2 UPS Semi Drivers Celebrate 50 Years On The Job -- Both Without An Accident Or Missed Day
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCCO) -- Minnesotans Rick Greenwald and Nick Gulenchyn are being honored for their 50 years of service at UPS. They both drive semi trucks full of packages -- and retirement is nowhere in sight.
For Greenwald, this journey started a long time ago. Fresh out of the United States Air Force, he needed a job.
"I saw a UPS truck drive and I thought, 'Boy, that looks like it could be fun," Greenwald said. "Within a week, I was working at UPS, and that would be June of 69, and the rest is history."
The summer of 1969 is also when Gulenchyn saddled into a job at UPS. He still drives 580 miles a day.
The two drivers were honored by their peers with a ceremony, and an international executive from Atlanta, for their 50 years of service.
"It's pretty rare to happen. Even UPS, globally, you don't have a lot of folks sticking around for 50 years," said Mike Marshall, the feeder division manager for Minnesota and Wisconsin. "And then to have two of them in the same building hit 50 years just a couple weeks a part, that's a pretty big deal."
It's not just 50 years of service they're celebrating -- it's 50 years of something possibly even more extraordinary.
"Fifty years of service each, [both] have never missed a single day," Marshall said.
And they've been driving accident free for more than four decades through brutal Minnesota and Wisconsin conditions.
"You're just trying to guess where the road is," Greenwald said. "Those are the most trying parts of the job."
But they've plowed through with loyalty, consistency and positivity -- and they plan to keep on trucking.
"I could've retired a few of years ago, but it seems to get better all the time," Greenwald said.
Gulenchyn agrees.
"Yeah, I just enjoy what I do," Gulenchyn said.
Greenwald says one huge difference he's noticed over the years is how many more accidents there are because of texting and driving.