We see a steadily growing economy, says Kurt Kuehn, UPS CFO, sharing his thoughts on the future of retail and shipping. We think the big push is going to be local next day delivery, says Kuehn.
Category: UPS News
Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has announced that United Parcel Service Inc. will open a 600,000-square foot distribution center in New Hampshire.
The Londonderry, New Hampshire, facility is set to open in June 2015.
Other logistics centers operate in Atlanta; West Palm Beach, Florida; Dallas; and the Netherlands.
United Parcel has served its customers for more than 100 years, but CEO Scott Davis insists that the company’s “just getting started”. The company’s dominant position in the ground package delivery business will get further impetus from the mushrooming online shopping growth. Budding international trade is playing into United Parcel’s hands, and greater investment in technology could take it to new heights.
“I have no use for class warfare.”
–Dave Beck, Teamster general president, 1952-57
DAVE BECK was an ambitious union politician who more than any other official in the history of the Teamsters was responsible for the union’s cozy relationship with UPS for years. Beck is a largely forgotten figure in Teamster history these days, however. If he’s remembered at all, it’s for facilitating the rise of the more ambitious and ruthless Jimmy Hoffa and his Mafia cohorts into the leadership of the union.
The first UPS drivers and package handlers were brought under a Teamster contract in the San Francisco Bay Area. Beck used his power to bring all UPSers on the West Coast into the Teamsters during that 1930s. From these small beginnings grew the enormous presence of UPSers inside the Teamsters–a literal “union within a union.”
Why customer loyalty matters to the parcel delivery industrySectors that are a veritable duopoly, such as parcel delivery, may not seem like a business where a high emphasis on customer engagement and loyalty would come into play. However, with digital technologies weighing on the need to send mail and packages in the first place, both companies’ margins are under constant pressure. There’s pressure to “outgrow the other guy,” while also maintaining margins through price increases. Unfortunately for FedEx and UPS, they can’t simply raise their prices to their hearts’ content because they would otherwise drive away their core customer. Thus is born the balancing act between going the extra mile for the customer and growing their business.Therefore, both UPS and FedEx attempt to court customers with attractive but consistent pricing as well as instilling the “delivery guarantee,” which is so important to the consumer. Through physical stores that are easily accessible and scattered throughout the world, these parcel delivery services have a better chance at proving their dependability and convenience to the customer and being able to pass along what are inevitable price increases in the future without losing this sorely needed source of cash flow.
In other words, without loyal customers, FedEx and UPS would be in big trouble.