Category: Industry News

United Parcel Service Inc. continues to carry out normal services, said Jim Mayer, spokesman for the company.

UPS announced Monday it would be supporting FEMA and other government agencies with supply chain and shipping services for respirators, test kits and many forms of personal protective equipment across the country to combat the coronavirus.

Mayer said he anticipates Worldport, UPS’ 5.2 million square foot package handling facility off Grade Lane, will play an important role for the temporary staging of critical shipments from overseas.

Surveillance video shows a UPS driver making a delivery in Pleasant Hill.

It Iooks routine enough, but after he sets the package down, he notices something on the door: three handmade face masks and a sign asking delivery drivers to please take one because “we want to make sure you stay safe.

“Aww thank you. That’s awesome! Thank you,” the delivery worker said in comments captured on a Nest camera.

In the new coronavirus economy that divides labor into essential and nonessential, truckers and parcel delivery drivers have become some of the most indispensable — and most exposed — workers as shut-in Americans rely more on online shopping.Employees at United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. work in close quarters to load packages, and wonder about the risks they’re taking with every box that’s been handled by multiple other people. Truckers carry goods in and out of cities locked down by the disease and worry about how they’ll get paid if they get sick.

Alongside a realization of the importance of their jobs comes anxiety about the peril, said Max Farrell, founder and CEO of WorkHound, a company that gathers anonymous feedback from transportation workers to guide company’s retention efforts.

As millions of Americans shelter inside their homes, trying to avoid exposure to the Covid-19 pandemic, many workers continue to risk exposure to the virus on the front lines. They’ve been deemed critical by the federal government, because they’re delivering food and packages, stocking grocery store shelves and operating public transit — often around the clock.

“It’s scary,” said Tony Mazzella, a UPS driver. “I’m a new Yorker. I typically don’t get scared of anything, but you know what? It’s essential that I’m here because people rely on their deliveries,” he said.

Tony Mazzella is one of nearly half a million UPS workers around the world still on the job. UPS and other shipping companies, including FedEx, DHL and the United States Postal Service are considered “critical infrastructure” by the federal government and therefore do not have to shut down.