Day in the life of a UPS worker

Every morning, a team at the United Parcel Service Center in Marquette County is busy at work scanning, sorting and preparing the packages that need to be delivered for the day.

“Our pre-loader here is about four or five o’clock,” Patty Schewmin, a UPS driver said.  “Each pre-loader takes care of about three for four trucks each.  It all comes on the conveyor belt, it’s loaded in our trucks, the drivers show up, we go over some safety habits of how we can perform our duty during the day.”

“My role in the morning is to to make sure dispatch is a good sound dispatch in the morning, ” Jim St. Onge, Supervisor of the Marquette UPS Service Center said.  “I try to eliminate as many miles as we can, and not overlapping.  With drivers, keeping them on the right path to their businesses in the morning.  It’s all about safety, service and the customers.”

Drivers must deliver all packages by the end of their shift.  Besides making the deliveries, drives must choose what customers will be served first.

“There’s some people that you know need something in order to ship it back out in the afternoon, so a lot of times you have to spritzer your delivery, and sometimes it’s not always easy,” Schewmin said.

Safety and speed play a big part in the UPS company. For drivers, keeping their trucks organized helps to keep them on time.

Schewmin has been delivering at UPS for 24 years.  In that time she has seen a fair share of ups and downs, both for businesses and customers.  But those 24 years of service have meant customers become more than that.

“You just get attached,” Schewmin said.  “You know where people want their packages left, you know when they are expecting something.  I’ve gotten phone calls at home.  If people need something, we’ll go out of our way.  We really will.”