Immediately upon walking into the Newtonville UPS Store, you’ll be sure to receive a smile and a friendly greeting from Tom Wolf. A core member of the Newton community for decades, Wolf — who has run this UPS Store for the last 33 years — is beloved by customers and coworkers alike.
“It’s almost impossible for you to come into the store and [for me] not to be able to know exactly what you want and need before you even know,” Wolf told me. “I can sort of tell, are you holding a piece of paper that you need notarized, or are you coming in with this strange sculpture, and is it possible to pack it? The answer is yes, because we really can do anything here.”
After leaving the Navy, Wolf went on to attend Boston University before getting a job at a postal services store, Mail Boxes Etc. He became a manager and, after running a store for three years, decided that he wanted to work for himself. Now, he operates the UPS Store.
“You could almost make one of those TV shows, just to see what goes on in the store each day,” Wolf said. Once, he told me, someone came in with part of a Ferrari that he needed shipped to Texas for a race — overnight.
For Wolf, helping customers like these — “showing them that the impossible is possible” — is the best part of his job.
“Now, that sounds grandiose, but it’s really when people are under extreme pressure — they need to get these cookies to their nephew, who’s alone for Thanksgiving, and he’s sad — and, ‘oh, yeah, we can get that there tomorrow,’” he said. “[They’ll respond], ‘But it’s six o’clock! He lives in Phoenix!’ No problem.”
Watch Wolf at work, and you’ll see instantly how much he cares about what he does. One almost has the impression that he knows the name of every customer who enters the store. Always cheerful and happy to strike up a conversation — “how’s your day going?,” he’ll ask — he handles their packages and requests with care and kindness, all the while sharing fun facts about the store with me. (“We’ve used up enough tape to go halfway around the world!” Wolf said.)
After he finished helping a customer, Wolf pulled me aside.
“You know that old question, ‘hey, what’s your superpower? Everyone has a superpower, right?’ I say that my superpower is that I can look at anything, anything in the world that’s not attached to the ground, and I can see an exploding diagram of how to pack it. Instantly,” he said. “Beginning to end, done.”
It’s clear that in the eyes of those around him, Wolf is a man of many superpowers. Andrew Szanton, who has been a customer at the Newtonville UPS Store for years, first met Wolf while making copies of a family newspaper at the store.
“He immediately asked me my kids’ names and showed me how to use the machine,” Szanton said. “He was busy, but still, he made time.”
Szanton said that he thinks of one moment in particular when Wolf’s thoughtfulness really made a difference.
“There was just one day when everything had gone badly. My son wanted to add some extra stories [to the family newspaper], and it wasn’t getting done on time …by the time we got to the UPS Store, it wasn’t much before closing time,” he said. “And Tom could see that this was just a bad day. And he said, ‘I’ll just stay open.’”
Mica Berman, a college junior who works at the store over school break, told me that as a business owner himself, he looks up to Wolf.
“[Wolf] keeps a hundred things in mind while also being able to relate to everyone,” he said. “Not just remembering the names. People come in, and he remembers their families, who they are, what they like, and adventures they’ve had … I have not seen anything like that before.”
To Berman, Wolf’s passion is clear.
“He does everything to his best ability, and he goes all into everything,” he said. “He’s here all the time, late, making sure everything is working well. … He’s there for everyone, when people need it.”
Berman summed up the experience: “The best thing about working here is that it feels like a home.”
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a senior at Newton South High School, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
