Columbia-based Material Handler Opening | Hiring

Columbia Role Highlights

Job Title: Material Handler (Gig/Contract) Employer: UPS (Hiring in Columbia) Based in: Columbia, SC (our growing Columbia office)

Compensation: $21-$24/Hour (approx. $47.3k/Year) Benefits: A competitive compensation package is offered. Project-based work with clear objectives.

Position Scope

Apply your your professional skills skills at our Columbia location.

• This Columbia-based role is an excellent opportunity for professionals skilled in relevant skills.
• Our UPS team in Columbia, SC is growing.
• Benefit from working in Columbia, a key hub for the Package Logistics And Fulfillment industry.

About UPS & Our Culture

The UPS network moves because its material handlers never stop. Our material handler associates are the physical engine of the fulfillment center floor — operating hand trucks, pallet jacks, and roller conveyors to keep freight flowing between receiving, sort, and outbound zones without the bottlenecks that kill throughput and miss departure windows. If you have been searching for material handler jobs near me with genuine union wages, physical activity that keeps you fit, and a career foundation at one of America's most respected logistics employers, UPS material handling work is the most financially rewarding entry point into our operations floor at any experience level.

What Our Team Says (Employee Reviews)

"I came into UPS as a material handler with no warehouse background and within 60 days I was operating every piece of non-powered equipment in the building. UPS's method training made the physical part manageable from day one — I have never been injured because the methods actually prevent it. The Teamsters wage for a material handler at UPS is significantly higher than any private warehouse in this area, and the benefits package is genuinely exceptional for what is technically an entry-level role." - Current Material Handler, Portland, OR.

Role Overview & Responsibilities

As a UPS Material Handler, you move freight between operational zones inside our fulfillment center using manual and powered material handling equipment — keeping the sort floor continuously supplied with empty containers, staging completed outbound loads at dock doors, and clearing inbound freight from receiving to the sort induction point without delay.

• Freight Movement Operations: Transport packages, pallets, and freight containers between receiving, sort floor, and outbound staging areas using hand trucks, manual pallet jacks, and electric pallet movers, maintaining continuous freight flow that prevents bottlenecks at any point in the fulfillment cycle.
• Empty Equipment Cycling: Collect and return empty carts, containers, and pallet boards from outbound dock doors to sort floor induction zones — the unglamorous but operationally critical task that keeps every sort position continuously supplied and running at full speed.
• Load Assist Support: Assist outbound loaders with the physical placement of heavy or awkward packages inside trailers, executing team lifts that protect both associates and freight from the strain of solo heavy handling at the end of a long sort shift.

Benefits & Perks

UPS Material Handlers receive Teamsters union wages, full medical, dental, and vision benefits, pension contributions, paid personal days, and UPS Earn & Learn tuition assistance. All material handling equipment operation training — hand trucks, roller conveyors, electric pallet movers — is fully funded and delivered on-site before any associate is asked to operate independently.