UPS Adds Photo ID Requirement for Retail Shipping

(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its ongoing review to enhance security, UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced it is expanding its policy to require customers who ship packages from retail shipping locations to present a government-issued photo ID for verification of identification. The directive will apply at The UPS Store ® and Mail Boxes Etc. ® locations as well as authorized shipping outlets worldwide.

Consumers who tender a shipment through any retail access location and do not already have a pre-printed shipping label attached will have to present a government-issued photo ID or they will not be allowed to use UPS services. The ID policy has been in place at UPS Customer Centers since 2005.

Valid forms of identification in the U.S. include a current state-issued driver’s license or Department of Motor Vehicles ID card, U.S. or foreign government-issued passport, U.S. Permanent Resident card, U.S. military identification or a Native American Tribal photo identification card. Qualifying documentation may vary by country at international retail locations.

“Since retail centers experience a significant increase in business from occasional shippers during the busy holidays, this enhancement adds a prudent step in our multi-layered approach to security,” said Dale Hayes, UPS vice president of small business and retail marketing. “The safety and security of our customers, business partners and employees is our highest priority and UPS will continue to implement additional security precautions as necessary.”

UPS (NYSE:UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at UPS.com and its corporate blog can be found at blog.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.

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UPS Offers Shippers “Green” Option to Offset Carbon Dioxide

(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE:UPS) today became the first small package carrier to offer its customers the ability to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the transport of their packages within the United States.

Under the UPS carbon neutral program, UPS will offer U.S. shippers the option of paying a small fee to calculate and offset the climate impact of the shipment of each of their packages. Detailed information about UPS carbon neutral services is available at www.ups.com/carbonneutral.

The per-package price for the optional service is $0.05 for UPS Ground services and $0.20 for UPS Next Day Air®, UPS 2nd Day Air® and UPS 3 Day Select® services. Based on customer feedback, a flat fee is used to make it simple and convenient for those wishing to participate. The price includes the cost of calculation, administrative costs associated with the service and the cost of the offsets.

Offsets will be purchased based on the carbon associated with participating customer shipments. To encourage customers to participate in this flat fee program, UPS will match the offset purchases, effectively doubling the offsets purchased in 2009-2010, up to $1 million.

The calculation to measure the CO2 impact of the customers’ shipments is based on a variety of current and historical operational data, including distance and transport mode. UPS’s calculation methodology and processes are verified by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), an inspection, verification, testing and certification company. The calculator is based on Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international standard for carbon accounting and reporting. In addition, the carbon offset process is also certified by The CarbonNeutral Company.

“Our customers told us they wanted an easy, credible way to join us in our efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their supply chains,” said Bob Stoffel, senior vice president, engineering, strategy, supply chain and sustainability. “These services complement UPS’s own sustainability efforts while offering customers a new option to address the environmental challenges of their supply chains.”

The UPS carbon neutral service initially is available to the roughly 1 million U.S. customers who use UPS Internet Shipping with their UPS account number. UPS plans to extend the program to other UPS customers in 2010.

UPS Internet Shipping users simply check a box for carbon neutral shipping when they near the completion of their transaction on ups.com. UPS then will purchase high-quality certified carbon offsets. Initially, these will include offsets certified to the “Gold Standard,” “Voluntary Carbon Standard” or “Climate Action Reserve.”

In a second, related move, UPS also announced a carbon analysis service for its high-volume customers. Under this plan, available only on a contract basis, UPS will calculate the carbon impact of a customer’s entire UPS shipping activity. The calculations then can be used by the shipper to purchase offsets directly or through UPS. The proprietary calculator used for this service also is verified by SGS.

“We believe these steps are important not just for UPS, but also for our customers,” Stoffel noted. “Our global economy depends upon reliable transportation, so we all have a responsibility to do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint on the environment.”

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UPS Launches Global Initiative to Improve Disaster Response

(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiative to improve the capabilities of relief organizations to respond to global emergencies.

The effort, which will involve both UPS and The UPS Foundation, begins with a commitment of up to $9 million over the next two years in the form of substantial financial grants, in-kind services and the deployment of logistics expertise. The commitment will support some of the world’s most respected relief organizations, including the American Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, CARE and the Aidmatrix Foundation.

“This broad strategy for global disaster preparedness and response extends well beyond traditional financial support,” said Ken Sternad, president of The UPS Foundation. “We are combining our supply chain expertise, our assets and linking our key partners to enable more effective response to global emergencies.”

