Archive
December, 2009

I’m in executive communications at UPS and have been spending a lot of time helping our senior executives discuss the importance of free trade. Recently our chairman was in Singapore addressing business audiences and he made a positive reference to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, and how the U.S. would benefit from engagement in this trade alliance linking Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.

As Scott Davis said, “We believe TPP has the potential to be an agreement that reflects the realities of a changed world. It addresses the needs of both business and government. It covers a region that will be a global growth leader. It moves beyond the strict focus on tariffs. And it’s a major step in a viable direction, as we work to create the next phase of global commerce.” Davis’ full speech and video are available at the UPS Pressroom site.

It’s easy to understand the impact of such an agreement when you consider that total trade between the U.S. and the seven other TPP countries should exceed $110 billion in 2009 ($91 billion through October – U.S. Census Bureau).

Agreements such as TPP enable our customers to grow their businesses in global markets. And they enable UPS to provide better service to our customers because they reduce some of the hurdles associated with managing complex global supply chains.

And in the bigger picture, engagement in the TPP gives the U.S. an opportunity to address gaps in our current trade agreements, and to set the standard for 21^st century trade agreements going forward. This will increase U.S. competitiveness in Asia and could help bring home to the American people the jobs and economic prosperity that are the promise of trade.

On December 26, 2004, the world awoke to the news that a massive tsunami had struck the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and seven other coastal nations bordering the Indian Ocean. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that spawned the tsunami had the longest duration ever observed, lasting between 8 and 10 minutes, and it produced waves up to 50 feet high that traveled as far as Africa, 3,000 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.

The carnage caused by this disaster was staggering. By the end of the day, approximately 250,000 people were dead or missing and millions more left homeless. Thankfully, singular natural disasters of this scale don’t occur everyday, but the cumulative impact of the smaller but more frequently occurring earthquakes, typhoons and other phenomena cause at least as much destruction as the great Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.

In September 2009, UPS announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar initiative to improve the capabilities of relief organizations that respond to these types of global emergencies. Recently I sat down with Dan Brutto, president of UPS International, to discuss some of the specific steps UPS is taking to help them.

Dan, why is UPS getting more involved in global disaster response and relief efforts?

Throughout our long history, UPS has always played a big role in helping the communities we serve in times of need with financial support from The UPS Foundation, in-kind shipping, employee volunteerism and other philanthropic efforts. My professional responsibilities are focused on UPS’s international business, so I took a personal interest in expanding our focus outside the U.S.    

What specifically is UPS doing?

We’re beginning an initiative focusing on disaster preparedness and relief, committing $9 million over the next two years. These funds will support some of the world’s major relief organizations like UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the American Red Cross, CARE and the Aidmatrix Foundation. The support UPS will provide will come in the form of financial grants, in-kind services and the deployment of logistics expertise, which frankly is what many of these organizations are really lacking.

Why is UPS’s logistics expertise so especially important to these organizations?

The relief organizations we work with are very good and the work they do is invaluable, but supply chain management, distribution and logistics are not their core strengths. UPS has a lot of expertise in these areas. It’s what we do every day for our customers all over the world and we also have many years of experience with disaster relief, both in the U.S. and abroad. We feel our expanded involvement in global relief efforts will go a long way in helping these organizations fulfill their mission.

You were recently appointed to the board of directors of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. How will this tie in with UPS’s broader relief efforts?

UNICEF, in addition to its role of supporting children in need around the world, is also a primary disaster response arm for the United Nations. So they play a key role in global disaster relief and are therefore an important part of our strategy. My involvement with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will give me and UPS the opportunity to help this great organization meet the needs of people all over the world during the difficult times that always follow a natural disaster.

What other kinds of support will UPS provide to global relief agencies in the future?

An important aspect of our program is our expanded involvement in the Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) initiative that provides logistics experts to the World Food Programme in support of the United Nations Logistics group. These experts deploy within 48-72 hours of a major natural disaster anywhere in the world. UPS has dedicated employees positioned in the Americas, Europe and Asia to serve on the LETs team who are ready to go wherever they may be needed for up to six weeks at a time. Our employees already have provided on-the-ground help in the Philippines, Padang, West Sumatra, Haiti, Bangkok (for Myanmar relief) and Indonesia.

