By Paul Ziobro
Drivers from FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. are
encountering new obstacles and heightened levels of suspicion due
to the coronavirus pandemic, which is upending the daily routine of
ferrying packages to homes and businesses.
Customers, wary of the number of people drivers are exposed to
on their routes, grill them about whether they might be infected.
Some are being asked to sign documents about their health status or
submit to tests before they enter a business. Then there is the
signature process, which has quickly become outmoded and prompted
UPS to institute a new approach that allows signers to keep their
distance.
While much of the world retreats, delivery workers have moved
closer to the front lines of the pandemic as they try to fill a
growing need for everything from protective equipment and test kits
to medical facilities, to toilet paper and sanitary wipes.
Nick Perry, a UPS package-car driver in Columbus, Ohio, said his
daily route brings him to between 70 and 80 commercial stops each
day, from small businesses to community colleges, where he delivers
up to 300 packages.
"That's a lot of volume and a lot of interaction," the
32-year-old Mr. Perry said. He said he has faced questions about
whether he has contracted coronavirus. Other drivers in his
facility have been asked to sign documentation about their health
status and submit to temperature checks when making deliveries to
nursing homes, for instance.
FedEx and UPS have advised drivers that they don't have to sign
such declarations about their health status or recent travels, or
have their temperature taken. Instead, the companies are devising
workarounds like finding alternative drop-off locations.
The companies have already changed some procedures to respond to
recipients who have balked at signing the drivers' touch-screen
devices to release deliveries.
For deliveries needing a signature, UPS drivers are now
instructed to stick a notice on a front door, ring the doorbell and
step back. The recipient is then asked to sign the notice with
their own pen and close the door before the driver leaves the
package.
FedEx, meanwhile, has suspended collecting most signatures for
deliveries in the U.S. and Canada.
"This change is meant to help protect our team members and
customers by preventing exchange of the signature equipment at the
point of delivery and keeping them at a safe distance from each
other consistent with social distancing guidelines," a FedEx
spokeswoman said.
Drivers have raised other concerns about their work situation,
including the sanitation of trucks and facilities. Mr. Perry, for
instance, has been told by supervisors that Lysol wipes weren't
allowed on delivery vehicles because they didn't have a safety
sheet as required by the federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
A UPS spokesman said that such a form isn't required and the
company's health and safety director is sending out a message "to
ensure there is no confusion about approval for this product for
use by personnel on our vehicles and in UPS facilities."
While drivers spend most of their days alone in their vehicles,
FedEx and UPS workers further up the supply chain have other
concerns. Large package sortation centers and air hubs have
thousands of workers at each facility handling millions of
packages.
In normal times, they would crowd into security checkpoints in
close proximity before heading off to their workstations, including
boarding shuttle buses at airports.
At FedEx's global hub in Memphis, Tenn., the company is taking
extra steps to make sure employees keep a greater distance from
each other during security check-in at the airport. It is adding
some walking lanes at the airport to reduce the number of employees
on shuttles that take them to their work locations, which also
helps space out workers on buses.
UPS's union has spent recent days meeting with the company
regarding various concerns about work conditions at its main hub in
Louisville, Ky., where as many as 7,000 people can work a night
shift and more during the day. Fred Zuckerman, president of
Teamsters Local 89 in Louisville, said the main concern has been
the shuttle buses, where close contact is unavoidable.
"My biggest fear is that somebody is going to turn up positive,
and they're not going to know everyone they were around," Mr.
Zuckerman said.
UPS has responded by adding 15 school buses to the shuttle fleet
in Louisville to try to reduce the number of workers on each
shuttle. It is also cleaning them between trips and setting up
walking paths so not all workers need to get on a shuttle, the
Teamsters said Wednesday.
The company will also have a "dedicated housekeeper" during the
periods where packages are sorted that are assigned to each
building to constantly sanitize the workplace.
"We are working on ways to adapt our normal processes to ensure
we satisfy customer needs and keep commerce flowing for business
and customers," the spokesman said, adding that the company is
preparing to prioritize health-care shipments if needed.
FedEx founder and Chief Executive Fred Smith sent a memo to its
global workforce Tuesday, noting the role the company has played as
the virus has spread over the past few months.
"These are unprecedented times, and we are one of the only
companies in the world that has the networks and capabilities to
keep commerce and aid moving," Mr. Smith wrote.
"For many decades, FedEx has dealt with natural disasters and
medical challenges, and we are doing so in exemplary fashion once
again. Our pride and appreciation for your work is without limit,"
he added.
Write to Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2020 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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