Trucking news: UPS Freight rolls out reliability guarantee service

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/6/2007

ATLANTA—Less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier UPS Freight—formerly Overnite Transportation—announced it has launched a reliability guarantee service, which, it said, promises shippers on-time delivery performance with no additional financial strings attached.

Effective, January 2, 2008, the on-time service promise will be available to LTL customers who ship using the current UPS Freight 560 tariff in the continental United States.  UPS said this new guarantee promises that customers can request a waiver of their freight charges if their shipment doesn’t arrive on time. UPS’ Freight 560 tariff is its zip-to-zip class rate that applies in the contiguous 48 states.

 UPS Freight Director of Media Relations Ira Rosenfeld told Logistics Management that there was “no need” to launch the reliability guarantee other than to reaffirm the company’s confidence in the reliability it has built into its network. “The company is truly putting its money where its mouth is,” said Rosenfeld.

He explained that since UPS purchased Overnite in 2005 and optimized its delivery network under the banner of UPS Freight, it has enhanced its service portfolio by investing in assets, people and technology to improve the customer experience.

“Specifically, we have equipped all of our drivers with the technology to provide customers with real-time visibility to follow their shipments from origin to destination,” explained Rosenfeld. “We have implemented a Dispatch Reservation system, to ensure pickups and deliveries; implemented UPS's QuantumView for shippers to more accurately plan for inbound and outbound shipments; invested in new trailers equipped with extensive decking systems and load bars to minimize the risk of damage.”

 Aside from the guarantee of on-time delivery at no extra cost, Rosenfeld stressed that this offering is the “reaffirmation that the quality of service and reliability long afforded to UPS small package customers and the guarantee small package offers its customers is now available for the first time in the LTL industry.”

Con-way does it, too:
While UPS claims that this guarantee is available for the first time, a Con-way Freight spokesperson told LM that Con-way has been offering this type of guarantee for more than seven years.

“In our case the customer has to be on the Con-way 599 Tariff,” said the spokesperson. “If the shipment moving under this tariff fails to meet the delivery commitment the customer can request the freight charges be rescinded. There is no extra charge for this service warranty.”
 
The spokesperson added that for more than five years Con-way Freight has offered its Guaranteed program to shippers, noting that under this program, which carries a 20 percent rate premium, if the shipment does not deliver on time the shipper gets an automatic $0.00 invoice.

“The shipper (or consignee) does not have to take any action, no claim or paperwork to file,” said the spokesperson. “The system removes the freight charges automatically if the transit time commitment is not met, and issues the shipper an invoice showing zero charges for the move.”