BrownCafe

A former UPS worker in Portland was indicted by a grand jury on two felony counts of theft after investigators say he stole two iPhones and other items from the processing facility where he worked.

Thomas Hugill, 25, appeared in a Multnomah County courtroom Wednesday.

It was Black Friday of 2017 when Ana Mendez, of Clackamas County, says ordered two iPhones for her daughters, but they never arrived. Mendez says she reported it to T-Mobile who reported it to UPS; UPS said the package was lost.

• UPS employs around 454,000 people around the world and operates in more than 220 countries.
• As the world’s largest package deliverer, UPS said it moves 3% of the world’s GDP every day.
• Part of the 111-year-old company’s success lies in developing its operations workforce. A third of the 100,000 seasonal employees hired this year at UPS will be hired for permanent roles.
• Increasingly, corporations are depending on contract labor for blue collar work. But Teri McClure, Chief Human Resources Officer at UPS, said providing professional development opportunities for the company’s operations workers is key for UPS’ growth.

UPS driver Mary Knutson was in Clive on Dec. 7, making her usual round of deliveries as the holiday season began to ramp up.

She has been working as a delivery driver for UPS the past seven years, so she’s a veteran of the seasonal rush. Just last year, the UPS estimated it delivered 750 million packages in the 21 days leading up to Christmas.

But she had never seen anything like this.