UPS Driver From Tinley Park Has Been Accident Free Since 1969

TINLEY PARK, IL - The word “perfect” can’t be used too often, but when it is there is usually something highly significant about an achievement.

There’s rarity in a pitcher’s perfect game in baseball or a student’s perfect score on an ACT or SAT exam. But for Ralph Lendi of Tinley Park, the word refers to something even more remarkable.

Lendi, a UPS driver since 1969, has a perfect driving record. In 48 years on the job as a driver, he has never been involved with a traffic dust up on the job.

“I keep telling myself it beats work,” said Ralph Lendi, who drives about 500 miles per day as a UPS driver based out of the shipping company’s south suburban Chicago location in Hodgkins.

“Driving is easy,” he added.

But not only has Lendi went nearly a half-century without an accident, he hasn’t missed too much time on the job during his time with the company either.

“Ralph is always here too,” said Roberto Caballero, Chicago Area Consolidation Hub Feeder Manager for UPS. “I’ve been here for three years and cannot recall a time Ralph called off work.”

Caballero also confirmed that Lendi has had zero on the job injuries throughout his career with UPS.

“So it’s not only the driving. Ralph is someone who is thinking safety all the time,” he said.

Going that long without getting hurt is “not an easy thing to do given what we do for a living,” Caballero said. “With the heavy equipment and the number of things we need to keep an eye on, that’s how people get hurt. For Ralph to have never gotten hurt in all these years, that’s pretty phenomenal.”

Safe and humble would be optimal words to describe Lendi, a recent inductee into UPS’ Circle of Honor and the 2015 winner of the United Safety Council Driver of the Year award. He credits his accomplishments to his family, friends and the team around him at UPS.

“We have really good help around here,” he said. “It is not just one person. The managers, the people taking care of the equipment, everyone helping out. It is really a team effort.”

He also calls the company’s 100th anniversary - not any of his own driving accolades - the best on the job moment he’s had.

But the individual accolades are none to ignore.

The United Safety Council award is “not a UPS award,” Caballero said, but one that considers drivers from a variety of national companies. At UPS, Lendi is the state’s senior-most mistake-free driver. Going on nearly 50 years with the company, he has a lengthier safety record than nearly 4,000 other full-time drivers in Illinois.

When it comes to mileage, Lendi was at a little more than 5 million with UPS when he was honored in 2015 and is “knocking at the door” of 6 million now, Caballero said.

His secret?

“Always drive at your comfort level,” Lendi said. “If the weather is getting too bad for comfort, pull over. Never drive above your comfort level. If you aren’t comfortable, then pull over.”

Lendi grew up in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood and attended Chicago Vocational High School, where he was a classmate of Chicago Bears legend Dick Butkus. To put that in perspective, Lendi has been a perfect driver since Butkus was playing for the Bears.

But while Butkus retired from his profession in 1973, Lendi has no plans in the near future to give up his.

“I feel good,” he said. “I work with good people and I have nine grandkids so I have to keep working.”

Top photo courtesy of UPS