I grew up in the small farming town of Vestaburg in central Michigan – the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, there are relatives in every corner of the county, and people take care of each other in times of need. Even though my family later moved to Georgia, this sense of community and taking care of each other was engrained in my own way of life.

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Dropping the ball on Valentine’s Day is a mistake you make only once—trust me on this. So, if you weren’t nodding your head while reading that sentence, it probably means you haven’t messed up Valentine’s Day yet. Good for you.

Anyway, the moral of the story is plan ahead, shop smart, and take advantage of some killer exclusive UPS deals, and you won’t have to worry about creating the perfect Valentine’s Day. Because seriously, if you just snag a couple of the few sad and scattered items remaining on the shelves on your way home on the 14^th, it will not go over well.

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Wait, it’s February 1^st already? You know what that means: Valentine’s Day is just two short weeks away. Time to start planning the perfect day for your sweetheart: beautiful flowers, a decadent lobster dinner, tasty sweets, and hey, maybe even a little something that sparkles.

Today, Valentine’s Day is celebrated around the world with a variety of different customs and traditions. In the United States, it’s one of the biggest gift-giving days of the year. According to this survey from the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend $18.6 billion in 2013. And more than one-quarter of folks will shop online. That’s a lot of love to go around!

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Love is in the air … and on the road as UPSers gear up to deliver gifts of love for Valentine’s Day. While jewelry topped last year’s list of Valentine’s gifts, candy remains a popular option too. Online retailers will be busy, with 32% of U.S. consumers saying they plan to purchase their Valentine’s gifts on the web this year.

If your love comes in the form of homemade goodies, check out the #HGEATS Twitter chat on February 8 at noon ET. The UPS Store will join Kimberly Moore (twitter.com/hungrygoddess) as they share tips for packing and shipping food. With sweet thoughts on our mind, we created the following infograph to celebrate one of the sweetest holidays on the calendar.

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So what’s so special about Valentine’s Day? Well, for one thing, it’s really the only holiday when it’s okay to give and receive the same gift as everyone else – flowers. With the big day just around the corner, a recent survey from the National Retail Federations reported that 34% of consumers in the United States plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving someone flowers.

It’s no wonder why this holiday ranks as #1 for consumer purchases of fresh-cut flowers, considering that UPS alone typically transports more than 28 million freshly cut flower stems between late January and Feb. 14 each year. That’s a lot of flowers. With such a heavy demand, it makes you think about just who it is that supplies this astronomical amount of flowers, and even more so about what happens after these flowers are cut, groomed and packaged.

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Gift giving holidays are busy times at UPS and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Shipping volumes soar like Cupid’s arrows as customers send gifts of love, marking one of the carrier’s busiest times outside of the Christmas season, rivaled only by Mother’s Day.   Read More »