Hundreds of millions of lives are affected daily by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. According to UNICEF, in the last decade an estimated 20 million children have been forced to flee their homes and more than 1 million have been orphaned or separated from their families as a result of these tragedies. “If UPS can impact even a small percentage of these disasters that are happening daily somewhere around the world, this initiative will have been a success,” added Sternad.

UPS and The UPS Foundation announced the multi-faceted strategy at the Clinton Global Initiative’s (CGI) 2009 Annual Meeting today, where the company was recognized for its CGI “Commitment to Action.”

In launching the initiative, UPS and The UPS Foundation announced major donations to organizations committed to disaster preparedness and relief. They include:

* A $500,000 cash and in-kind donation to the American Red Cross to provide logistics, shipping and warehouse support, enabling the Red Cross to strategically preposition supplies to more effectively respond to the needs of those affected by disasters.
* A two-year, $1 million commitment to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, including a grant to strengthen UNICEF’s emergency response capacity for its disaster preparedness program in the Asia-Pacific region. That program is particularly designed to protect the 580 million children who live there. Separately, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF recently announced that Dan Brutto, president of UPS International, had joined its Board of Directors.
* Collaboration support for CARE and Aidmatrix to establish integrated and standardized supply chain management systems. The UPS Foundation is supporting CARE with a $250,000 cash grant for the use of Aidmatrix technology that will enhance CARE’s ability to track relief supplies and the hiring of a logistics professional to manage CARE’s global supply chain. Also, UPS logistics experts are on the ground to help implement these improvements.
* Expansion of the UPS commitment to the Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) initiative that provides logistics experts to the World Food Programme. LETs operate in support of the United Nations Logistics cluster following natural disasters and consist of logistics experts who deploy within 48-to-72 hours for three-to-six weeks in the aftermath of major natural disasters. Twenty UPS employees will be trained and available globally as LETs responders.
* A $250,000 grant to Aidmatrix to help fund the international expansion of the organization’s transportation aid relief program. UPS is matching this grant with $250,000 in donated transportation.
* A $50,000 grant to Safe America for its program encouraging American families to conduct “communication drills” and other activities as part of an annual rehearsal for a natural disaster or emergency.

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UPS Bailout Opposed by FedEx Express

(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Parcel Service – the 100-year-old company that operated for decades as a parcel-delivery monopoly – is quietly seeking a Congressional bailout designed to limit competition for overnight deliveries, leaving Americans with less reliable next-day delivery network for critical goods like medicines and essential inventory, according to "BrownBailout.com” and a public-education campaign launched today by the creator of the overnight delivery, FedEx Express.

The focus of the campaign is the 230-word bailout to UPS written into the voluminous FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 currently before Congress that would force FedEx Express – UPS’ primary competitor for next-day deliveries – to operate under a law not designed for airlines and express companies.

“In 1997 UPS experienced a system-wide strike that crippled business and commerce across America. Now it wants Congress to expose FedEx Express to that risk,” said Maury Lane, FedEx Express spokesperson. “America relies too much on the reliability and dependability of the FedEx Express overnight-delivery network, and we can’t allow this bailout to pass only because UPS wants to harm its main competitor.”

UPS and FedEx Express are fundamentally different companies. UPS – the largest political giver to Congress over the decades – is a trucking company, shipping 85 percent of its parcels on the ground. FedEx Express is an airline, flying 85 percent of its packages in the air.

“The operations of an overnight airline and that of a traditional trucking company are radically different. You can’t shoehorn an airline into trucking company’s rules and still expect critical packages to arrive within hours on the other side of the country,” Lane said. “UPS is making a problem where one doesn’t exist. This is a bailout, plain and simple, and the American people won’t stand for it.”

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UPS Completes Deployment of 300 New “Green” Trucks

-(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE: UPS) yesterday announced it had deployed 300 new delivery trucks powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to seven cities in Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma and California.

The CNG vehicles, part of an order placed last May, will allow UPS to further reduce its dependence on traditional fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel and lower its carbon footprint. UPS already operates the largest private fleet of alternative fuel vehicles in its industry – 1,819 in total with these additions.

The new CNG trucks have been deployed over the past month to Denver (43); Atlanta (46); Oklahoma City (100), and four cities in California: Sacramento (21), San Ramon (63), Los Angeles (9) and Ontario (18). All now are in service.

“Deploying alternative fuel vehicles dates back to the early days of UPS and this CNG deployment is one more step towards the greening of our fleet,” said Robert Hall, UPS’s director of vehicle engineering. “Continuing to add CNG delivery trucks to our fleet is a sustainable choice because natural gas is a cost effective, clean-burning and readily available fuel.”

