At the local branch of the United Parcel Service (UPS) in Vineyard Haven, cardboard boxes and plastic packages are stacked nearly to the ceiling of the already cramped building.
It’s the only UPS storefront on the Island, and the three employees who work there say they’re completely overrun and overworked, though they’re still showing up for the local community.
What started as technological issues has grown into an insurmountable mess that’s caused delivery disruptions at the Vineyard Haven UPS store, employees say. It’s induced outrage from community members that came to a head Wednesday on social media. The store is open, but barely, and isn’t taking in more packages. If a local has a mailbox and the key combination for the front door, they’re able to look for deliveries themselves. But day-to-day operations are not running as usual, employees say. Packages haven’t all been sorted through, therefore many Islanders haven’t received them. The result is a near-complete halt to a system that locals rely heavily on.
This came to a head on Wednesday when Islanders and the employees took to social media to protest the delays they’re experiencing, which are affecting their businesses and delaying medication deliveries and other essential items. One community member posted a dozen signs on the front door of the store that state in bold lettering: “It’s not the staff!!! Mike Boylan is to blame!!!”
Boylan is the owner of the store and lives on Nantucket full-time. Employees said they’ve been reaching out for help from Boylan for months. After the store lost internet recently and couldn’t catch up on logs, they reached their limit.
“The employees are doing the best they can, but the infrastructure of the world has changed, and the store isn’t built to handle that infrastructure anymore,” manager of the store, Daniel, told The Times as he walked through the small back room, maneuvering past towers of packages as he spoke. Daniel asked that his last name not be used for fear of retaliation.
“None of us want to see this happening, and it’s not an easy fix,” Boylan said in a phone call with The Times.
After the entire staff quit last year, the new group of three has been working solo. Boylan said he was at the store for two months after the other employees left but added that he hasn’t been back since.
“We’re trying to pick up the pieces, we’re trying to clean up the store,” UPS employee Joseph Vanderhoop said. “As employees, all we really wanted was time … and for our boss to understand what we’re going through.”
Daniel, Vanderhoop, and another employee, Tyler, who also declined to provide his last name, said they’ve been tirelessly working to catch up, but the amount of work is “insane,” said Daniel.
“We had various things that broke down and kept adding on more and more until it got to this point. It got so bad, we couldn’t even get to the bathroom at one point,” Daniel said. “It’s surreal.”
Boylan confirmed to The Times that the space was so inundated with packages that the way to the bathroom was blocked.
As Daniel and Tyler walked around the small area behind the counter and explained the situation, Vanderhoop navigated conversations with customers. One woman asked him, “Where do we go?”
Vanderhoop told each person, including that customer, the ins and outs of their situation, other places on Island to send out their packages, and possible solutions.
Susanna Herlitz-Ferguson, the owner of MV Salads and a longtime customer of the Vineyard Haven UPS store, said she’s watched some of this saga unfold over the past few months.
“I just know that all of a sudden, there was a brand new team, and they seemed a bit overwhelmed in the beginning. And I go there all the time, because through MV Salads, I ship my dressing to Amazon,” Herlitz-Ferguson said.
While in the store on Tuesday afternoon, Herlitz-Ferguson watched a contractor desperately search for his paychecks while the three young UPS employees assisted him and saw a woman crying outside because she couldn’t get her medication in time.
“I’m sure there are way more stories like that,” Herlitz-Ferguson said.
The three staff members said they all make between $25 and $30 an hour and work 6 days a week. They don’t get paid overtime, and said the amount of work on their plate would require it. Most of the packages that are backed up are Amazon returns, said Daniel and Tyler.
Tyler came back to work at the Vineyard Haven UPS store this year after a hiatus for a few years. The last time he was employed there was the summer of 2020, just a few months into the Covid-pandemic. He said the amount of Amazon deliveries and returns recently has far exceeded the 2020 numbers, an observation that he added is totally shocking to him.
Boylan said he hired a new person to help who starts tomorrow, and he’s hoping to make it to the Island on Monday to assist them with catching up. He said UPS knows about their situation, and they’re “very supportive.”
But on Facebook, there’s been an uproar by the Island community about Boylan and what locals claim is a track record of him being absent from the store and his employees. Boylan said it’s been alarming to see the response online.
“What’s going on over there is totally out of everyone’s control, meaning me, and the staff. It’s due to technology problems,” Boylan said. “I’m able to take all the criticism and nasty things people are saying about me. But the way [locals are] treating my staff over there is just unbelievably bad.”