UPS alert service aims to reduce missed deliveries
UPS has launched a new service in the United States that promises to make life easier for consumers on the receiving end of a home delivery. The integrator has launched UPS My Choice, a membership-based service that will call, email or text consumers the day before their package or document arrives, and allow them to choose a four-hour delivery window.
It also offers the ability to re-route packages for a $5 fee to another address or a UPS Store, and release a signature-only delivery electronically.
UPS said a premium version of the service is also available, for a $40 annual fee, which will allow consumers to choose a two-hour delivery window. A $5 fee is then charged if the delivery is made within that two-hour window.
The UPS My Choice service will be of particular interest to online shoppers, for whom the convenience of buying on the internet can be negated by having to take a day off work to receive the item.
As it launched the new offering just ahead of the build-up to the festive season, UPS noted that US online sales enjoyed a 12% growth last year.
As internet commerce grows, the carrier said package deivery was becoming an “important element” of the full customer experience.
“Our shippers view package delivery as a critical piece of the customer experience,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS’s chief marketing officer.
“UPS My Choice is a great stride forward in improving the convenience and flexibility of home delivery. We are extending our passion for logistics to residential customers through the introduction of this service.”
“Revolutionary”
UPS, which delivers to 100m addresses in the US, said it has been building its technological infrastructure for several years to help consumers manage their own deliveries.
UPS My Choice comes as the next step after the company’s UPS Delivery Intercept service, launched in 2007 to allow shippers to re-direct their shipments before their delivery.
“UPS My Choice is the extension of sophisticated logistics down to the individual consumer,” said UPS Chairman and CEO Scott Davis. “It’s the revolutionary next step in a technology drive that has transformed UPS’s ability to control the flow of packages around the world.”
Television shopping channel QVC is already on board with the new UPS My Choice service.
John Hunter, QVC executive vice president for customer fulfillment services, said: “We know our customers will appreciate and embrace the flexibility to make alternate delivery arrangements and assure their QVC purchases arrive at a time that works within their busy schedules.”
