UPS 115th, FedEx 200th Ranked Largest Companies in the World

UPS - http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jhtml?cusip=911312106

FedEx - http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jhtml?cusip=31428X106

USPS: APWU Drivers End Strike

APWU Drivers Will Continue to Press for Private-Sector Contracts
APWU Web News Article #18-05, April 18, 2005

Approximately 170 APWU truck drivers who work for Mail Contractors of America have concluded their nearly three-week strike, going back to work for MCA in Des Moines, Kansas City, KS, and Jacksonville, FL, but vowing to press on for fair contracts.

The APWU-represented motor vehicle operators, back on the job April 11, are seeking an end to unfair labor practices and policies the privately-owned MCA imposed last September that reduced the pay of some of them as much as $10,000 per year. They held out the option to strike again if MCA refuses to bargain.

“We felt we had no choice but to strike,” said Tony Olson, an APWU steward and MCA employee in Des Moines. The company hired replacement drivers, he said, “but we made our point.”

MCA is one of the nation’s largest private mail haulers; its collective bargaining agreements in Des Moines and Jacksonville expired in September 2003 (Kansas City drivers are trying to negotiate a first contract). Among the conditions MCA imposed on workers in all three cities last fall was that it stopped paying a portion of health insurance premiums, forcing drivers to assume the costs if they wished to maintain their coverage.

The company also began denying the drivers pay for required rest breaks – breaks they were paid for in the expired agreements. “We were tired of working under the imposed conditions,” said Russ Gallion, president of APWU’s First Coast Local, which represents MCA truck drivers in Jacksonville. “When we saw that Kansas City and Des Moines went out, we decided to go out along with them.”

Another large private mail-haul firm, Pat Salmon & Sons, has returned to negotiations with APWU-represented drivers. Hundreds of drivers and their families had their eligibility for health insurance cut off March 1 by the company as a collective bargaining agreement lapsed.

The drivers, who work out of terminals in Arkansas, Texas, and three other states, had been paying as much as $11,500 a year just to be eligible for the company plan. The company refused to consider maintaining the insurance plan, for which it was paying less than 10 percent of the premiums for family coverage, and nothing at all for individuals. APWU representatives said that many contractual items had been agreed upon. A federal mediator was brought in to the talks in April.

“They are remarkably insensitive,” said Bill Manley, Support Services Division NBA and lead representative for the APWU bargaining team. “It clearly isn’t about the money. The company has not complained about costs; it simply doesn’t want to talk about healthcare problems.”

“The company has always been almost entirely dependent upon the Postal Service for its livelihood, and it’s been doing very well for more than 50 years,” Manley said.

The drivers won their first labor contract in September 2003, following three years of negotiations, the filing of unfair labor practice charges, and a short but successful strike. The agreement covered Salmon employees at terminals in Dallas, Fort Worth, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Memphis and Shreveport.

UPS Q1 Profit Rises on Volume Increase

United Parcel Service, Atlanta, reported a 16 percent improvement in income and a 13.8 percent jump in operating profit for the first quarter of 2005, along with an increase in worldwide package volume.

First-quarter net income climbed to $882 million from $759 million in the same period in 2004. Operating profit increased to $1.39 billion from $1.22 billion.

Consolidated worldwide package volume in the quarter rose to 885 million, up 3 million from the same period in 2004. Average daily package volume increased by 38,000 to 13.82 million.

Google, The Package Tracking Machine! What doesn't Google Do !?!

www.Fast-Pack.com
Jason Archambault
4-17-05

Need to track a package, have the tracking number but hate having to log in to a specific providers website to track packages sent by their service, Google says, NO MORE! My question is, What doesn't Google Do? Well you can now scratch tracking packages sent by UPS, FedEx, and USPS off of your list.

How does it work? Just pull up www.google.com , and enter your tracking number alone and hit enter. You will get a search page that will show the following,; Track UPS package 1Z0095AR034781**** (number hidden for customer security). The tracking number is a link, click it and viola, the package is tracked! Another great tool from Google!

What do you think about this new tool, like it or leave it? Click "Comments" below and share your thoughts with the world.

UPS: Package Flow Technologies: Innovation at Work

Package Flow Technologies: Innovation at Work

In the early 20th century, UPS pioneered the hub and spoke model for package delivery operations. In this century, UPS continues its innovative tradition with the development of package flow technologies. A suite of software and hardware designed to give the company a competitive edge, package flow technologies ensure UPS has unparalleled small package operations – optimizing the delivery of multiple services to customers (air, ground and international) out of a single delivery vehicle.

