Summertime heat and the lack of air conditioning in trucks have long been problems for United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) drivers. According to the company, this is because the delivery team makes “frequent stops, which requires the engine to be turned off and the doors to be opened and closed, about 130 times a day on average."
A former UPS delivery driver said it is company policy to turn off the engine and remove the keys at every delivery. It is a security requirement to keep the trucks from being tampered with while the driver is delivering a package.
While that is true, drivers are documenting the oppressive heat by posting pictures of thermometers reading 150 degrees with cookies and steaks being baked on dashboards, according to Business Insider. Three drivers reportedly claimed they were unable to handle metal machinery, such as the shelving units in the back of the car, without burning themselves.
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"It's like a greenhouse in there," a Florida UPS driver told Business Insider.
At the beginning of the summer, Business Insider reported that a record-breaking heat wave in California killed a 24-year-old UPS driver while on the job. One month later, a homeowner in Arizona posted a video of a UPS delivery person who passed out while bringing an item to their front door.
A UPS representative stated in July that the business offers water and ice to employees during the summer, as well as training on preventing heat illness and injuries.
"You can feel yourself baking, and unless you have places to stop along the way for air conditioning there is no relief, not until your shift ends 10 or maybe 14 hours later," the Florida driver said.
One UPS driver in Texas claimed that the water the company supplies doesn't assist amid the heat since she felt sick from drinking too much water to prevent heat exhaustion.
“It just comes over you,” she said. “You try to drink as much water as you can but you're sweating faster than you can hydrate and then you start to feel poorly. Before you know it, you're about to throw up and you're having a hard time drinking fluids."
Employees also said the ice machines are frequently faulty or out of stock.
UPS also supplies fans for employees, but some drivers complain that it is difficult to get the company to install one in their trucks.
"They've started telling drivers they're out of parts for fans," a New York union leader who has been with UPS for 28 years said. "Even when they do have one, it's just pushing hot air around," he added.
As the contract is slated to expire next summer, the topic of air conditioning in the trucks will be at the forefront of impending negotiations between the business and the UPS Teamsters union.
The union, which has consistently advocated for premium pay as well as other benefits that allow drivers to make as much as $130,000 a year, has stated that it plans to strike if its demands are not met in 2023.
