The last mile

Great news! I got a new computer this week.

I know this is not a big deal to anyone in the world except me. But it got me thinking firsthand about supply chains.

What’s life like now for the people delivering, say, a MacBook on the last mile from the factory in China to my home in New Jersey, in the middle of a pandemic?

It's not that I don't know anyone who's worked for UPS or FedEx, but I don't know anyone doing so currently.

It turns out Ellie Austin of the Wall Street Journal ($) had similar questions. So she sat down with Andrew Mendoza, 30, a UPS delivery driver from Redland, California for a first hand look.

Here's what driving a UPS truck is like during the pandemic:

1. Lots of hours, lots of packages.

Normally this time of year, Mendoza says he delivers 160 packages a day; now it's more like 190 or more, over a 12 hour shift. (That's one every four minutes, all day long.)

"It’s tiring and all the lifting takes a toll on your body, but I know that people like nurses and firefighters…