Pro soccer player joins dad to help UPS deliver the holidays

‘We’re making memories I’ll never forget’
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Seasonal workers join UPS for a ton of reasons. Some are looking for extra money around the holidays, while others are looking to get a foot in the door.

For Sam Pearlberg, he joined to spend time with his dad.

A pro soccer player in England, the 18-year-old is back home in New Jersey. He’s working the next few weeks as a driver helper for his dad, Gerard. And he’s replacing his older brother, Luke, who had worked as Gerard’s helper the last two holiday seasons.

“It's incredible – great, great father-son time,” Gerard said. “My boys are basically grown, so I'm not with them all the time now. It may sound trite and cliche, but here at Christmas time, we’re making memories I'll never forget. The best, the absolute best.”

Sam is one of the more than 100,000 seasonal workers UPS brought on to deliver this year’s peak shipping season. And whatever the reason for joining, UPS’s approach is paying off.

UPS is again leading the industry in on-time delivery performance, per ShipMatrix.

“We're delivering Christmas toys, we're delivering life-saving medicines – we're delivering anything and everything,” Gerard said. “It’s rewarding.”

Finding UPS: Sam was born without his right arm, and while this has never slowed him, it did add considerable costs to use private health insurance. So about 15 years ago, Gerard sought out companies offering full-time benefits for part-time work.

Gerard joined UPS as a part-timer before becoming a full-time delivery driver in 2020. 

“I wanted to provide the best health insurance I could for my family,” Gerard said.

That insurance also enabled him to continue pursuing his passion – all things running. He’s authored two books and completed 33 marathons. And, in addition to driving, he coaches and trains runners.

“I found UPS and I’m forever grateful that I did,” Gerard said.

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