Tag: UPS

Online sales ease crunch for U.S. package giants

Posted by | Nov 21, 2007 | |

The U.S. economy is being threatened by everything from the housing credit crunch to high gasoline prices, but John Nikolich has yet to see it.

Indeed, neither company seems to expect much beyond modest package volume growth.

Officials at UPS said in October that its growth this peak season would be slower than in the previous four years. FedEx last week cut its forecast for the company’s current quarter that ended Nov. 30, citing fuel costs and weak freight volumes in its trucking unit.

But the saving grace for this year’s peak season? While in-store retail sales will see slight growth, online sales are expected to rise at a far higher pace.

Although consulting firm TNS Retail Forward has projected the credit crunch will slow overall retail sales growth in November and December to 3.3 percent — the lowest since 2002 — bringing the total to some USD 471 billion.

Though still a small portion of that total, as in previous years online sales should grow much faster than in-store sales. TNS predicts they will jump 18.5 percent to nearly USD 42 billion.

“We do expect to see a rising percentage of package volumes coming from the e-commerce channel,” UPS spokesman Norman Black said. “This is a trend we’ve seen for some time and we don’t expect that to change. People like shopping online.”

In a press release on Oct. 29, FedEx CEO Fred Smith noted that despite slowing overall U.S. economic growth “e-commerce will continue to drive holiday spending” this year.
“Online sales should be a core component of the growth they (UPS and FedEx) are predicting,” S&P’s Corridore said.

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'Keep America Beautiful' awards UPS

Posted by | Nov 21, 2007 | |

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., the nation’s largest nonprofit community improvement organization, awarded UPS its 2007 Vision for America Award at the 22nd anniversary dinner in New York City Tuesday. Michael L. Eskew, Chairman and CEO of UPS, accepted the award on behalf of UPS’ more than 425,000 employees worldwide.

Keep America Beautiful recognized UPS one of the world’s most respected brands for its leadership role in volunteerism and environmental sustainability. The Vision for America Award is presented annually to distinguished leaders of honored corporations, whose personal and corporate commitment have significantly enhanced civic, environmental and social stewardship throughout the United States. Commissioner John J. Doherty of the New York City Department of Sanitation and Keep New York City Beautiful joined Keep America Beautiful in recognizing UPS and Eskew for this honor.

Another factor in KAB’s selection of UPS was the company’s commitment to volunteerism, and its direct support of KAB’s recent Volunteer Management program. Responding to a growing need to retain high-quality volunteers, KAB executive directors and volunteer leaders across the country were trained using course guides, Webinars and workshops funded by the UPS Foundation. Volunteerism is a critical part of the UPS culture. The company’s Neighbor to Neighbor employee volunteer program alone logs nearly 1 million hours each year and UPS, its employees and retirees, have been the top contributor to United Way for seven years.

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United Parcel Teamsters ratify new five-year contract

Posted by | Nov 20, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service Inc. workers represented by the Teamsters approved a five-year contract with annual wage and benefit increases of about 4.1 percent, the union said.

The agreement, reached Sept. 30, was ratified by 65 percent of Teamsters voting, union spokesman Bret Caldwell said today in an interview. Atlanta-based UPS, the world’s biggest package- shipping company, is the largest employer of Teamsters.

UPS and the Teamsters agreed on terms 10 months before the existing contract expires, early enough to assuage customers who might have shifted to rival shippers if there was danger of a strike. The agreement covers about 240,000 UPS drivers, clerks and package sorters.

UPS hasn’t disclosed its costs for the contract, which takes effect Aug. 1. In addition to the wage and benefit increase, Atlanta-based UPS agreed to pay USD 6.1 billion before taxes to withdraw from the Central States Fund, a multiemployer pension plan for 42,000 Teamster members.

Five contract supplements that affect local Teamster units were rejected, and negotiations on those will resume, the union said. The supplement votes don’t affect the national agreement.

UPS will pay about USD 3.9 billion after taxes to exit the Central States fund, analysts have estimated. The company wanted to leave the underfunded plan to gain stability in pension costs. It agreed to fully fund a new plan run by the company and the union.

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UPS employees approve National Master contract

Posted by | Nov 20, 2007 | |

UPS employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have voted to approve a new contract negotiated earlier this fall.

The UPS National Master Agreement was approved by 65 pct of the voting employees. The union today also informed the company that there were five local supplemental or rider agreements that did not receive a majority vote.

The Master contract, which covers approximately 240,000 full- and part-time package workers in the United States, was negotiated nearly a year in advance of the current contract’s expiration on July 31, 2008, and will extend contract coverage to July 31, 2013.

“We are gratified to hear that our Teamster-represented employees have approved the new National Master Agreement,” said Mike Eskew, UPS’s chairman and CEO. “Both sides now are committed to addressing any local issues as necessary. This is part of the normal process.”

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Express delivery industry to realise standardised operation

Posted by | Nov 14, 2007 | |

China’s express delivery industry has made considerable progress after 20 years of development since it was initiated in 1987. Statistics show there has been 2,422 legal enterprises engaged in express delivery service, with 227,000 employees by the end of 2006; a total of 1.06 billion pieces have been sent via express delivery, generating a total of revenue of RMB30 billion, which are 693 times and 375 times respectively the figures in 1987.

An overview of the development of express delivery industry shows that no matter the major industry players, staff or the total service amount, all of them have kept an annual growth of 20 percent. Express delivery industry sees rapid growth in scale, and the demand is very vast.

Furthermore, the express delivery industry also presents huge development potential and broad market prospect. The market share of express delivery in the economically developed eastern China has accounted above 2/3 of that national total. There are also broad markets on the secondary markets and in middle and western China

Express delivery companies have improved their service capabilities greatly. The housing construction area, production area, and the number of outlets owned by the express delivery companies have increased greatly, with a total of 50,000 sets of transport facilities. Moreover, the investment for computer and mobile phone has also significantly increased, attaining 53.1 percent and 119.8 percent respectively. Therefore, the informatisation processing level from mail collecting and sorting out, to mail delivery and inquiry service have been upgraded effectively, giving strong material support for the improvement of service capabilities of express delivery industry.

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