Ask Marty Peters how he does it and he’ll tell you that he simply takes everything in stride.

“I take everything one day at a time,” Peters said.

That nonchalant attitude has gotten Peters far in life and just recently, the member of Local 243 in Plymouth Township, Michigan reached one more milestone: retirement.

What makes Peters’ retirement so different, however, is the fact that he is UPS’ longest tenured employee. And after working 63 years for the company, Peters is now retiring.

Peters isn’t sure why he is retiring now, but said one thing is certain: he will miss the people with who he works.

“At UPS, everyone is like a family and that’s who I’ll be missing—the people,” Peters said.

Living History

Peters started his career with UPS in 1946, when he was just two weeks out of the service. After serving in World War II, he knew he needed employment, and UPS—a fairly new company at the time—looked just as good as any.

Over the years, a lot changed at UPS, including policies, management and employees, but Peters kept on trucking. He said there isn’t a job he hasn’t done for the company and constant activity is what helped keep him going for so many years.

“There’s always activity and there’s always something going on,” Peters said. “Time just disappears.”

Though Peters said he thoroughly enjoyed working for UPS, he knew he wouldn’t have lasted as long or gotten as far were it not for the Teamsters.

One For the Record Books

Peters’ history with the Teamsters extends even beyond his UPS career. Peters joined the union in 1941 when he worked for Detroit Delivery.

Throughout the years, Peters said the Teamsters have been good to him and his family.

“The Teamsters were always there. They’ve been extra good to me,” he said. “If you got a few bumps or something, you’ve got nothing to worry about because the Teamsters are in your corner.”

According to Jim Cianciolo, President of Local 243, Peters is someone Teamsters everywhere can be proud of.

“Marty is a tribute to the Teamsters. His hard work and dedication should receive nothing less than hall-of-fame recognition,” Cianciolo said.