After 15 years serving MIT, Licarie graduates’
Melissa Renée Schumacher—The Tech
UPS driver Al F. Licarie is “finally graduating,” to a new delivery route, he told The Tech on Wednesday. He has been working the MIT route for 15 years.
MIT was the first route he worked consistently, though he worked others before. Licarie says he doesn’t really want to leave, but he thinks it’s time for a change. United Parcel Service drivers get routes assigned through a bidding system every two years, and this time around, a driver with more seniority bid for the MIT route.
He’s met a lot of nice people here — he has many friends who are faculty and housemasters — and he’ll miss them, he said.
Licarie has delivered many strange things to labs at MIT, like frogs and horseshoe crabs. Once, a box of crickets came open in his UPS van.
His least favorite time of the year is when students are moving in or out because they get a lot of packages from home, which usually contain heavy books. Often, students get impatient waiting for their packages and chase down his van asking for their stuff.
One of the strangest packages he has ever had to deliver was a box of pizza. About ten years ago, a student’s parents sent him a pizza from home, in the box, taped up and addressed. By the time Licarie picked it up, the sauce was starting to leak through the box. “Needless to say, I was glad to get rid of that package,” he said.
Licarie’s favorite time of the year is graduation. He said that it’s good to see students happy, having parties and cookouts. Around finals, students can be “like zombies,” sometimes walking in front of his truck without noticing. Graduation is a welcome change from that.
The new driver will be taking over Al’s route any day now, but Al will still be close. His new route is on the other side of Main Street in Kendall Square.