UPS first began deploying trucks powered by CNG in the 1980s, purchasing traditional gas- or diesel-driven vehicles and then converting them to run on compressed gas. The 300 trucks deployed over the past month were built from scratch as CNG vehicles. They join more than 800 CNG vehicles already in use by UPS worldwide.

The CNG truck bodies are identical externally to the signature-brown trucks that comprise the UPS fleet. Marked with decals as CNG vehicles, the trucks are expected to yield a 20 percent emissions reduction over the cleanest diesel engines available in the market today.

For its alternative fuel fleet, UPS has deployed CNG, Liquefied Natural Gas, propane, electric and hybrid electric vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Brazil, Chile, Korea and the United Kingdom. The company recently announced the purchase of seven hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicles, a first in the industry, and has conducted research with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

UPS began deploying alternative fuel vehicles in the 1930s with a fleet of electric trucks that operated in New York City. Just since 2000, the company’s “green fleet” has traveled 144 million miles.

“Deploying eco-friendly delivery vehicles is one of the many ways UPS demonstrates its commitment to sustainable business practices,” added Hall. “The company plans to continue to expand its ‘green fleet’ and to focus deployments in areas with air quality challenges.”

UPS pursues a wide range of socially responsible and sustainable business practices designed to reduce its impact on the environment and improve communities around the world. UPS is included in the Dow Jones and FTSE4Good Sustainability Indexes, which evaluate corporations based on economic, environmental and social criteria. Learn more about UPS's responsible business practices at www.sustainability.ups.com.

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UPS Making It Even Easier to Return Retail Goods

(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE:UPS) is piloting a new returns service with a few pre-selected retailers that allows consumers to return items shipped via UPS by placing them in their own mailboxes for pickup by the U.S. Postal Service® (USPS).

Known as UPS Returns® Flexible Access, the offering uses the USPS Parcel Return Service® combined with UPS’s own delivery network to allow retailers to provide their customers with increased convenience in returning items. Consumers in the pilot program receive special package labels that allow them to leave a UPS Returns® package in their own mailbox or other location for their postal carrier to pick up. They also can drop the package off at their local Post Office™ or in postal collection boxes.

Once a returns package arrives at the local post office, a UPS driver picks it up and transports the package back to the retailer via the UPS ground network.

The combination of USPS options with the traditional UPS access channels -- The UPS Store®, UPS drop boxes, UPS customer centers, third-party retailers (Office Depot, Staples, Authorized Shipping Outlets) and UPS drivers -- creates the most extensive network of package pickup options available to the consumer today.

“This is a potential game-changer for consumer-to-business returns,” said John Sutthoff, UPS vice president of global marketing and supply chain strategy. “UPS already offers the industry’s most extensive returns portfolio and adding the unmatched convenience of allowing consumers to use the U.S. Postal Service’s more than 160 million access points – including their own homes – creates an unparalleled returns service.”

Among retailers participating in the pilot is Buy Seasons, Inc., the world’s largest retailer and supplier of costumes, accessories, seasonal décor and party supplies on the Internet. The pilot is expected to last about five months. UPS will work closely with the pilot customers and the USPS to determine when and if the service will be made available to other retailers on a more widespread basis.

“Working with UPS on this extension of Parcel Return Service brings together the best of both companies, leveraging the Postal Service’s unparalleled reach to every address in the United States,” said Jim Cochrane, vice president of Ground Shipping for the Postal Service. “The added value of high visibility and the convenience of the most extensive network of drop-off and pick-up options available in the consumer market today make this service unbeatable.”

According to a study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by UPS, online retailers with generous returns policies have a competitive advantage over those retailers who install “gates” in their process. The study found that companies with more generous policies, in the long term, have the ability to grow sales, generate loyalty and drive incremental revenue for retailers with a web presence. In fact, 81 percent of consumers contacted for the study agreed with the statement, ‘If an online retailer makes it easier for me to return a product, I am more likely to buy from that retailer.’

UPS’s current returns portfolio offers shippers several advantages to meet their specific requirements, including:

* The industry’s most extensive returns label generation and delivery options. Last year, the company introduced international UPS Returns, allowing customers to efficiently return purchased items from 98 countries or territories around the globe. The service is available within the UPS Shipping Tool, an application program interface (API) that enables customers to integrate them into their own Web sites and enterprise applications.
* Better time-in-transit than traditional returns consolidators.
* A consistent, reliable transportation network.
* Visibility and tracking of in-transit returns for both the retailer and end-customer.

