained), and the heat and cold are tough. He had dozens of people from his route at his retirement party, and he's in great health from all the years of lifting and getting up and down. And all my siblings and I are seriously safe drivers from having the UPS rules of the road instilled in us.

Anonymous wrote:The UPS drivers who service my home and office seem to be very happy and they are in pretty good shape.

Now that you say it, I happen to agree. Why is that?

Relatedly, isn't the stressful time of the year extremely stressful? (Holidays, summer heat, snow, etc)

The UPS drivers who service my home and office seem to be very happy and they are in pretty good shape.

A friend is a nearly 20 year veteran UPS driver. Started while in college and realized he could make more, more easily, sticking with UPS. He plans to retire from UPS in the next couple of years and be a SAHD or start another career. He's only in his mid-40s.

Not a UPS driver, but similar career. He will never want to be in an office again, seriously.

Do they make good money op? Do you mind sharing what will be his salary? Just curious...

My DH needs to get out of his current work environment. He's pretty burned out and he's just ready to quit. I support him making a change but we can't afford for him to stop working completely. He's applied to be a driver at UPS and it seems they're ready to hire him. He'll start out as a driver, then do a stint 'on the floor' and then when a slot opens again, he can be hired as a full time driver. It's a total 'career' change (he's in software/IT) and I'm thinking such a radical change might not be bad for him. But, I don't know anyone who works there to get a read on what it's like. TIA.