UPS Driver Caught Mishandling $12k Package on Video

UPS reps were "horrified" recently when they watched a store's surveillance video showing one of their drivers treating a package with little care, a store associate said.

"[The UPS driver] just basically threw the thing out the door," Ray Martel of East Hills Instruments in Westbury, New York, told WABC-TV.

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On Monday, Martel said the UPS driver - who was not the store's "regular" guy - delivered a box to East Hills Instruments.

When the driver was told that the box needed to be returned to the sender because East Hills did not accept cash-on-delivery items, he became disgruntled, Martel said today.

"He wasn't happy to have to bring it back," he said.

As the driver left the store with the box, containing a sensitive $12,000 pressure gauge, Martel said he went to take a phone call. Later, though, he said the store's receptionist suggested that he watch the tape.

In the video, the worker flips the box out of the store, not using a cart or a dolly. Martel said the driver didn't ask for one even though the store has a hand truck.

"It was disappointing to see that happen," Martel said. "[It was] not the right thing to do. … If he needed help, he could've just asked."

On Tuesday, a UPS representative came to the store to view the tape.

In a statement, the company said: "UPS drivers are trained to handle every package with care. … UPS does not condone this specific driver's behavior."

The company apologized to the customer, saying that the problem would be investigated and that corrective action would be taken against the driver.

Martel said tracking late today showed that the box was still en route to Pittsburgh.

He said he was concerned about the box and that he and UPS were waiting to hear back from the client on the gauge's condition.