The new returns service is not the first example of UPS working with the USPS for the benefit of mutual business customers. Since 2001, UPS Mail Innovations has helped companies more efficiently and effectively move mail while achieving the maximum postage savings possible.

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UPS Sets 2009 Rates

(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE:UPS) today (October 17, 2008) released new list rates for 2009, including an average increase of 5.9 percent for UPS Ground packages and an average net increase of 4.9 percent on all air express and U.S. origin International shipments.

UPS Freight announced a general rate increase of 5.9% for 2009.

The rate increase for air express and international shipments is based on a 6.9 percent increase in the base rate, less a 2 percent reduction in the air and international fuel surcharge index.

The new rates will take effect on Jan. 5, 2009.

Updated rate and service information will be posted on ups.com/rates beginning Oct. 24, 2008. On Dec. 18, customers can download the 2009 Rate and Service Guide on the site.

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UPS Joins EPA’s ''Climate Leaders'' Program

(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its continued commitment to sustainable business practices, UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced its participation in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program.

UPS is the first shipping company to join the program.

Climate Leaders is an industry/government partnership that works with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. Partner companies commit to reducing their impact on the global environment by completing a corporate-wide inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, setting aggressive reduction goals and annually reporting their progress to the EPA.

“Our decision to join the Climate Leaders program is just the latest demonstration of a long commitment by UPS to operating in an environmentally responsible way,” said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and CEO. “UPS has been investing in more efficient technologies for more than 80 years and already leads the industry in fuel and energy conservation.”

Over the past few years, Davis noted, UPS has:

* Operated the largest private fleet of alternative fuel vehicles in the transportation industry and in 2008, purchased 500 additional hybrid electric (HEV) and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.
* Optimized its delivery routes using technology to minimize left-hand turns, saving the company 3 million gallons of fuels in 2007.
* Minimized fuel use in airline operations by reducing the number of engines used during taxiing and deploying a new flight planning system to calculate the most efficient routes based on weather, terrain, winds and other factors.

“EPA applauds our corporate partners who are reducing their climate footprints in cost-effective ways,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “Not only is UPS contributing to this country’s energy independence, UPS is proving that businesses can save green by going green.”

UPS has been a long-time partner of many voluntary programs sponsored by the EPA. These include a charter partner of the SmartWay Transport Partnership program in 2003, the Green Power Partnership, Waste Wise and the Energy Star program. Later this week, UPS will receive the EPA’s SmartWay Environmental Excellence Award for its leadership in conserving energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

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UPS Offers More Air Pickup Options for Urgent Business Needs

BUSINESS WIRE --UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced significant enhancements to its UPS On-Call Pickup^sm service in the United States for air packages, providing customers even more options for today’s urgent business demands.

UPS has made On-Call Pickup service for air packages available for the first time in more than 4,000 ZIP codes, and air pickup times have been extended in nearly 6,000 ZIP codes. Together, the enhancements represent improved service for 26 percent of all U.S. businesses.

The enhancements were completed last month and provide customers without a daily scheduled pickup even more flexibility to meet critical deadlines. UPS On-Call Pickup now is available for same-day pickup in most parts of the country. A driver also can be called to make a pickup later in the day even after a regularly scheduled daily pickup.

Customers can have air, ground or international shipments picked up from their home or office simply by scheduling online at UPS.com or by calling 1-800-PICK-UPS.

In addition to more on-call pickup options, there are more than 4,400 The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations in the United States offering packaging expertise along with access to the global UPS network. Customers also can easily locate one of the roughly 40,000 UPS Drop Boxes maintained throughout the country. UPS drop boxes can be located under the “Locations” tab at www.ups.com.

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. With more than a century of experience in transportation and logistics, UPS is a leading global trade expert equipped with a broad portfolio of solutions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at UPS.com.
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New UPS Services Making It Easier to Go Global, Go Green

BUSINESS WIRE--As U.S. businesses face challenges associated with a sluggish domestic economy, many are looking to markets overseas. Two technology-enabled services from UPS (NYSE:UPS) are making it easier than ever for businesses large and small to expand beyond U.S. shores -- and helping them go green while they’re at it.

