Merle Roberts retires UPS

People like getting packages. It's a little bit like Christmas. And someone who has been delivering peoples' packages in the area for 40 years is retiring from United Parcel Service.

Merle Roberts started working for UPS on March 23, 1979, working out of what Roberts describes as "a little makeshift unloading dock" in Grand Coulee, "outside year round" before UPS had opened an office on Van Tyne Avenue 13 years later.

The job was Roberts' first "real job" aside from doing some farm work in the Coulee City area, where he grew up.

When the office building opened up in the early 1990s, "we went from paper to completely electronic," Roberts said about the system they use to scan and record everything. "We are the world's leader in shipping technology."

Roberts said the transition was one of the main reasons for opening the office.

He averaged about 130 miles a day with around 100 stops, ranging from the Grand Coulee Dam area, north to Nespelem and to Keller, and north of Keller to about 21 miles south of Republic.

"I always liked my job," Roberts said. "I liked the people up north on the rez. It's always been the highlight of my day to go up north and finish that out. I just like them up there."

Being a UPS driver comes with some unique challenges, but traffic wasn't one for Roberts. He may be unique as a UPS driver who hasn't had to stop at at traffic light in 40 years, his wife, Linda Roberts pointed out.

"I've run into a lot of mean dogs," Merle Roberts said. "My worst ones have been running. Treats don't work with a mean dog. They're on a mission to get you. I've been bit many times."

Weather has been another issue, with "many memorable snow storms," Roberts said. "This winter I had a few also. I'll pull over, put chains on, and hope for the best."

Flat tires and the usual kind of car trouble comes up with UPS drivers as well.

"His wife has even had to come and rescue him, many times," Linda Roberts added.

"She brings me back here and we grab another truck," Merle Roberts explained. "We reload and off we go, and UPS gets the truck."

April 12, 2019, marked Roberts' retirement after 40 years.

"I'm excited for him but sad for us," said Donna Egbert, a supervisor for UPS who has worked with Roberts for the past 15 years. "Everyone is going to miss him so much. They don't know anything other than Merle delivering for them. It's an end to an era, so it's bittersweet. It makes me happy that he had a strong connection. The best thing is the way he treated the customers, with care, kindness and always appreciated their business. His work ethic is something that not everybody has anymore."

Egbert said Roberts was happy to not have to drive across the narrow bridge between east and west Coulee Dam anymore.

Then came time to celebrate - with a surprise party at Hometown Pizza.

"There were a few of my closest friends there," Roberts said, "and Linda presented me with a quilt that people signed and wished good things on me. She quilted it up; it looks beautiful."

At the center of the quilt, a piece of old sweatshirt features a hang glider, one of Roberts' old hobbies.

Linda Roberts teamed up with Dan Miller and Mary Jo Monteith, people Merle Roberts has delivered to for years, to help gather signatures for the quilt, getting 114 blocks for the quilt signed by roughly 150 individuals and businesses from all over Roberts' UPS route, as well as sending blocks to the Tri-Cities and even Arizona to collect signatures.

"I want to say thanks to all those 150 people who kept this a secret from Merle," she said. "We kept it a secret for a year, which is absolutely mind boggling."

"They've appreciated my service and I've appreciated them," Merle Roberts said about the people who signed the quilt.

Now that he's retired, Roberts plans to do a lot of traveling. "We like museums. We like the big cities. And food. And I want to see the pyramids," he said.

Roberts also enjoys doing long distance running, he said, and has for about 20 years.

The couple can also visit their three children: Wade Roberts, now a scientist at the University of Arkansas; Roxanne Adsero, who works in speech and hearing therapy in a school district in Spokane; and Daniel Roberts, who works in the Seattle area as an accountant.