MEMPHIS, TN and ATLANTA – During the holiday delivery season, individual customers of FedEx and UPS posted videos of delivery drivers mishandling packages on the online video sharing website YouTube. Although for fleet managers hearing about problems related to driver behavior is nothing new, the videos garnered mainstream media attention.

FedEx and UPS have responded to the videos on their official websites. FedEx stated the following:

“FedEx team members work very hard every day all around the world delivering millions of items on time and in perfect condition. The one delivery shown on the video is completely at odds with our training and policies. We have apologized to the customer and secured a replacement delivery. We’re pleased to have resolved the situation and the customer is satisfied.”

The company also posted an official video response on YouTube and its corporate blog to

“Along with many of you, we've seen the video showing one of our couriers carelessly and improperly delivering a package the other day,” stated Matthew Thornton III, Senior Vice President, US Operations for FedEx Express. “As the leader of our pickup and delivery operations across America, I want you to know that I was upset, embarrassed, and very sorry for our customer’s poor experience. This goes directly against everything we have always taught our people and expect of them. It was just very disappointing.”

FedEx said it is using the video as a learning opportunity for its employees and is building the video and related training into its overall training programs.

UPS responded via a post on its corporate blog that mentioned both videos. The company made the following statement in its post:

“UPS is first and foremost a service company. When we fail in our mission, we look at the cause and take corrective steps to address it without delay. With regard to UPS employees not treating our customers’ shipments with care and respect, those corrective steps can include terminating from employment anyone who isn’t living up to the high professional standards we have set for ourselves.”