There are only 17 UPS package delivery driver jobs (including a few seasonal ones) open on UPS’s website, making the “hottest job” in the country tough to land. And, according to a new report, thousands of people in the U.S. are clamoring for the roles.
US Packaging & Wrapping, a nationwide packaging supply company headquartered in Central Arkansas, used a suite of Google tools to analyze delivery driver jobs posts, searches by state, and the number of customer centers to create a map showing what states have the most queries.
According to the report, Rhode Island took the top spot for the most queries in July, despite there not being any open roles at the small state’s one distribution center at the time. (There are not any roles open today either, per UPS’s website.)
Related: How to Become a UPS Driver — Which Now Pays $170,000 a Year When Including Benefits
Texas took the No. 2 spot for the most searches. The state boasts 43 UPS Customer Centers. New York’s residents searched the third most for UPS jobs, and California and Nevada rounded out the top five.
Still, searching for jobs and jobs being open are two different things.
There are 17 total positions available on UPS’s job board, with full-time “Package Delivery Driver” roles available in states such as North Dakota, Minnesota, Alaska, Nebraska, and Colorado, among others. There are also several listings for “Seasonal Package Delivery Driver” in Northeast states such as Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
In July, UPS and the Teamsters Union reached a deal to avoid a massive strike that financial experts predicted would disrupt the U.S. economy. The deal includes higher wages (which means drivers will soon make $170,000) and improved working conditions.
Following the deal, there was a 50% increase in searches for job posts with “UPS” or “United Parcel Service” in its title, per data viewed by Bloomberg News. On Google, “UPS driver jobs near me” was a top trending search query for two weeks after the deal was reached.
Related: How to Start a UPS Store Franchise
“We have seen strong interest in UPS jobs as a result of media coverage of the tentative agreement with the Teamsters,” Jim Mayer, a spokesperson at UPS, told Bloomberg News in an emailed statement.
Charles Haverfield, CEO of US Packaging & Wrapping commended the deal but also issued a warning about it having a broader effect on the shipping industry as a whole.
“UPS sets the gold standard for many aspiring delivery drivers, however, this pay increase could mark the beginning of an already tumultuous inflation problem,” he said in a statement. “UPS already adjusted its margins to accommodate the loss in revenue, and there are rumblings from other courier workers from the likes of Amazon to push for their own pay increases. Only time will tell how the deal will play out on the wider shipping industry, both good and bad.”
