As a package delivery driver, Pablo Sanchez, 70, says he’s navigated through various situations when it comes to safe driving.
He’s experienced being on the road near others who are distracted by their phones and trying to avoid nilgai and other wildlife during late night routes.
Sanchez said he’s even experienced a buzzard smashing through his windshield that tried to fight him.
He says being a delivery driver involves long hours that some people probably wouldn’t want to do, but he just happens to be one who does.
This month marks Sanchez’s 49th year working with the United Parcel Service (UPS) and completing nearly two million miles of delivery routes that were all made accident-free.
Sanchez drives out of the company’s Harlingen facility and calls San Benito home.
His current route in Willacy County is only the second in his 49-year career and includes an average of 33 stops a day.
Sanchez admits he never actually set his mind on working with the company for so many years.
“It just happened,” he said. “I stayed here year after year.”
Sanchez said his wife retired several years ago and asked him to retire also so he told her to give him one more year before retiring.
The year passed and she asked him if he was ready to retire, but he told her to give him another year.
“She knew I wasn’t ready to retire yet,” Sanchez said with a laugh and a smile. “That happened seven or eight years ago and I’m still here.”
The start of the road
Sanchez began working with UPS as a full-time driver in 1972 when he was 21 years old.
Before his career with the delivery company, he served in Vietnam as a rifleman with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Sanchez admits he had never heard of UPS when the company first set up operations in South Texas.
“I had been out of the service for a few months and I was told that there was a new company coming to the Valley called UPS and wondered who the heck was that,” Sanchez said. “I had a cousin who was looking for a job so I told him about it and he asked me to go with him, so I did.”
Sanchez and a little over 200 people applied to work with UPS.
Out of everyone who applied, Sanchez and seven others were selected to be drivers.
When Sanchez was hired, drivers did everything at the facility, including packing and maintaining the UPS vehicles.
Sanchez was even offered to become a tractor-trailer driver throughout his career, however, he’s remained a package driver throughout its entirety.
Early on in his career, Sanchez’s route consisted of no paved roads or addresses while driving from Brownsville to Rio Grande City to deliver customers’ packages at local stores or coffee shops.
“Today, compared to when we first started, it’s a world of difference as far as technology,” Sanchez said. “Everything has changed, but all in all for me, it’s been a very positive experience.”
Sanchez said the company has grown a lot over the years because he’s seen how it began with eight drivers and now has about 55 to 60.
“I enjoy my job, being out on the road and working with some really great people,” Sanchez said. “Over all of those years, I’ve seen a lot of really friendly and nice people that I’ve gotten to know. That’s the best part of the job that I enjoy.”
