UPS Freight rolls out additional transit time improvements

Keeping in line with steps it has been taking to improve transit times, UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload subsidiary of UPS, said today it is improving transit times for 2,250 lanes that for shippers in Texas and southern Oklahoma.

UPS officials said these transit time improvements will extend the reach of its one-day, intra-Texas service to include direct service to more than 385 zip codes and improve transit times between Texas and Oklahoma and other major U.S. markets. Some examples of the improved transit times include: next–day service for Corpus Christi, Victoria and Kingsville to Houston and Dallas; expanded next-day service for movements between Witchita Falls, San Angelo and Lawton, Okla., to Dallas, Houston and Austin; and faster transit times in various Texas cities, including Pampa, Amarillo, Brownwood and Del Rio. The improved transit times further allow customers in Lawton, Abilene, San Angelo and Witchita Falls to reach Atlanta in two days and Charlotte, N.C., in three, according to UPS.

And this effort coincides with a transit time improvement effort UPS Freight has been focused on for the last 20 months, which include:

A December 2008 announcement stating it has rolled out transit time improvements for 250 lanes between central Illinois and various U.S. points;
an October 2008 announcement focused on improved transit times on more than 1,900 traffic lanes in eight Western states, reducing transit times by at least one day for shipments originating in service centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon and Washington;

An August 2008 announcement focused on improved transit times on more than 1,200 traffic lanes originating in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States—for two-day lanes from Chicago to Dallas, Boston to St. Louis, and Philadelphia to Miami; and

A May 2008 announcement focused on reduced transit times on nearly 1,000 traffic lanes originating in metropolitan areas in the Southwest and Southeast regions of the U.S. to myriad domestic destinations.

UPS said it has augmented transit time performance in roughly 15,000 lanes over the past two years, which provides shippers with faster service in two-thirds of all U.S. ZIP codes. This is part of the company’s strategy to provide shippers with a value proposition through faster transit times, technology, and reliability.

UPS Freight Director-Media Relations Ira Rosenfeld told LM that the planning behind today’s news began last summer, and he pointed out that it is important to realize that these transit time improvements aren’t related to the economy as much as opportunities to enhance its offerings to shippers with direct service.

“Direct service means we can offer guaranteed service to these points,” said Rosenfeld. “As you move more and more of these markets away from agencies and into your own network from pickup to delivery there is the UPS Freight guarantee plus the increased visibility of the minute the freight is picked up the UPS driver, armed with his hand-held DIAD (delivery information acquisition device), who immediately puts the complete shipping information into our network where both shipper and consignee can have access.”

A time-definite guarantee: UPS officials said that these network transit time improvements include time-definite guaranteed service for all shipments when moving under UPS Freight's current 560 Tariff, along with improved visibility, due to all UPS Freight shipments being handled by company drivers equipped with handheld computers.

These guarantees, which were introduced in November 2007 and took effect in January 2008, promise shippers on-time delivery performance with no additional financial strings attached. The on-time service promise is for LTL customers who ship using the current UPS Freight 560 tariff in the continental United States. UPS said the guarantee promises that customers can request a waiver of their freight charges if their shipment doesn’t arrive on time. UPS’ Freight 560 tariff is its zip-to-zip class rate that applies in the contiguous 48 states.

“The no-fee guarantee promises that [customers’ shipments] will get there on time…allowing customers to better control their inventory,” said Rosenfeld in a 2008.

He also said that these transit time improvements, coupled with the reliability guarantee, give shippers the ability to take full advantage of UPS Freight’s capabilities as a regional and interregional carrier.