Category: UPS News

Bobby Ray Talavera said he was just trying to pee into a cup in the back of his UPS truck when he looked up and found himself staring into the lens of a tiny, hidden camera up high on a wall.

Talavera assumed this was a UPS urination sting. Turns out, he wasn’t so lucky.

Talavera, 41, of Plant City was arrested last week by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and charged with misdemeanor theft and tampering with evidence in a joint local and federal investigation in regard to Department of Veterans Affairs narcotics that have been disappearing from UPS trucks.

A UPS delivery driver viciously attacked and mauled by a dog last week says he thought he was going to die.

For the first time, he’s sharing the disturbing details.

Jesus Toledo, a husband and father of four, says he owes his life to a hero mail carrier who jumped in to help, CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports.

A United Parcel Service delivery truck driver from Maine who stole packages of pills intended for patients who are military veterans pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge of theft from interstate shipments.

Jeffrey P. Wheeler Jr., 31, of Sebago appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland before Judge Jon Levy and entered his plea after waiving his right to have his case presented to a grand jury for indictment.

Between Dec. 17, 2013, and Feb. 5, 2014, Wheeler stole eight packages that the Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility in Togus had shipped via UPS to veterans throughout the region.

Imitating the car-hailing app isn’t in the cards for big shippers, despite the challenge of holiday spikes.

Last January, following two years of struggling with booming holiday ecommerce, express shipper UPS announced that it would implement surge pricing during the holiday season. Analysts and press speculated this could mean something Uber-like, with shipping prices changing day to day or even hour to hour. In mid-August, the UPS rate guide confirmed that “holiday season changes” would impact pricing for many of its services.

But despite early speculation, those changes are unlikely to mimic Uber’s transparent and dynamic pricing. Instead, a UPS spokesperson said changes will be centered on deals with larger customers, who will “establish forecasts, promotions, and thresholds” in cooperation with UPS UPS -0.97% . Individuals doing their online holiday shopping are unlikely to notice price swings.

Saving the planet — and the balance sheet — one truck at a time

To mitigate the fluctuating (but historically upward-trending) cost of fuel, and help save the world from global warming in the process, UPS is taking measures to improve its fuel efficiency and cut emissions. Last week, the company announced its latest move: the purchase of 125 “new technology hybrid electric delivery trucks” from Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group, Inc.

The trucks, which marry a “very small internal combustion engine” to a lithium ion battery (sort of like in the Chevy Volt), combine to give each truck a 50-to-60-mile range per day. Workhorse says they’re “designed specifically to meet the stop-and-start needs of UPS’s urban delivery routes.”