We also have assisted CARE in defining multiple projects that will improve their supply chains in places like Indonesia, Chad and Honduras.

It’s quite an experience for our employees to find themselves in a refugee camp on the Darfur border, or in a village in Indonesia, or any of the many other places in the world where people are in great need of help. UPS employees get to see firsthand not only the extent of the problems, but also the value of what they’re doing in these areas to make things better.

You obviously have taken a very personal interest in this issue. Why is it so important to you?

Human beings can’t control the weather or any of the natural forces that impact our planet, but we can certainly have an impact on the people who suffer because of them. As we’ve seen countless times, natural disasters can strike anyone, anywhere and at any time. The relief organizations that step in to ease the suffering and improve the lives of victims of famines, floods and other natural disasters do great things, but they can’t do them alone. We can all make a difference and I’m proud that UPS is providing some substantial and meaningful support to this cause. 

Blogger’s note: For more information about UPS’s disaster relief efforts, visit www.pressroom.ups.com/Fact+Sheets/UPS+Disaster+Relief+Update

I’ve always looked forward to the holidays.  The word “Christmas” conjures up fond memories of some of my favorite things:  baking cookies, school closing (and therefore no homework) for weeks, sledding in the Ohio snowfall, and of course the magic and excitement as a young child over what Santa would bring. 

Christmas morning as a child was the apex of the year, and I can’t imagine a child waking up with no gifts to open.  Apparently, neither can the more than 1,200 UPSers here at our corporate campus, who have adopted a local elementary school in our annual Project Angel volunteer program.

The recession has tightened the budget for many of us, and parents of the students of Fickett Elementary School have looked to UPS and The UPS Foundation over the past several years to help make the holiday brighter for their over 600 students.  For the past two years I’ve been actively involved with dozens of other volunteers in collecting, organizing, and distributing the gifts to the students, and it is a treat to see the entire process from beginning to end.

On the big day, the volunteers sort the gifts in Fickett’s gym and gather down the street to herald the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus, creating a parade of holiday spirit to get the kids excited (as if kindergarteners need any encouragement to get excited about something).  One by one, the classes visit the gym, where anticipation builds.  As students enter the gym they are divided into their classes.  The waiting area on one side of the gym has two UPSers, including yours truly, reading stories to the children prior to their visit with either Santa or Mrs. Claus.   This proves to be something of a challenge — what kid can pay attention to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs when there are piles of shiny boxes all over the place and Christmas carols being broadcast over the speakers?  And the questions…

“What’s in all the boxes?” (It’s a surprise!) 

” Which one is mine?”  (Santa knows which one is yours!) 

“Can I open it now?”  (Only if today is Christmas.) 

“Are you a real elf?” (Of course I am.  I was asked this last year too, and wonder now if perhaps, despite my stature, I resemble one.)

Some boxes are too large for the child to carry, some have multiple boxes attached together, some are heavy, others light.  The guessing games begin.  To maintain a level of fairness, children are not allowed to open gifts at the school — they take them home and they are opened on Christmas morning. 

But, what a wonderful Christmas morning that is, when every child receives a gift.  Without Project Angel, most Fickett students would not be so lucky.  Before we started our parade, parents stopped on their way back from dropping off their kids to personally thank us for helping out with Christmas.  Everyone seems to be tight on cash these days, but because of those willing to share their blessings, both through donating gifts and time, there is a school full of children whose Christmas will still be merry when it otherwise might not be.

As we get older we sometimes forget the magic the holidays can bring.  When you have the opportunity to provide that magic, you will be rewarded with a feeling that will last until, well, next Christmas- when it’s time to do it all again!

Thank you to all our volunteers for making this another successful Project Angel.   

With the holidays all around, thoughts of both shopping and charity are usually what come to my mind this time of year. While it’s nice to be able to give gifts to my nearest and dearest, I also make it a point to do something for the less fortunate. I’m not alone  - in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are many communities throughout the region that are in dire need of assistance, and fortunately there are companies and organizations that are trying to make a difference.

A perfect example – UPS – through a series of community outreach and grant programs, employees contribute their time, talent, and hands-on support to charitable organizations around the world.  Along with the activities coordinated for UPS’s Global Volunteer Month (GVM), 2009 has been a milestone year for the company’s community support efforts in the region.

