UPS pushes envelope on downtown service
Starting late last month, UPS began cutting nearly one hour off its morning delivery time for overnight mail guaranteed to arrive in downtown Cleveland by 10:30 a.m.
So instead of an average arrival time of 9:45 a.m., packages delivered by UPS are being signed for, on average, at 8:50 a.m., said Tom Nolte, director of sales for the Northern Ohio district of UPS.
The expedited delivery targets three downtown ZIP codes and comes with no additional guarantee, but with no additional cost either. It’s the first such initiative throughout the UPS system, Nolte said, and it’s designed to capture more office business from places like banks, law firms and insurance companies that rely heavily on overnight correspondence.
If it works in Cleveland, it could be rolled out in other cities. UPS has added 13 part-time delivery personnel and redeployed six of its signature brown trucks to allow for earlier deliveries. But the process really begins at company hubs in Louisville, Ky., and Rockford, Ill., where packages destined for downtown Cleveland are sorted and packed inside igloo-shaped containers that conform to the insides of UPS cargo planes.
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