I’m one of millions of Americans who won’t get a vacation this year. Here’s why I’m not bothered by that.

Spring is finally here! I somehow managed to survive my first winter – peak season and all – as a UPS driver.

Not only has this job changed the way I experience time each day, it has also changed the way I think about time over the longer term.

In unionized workplaces like UPS seniority is everything. The longer you’re there, the more privileges you enjoy. Which means if you’re brand new, like I am, you have to wait. The longer you wait, though, the more you’re rewarded – which then raises the cost of quitting.

Let’s start with wages. New UPS drivers start out at a wage, stipulated by the union contract, that is higher than any other major delivery company. Automatic annual raises are also contractual.

There are actually two different tiers of UPS drivers. The higher tier is called ‘Regular Package Car Drivers’ (RPCDs). The recently created lower tier is called ‘22.4 Drivers’ – named after the specific article and section containing its description. Here’s how the two wage scales compare:

Year	22.4	RPCD	Difference
First	$20.50	$21.00	$0.50
Second	$21.25	$23.00	$1.75
Third	$22.75	$24.00	$1.25
Fourth	$25.00	$28.75	$3.75
Fifth	Top Rate ($30.64) with annual general increases thereafter	Top Rate with annual general increases thereafter

As you can see, the difference between the scales increases with each passing year, with the odd exception of Year Three. Top Rate for 22.4 drivers is currently $30.64. I couldn’t find the Top Rate for RPCDs spelled out in the contract, but I’m presuming that it’s more than $3.75 higher than the Top Rate for 22.4s – that is, higher than $34.39. But I could be wrong.

I’m not doomed to be a 22.4 driver forever. I can bid to become an RPCD even before I complete my 22.4 wage progression, but that too is based on seniority. I have to wait.

Wage increases are just one of many perks of longevity. Another is vacation. Not only do more senior drivers get more weeks of paid time off each year, but they get priority as to when they can schedule it over less senior drivers.

The office starts circulating the annual vacation schedule in January. Since I’m second from the bottom on the seniority list, I didn’t get my turn with it until this past week. I had to wait.

Not that it mattered: I don’t receive any vacation time until I complete an entire year as a driver. And since my seniority date falls during peak season, I will not have a vacation at all in 2021. I have to wait.

In fact, other than the major winter holidays, I haven’t taken one day off from work – either scheduled or unscheduled – since I started driving. That meant six-day workweeks through the middle of January, and it has meant an unusual five-day workweek ever since, where I’m forced in nearly every Monday (my day off) and then laid off nearly every Tuesday.

I do have 32 hours of sick time to use, earned at a rate of about one hour per week. I know that other new drivers use their sick time as de facto vacation days, but I want to spend it on days that I’m actually sick. I’m choosing to wait.

Meanwhile, I’ll have earned five ‘option days’ as of my anniversary date with UPS on July 10. So, I will have some paid time off this year, just not more than a day or two at a time (I presume). But still, I have to wait for those to be made available to me, and then I have to wait for the right time to use them.

I had to wait until the six-month mark (January 10) to be eligible for the discount stock purchase plan. Now I’m waiting until the beginning of the second quarter to start seeing those funds being deducted from my weekly paychecks.

I have to wait for my union-sponsored benefits to kick in at the nine-month mark, on April 10. This coincides with the completion of paying my Teamster initiation fees, which have been deducted from my paycheck in nine monthly increments of $25 each.

Besides better wages, benefits, and paid time off, seniority brings with it better work schedules and assignments too. And of course, everyone is working toward a better retirement. More years on the job equals a bigger monthly Teamster pension.

As a result, I’m always looking ahead with anticipation to the next milestone, of which there are many. It feels like progression, even though I’ve been and would continue to be doing essentially the same thing every day, ad infinitum.

Along with this is the very real loss I would incur if I ever chose to quit driving. Although people do tend to stay on long-term, leaving isn’t entirely unheard of. One morning recently I was chatting with my loader who told me he drove for eight years before going back to part-time so he could coach sports at his local high school.

I’m not sure if such a seniority-based system is fair or unfair. It feels unfair in that newer drivers as a group enjoy far fewer perks and privileges than more seasoned drivers. On the other hand, it feels fair in that the rewards are sure to come to every driver in due time, according to explicit rules spelled out in the contract.

Fair or unfair, it has affected how I think about the time that has passed so far in this job, and the time that lies ahead. The structure of a UPS driver’s career parallels the structure of each day at work: it only gets easier as you go. More time equals more experience, practice, skill – and commensurate with that, more payoff. The investment-return ratio keeps getting more and more favorable. No wonder so many drivers stay for decades.