Introduced in January, the industry-first solutions -- UPS Paperless^sm Invoice and international UPS Returns® -- now are available within the UPS Shipping Tool, an application program interface (API) that enables customers to integrate them into their own web sites and enterprise applications. They’re already helping thousands of UPS customers manage shipments to 98 countries and territories around the world via UPS shipping systems like UPS WorldShip®, UPS CampusShip™ and UPS Internet Shipping.

"It’s more important than ever for small- and medium-sized companies to look at global markets and to leverage technology to act ‘big,’ even as they retain the flexibility of a smaller company," said Jordan Colletta, UPS vice president of customer technology marketing. "With the spotlight on operational costs, these UPS services allow businesses of all sizes to overcome some of the complications of operating internationally in a cost-effective manner."

UPS Paperless Invoice

UPS Paperless Invoice, the only solution of its kind offered by transportation carriers today, saves time, money and trees. Since its introduction in January, customers with shipments originating in more than 30 countries have processed hundreds of thousands of “go paperless” shipments.

The free-of-charge solution enables customers to increase efficiency by integrating order processing, shipment preparation and commercial invoice data. It then transmits that data to customs offices across the globe electronically, eliminating the need for error-prone or incomplete paper documentation that is the main reason international shipments are delayed.

Because information is stored electronically, customers greatly reduce their chance of making manual errors filling out Customs documentation, and the tech-enabled service prevents them from submitting incomplete paperwork that could result in a shipment being held for clearance.

Paperless Invoice simplifies international shipping for UPS customers like hip consulting group, a Denver-based event management company, and PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services of Alpharetta, Ga.

"Using UPS Paperless Invoice has saved us a lot of time and resources, especially with the amount of international business we do," said Becky Furstenberg, hip consulting group office manager. "It’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about that piece of the puzzle anymore and as a company trying to ‘go green,’ it’s a bonus not having to waste so much paper." Hip estimates it saves a ream of paper on a monthly basis as a result of UPS Paperless Invoice.

Steve Hochradel, assistant vice president of distribution at PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services, described the old system of keying in information, printing three copies of the commercial invoice and stuffing them in a clear plastic pouch as “manual and tedious.”

“What was taking 20 seconds is now less than five with UPS Paperless Invoice,” Hochradel said. “When you look at a peak volume of more than 3,000 international shipments per day, and saving 15 seconds on each, that’s a lot of time and a lot of money. That frees up a couple of people.”

In addition, eliminating multiple printed copies saves PBD about two pallets of copy paper per year and about 150 toner cartridges. “That adds up to several thousand dollars, a bunch of trees and eliminates concerns over disposal of toner cartridges,” Hochradel added.

UPS Returns

Many companies hesitate to sell globally over the Internet because of the difficulty of facilitating a return if a customer is not satisfied.

Another first-to-market solution, UPS Returns allows customers to efficiently return purchased items from 98 countries or territories around the globe. Now, business and residential customers can receive the international return label and commercial invoice via e-mail, local post or from the UPS driver picking up the return package.

UPS Returns is easily accessed via UPS shipping systems like UPS WorldShip or UPS Internet Shipping and also can be integrated into a company's systems or Web site.

"Before UPS Returns, many of our international returns, especially from residential customers, would end up abandoned,” said PBD’s Hochradel. “Depending on the value of the shipment, sometimes the time and labor, plus the cost of the freight, just wasn’t worth it.”

California-based MicroDental is beginning to expand its business to Europe and Asia and UPS Returns is making it much easier for overseas dentists to send back patient impressions, said Production Support Manager Alan Bayles. He said one English dentist was having trouble returning items using another shipper, but has experienced no problems since MicroDental began using UPS Returns and now has increased his shipments from one or two per month to five to 10 per month.

“It’s been a great thing for him and it’s helping our business,” Bayles said.

UPS Offers New Shipping Options for Healthcare Customers

BUSINESS WIRE--UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced a significant expansion of its capabilities for handling and managing the shipment of temperature-sensitive medical items, including around-the-clock intervention when necessary to utilize refrigeration or replenish dry ice.

The new suite of time- and temperature-sensitive capabilities has been developed for the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries. Targeted particularly to global clinical trials, UPS is facilitating the quick movement of test medicines, specimens, supplies, testing kits and accompanying documents to locations worldwide along with convenient UPS Returns^® processing options for international shipments.

“In order to find an edge in a competitive industry, healthcare companies are searching for better ways to enhance compliance and reduce cost when they manage and ship their sensitive inventories,” said Bill Hook, vice president, global strategy, UPS Healthcare Logistics. “UPS is committed to helping companies by investing in unique solutions, because healthcare is an important and growing market for us.”