UPS has invested US$600 million in the vast initiative to optimize the company's domestic package network. When the process is fully complete in 2007, the company expects to realize an annual cost savings of US$600 million.

PLD: The Cornerstone of the UPS Network
At the heart of package flow technologies – and all of UPS's package operations – is Package Level Detail, or PLD. UPS realized more than a decade ago that in order to achieve the level of automation required to serve customers most efficiently, information about a customer's package would have to make the transition from paper to digital. Enter the “smart” label – the concise physical embodiment of PLD.

The smart label contains all the detailed information UPS needs to know about a package in order to get it from Point A to B in the time frame requested by the customer. Obvious things such as the “Ship To Address” and the service level (e.g., UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air, etc.).
But UPS doesn't call the label smart for nothing. It also contains a host of information, imbedded in bar codes and the unique UPS “maxi code,” that ensure the package gets to its ultimate destination on time.

To manage their supply chains, customers need to be able to track their goods. The smart label denotes the “1Z” tracking number that enables customers to track packages online or via telephone as they move through the UPS delivery network.

So, how is the smart label generated? Customers can generate their own label via the Shipping function on UPS.com or by using any one of UPS's online products. Of course, smart labels can also be applied to packages customers take to any one of UPS's 70,000 access outlets, including The UPS Store. Today, more than 90 percent of all the packages traveling through the UPS delivery network are “smart.”

Optimizing the Delivery Network: Dispatch Planning
To optimize the “last mile” in its delivery network (the last mile being the package distribution center, including package delivery by a UPS driver), UPS developed a suite of package flow technologies and business processes that use smart labels to capture information about the package before it even gets to the center.

Using historical, forecasted and exceptions information, package flow technologies create a dispatch plan for every driver working out of the package distribution center. The system helps package center management ensure that drivers are not over-dispatched and that last minute load changes to a driver's package car are minimized. This is very important because, unlike other carriers, UPS delivers multiple services using the same driver.

A single UPS driver delivers overnight packages, collects COD payments and delivers ground packages to the commercial and residential customers on his/her route. This provides the customer with a consistent, reliable service provider and enables UPS to more fully and efficiently understand a customer's unique needs. Consequently, customer service is tied directly to UPS's ability to optimize its dispatch planning and loading plans.
Tracking a package is critical to the management of customer supply chains. Package flow technologies synchronize package information with UPS's corporate databases so that customers have the latest package tracking information available.

Can a Label Be a PAL?
The address information on the customer's package is validated and another label – called the Pre-Load Assist Label or PAL – is printed out in the package center. The label tells the package sorter which conveyor belt chute to place the package on for transport to the package car loading area. Once in the package car loading area, the PAL tells the loader the exact shelf location on the specific car where the package should be placed for optimum delivery.

Thanks to the smart label and the PLD information it contains, all the logistical details needed to determine the specific sorting and loading factors for a particular package are available before that package even gets to the center. The PAL is applied to the package when it physically enters the building.

The PAL is truly a “pal” to the UPS employee loading a package car and the UPS driver. Before the creation of the PAL, a UPS employee loading a package car had to memorize thousands of addresses. To ensure that a loader had correctly loaded the package car, a driver often had to spend valuable time checking and rearranging packages in the back of the package car in the order he/she felt would be the most optimum for delivery.

With package flow technologies, loaders no longer need to memorize vast address lists and drivers don't have to worry about shuffling packages around. The entire process is automated. The driver knows exactly how many packages are in the back of the package car and in what order all those packages need to be delivered to ensure that all customer service levels are met.

What part of the suite of package flow technologies does this? Meet EDD.

EDD – The UPS Driver's Best Friend
In 1991, UPS equipped drivers with DIADs (Delivery Information Acquisition Devices), the now famous brown, handheld computers. The company has systematically added improvements to the wireless DIAD since its creation. With the package flow technology suite, another enhancement was added to the DIAD – and the driver got a new best friend.

EDD (Enhanced DIAD Download) is a piece of internally-developed software that enables an electronic manifest to be downloaded into the driver's DIAD before the driver starts the work day. As a result, the driver now sees each scheduled package delivery displayed on the DIAD in the exact order of delivery needed to meet all the service requirements in the most efficient way.

But EDD goes one step further. If a driver is about to deliver a package to the wrong customer, or is forgetting to deliver one of a group of packages to a customer, the DIAD alerts the driver with an audible alarm.

