Trucking news: UPS Freight announces more transit time improvements

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 10/10/2008

RICHMOND, Va.—UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload (LTL) subsidiary of UPS, said this week it has improved transit times on more than 1,900 traffic lanes in eight western states. This represents the final phase of UPS’ 2008 network enhancements, according to a company statement.

In August UPS Freight improved transit times on more than 1,200 traffic lanes originating in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States—for two-day lanes from Chicago to Dallas, Boston to St. Louis, and Philadelphia to Miami. And in May, it launched reduced transit times on nearly 1,000 traffic lanes originating in metropolitan areas in the Southwest and Southeast regions of the U.S. to myriad domestic destinations. UPS said it has augmented transit time performance in roughly 12,000 lanes over the past 18 months, which provides shippers with faster service in two-thirds of all U.S. ZIP codes.

The latest enhancements, according to a company statement, reduce at least one day from transit times for shipments originating in service centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon and Washington, adding that specific enhancements include the following lanes: Denver to Miami; Portland, Ore., to Memphis, and Bakersfield, Calif., to Cleveland that are now part of UPS Freight’s three-day delivery schedule.

"As we improve the network's velocity we are allowing our customers to better serve their customers,” said UPS Freight spokesman Ira Rosenfeld in an interview earlier this year. "What you are seeing here is UPS's strong nationwide network getting that much stronger. It is a network enhancement project that had gone on for the past three years and continues. We will never stop looking to improve our product offering."

UPS Freight President Jack Holmes added in a statement that UPS is on a path to create a combination of reliability, technology and speed that no other competitor can match. He also noted that reducing transit times, guaranteeing deliveries and using advanced tracking technology all combine to provide maximum value for shippers.

UPS Freight Reliability Guarantee: The augmented transit times announced by UPS Freight today will be covered by its on-time performance guarantees.

These guarantees, which were introduced in November 2007 and took effect last January, promise shippers on-time delivery performance with no additional financial strings attached.The on-time service promise is for LTL customers who ship using the current UPS Freight 560 tariff in the continental United States.  UPS said the 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.

“The no-fee guarantee promises that [customers’ shipments] will get there on time…allowing customers to better control their inventory,” added Rosenfeld.  He also said that these transit time improvements, coupled with the reliability guarantee, give shippers the ability to take full advantage of UPS Freight’s capabilities as a regional and interregional carrier.