Sound Bites & Snap Shots

Welcome to United Parcel Service Worldport.  Bill and I had a golden opportunity to tour the facility thanks to my uncle who has moved up the ladder and high into the rafters at over his lifetime career at UPS. 

Several years ago, Bill and I watched a documentary about how packages move through the UPS system.  We were both fascinated by the elaborate and efficient production.  Worldport is only two hours away and we mentally added it to our list of tours we’d like to take. 

At my grandfather’s funeral last month, I asked my uncle if he had ever taken a tour of Worldport.  I told him how much Bill and I enjoyed the documentary and asked if he would be able to help arrange a tour for us.  He was happy to oblige and the very next week, the arrangements were in process.  Finding a tour date involved some juggling because our schedule is fairly committed with the boys’ activities and Bill’s work schedule and the tours are only given Monday through Thursday.  Sooner rather than later became the goal and the first day available was yesterday, the first day of school.  The next detail to work through was the fact that the tours happen when the action takes place—between 10 pm and 2 am EST. 

To make this all work, we hired our own kids to babysit themselves.  We left them with an hourly schedule, dinner and a few privileges.  They were advised that we would interview each one privately to see if the other brother had treated him kindly and appropriately.  If they each reported humane treatment and they followed the rules, we promised them dinner out at a restaurant of their choice. 

Bill and I left right after work to drive out to Louisville. It’s a two hour drive and a one hour time change.  We got there in time for a lovely dinner in downtown Louisville at The Mayan Café, recommended by a blogging friend.  It was outstanding.  The Mayan Café is a farm to table restaurant which fuses traditional Mayan flavors, ingredients & cooking techniques with local, sustainably-farmed ingredients.  This month the featured vegetable was eggplant and I had it as part of our appetizer and my entre.  I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough.  The ambience was perfect, the service was impeccable and the food was finger licking good.  (We resisted the finger licking only because it would have been in poor taste to do so.)  The restaurant has signature dishes, like lima beans, and their website includes recipes for some of those.  YUM! 

After dinner, we made our way to the airport and waited until our 11 PM tour time.  Rachel greeted us with enthusiasm and ushered us into a private theater where we watched a video about UPS Worldport. 

There were so many facts presented over the next two hours but here are some highlights about Worldport taken from a handout they gave us at the end:

~International all points air hub

~2.2 billion dollar investment

~5.2 million square feet

~Process approximately 2 million packages per day

~Capable of sorting 416,000 packages per hour

~155 miles of conveyors

~133 aircraft parking positions (70 on-wing)

~Average 150 aircraft turns per day

~30,000 biodiesel fuel tank (ground equipment)

After the video, we went directly to the processing part of the facility.  The tour lasted about an hour.  We got to see how the packages come in, are scanned along the way, how they move through the conveyor belts and loaded into the cargo boxes for the planes.  It’s a hustle and bustle business and efficiency is key since the planes have only a few hours on the ground in Louisville before they are loaded up again and sent out. 

We were not allowed to take photos on the tour but here is the one that Rachel took of us. 

We were shown great hospitality by UPS from every employee we met along the tour.  Now more than ever, I have a deeper understanding and appreciation for how a package travels from point A to point B.  I’m grateful for the strings my uncle pulled to get us into Worldport.  Go UPS!

If you are interested in seeing a bit of the documentary, you can view it here.