FedEx driver loses job after video shows mishandling of package in Prince George's County
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A FedEx driver is out of a job Tuesday after company officials saw a video of him mishandling a package caught on a Ring doorbell camera in Prince George's County – but Avery Mathis isn’t making excuses.
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"I take full accountability," Mathis told FOX 5 Tuesday night.
He’s 23-years-old, just finished his Associates's Degree and has always worked while going to school, wanting to pursue a career in IT.
He is the FedEx driver seen on video tossing a package onto David Johnson’s Fort Washington stoop. The package landed, then rolled backward.
Mathis says he was fired Tuesday morning.
Johnson says there was a Nintendo Wii and some dolls in there for his 6-year-old daughter. He told FOX 5 Monday night that he felt bad for what drivers were going through right now during the holidays, but asked for a little more care as they delivered packages.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Prince George's County man captures driver mishandling delivery on Ring doorbell
"Don’t get me wrong. I take my hat off to the drivers because I know they deliver thousands of packages a day," Johnson said.
Mathis says the job is grueling right now, but he loves it. He says he averages around 150 stops a day during a 12-hour shift, 6 days a week – it’s the cost of getting those holiday gifts delivered on time.
During this delivery, Mathis, who says he’s never been in trouble in his five months at FedEx, says he must have misjudged the distance between him and the stoop after walking up a large hill to get to Johnson’s porch.
He started walking away and didn’t see it tumble backward.
Immediately after learning he was fired, Mathis took it upon himself to call David Johnson, tracking down his number and apologizing.
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"I just also realized that apologizing was the right thing to do because, at the end of the day, it was my fault," Mathis says.
Johnson got a call from FedEx before the call from Mathis and said he explicitly told them to please not fire Mathis. But Mathis indicated FedEx has a no-tolerance policy if a worker is determined to have mishandled a package.
In a statement to FOX 5 Monday night, before the firing, FedEx indicated what was seen on the video didn’t meet the company’s standards.
"The behavior depicted in the video is unacceptable and inconsistent with the professionalism FedEx Ground service providers demonstrate every day in safely and securely delivering millions of packages to our customers," the statement said.
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Mathis still holds out hope he can get his job back.