KEEPING A TIGHT SCHEDULE; UPS DRIVER BOWEN HAS 100 STOPS A DAY

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Working as a United Parcel Service delivery driver means keeping a tight schedule that demands not missing any stops.

In the case of Larry Bowen, one of about six UPS delivery drivers in Cape Girardeau, that means making 100 stops most days to deliver anywhere from 250 to 400 packages.

"When they say (we run) the tightest ship in the shipping business ... they really mean it," said Bowen. "It's all studied out to give us just enough time for each stop to make the day. We don't believe in missed stops."

Bowen, who lives in Gordonville, has worked as a UPS delivery driver for about 12 years. Before that Bowen was basically employed as a construction worker for 10 years.

"I wanted a more steady job," he said. "Construction is more seasonal."

Bowen, 43, talked with a Southeast Missourian reporter while eating a quick lunch between deliveries at a convenience store. Bowen said the store is in his service area, which includes North Kingshighway and some residential areas west of the thoroughfare.

There are a number of advantages in working as a UPS delivery driver, Bowen said. "I like meeting different people, and in this business you meet a lot of different people," he said.

"The pay is good," he said. "I like the part of it being an outside job."

A large part of Bowen's deliveries are made at the K-Mart store, 11 South Kingshighway, and at Children's Bazaar in The Crossroads Center at Kingshighway and Independence. Bowen estimated the two stores combined get 25 to 30 percent of his deliveries. He also picks up packages.

Bowen said he delivers just about anything with his vehicle, which is known as a "package car." The deliveries range from medicine to car parts. In the spring, he said, UPS' business increases a lot because of seed and fruit-tree deliveries.

Next-day letters are also a big part of UPS' business, said Bowen.

Delivery schedules do get thrown off sometimes, he said. But when that happens, he said, the driver adjusts his or her stops. Deliveries are made to businesses first; residential deliveries are handled later in the day.

The hectic nature of the job is good, Bowen said. He said he has never looked at a clock and wished the day would end. And when he gets home from work, he said, it feels good to relax.

Sometimes, while he is driving on a weekend, his wife will mention to him that he's going so slow, he said. "We'll be going someplace and she'll say, `We need to get there.' I'll be driving like 50 (mph) or something, you know. But I just relax when I get off."

Bowen said he delivered packages to some unbelievable places when he used to make rural Cape Girardeau stops. "I know of a couple where you'll drive right down the middle of a creek for about a mile or so to a house. You'll go some places where you wouldn't think you could get a vehicle down."

Bowen said he enjoys delivering packages around Christmas, particularly to elderly women. "You'll see a tear in her eye a lot of times. It will be something from her daughter, son, or someone else who lives off," he said.

During the Christmas season, he said, UPS also gets a lot of deliveries from the Swiss Colony Co., which sells meat and cheese delicacies. "We have one or two days where our package car looks like a cheese colony itself inside of it," he said.

Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse also ships a lot of meat around Christmas season, he said. The shipments go out all over the United States, he said. This past Christmas, he said, Esicar's shipped so much meat that UPS had to use a tractor-trailer to haul it.