UPS Teaches Workers to Fend Off Dogs, Dodge NYC Taxis

As part of United Parcel Service’s training of their huge workforce, recruits get a quick course in lifting heavy loads, doubling up on socks, dodging menacing taxis and, in a jam, fending off snarling dogs with handheld computers.

The world’s biggest package delivery company’s employees, recruited via iPhones or college visits from Boston to Seattle, will wind up sorting packages in temporary portable buildings, deliver boxes in Los Angeles office towers, or be sent out to drive signature brown Pullman trucks — in attire of the same hue — while dodging taxis and bicycle couriers in New York.

“You have these crazy kamikaze messengers” said Tony Hussienroshdy, a UPS safety trainer as he advised a group of fresh hires on the perils of package delivery.

The frenzy was palpable at a training session in New York. As some applicants flowed in to seek positions, new employees learned to guard against back injuries while lugging packages as heavy as 70 pounds and got pointers on situational awareness in Manhattan’s crowded streets, as well as personal grooming.

Life as a driver helper can be very different depending on whether you work in New York City or a tree-lined neighborhood.

Carlos Torres, a 25-year UPS driver, spends as many as 3 1/2 hours a day dropping off packages inside the same building, 475 Park Avenue South, in Manhattan, and his world consists of four blocks surrounding it. On a normal day, the office tower will get as many 60 boxes. During the end-of-year shopping season, that can more than double to 150, Torres said.

Another driver on Long Island may drive 90 miles a day going from house to house, Torres said.

On a recent drizzly day down the block from Manhattan’s Lincoln Tunnel, 25 new driver helpers, who would soon receive company-issued brown pullover jacket, hat and slacks, got advice.

Hussienroshdy, the trainer, helps prepare the recruits.

Tip 1: Always be aware of your surroundings.

In New York City, a big challenge is navigating through streets clogged with taxis and tour buses, with bike delivery guys zig-zagging through at top-speed.

“I’m not knocking them, but sometimes I wonder if they get up in the mornings saying, ‘I’m going to knock four people down today,’” Hussienroshdy said. “Don’t be one of them.”

Tip 2: UPS’s handheld computers, or DIADs, used to scan packages and accept signatures, can also be protective devices.

Hussienroshdy advised the young hires to use them or packages to block a threatening dog. However, that’s not usually necessary in New York, where dogs often live in luxury.

“The dogs here are not that dangerous,” he said. “Some get treated better than people.”

Tip 3: Be careful when using UPS’s hand trucks, or dollies. On New York’s uneven streets, the handles can rear up and whack your chin.

“You guys aren’t going to be making that much money,” Hussienroshdy told the room of trainees who will make $8 an hour, as he explained how to handle dollies on the city’s uneven streets. “Do you really want to get hurt for that?”

This article appeared in print on page 31 of the February 18th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.