It’s happening all over the United States. UPS trucks are not being air-conditioned, and for some drivers, this is causing heat-related illnesses.
NBC found over 100 reports across 23 states of UPS employees being admitted to the hospital for heat-related illnesses since 2015. Arizona is among those states.
As a heatwave moves across the country and triple-digit heat lingers here in Tucson, the conditions can be dangerous.
ABC7’s John Gonzalez’s first job was when he was a junior in high school stocking the inside of UPS trucks in Laurel, Maryland and it would get hot inside those trucks.
Now, there is a petition Friday garnering a lot of attention and picking up steam calling on UPS to add air conditioning inside the popular brown trucks.
A lot of people don’t realize that these drivers are going around from delivery to delivery, and they do not have air conditioning in the vehicles.
Delivering packages is something local UPS truck driver James Trusty enjoys doing day in and day out.
“UPS has provided me my family and everyone I know who works there with a great life,” Trusty said.
But Trusty says many of those days spent driving in record-breaking heat during the summer can be brutal, especially when the truck he drives has no air conditioning.
“The front of the truck has no relief, no air conditioning, no cool air and no way to really cool off,” Trusty said.
Most of those familiar brown trucks used by UPS aren’t air-conditioned, and as the delivery economy grows and temperatures rise, drivers can pay the price.
The day Jim Klenk’s kidneys almost failed was hot and humid. After almost 15 years as a UPS driver, Klenk had developed a routine to deal with the heat. He carried frozen water bottles, wet towels for his neck, and spare shirts to replace those he’d sweat through.
After his 50th birthday, the summers had started to get to him. That August day in 2016 was forecast to hit 90 degrees. The cargo area of his brown delivery truck, which wasn’t air-conditioned, could easily top 120.
A few days before, he’d worked through the heat until he started seeing stars, he said, then called his supervisor to pick him up. Not finishing a delivery route wasn’t looked upon favorably, according to Klenk.
