New UPS offering allows shippers to go "paperless"

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 10/5/2007

ATLANTA—In an effort to expand its cross-border shipping processes and operations, UPS announced earlier this week that in January it will be rolling out  paperless international shipping services, entitled UPS Paperless Invoice and UPS Returns, which, it said, will provide shippers with a paperless international shipping option and package return capabilities to nearly 100 countries and territories.

The company said that UPS Paperless Invoice is geared for shippers sending small packages internationally in a “paperless” manner, in which it will leverage various technologies to integrate order processing, shipment preparation and commercial invoice data, which is then transmitted to global customs offices and removing the need for paper commercial invoices.

UPS Returns, according to the company, is the first offering that will allow shippers receiving packages to efficiently return them to 98 countries and territories. With this service, UPS said shippers can receive an international label return and commercial invoice via e-mail, local post or UPS driver picking up a return package. UPS Returns can be accessed through UPS’ proprietary UPS WorldShip or UPS Internet Shipping platforms.

A UPS spokeswoman told Logistics Management that roughly 550,000 customers utilize WorldShip. And with the new release of WorldShip in January 2008, UPS Paperless Invoice will be an automatic option for a shipper using the software to process an international shipment, according to the spokeswoman. This system provides shippers with screens to walk the customer through the information required to complete the commercial invoice. And she added that the user is prompted if required information fields are incomplete, and the program won't allow the user to "submit" the electronic form until it is complete. Once submitted, the electronic forms enter the UPS data network, and UPS forwards the electronic information on to the appropriate customs agencies.  typically for pre-clearance of the goods, she said. If the destination country is not equipped to process the forms electronically, UPS will process the shipment as it currently does with paper forms.

A major driver for UPS to introduce these new offerings is the fact that international shipping is at an all-time high as the Internet and other technologies have made the world smaller, said the spokeswoman.

“UPS alone ships about three-quarters of a million small packages across borders on an average day,” she said, “but the documentation needed to ship internationally is very complicated. International shipments often require commercial invoices that detail specific information about the goods being shipped—information like the country of origin, material composition, quanity, and, of course, the value of the goods.”

What’s more, the spokeswoman said, is that the main reason packages gets delayed in customs is because of missing or incomplete paperwork, which is an “industry-wide issue”—not just a UPS issue.

Before announcing these new services, about 8 out of 10 UPS customers surveyed, noted the spokeswoman, said the a paperless invoice process would be very "appealing" and if such a process existed, they would be "like to use" it. 

“International shippers of all sizes will certainly benefit from this capability, but small-to-medium sized business will find it particularly helpful as the complicated documentation associated with shipping cross border has been a barrier to trade for these businesses,” said the UPS spokeswoman.

Other benefits cited by the spokeswoman were: allowing shippers to save time, money, and paper; reducing staff time spent on customs paperwork; allowing shipments to clear customs using first-generation electronic data instead of paper forms that may be more prone to error; allowing shippers to leverage a system used to process a shipment won't allow them to submit incomplete customs paperwork; and allow importers to keep the customs value confidential when their suppliers ship goods directly to their end customers, among others.