CHICAGO (CBS) — Doorbell video from the East Side neighborhood showed a UPS driver throwing packages over a fence like a football player making a spiral pass.
The recipient of the package cried foul to CBS 2, after not liking the response from UPS. And as CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas reported Tuesday, the delivery appears to violate protocol for the package giant too.
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It is, of course, that time of year, Delivery drivers are busier than ever, and customers are anxiously awaiting those holiday gifts.
But no matter how busy it gets, UPS says an employee’s hands should not leave a package until it is touching the ground or whatever surface they’re leaving it on.
The aforementioned doorbell camera video shows that’s not what happened with a package Marlisha Wims was receiving.
“What I witnessed was the worker just pretty much footballing and throwing the packages over my fence,” Wims said.
Wims’ Ring doorbell video shows the driver toss two packages over the fence. You can hear them land on the other side.
Wims’ mom later picked up the packages where they landed – several feet into the yard – and was relieved to learn the gifts inside weren’t damaged.
One of the boxes included the dolls Wims bought her 2-year-old for Christmas.
“That’s my hard-earned money, you know, and I spent it, and I expect when my deliveries are delivered for you to care for them as much as you would want someone to care for yours,” she said.
Keeping packages safe from thieves is a dilemma people across the U.S. face as online sales have soared during the pandemic – and now during the holiday season.
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Wims thought she’d found the solution – a sign asking drivers to leave packages inside her gate. But the driver caught on video didn’t follow that request.
“All you have to do is pull up on that latch there, and the gate is open,” Wims said as she demonstrated how her gate works. “They didn’t even attempt to try to open my gate. When they first walked up, you see them like, whoosh, with the smaller one.”
When Wims complained to UPS, she said they told her, “OK, it will never happen again.”
“It was just really dry,” Wims said of UPS’ response. “You know, it didn’t seem sincere.”
So we reached out to the shipping giant with questions, and they said they’re investigating.
The company told us, “mishandling of packages is not tolerated and this issue is being addressed with both the driver and the customer.”
“I should know that they have better procedures than to toss peoples’ packages around,” Wims said.
UPS also told us their employees are trained regularly on how to safely deliver packages.
We also asked UPS what else the driver should have done aside from placing the box directly on the ground – including whether a driver should open an unlocked gate as Wims said she wanted the driver to do. UPS said there is no specific policy on that, but they are emphatic that packages are to be left in a safe, dry location.
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If that is not possible, UPS said, drivers should leave an attempted delivery notice.
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