The latest answer to the industry’s unique needs involves UPS Proactive Response^SM, which provides a powerful monitoring engine for proactive, around-the-clock attention to help ensure product integrity. The contract service, available in 72 countries, includes dry ice replenishment or refrigeration at select air gateway facilities and intervention in the event of unexpected delays.

The Proactive Response service can automatically compare data on where a package is against where it should be and direct pre-arranged actions to avoid problems or speed recovery. These integrated processes, particularly when applied to healthcare, take advantage of recently simplified UPS dry ice standards that meet IATA or 49CFR requirements.

“Biopharma companies tell us that temperature mapping is an increasingly critical component of their supply chain planning,” said Hook. “We’ve studied our environment inside UPS aircraft during flight, within the humidity chamber at our UPS Package Lab and during ground transit to create a solution for reliable, predictable transit and seamless reaction when an exception occurs.”

In a related development, UPS Supply Chain Solutions broke ground last week on a new 215,000-square-foot healthcare distribution facility in Roermond, The Netherlands, that will open in the spring of 2009. It will provide healthcare customers with compliance tools and customized inventory management along with temperature-sensitive storage and quality assurance services to link with UPS’s European and global freight and express package networks. The expansion will add a fourth building to an existing UPS Supply Chain Solutions European logistics campus that totals nearly 1 million square feet.

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is the world’s largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. With more than a century of experience in transportation and logistics, UPS is a leading global trade expert equipped with a broad portfolio of solutions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

UPS Places Largest Order Ever for Hybrid Electric Trucks

BUSINESS WIRE--UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) – the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company – in addition to another 300 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet.

The purchase of the 500 additional vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet – already the largest such private fleet in the United States -- will grow 30 percent from 1,718 to 2,218 low-carbon vehicles.

“Alternative fuel research and development is just one of the ways that UPS is mitigating climate change risks,” said Bob Stoffel, UPS’s corporate sustainability officer. “We also are focused on aggressive conservation programs and improving network efficiency to cut fuel use.”

UPS’s “green fleet” operates in the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom and has traveled nearly 144 million miles since 2000. The fleet includes electric, hybrid electric, CNG, liquefied natural gas and propane-powered vehicles. The company also is continuing work with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.

“UPS has been utilizing alternative fuel vehicles for more than 70 years and is clearly the industry leader in hybrid electric and CNG vehicle purchases,” said Robert Hall, director of UPS’s ground fleet. “At UPS, it’s very important to us to demonstrate our commitment with action, which is why we have the largest private ‘green’ fleet in the industry. And both CNG and HEV vehicles provide substantial reductions in carbon emissions, which supports our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment.”

The 200 hybrid electric vehicles will be deployed in 2009 and join 50 HEV delivery trucks already in operation. The 200 trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 1,786 metric tons each year. That is the equivalent of removing almost 100 conventional UPS trucks from the road for a year.

The HEV’s hybrid power system allows UPS to save on fuel and pollution-causing emissions. A battery pack, motor/generator and power control system are added, which allow electric power to be fed into the powertrain when conditions demand it, providing further savings.

The HEVs also use what is known as regenerative braking, meaning the energy produced in stopping the moving vehicle is captured and returned to the battery system as electrical energy. The efficient, computer-controlled combination of clean diesel power, electric power and regenerative braking produces dramatic improvements in fuel savings and emissions reductions.

The 300 CNG vehicles will be deployed later this year and join more than 800 such vehicles already in use in the United States. CNG vehicles run on natural gas, a cost-effective, clean-burning and readily available fuel. These vehicles are expected to yield a 20 percent reduction in emissions over the cleanest diesel engines available today.

The CNG/HEV vehicle order follows the April 2008 deployment of 167 new CNG vehicles in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Ontario, San Ramon, Fresno and Sacramento. In addition, UPS added 50 next-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix in May 2007.

The chassis for the CNG and HEV trucks are being purchased from Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation, with Eaton Corporation supplying the hybrid power system for the HEVs. The truck bodies are identical externally to the signature-brown trucks that now comprise the UPS fleet with additional script markings that will identify them as CNG and HEV vehicles.

UPS (NYSE:UPS) pursues a wide range of socially responsible and sustainable business practices designed to reduce our impact on the environment and improve communities around the world. UPS is included in the Dow Jones and FTSE4Good Sustainability Indexes, which evaluate corporations based on economic, environmental and social criteria. Learn more about UPS's responsible business practices at sustainability.ups.com.