UPS using golf carts to help deliver Christmas packages
Gretchen Castro dashed through the suburban streets of Waterford Lakes in a golf cart towing a trailer full of packages.
The retired Puerto Rican cop, 52, is a “seasonal helper” hired by United Parcel Service to ease the chaos of large delivery trucks bombarding neighborhoods during peak holiday online shopping season.
“It’s fun!” Castro said, waving to a man and his young son walking their dog. “I like talking to people — the old ladies love me! I socialize with them.”
Package deliveries are at an all-time high, with record-breaking online sales for Cyber Monday hitting $7.9 billion this year, a 19.7 percent increase from last year, according to Adobe Analytics.
Waterford Lakes in east Orange County is the latest community of about 30 cities in Central Florida to participate in the UPS holiday delivery program.
The global logistics company said it has been partnering with communities in the U.S. for several years but is tight-lipped about the exact locations.
“We use the golf carts in states that are more temperate climates so throughout the southeastern United States,” UPS spokesman Matt O’Connor said. “We’re using them as far north as Kentucky.”
UPS employees fill storage PODS in a central location within a community. The contents are later distributed by the seasonal helpers in golf carts.
The small vehicles are environmentally-friendly and are generally seen as less of a nuisance in a residential area, according to UPS.
“They’re quieter, they use less fuel and there’s fewer emissions than a standard delivery vehicle,” O’Connor said.
The company applies for any applicable permits to use the golf carts in every community and covers the maintenance and storage costs of the vehicles.
On her route, Castro walks up a driveway — sometimes humming as she carries multiple packages — and knocks loudly on the front door.
“UPS,” she shouts, in an authoritative tone honed during 29 years of law-enforcement service on the island.
Dogs barking and scratching at the door are the most frequent response to Castro’s deliveries, but she makes it a point to remember the names of regular customers including Nery O’Neil, 46.
The Waterford Lakes resident said her husband’s online shopping habits means UPS’ signature brown trucks are a regular fixture in front of their home. The golf carts with drivers such as Castro are a welcome change, she said.
“I like them. It’s more personal — [people are] more approachable,” O’Neil said. “You see them around and you say ‘Hi!’ – the truck is different.”
There is no set time period for the program but UPS said it generally runs mid-November until January.
“It ramps up around Thanksgiving and Cyber Week and then goes through Christmas,” O’Connor said. “It really depends on what the delivery volume is to those communities.”
It takes Castro and other Waterford Lakes seasonal helpers including Brince Manning, a 54-year-old former construction worker, a couple of trips to complete their daily golf-cart deliveries.
But they’re about to get much busier.
“They tell us ‘expect your POD to be full closer to Christmas,’” Manning said. “This is the calm before the storm.”