While Latin America is bolstering with business growth potential, it is also afflicted by serious economic challenges varying from country to country. UPS currently services over 50 countries and territories in the Region and provides support and aid in these markets through disaster relief, grant donations, volunteerism and a long list of other activities coordinated specifically for the GVM.

This year, UPS set new records in the Region with the amount of volunteer hours and financial support invested. A few examples of what was done are:

• Brazil: Coordinated a food drive for the Banco de Alimentos – an organization focused on eliminating the waste of food and minimizing the impact of starvation. 
• Chile: Painted the Escuela Especial E-791, a school for children with learning disabilities in Santiago.
• Costa Rica: Collected educational materials and toys for underprivileged children with Aldeas Infantiles SOS Santa Ana in San Jose.
• Colombia: Provided recreational activities for children at Escuela Semillas de Mostaza in Bogota.
• Honduras: Spent time with senior citizens at a local retirement home, San Vicente de Paul, located in Tegucigalpa.
• Mexico: Supported the Mexican Federal District, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, with reforestation efforts in Mexico City.
• Puerto Rico: Supported the United Way of Puerto Rico and the Pediatric Center for Diabetes Foundation with charitable donations to support their operations that benefit communities throughout the island.

The best part is, these types of activities are held all over the world – UPS employees dedicated more than 140,000 hours to volunteer service in October alone throughout Latin America, the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

So while the holidays are a great time for giving back to the community, if you think about it, so is the rest of the year. The more we can do and the more frequently we do it means reaching more people and making a difference – and if we keep it up long enough, maybe we’ll see the day these programs aren’t even necessary.

Happy Holidays!

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s alone, it’s estimated that an extra million tons of waste are generated nationwide each week. You can do a lot throughout the holidays to reduce your contribution to all that trash.

Kyle Yeager, owner of an Atlanta-area The UPS Store, shares tips for recycling and reducing holiday waste.

As the world’s largest package delivery company, UPS runs one of the most reliable operations around. With a fleet of 209 aircraft flying to over 200 countries and territories around the globe, issues occassionally arise with a plane or flight crew. When this happens, we rely on our “Hot Spares” program to recover stranded packages and maintain service to our customers.

Here’s an inside look at the Hot Spares program with a UPS flight crew in cockpit.

Each peak season, UPS enlists driver helpers to pick up and deliver the influx of extra packages shipped during the holidays.  I recently talked to Todd Romantini, a driver helper in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Todd is a marketing major at Ohio State University. During his holiday break, he has stepped out of the classroom and into a set of UPS Browns to help UPS spread holiday cheer during our busiest time of year. This is his fifth and final stint as a driver helper as he is graduating in the spring.

Q: What do you do as a driver helper?

A:  This year, I’m working at the Tri County Mall. My driver, Chris Culley, and I get two large trucks full of merchandise to unload and deliver to the mall businesses each day. We also handle the businesses’ pickups. We’re here for eight to 10 hours a day.

I’ve ridden with a driver for past holiday seasons making residential deliveries. For that, we would drive into a neighborhood and both would take packages to the houses and make deliveries.

Q:  How and why did you become a UPS driver helper?

A:  During my freshman year, I saw a UPS flier at my dorm. I knew a little about UPS’s history and reputation as a good company that promotes from within so I decided to get involved. I’ve come back every year because I know the job and enjoy it, and as a marketing major, I like learning about the supply chain and logistics part of the business.

Q: What surprised you about being a driver helper?

A:  I knew that UPS was a diverse company, but I didn’t expect it to be so close-knit. I really like the camaraderie between everyone from the people that load the cars, to the management, to the drivers. It’s interesting to hear everyone’s stories.

I also was surprised that drivers are such a big part of everyone’s routines. Some customers set aside presents for us like we’re a member of their team.

In the 1970 stop-motion Christmas classic “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” Kris Kingle saves the day by singing the song “One Foot In Front of the Other” and saving Sombertown from the evil Winter Warlock and Burgermeister Meisterburger. Quite literally, that song is music to the ears of Zappos, the e-retailer best known for selling shoes on the Internet.

