UPS Mail Innovations Expands in US to Meet Increasing Demand

To meet increasing customer demand for expedited mail services, UPS Mail Innovations (NYSE: UPS) has opened new facilities in Hartford, Conn., and Chicago to strengthen its nationwide infrastructure.

The Hartford facility, which opened in January, brings to 11 the number of processing facilities now operating across the country. The Chicago facility opened last October as part of a network expansion that began in early 2003 with a new facility on Long Island. The growing network allows mail volume to be spread more evenly across the country and provides the added flexibility to handle larger volumes within any one location.

UPS Mail Innovations helps its customers accelerate the delivery of standard mail – pieces weighing less than one pound such as flats and bound printed matter – by participating in a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) work-share program. By sorting, weighing and applying postage, then moving the volume to a Postal Service facility near the final destination, UPS Mail Innovations provides companies access to lower postage rates with time-in-transit comparable to First Class plus one day.

“This new year is off to a solid start,” said Steven McNutt, general manager of UPS Mail Innovations. “We’re building on the momentum of 2003, which saw a number of significant achievements including the doubling of our sales force, improving overall time-in-transit, doubling our volume and receiving Mail Quality Control (MQC) certification from the U.S. Postal Service for our entire operations support team.”

The MQC program is a U.S. Postal Service program designed to help increase knowledge of proper mail piece design and to support a goal of achieving 100 percent automation compatibility.

The Chicago facility, which opened months ahead of schedule, greatly improves UPS Mail Innovations’ ability to handle increased volume into and out of the Midwest. The facility already has positively affected the processing schedule within the company’s Great Lakes region, which covers portions of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The Chicago location now is within same-day reach of 60 U.S. Postal Service facilities. The Hartford processing center helps Mail Innovations optimize its transportation network in the Northeast and improve time-in-transit for customers since the facility is located with same-day reach of 21 U.S. Postal Service facilities.

“Serving these markets is of major importance to our clients and the opening of these three processing centers within a year demonstrates the priority we attach to providing the quickest and most efficient service possible,” said McNutt.

UPS Mail Innovations, a unit of UPS, helps customers expedite the movement of business mail, primarily flats and bound printed matter, by utilizing a network of 11 processing centers and advanced technology. It can be found on the web at upsmailinnovations.com.

UPS is the world’s largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information and funds. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS’s stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (UPS) and the company can be found on the Web at UPS.com.