UPS expects to add 1,000 workers in area for holiday

8/3/2017
BY JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
  • BIZ-UPS03p

    The UPS facility in Maumee will hire 1,000 seasonal workers this year, with about 400 assigned to the Maumee hub and the rest to small stations in the region.

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  • The UPS facility in Maumee will be assigned 400 of the 1,000 seasonal workers hired. The rest will be assigned to smaller stations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.
    The UPS facility in Maumee will be assigned 400 of the 1,000 seasonal workers hired. The rest will be assigned to smaller stations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

    Package delivery giant UPS said Thursday that for the upcoming holiday shipping season it expects to hire 1,000 seasonal workers, mostly driver’s helpers, at its hub in Maumee at 1550 Perrysburg-Holland Rd.

    About 400 or so of those workers will be assigned to the Maumee hub, while the remaining 600 will go to smaller stations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, a company spokesman said.

    The workers will be seasonal and work on an on-call basis between Thanksgiving and the end of January. Hours worked will depend on shipping volume.

    But the spokesman said the jobs will pay $15 an hour, and many workers will have opportunities to transition into permanent part-time jobs that could develop into permanent full-time jobs with UPS.

    VIDEO: Blade Briefing on UPS hiring

    “It’s the way most of us started here,” said Karen Parkes, a human resources supervisor at the Maumee hub.

    The Atlanta-based shipper also said that currently the local hub is hiring between 20 to 30 permanent part-time workers per week because package volume keeps increasing. To augment its hiring for such positions, UPS said it will pay those workers weekly attendance bonuses and it also has a tuition assistance program for workers who are part-time but attending college.

    “For the seasonal opportunities, you don’t get a seasonal bonus,” Ms. Parkes said. “But that’s a pretty popular job. You get out and are working in the elements versus being in a building. Many people like that,” she said.

    UPS’ chief competitor FedEx has yet to reveal its seasonal hiring plans. Last year, it hired 800 seasonal workers in the Toledo area.

    The UPS facility in Maumee will hire 1,000 seasonal workers this year, with about 400 assigned to the Maumee hub and the rest to small stations in the region.
    The UPS facility in Maumee will hire 1,000 seasonal workers this year, with about 400 assigned to the Maumee hub and the rest to small stations in the region.

    Last year, UPS hired about 540 seasonal workers. Ms. Parkes said the total numbers are similar this year — about 500 workers at the Maumee hub and another 500 who will be hired to work out of UPS stations in Sandusky, Findlay, Defiance, and Fremont in Ohio, and Monroe and Adrian in Michigan.

    Meanwhile, the needs for permanent part-time workers seems to keep growing, requiring the company to offer bonuses to meet its needs, she added.

    UPS added the attendance bonuses this year and they apply to all new hires and existing permanent part-time or full-time workers hired since Jan. 1.

    UPS is benefiting, Ms. Parkes said, from the growing use of online shopping by consumers.

    Ellyn Wilson, a recruiter and hiring supervisor at the Maumee hub, said there are four work shifts at the hub and weekly hiring is taking place to fill slots on three of those shifts.

    The jobs are unionized, so package handlers get a starting pay of $10.20 an hour, while semi-truck drivers get $18.75 an hour. Drivers also get a $500 per week attendance bonus if they work all five of their scheduled days, while package handlers get bonuses of up to $75 to $100 depending on the shift they work.

    College students who qualify for a tuition assistance program can get $2,625 a semester or $5,250 a year (with a lifetime maximum of $25,000), and permanent part-timers (which generally work 17.5 to 25 hours a week) who stay with the company a year get health and vacation benefits, Ms. Wilson said.

    Jobs can be applied for only through the company’s website at UPSjobs.com.

    As for shipping costs for consumers during the holiday season, FedEx said Thursday that it won’t charge extra for peak-season residential deliveries unless the package requires extra handling, such as for very large items.

    UPS has said it would add 27 cents for residential deliveries from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2 and from Dec. 17 to 23.

    It will add a fee of between 81 and 97 cents to overnight, second-day, or third-day service for residential deliveries from Dec. 17 to 23. There are other charges for oversized packages.

    Contact Jon Chavez at jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.