PHILLIPS — Just before Christmas, Andrew “Andy” Stearns, young son of Ben and Luisa Stearns of Phillips, got a big surprise. His hero, “Randy The UPS Driver”, invited him to come for a visit at the UPS warehouse in Waterville.
“The whole UPS facility treated Andy like they knew who he was,” Luisa Stearns, Andy’s mom, declared, “They included him in everything. They put him to work. Gave him a whole tour!
The general manager, Mark, whom Luisa described as “a very, very nice man who was just so caring for the people around him, including ourselves”, and Randy gave Andy a certificate of recognition, which read: “in recognition of outstanding service and excellence.”
“And,” exclaimed Andy, “a medal, a real medal!”
“Everyone clapped, everyone was recording,” she continued, “It was incredible!”
For the time, perhaps ever, Andy was speechless.
“My chatterbox didn’t talk much while all of this was going on,” Mom said, “I think he was trying to process everything.”
Andy is a Kindergarten student at Phillips Elementary School. Ransdall Luce, aka Randy, is a UPS (United Parcel Service) driver. The two met when Andy was about three and a half years old.
Randy remembers, “I was delivering to (Andy’s) neighbor. In doing so, I had to turn around in the Stearns’ driveway. I saw a mom and kids playing in their yard and thought, ‘That’s cute’, then continued with my delivery.
“…One of the kids ran up to me and said, ‘Hi, my name is Andy!'”
Andy started asking lots of questions about UPS, Randy’s truck, did he have a delivery for Andy’s house, and many, many more.
“He was very excited and his mother came over to apologize,” Randy continued.
She explained that Andy has had a fascination with UPS trucks for a long time. And Randy was just fine with that. He answered the multitude of questions and took some time to show Andy around his package car.
“I was touched by Andy’s joyous spirit that very first time I met him,” Randy remembers, “I told him we could talk more the next time I delivered there. That was the beginning of what has become a fun relationship with Andy and his family.”
Andy states matter of factly that he and Randy are best friends.
“He always comes to my house and he always has packages,” he explained, “Sometimes he lets me scan the packages. One day there were three!”
Mom added some more background.
Andy was born in Texas where Luisa, who was raised in Mexico, met her husband, Ben. Ben, a native Mainer, was working in Texas at the time, having been relocated because of his profession. The couple lived in Texas for ten years before coming to Maine with their young son.
“It was really hard the first year,” Luisa shared, “In the big city, Andy and I went to the park every day. He met friends there every single day. Then, all of a sudden, we’re in this isolated place…”
Looking forward to deliveries from the UPS man gave Andy something to do.
The family’s first UPS man had a big mustache. He retired a few months after the Stearns family moved in.
“Randy has been our man ever since,” Luisa continued, “And, wow, I can’t even describe how wonderful he has been. He brings biscuits for the dogs, birthday gifts… Randy’s like family.”
“While Daddy was working, we often had to order lots of things. It helped keep Andy busy. Every time Randy came, it was like Santa… the friend who brought him things.”
Seems like even the family cat agrees.
“Sometimes the cat chases the truck,” Andy laughed.
Additionally, all those deliveries, especially all the packages during the busy season around the holidays, and, on top of all that, the many unique conditions brought on by the covid pandemic, have made Randy “a true hero” in the eyes of both mother and son.
Andy supplies Randy with seltzer to drink on the road and cookies for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
“Ever since he was about 3,” Luisa explained, “Andy has been fascinated with Randy, our UPS delivery man, who is an awesome person.”
She explained that, to this day, Andy’s favorite thing has always been to pretend he’s delivering packages. He fills up boxes or envelopes full of toys and things and delivers those packages to everyone in the house. He even “scans” them.
“It’s quite entertaining,” Luisa laughed, though she said she does have to keep an eye on him because he’s likely to grab anything for delivery.
“Cell phones and remote controls have gone missing,” she laughed, “so watch out!”
Andy has had a uniform for a couple of years and a collection of packaging envelopes of which he states his favorites are “the shiny ones and crackly, crinkly ones.”
It was noted that sometimes he even sleeps with his packages.
Along with his make-believe work as a UPS delivery man like his hero, Randy, Andy recently had “a real paid job”, which may be advance training for a future career in a similar profession. He was “hired” recently by the Stearns’ next door neighbor to check his mailbox and get his packages while the neighbor was visiting in California.
Andy continues to check the Stearns’ mailboxes every afternoon when he gets off the school bus.
Of his trip to the UPS warehouse, Andy says, “I loved the bubbly yellow envelopes with the Amazon smiley and the arrow…I got to pass them out and scan them!”
The whole adventure was a complete surprise for the young fellow. Mom says he had no idea where they were headed the day of the visit.
“I didn’t know I was going there, but you and dad tricked me!” Andy exclaimed, following up immediately with, “Mom, when can we go again?”
“I’m so grateful to all of them and the general manager for doing that for Andy,” Mom concluded, “It was so special! Just incredible.”

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