UPS driver Garitt Cox delivers to Downieville

WESTERN SIERRA COUNTY — For many years, the United Parcel Service (UPS) has delivered packages Monday through Saturday to residents of Western Sierra County. However, according to a recent announcement by local UPS driver Garitt Cox, that service is about to change.

To cut costs, UPS is planning to deliver only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Cox shared the following statement earlier today on social media.

With a heavy heart that I need to inform Sierra County customers that UPS will be cutting back the days that I will be delivering in an effort to cut costs. UPS will be providing service to Western Sierra County on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for the foreseeable future. My immediate management and I have voiced our concerns to upper management regarding this new procedure. I realize this will create hardships for businesses as well as households for which I provide service. I would encourage customers to call 1-800-742-5877 to communicate your individual concerns.

Thank you for your understanding,

Garitt Cox

Our reporter, Sandy Sanders, contacted UPS for comment and received this response.

We are consolidating deliveries in certain ZIP codes to help our drivers more efficiently serve our customers. We often adjust our network throughout the year to meet customer demands and this includes testing ways to improve our productivity and efficiency. This change affects less than one percent of our deliveries every day. The vast majority of our customers will not experience any difference in the service they receive, and we remain committed to serving our customers wherever they live and work. To help consolidate deliveries, all UPS shipments to certain ZIP codes will spend an additional day in transit. Customers will see no change to our time-sensitive UPS Premier healthcare deliveries. The UPS Shipping Calculator and Shipping Applications are updated to reflect the additional day. Our customers can also use the free UPS My Choice tool to redirect deliveries and visit ups.com for the most up-to-date delivery times.

On further questioning of the reasoning behind this decision, a UPS representative wrote:

It’s more costly to deliver to very rural areas compared to cities or suburban areas. By consolidating deliveries to those areas, we keep shipping costs from rising for those customers. But the overall impact is very small, affecting less than one percent of our daily deliveries.

The change is part of a company-wide program UPS is implementing to reduce service days in rural areas with higher delivery costs. According to a UPS estimate of its delivery customers, one percent of the company’s customer base would total over 100,000 people, an impact difficult to label as “very small.”

UPS would not specify when the schedule change would take effect, saying to check tracking information for delivery window updates.

To The Messenger, Garitt expressed heartfelt appreciation for the many who have reached out concerned about him and embraced him as part of the community. Garitt will transition to different routes during days not delivering to Western Sierra County and hopes corporate management will reverse the decision.

According to Garitt, everyone from North San Juan Ridge to Bassetts (including the lakes region when Gold Lake Highway opens) will be affected, and service will change beginning Monday, April 15th.