UPS has launched a new cost-effective and convenient ‘green’ pickup option for small- tomedium-sized businesses improving the company’s carbon footprint.
The industry-first application UPS Smart Pickup is designed for customers who want theconvenience of a scheduled pickup but who may not ship a package every day. The service uses UPStechnology to ensure that a UPS driver stops at a customer location to pick up a package only whena package is, in fact, being shipped.
UPS Smart Pickup is expected to eliminate 8 million miles from the total driven by UPS each yearin the United States and will save an estimated 793,000 gallons of fuel and 7,800 metric tonnes ofCO2 emissions.
“Before UPS Smart Pickup, UPS would often arrive at a customer’s location only to discover thatthe customer had no packages for pickup that day,” said Chief Information Officer David Barnes. Forthe first time, a UPS service integrates the company’s operational and customer-facing technologyto eliminate unnecessary stops.”
“UPS Smart Pickup is particularly compelling for customers who are interested in cost-effectiveways to make environmentally responsible choices, while at the same time helping UPS reduce milesand lessen our carbon footprint,” Barnes added.
For customers, the entire process is convenient, automated and transparent. A customer uses aUPS shipping system, such as UPS WorldShip 2010, UPS CampusShip or UPS Internet Shipping, toprocess a package prior to a predetermined cut-off time. That shipping system then communicateswith internal operations systems at UPS to notify drivers via their wireless, handheld computersthat a pickup is required. The result is that a pickup is only scheduled when a customer processesa package in a UPS shipping system. The weekly flat fee for UPS Smart Pickup is $10.
UPS Smart Pickup is the latest in a series of UPS’s Decision Green efforts and one of the threeEnhanced Pickup Options that leverage UPS technology to provide more flexible, personalisedcustomer service. Other two options include Day-Specific Pickup for customers who need a scheduledpickup only on specific days of the week, and Daily On-Route Pickup allowing for customer’spackages to be picked up at the same time a UPS driver delivers packages to that customer.
Regardless of which scheduled Pickup Option customers choose, they don’t need to make any phonecalls or requests online as scheduled pickups occur automatically. The same driver will stop asscheduled whether a ground, air or international shipment needs to be picked up.
In addition, UPS still provides a UPS On-Call Pickup service for those customers who don’t needa scheduled pick up. The option is ideal for customers who ship infrequently; travelling businessusers, or customers arranging for UPS Returns services.
