BrownCafe

UPS Inc. has established a new and higher “baseline” for package-delivery volumes in the wake of its performance since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold more than two years ago, rating agency Standard & Poor’s said Wednesday in upgrading UPS’ debt to an “A” rating from “A-minus.”

S&P’s global ratings unit said it expects UPS’ (NYSE: UPS) revenue growth to moderate to 4% a year in 2022 and 2023, below outsized growth rates of 14% to 15% in 2020 and 2021 as pandemic-related surges in online ordering led to unprecedented spikes in delivery volumes. The S&P unit said its top-line growth expectations for UPS will be driven more by pricing trends than by volume increases. Pricing stability, along with a focus on more price-inelastic small to midsize businesses, will allow UPS to grow at levels slightly above projected U.S. GDP growth through 2023 despite possible constraints to global volume growth over that time, the report said.

The volume growth in 2020 and 2021 has established a new benchmark in delivery activity, the unit said. A “permanent shift” to online fulfillment from brick-and-mortar shopping has taken place in the wake of the pandemic, the unit said.

Twenty-eight percent of the United Parcel Service’s (UPS) voting shareholders voted “yes” on a proposal urging the Atlanta-based package delivery company to reduce its significant carbon footprint. The vote count, announced after the company’s May 5th annual meeting, comes just weeks after Environment America sent nearly 9,000 petitions urging UPS to electrify its delivery trucks to reduce global warming pollution.

“The convenience of a fast delivery shouldn’t have such an outsized impact on our planet,” said Morgan Folger, Destination: Zero Carbon campaign director for Environment America. “UPS could change that by ditching fossil fuels and committing to an all zero-emission fleet of big brown trucks. UPS could be a shipping industry leader not only in volume, but also in sustainability, if it sets targets to cut emissions across the corporation’s operations.”

Giant global companies such as UPS need to take action quickly for the world to avoid the worsening impacts of climate change. From hurricanes to wildfires and drought, the devastating impacts of global warming are repeatedly hitting home or close to it. The largest contributor to the climate crisis in the United States is transportation and UPS, with its 127,000 delivery vehicles, can have a big impact on the problem by zeroing out emissions from its ground fleet. To date, UPS has only committed to ordering 10,000 electric vehicles and doesn’t have a public plan to fully transition to electric vehicles.

Firefighters were called to UPS United Parcel Services at Birch Coppice Business Park after a methane delivery system misfired, the service said.

The injured man was airlifted to hospital for further treatment, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Jim Casey Way in Dordon, at about 13:00 on Tuesday.

Another man was also assessed by medics following the industrial incident and discharged at the scene, the service added.

On May 4, 2022, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Committee”) of United Parcel Service, Inc. (the “Company”) approved the United Parcel Service, Inc. Key Employee Severance Plan (the “Plan”). The following description of the Plan relates only to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, and other currently employed named executive officers (collectively, the “NEOs”), each of whom is eligible to participate in the Plan, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Plan, which is incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K. Capitalized terms used but not defined in this description have the meanings in the Plan.

In general, the Plan will be administered by the Committee. The Plan provides for severance compensation and benefits upon certain terminations of employment of key employees of the Company, including the NEOs. The severance protections under the Plan replace cash severance benefits (if any) to which an NEO would have otherwise been entitled under their protective covenant agreements as
previously disclosed.