LENEXA, Kan. — Across the Kansas City metro, UPS wants to add 1,100 people to its team.
The open positions include 775 package handlers, 165 delivery and tractor-trailer drivers and 350 driver helpers.
Some of those employees will work inside the Lenexa Customer Center, which is looking to hire 500 workers.
UPS is renovating and expanding the center to process 70,000 pieces of mail an hour, six days a week.
The center currently processes between 30,000 to 35,000 pieces of mail an hour.
That's why, with this new expansion, UPS is looking to fill those positions to run the machines. They're also looking for drivers to make deliveries during the busy holiday season.
"In the Kansas City metro, we expect to deliver 175,000 stops or more on our heaviest day," UPS Human Resources Manager Eric Day said. "So that's about six deliveries every second. So just figure all that volume has to come through here in order to be loaded onto package cars and then make it to our customers."
UPS said applicants must be able to lift packages that typically weigh between 25 and 35 pounds, but up to 70 pounds. Applicants also need a valid driver's license and may need to know how to drive stick.
"Our drivers, they'll work anywhere from eight to nine and a half hours a day," Day said. "They'll make anywhere from 120 to maybe 180 stops a day. So imagine getting into your car, get out, walk to your front door, walk back to your car, do that 180 times, so there's a lot of work that's involved with it."
UPS is hoping to fill most of the positions before the holiday rush.
"There's a lot of demands, so unemployment in the Kansas City metro is 3.3 percent so there's a lot of competition for them," Day said. "Which is why we feel that our compensation rate, the money we pay to do the work we need done, is at the top and we feel that that's going to put us in the position to staff our organization."
Depending on the position, employees would receive anywhere from $14 to $21 an hour.
Seasonal employees who are students could earn up to $5,250 a year through the company's Earn and Learn program.
To see a list of positions, click here.
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