UPS has launched a new returns service to give businesses more control over their reverselogistics for high-priority products.
Called UPS Returns Exchange, the new service combines delivery and pick-up service, especiallytargeting shippers in the high-tech, healthcare and retail industries. It aims to make thereplacement of high-value products, such as electronics, more efficient, while enhancing thepost-sales experience for end customers. The new service will be available to customers in the US,Canada, Europe, Mexico and Puerto Rico in October.
With the new solution, a UPS driver delivers a replacement item while simultaneously retrievingthe item marked for return, such as a defective laptop computer. The driver assists the customer inpacking the return item in the box used for the replacement, to ship it back to the originalcompany. UPS tracking tools link the replacement and return shipments, providing end-to-endvisibility of the entire transaction, and customers receive a pre-alert the day beforedelivery.
Geoff Light, vice president of new product development at UPS, said: “This innovative servicebrings our expertise in shipping and reverse logistics straight to the customer’s door, giving themthe advantages of speed and convenience. UPS Returns Exchange enables a company to increasecustomer satisfaction by providing rapid replacement of an important item while improving thecompany’s bottom line.”
In addition to improving the customer experience, UPS Returns Exchange aims to reduce costs, cutCO2 emissions and optimise inventory management, through improved visibility of the return andrepair process. For example, those shippers who today send empty boxes to customers and thendispatch UPS a second time to retrieve an item no longer will have to take that first step,eliminating one delivery and saving fuel and cutting emissions. In addition, waste is reduced byreusing the packaging of the replacement item for the return shipment. By ensuring that the returnitem is properly packaged, UPS translates damage reduction into cost savings and also ensuresresponsible disposal of items beyond repair.
