Nationwide — Mark Woolston, who is the longest-serving UPS driver in Arizona, has recently retired after 50 years on the job delivering packages.
“Well, thank heavens I stuck with it. A few weeks later, I fell in love with the job, and I’ve been doing it ever since and never looked back,” Woolston told NBC 12.
Over the course of his career, Woolston has traveled more than 1 million miles without a single accident and endured the scorching summer heat.
“You have to physically have a lot of stamina,” he said. “You’ve got to be strong. It’s almost like an athlete, instead of shooting baskets, you’re delivering packages.”
He has also kept his dedication to providing excellent service to customers in all those 5 decades.
“Customers have to know that we care, to get them a product or whatever it is they need on that given day,” he said. “I take that very seriously.”
Despite his passion for the job, the 71-year-old driver has decided that it’s time for him to retire. It took him a while to finally make up his mind as he will also miss the people he sees along his route. But he now looks forward to spending more time with his wife, 3 daughters, and 4 grandchildren.
Meanwhile, his retirement saddened many of his loyal customers who grew fond of him. One of his longtime customers Will Frazier said, “You get to know him like family. I talk about Mark in my daily life, Mark brought me this and that. He’s going to be missed.”
A lot of his customers tried to organize farewell parties for him, but he has always hurried off to make another delivery. He said he appreciates the love and kindness he has received but humbly insists that he was simply doing his job.
“The good Lord was watching over me all these years,” Woolston said. “I kept my guardian angels busy. But they brought me through, thankfully.”