Prognosis

Delivery Drivers Face Heat Dangers in the Back of the Vans

A UPS worker delivers packages in New York. — A UPS worker delivers packages in New York.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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By Cailley LaPara

August 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Hi! I’m Cailley, a reporter at Bloomberg in New York covering parcel shipping companies. As summer comes to an end, I dug into a big concern for delivery drivers: extreme heat. But first ...

You probably know that delivery drivers work in extreme heat. It was a big topic of the labor union negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS in the summer of 2023. One of the outcomes was a contract promising air conditioning in the cabs of all newly purchased UPS vans.