newsworthy
UPS Inc. said it will launch a product returns service that, for the first time in
North America, will allow shippers to receive a replacement item while simultaneously tendering the product marked for return to the same driver. The new
service will begin in October.
The service, called UPS Returns Exchange, will be the first on the continent to
combine delivery and pickup services to support reverse logistics operations,
according to the Atlanta-based transport and logistics giant. It is primarily
aimed at businesses in the high-tech, electronics, and retail industries, which
handle high-value products requiring special attention and handling, said
Sumeet Shroff, UPS’s director of new product development.
Under the new service, a UPS driver will deliver a replacement item while at the
same time retrieving the item designated for return. The driver will help the customer unpack the replacement product and then will wrap the returned item in
the same packaging before sending it back to the shipper through the UPS system.
These added steps will not compromise the carrier’s performance to tightly
engineered time standards, Shroff said. “I can guarantee that we can do this very,
very efficiently. We’ve built in appropriate time allocations to account for this. It
is not going to have any measurable impact on the overall efficiency of opera-
tions or on other schedules.”
UPS said shippers that use the service would no longer need to first send an
empty box for the customer to pack a return, thus cutting down on packaging
material waste. In addition, the risk of further product damage should be
reduced because a UPS driver is overseeing the return’s packing and handling,
the company added.
The company said its tracking technology links the replacement and return
shipments, providing real-time end-to-end visibility of the entire transaction.
This allows shippers with sophisticated information systems to track transactions that typically are handled separately as a single movement, Shroff said. It
also enables further automation of the returns management process by allowing
shippers to automatically issue credit to customers as soon as the driver scans the
returned item. In addition, shippers can automatically send an alert by voice, e-mail, or text message the day before the driver is scheduled to arrive, he said.
UPS Returns Exchange will be rolled out this fall in the United States, Canada,
Mexico, Europe, and Puerto Rico. For several years, UPS and some of its rivals
have offered a similar “swap” service in Europe, where packaging waste is highly
regulated.
—Mark Solomon and Toby Gooley
UPS to launch returns/exchange service
“
”
they said it:
We polled our operations folks, and we do
not see any general slowdown. Most [customers]
are steady, some up and some down a little. Mostly,
we are concerned that all the talk of a slowdown or
double dip could be self-fulfilling.
—Ben Cubitt, senior vice president, consulting and engineering, Transplace
A move by the trucking industry to
use hair follicle samples to screen
prospective drivers for drug use
could reduce an already-inadequate
driver pool by up to 15 percent, a
driver compensation expert said.