Of course, there is no stop motion during the busy holiday shipping season for Zappos and UPS, when the two businesses work together like Santa and his elves to serve millions of customers from Zappos’ end-of-runway location near Worldport.

UPS is well known as a company that promotes from within. I’m a great example of that policy in action. I started with UPS in 1978 while still in high school. I was 17 and remember how intimidating the hub environment felt to me. Years later I would consider that hub, a maze of conveyor belts and steel girders, my second home. And exactly 10 years after I started with UPS I was still there, but instead of loading trucks I was riding on one with a driver in the ultra-rural northwest corner of Wisconsin. My job at that juncture was to produce a monthly magazine that UPSers in Wisconsin received in their homes.

This driver was noteworthy because as his manager told me on the phone, “he has four 25s. That’s got to be a record of some kind.” The Guiness Book of Records notwithstanding, it was an amazing achievement: 25 years without an accident, 25 years without an injury, 25 years without a sick day. And here’s the showstopper—25 years without a paid send-again. For those of you not familiar with delivery work, send-agains are the slightly annoying second and third trips we make when someone isn’t home or when a business is closed for the day. Some drivers have some everyday. Most drivers have some every week. To not have any for 25 years is astonishing. And the secret to this driver’s success rate? He knew his customers. He knew them so well and he studied their routines so fastidiously that in 25 years he never had to make a second or third attempt. If it rained, he knew that the bulk of the farmers in the community would be at the coffee shop. He’d make one stop there and complete nine otherwise rural deliveries, satisfying our customers in the process (not to mention saving fuel, time and money).

Throughout the day, I’d watch as he would drive not to the front door of a farmhouse, but to a gate where a farmer had hung a plastic bag where packages could be left out of sight and out of weather, even if no one was home. This driver was like a seasoned detective, always thinking one or two steps ahead. He knew his customers’ preferences, he knew their schedule and he knew his delivery area like the back of his hand. He was the consummate service provider.

We like to say that UPS connects people, not just with goods, but also with information. Well this driver was doing both. He connected farmers with the tractor parts and combine widgets they needed to run their farms. He brought the local school its books and the hardware store the merchandise for its shelves. He also delivered the local news, sports and weather from one house to the next. His information download wasn’t in bits and bytes, it was in the human touch that our service providers bring to everyone they encounter. He knew who was expecting a baby, and he knew who had just passed away. And he shared the local scuttlebutt, which in a farming community can be very useful. He would know when too-wet farm fields were about to be plowed on one end of his route, and when new seed was in at the local feed store. And if you “weren’t from around these parts” and needed to know which county trunk to take to leave town, he was the equivalent of a human GPS device.

All in all, the most remarkable aspect of “Mr. Four 25s” wasn’t his record. What was most impressive was that he genuinely cared about aspects of his job many people in the world either ignore or pay little attention to. He cared about his own health and safety and the safety of others. He cared about his customers. And he truly cared about his company.

Tis the season to ship and track and we’ve got an App - or two – for that! In addition to the UPS Mobile™ App for iPhone® released last month, we’re introducing the industry’s first BlackBerry shipping app.

Available for free downloading at www.blackberry.com/appworld, the new UPS Mobile™ App for BlackBerry® enables you to track shipments, create shipments using the My UPS address book, calculate shipping rates and time-in-transit and then find the nearest UPS location.

UPS Mobile App supports the BlackBerry® Storm™, BlackBerry® Bold™, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 and my personal favorite (since I have one!), the BlackBerry® Tour™.

I can access My UPS Address Book and Preferences to create a shipping label for the Christmas package I’m sending to my best friend in Chicago. I’ll send the label (in PDF format) to my work email, and print it out when I get there. Then, when I want to track the shipment, I don’t even have to log-in. I can nickname the package, “Margo,” which will help me know it’s not the package I shipped to my daughter, Shannon, in Hawaii.

For those of you who, unlike me, don’t spend a good part of your day IN a UPS facility – you’ll appreciate that the new UPS Mobile App taps into the GPS capabilities of your BlackBerry to help you locate the nearest UPS facility.  

Me? I’ll just give my packages to Margo and Shannon to our mailroom guy. And no, as a UPS employee I DO NOT get a shipping discount!