Wyoming Jobs: What James Lambert Has Learned After Driving A UPS Truck For 33 Years

For 33 years, UPS driver James Lambert has delivered much more than boxes on his route, the last 15 in a remote section of Laramie County called Happy Valley. He has turned a sometimes rough-and-tumble job into friendships, snowy rescues, and laughter-filled memories. UPS times every delivery down to the second, but Lambert is not just any driver. Ask people on his route about their favorite man in brown, and they will tell you about a guy who offers to bring groceries to snowed-in seniors, keeps spare dog food in his truck for pets, and dresses up as Santa or for haunted Halloween houses to make children laugh.

Lambert told Cowboy State Daily that this past year was his last. After 33 years, he is retiring.

Wyoming winters taught him humility early. During a whiteout, he drove cautiously down a rancher’s mile-long driveway, but a deceptive snowdrift swallowed his truck. He trudged back to the rancher’s house. The farmer immediately fetched his tractor. “That’s one thing about this community,” Lambert said. “Even if I didn’t know that person, he would have pulled me out.” While they worked, a troupe of curious cattle came to watch. Lambert could only shake his head with amusement. “Wyoming winters will teach you respect,” he said. “The whiteouts, black ice, brutal wind, road closures. You still have to find a way to get the job safely done.”

From then on, Lambert decided that “Oh I think I can…” means don’t do it. “You can just pass up that delivery and get it to them the next day, when things are cleared.”

Darlene and Tom Rombach met Lambert when they were snowed in. He offered to bring them groceries. They bought a larger tractor and never took him up on it, but they know of instances where Lambert took food to other seniors. Over the years, they gave him a key to their barn, which houses a refrigerator and freezer. When the Christmas ham arrives and they are out of town, Lambert stashes it. “Then he says, ‘Oh I only took a couple of bites, but you won’t miss them,’” Darlene said, laughing. They learned his favorite drink is Coke in glass bottles, and they keep six-packs in the refrigerator just for him.

Last year, when the Rombachs did not have a delivery, Lambert showed up anyway dressed in a full Santa suit, driving his UPS truck. He stood on the steps, waving. “He looked identical to Santa Claus,” Tom said. “We were just laughing the whole time. He made our Christmas.”

Lambert is not retiring from life. He plans to stay busy with a real estate staging business and continue his “Wagcinations” calendar, which raises money to help seniors get pets vaccinated. Looking back, he sees his truck as an office with a big picture window looking out on Wyoming. “People like knowing that you are treating them with dignity and respect,” he said. “You’re delivering more than just a package. Whatever is in that package means something to the people receiving it.” One afternoon during his last two weeks, he walked into the Rombachs’ house and broke down in tears. “He goes, ‘I’m going to miss all of you,’” Tom said. “Then he gave me a hug, gave my wife a hug. That’s the kind of person he is.”