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I've been at UPS since September. Joined off the street as a "casual" (non-union) driver and worked on my full-time progression before peak (the 30 working days to qualify to be kept on permanently), after the hiring/job transfer freeze during peak ended, I learned this past week that I'm staying on permenantly. Feels good.
A well-maintained UPS package car is very satisfying to drive desu. When you really learn the company's methods and apply them to your work, you can really get into a good flow state. You can do the shutdown and startup procedure in about 2 seconds (signals, put into park or drive, handbrake, mirrors) and the flow between the front of the truck and the back is really nice too. Having a package car vs. some shitty Sprinter van makes a big difference in your productivity and also safety, never having to open a door into the road or step into traffic. It's a good job for autists who can perfect those methods and become really efficient on the job. And learning a route to the point you can avoid busy intersections and backing up or even crossing the street to deliver on the left side of the road is nice also. I don't think Fedex contractors and especially Amazon DSPs have anywhere close to the training and company driving methodology that UPS has. The week-long training class ended up with a bunch of people leaving because they didn't think the could handle the test or the responsibilities that the instructors made clear to us, it really helped me to get into a better driving philosophy and to get ready for working on the road in a bigger commercial vehicle.
I want to be a pilot for them one day, I have a college degree already and will continue working on my flight training later this year hopefully. It's a long road to get into airlines obviously but I've got my job and income sorted for as long as I want, being in a union position where I'll end up making 100k in a few years.