It's All About the Customer
The end result of all these technology innovations is stellar customer service. While UPS has a history of excellent customer service, the company's philosophy of constructive dissatisfaction ensures that its daily operations are constantly evaluated to determine how technology or process changes can improve operations – and ultimately customer service. The suite of package flow technologies is evidence of this philosophy in practice.

In the case of the package flow technologies, UPS's constructive dissatisfaction will reap benefits to customers and company alike. Customers can confidently continue to enjoy the stellar customer service they've come to expect from UPS as well as ultimately take advantage of more customized service offers, such as in-transit rerouting – the ability to re-route the delivery of a shipment already on the road.

Once completely implemented in 2007, package flow technologies will reduce the mileage of package cars by more than 100 million miles each year and is expected to save UPS 14 million gallons of fuel annually. The environment becomes the real winner as this fuel savings translates into an annual reduction of 130,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

USPS HELPING MAKE APRIL 15 LESS TAXING

USPS HELPING MAKE APRIL 15 LESS TAXING. USPS customer care call centers will extend their hours today to help last-minute filers with questions about their nearest Post Office and its hours of operation. More than 500,000 callers are expected and almost 90% will hear the information they request from an agent within 20 seconds of dialing 1-800-ASK-USPS. “We might not be able to make it easier for you to complete your taxes, but the Postal Service does make it easier for you to meet the deadline,” Consumer Advocate Mike Spates said.

USPS: HATS OFF TO POTTER.

HATS OFF TO POTTER. “Every company executive who uses the mail should take his or her hat off to Postmaster General John E. Potter and his staff for reining in costs, reducing the size of the USPS’ labor force and managing operations.” So says DirectMarketing News Editor in Chief Tad Clarke in a DMNews editorial. Clark points out that USPS’ competitors have raised rates three times since 2002 and have imposed surcharges due to higher fuel costs — but thanks to PMG Potter and his staff, the Postal Service has not.

Clarke also says that, although a rate case is never welcome, “you have to admit that the Postal Service’s rate case . . . is overdue.” Clarke even points out that if Congress would remove the $3.1 billion escrow requirement, “we could see the rate increase disappear until 2007.”

USPS: ESCROW RATE CASE FILED

ESCROW RATE CASE FILED. The U.S. Postal Service filed a rate case with the Postal Rate Commission Friday seeking an expedited recommended decision to raise rates and fees 5.4% for most categories. The decision to seek a rate increase is due solely to the Public Law 108-18 requirement that the Postal Service establish a $3.1 billion escrow fund. The postage for a one-ounce piece of First-Class Mail would go from 37 to 39 cents in early 2006. Should legislation be enacted that eliminates the escrow funding requirement, this rate case will be withdrawn. Information on the filing can be found at usps.com/ratecase

Saxton Introduces Bill for Mail Delivery for Seniors

Saxton Introduces Bill for
Mail Delivery for Seniors

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With the U.S. Congress poised to consider postal reform legislation, Congressman Jim Saxton today introduced a bill to require the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail to the homes of senior citizens living in age-restricted developments.
"There’s a good chance postal reform may be taken up in the 109th Congess, and I want to make sure this bill is on the table," Saxton said.
Saxton has advocated legislation to require the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail directly to seniors’ door steps. His bill, introduced on the House floor last night, is H.R. 1475.
"Seniors who have to walk to get their mail can put their health at risk," said Saxton (NJ-3rd). "Icy walkways, curbs, leaves and snow pose dangers for seniors who are less mobile. One slip can lead to severe disability. It can end their independent living at home."
Saxton’s bill directs that housing facilities intended for seniors age 55 and up with at least 80 percent occupancy of seniors 55 and older to be serviced with door-to-door delivery. The postal service would plan its own means of implementation. Delivery would be required within six-months of enactment of the law.
The increasing popularity of senior communities in New Jersey and across the country means more and more seniors will be denied daily access to send or receive letters, pay their bills and do other business conducted through the mail.
"Daily mail can be a main source of communication with the outside world for older Americans," he said. "Mail order medicine, shopping, paying bills and other business is often done by mail."
As folks get older, they can have physical limitations that keep them from outdoor activities, particularly during inclement weather, Saxton said.
Senior citizens in the congressman’s Third Congressional District came up with the idea, and Saxton wants policy-makers at the Postal Service to consider their needs.

USPS WINS E-GOV AWARD.

USPS WINS E-GOV AWARD. The Postal Service is one of the top five “Excellence.Gov” agencies. USPS was recognized for demonstrating e-government best practices through online self-service applications including Confirm, Click-N-Ship and Carrier Pickup Online Notification. The Industry Advisory Council and the American Council for Technology made the award.