By Sheila Shayon / www.brandchannel.com / September 12th, 2016
United Parcel Service of America (UPS)—the world’s largest package delivery company—handles more than 18 million packages daily for 8.4 million customers across a footprint that covers 220 countries and territories.
The US-based company is looking grow even further by helping both businesses and individuals worldwide to “Navigate Tomorrow” by investing in smart logistics solutions such as its acquisition of Coyote Logistics, and finding applications for emerging technologies like drone deliveries that transport life-saving vaccines, while investing in software that improves customers’ experience with its core product set.
Known for its brown delivery trucks and uniforms that earned the brand the nickname “Brown,” 2015 UPS revenues were $58.4 billion and some key statistics show the company’s acumen as it fuels growth in global commerce.
To reposition itself as more than just a package deliverer, last year UPS rolled out a new United Problem Solvers campaign, which presented the company as a global supply chain specialist.
In August, UPS announced the expansion of collect on delivery (COD) service in Russia, enabling customers in about 400 cities to pay their UPS driver directly for goods.
That same month, the US Department of Energy awarded two grants to UPS to spur innovation and sustainability, and to promote more efficient cars and trucks.
The first grant, worth $1 million with a possible expansion to $10 million if the technology works well enough, will focus on developing a charger for electric trucks embedded in the ground flush with a UPS facility floor. The trucks would recharge like an electric toothbrush without metal to metal contact.
“This is a potential game-changer for our electric vehicles,” said UPS Automotive Director Mike Britt.
The second grant, worth up to $3 million, hits the restart button on sustainability and accountability for the industry and UPS, as it will focus on an exhaust system to lower the cost of cleaning up diesel emissions.
“As industry and policy makers look to identify sustainable solutions, grants such as the Department of Energy’s are an important building block for the next generation of technological advances,” said Britt. “They fuel the future of what’s possible—and stand to positively impact every community that UPS serves.”
UPS tracks on average 69.4 million online requests daily across 4,908 UPS Stores, 1,079 UPS Customer centers, 8,806 Authorized outlets, 38,114 UPS Drop Boxes and 24,000+UPS Access Point locations.
UPS set out to drive 1 billion miles in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles by the end of 2017, and has already surpassed that goal. Britt advocates “the greenest mile is the mile never driven.”
UPS maintains a core reliability of service and efficiency while pushing the edges of delivery and accountability worldwide. Innovation is in the brand’s DNA and inventions such as conveyer belt technology in the 1920s have shaped the industry and its enduring legacy of solving logistical problems.
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