Like most people, I have in the past held a favorable opinion of United Parcel Service. The familiar sight of an industrious man or woman in that brown uniform running in and out of local businesses picking up and delivering all manner of packages is as American as apple pie. Imagine my disappointment when I was treated like slave labor in their Mesquite, TX facility. This isn't the typical "Driver Unload For Free" story. It's much uglier.

I had picked up a load from UPS in Laredo, TX on July 2nd of 2004. It is my habit to always present a clean trailer to a shipper and this load was no exception. My trailer was meticulously swept and free of nails and debris. UPS loaded me with 50 pallets of ballpoint pens bound for the UPS facility in Mesquite, TX. The people in Laredo were civil and competent.

Upon arrival in Mesquite the next day (this is a Dallas suburb), I checked in with security and was instructed to drop my trailer and exit the premises until approximately 2:00 PM. The lady in the receiving office seemed nice enough at the time. She signed my paperwork (odd to sign for the load before ever seeing it, don’t you think?) and I headed to a nearby truck stop to wait out the 4-hour unloading process. At this point I had no reason to believe that anything wrong was taking place.

At about 2:45 PM I arrived back at UPS and checked in with the receiving office. I was informed that the trailer was empty and that I needed only to check back via the gate phone on my way out… This sounded so nice and simple. I found my trailer in the drop yard and hooked up, then as is my habit I opened the trailer to inspect the interior. This is where everything fell apart.

UPS had taken only the packages off the trailer. The pallets (many of them broken), shrink wrap, and corner protectors for the load had been tossed aside in the trailer. For those of you who are not familiar with such things, this is not the normal practice. The pallets and shrink wrap are normally accepted by the receiver. I generally back up to a dock, and the receiver just unloads whatever is in the trailer. This part of my job is usually quite uncomplicated. Not so at UPS - Mesquite.

I visited the receiving office and was met with a range of attitudes ranging from apathy to belligerence. A man who is evidently in charge informed me that all he wanted was the packages, and that disposal of the trash and the unwanted pallets was my problem. If I argued, said he, he’d have his security guards remove me from the property. He then pointed me to an area in the back where I could unload the pallets on the ground.

It was about 90 degrees outside with no wind and few clouds. I would guess it was about 110 degrees inside the trailer. Having no choice, I climbed inside and spent the next hour sweating myself dry while removing all this debris from the trailer.

Let’s look at this situation for a moment… no one at UPS had given me any inkling of how they planned to leave my trailer. Had I not looked inside, I’d have left with all that mess still onboard. No one at UPS offered any apologies for this wholly unfair policy. They only repeated the same mindless mantra that qualifies as a one-size-fits-all excuse for so many companies in so many situations… “It’s just our policy!”

I've picked up and delivered at other UPS facilities over the years and never once encountered this problem. Evidently, it is unique to the Mesquite location. If you plan to deliver there, you might want to check before arriving. Damn if they'll ever get the chance to treat me this way again.