LAHORESCHOOL

OFECONOMICS

TOPIC: UNITED PARCEL SUPPLY

GROUP MEMBERS:AMNA ZAIDI

ARSLAN KHALID RAI MOHAMMED AHMED NAWAB

SANA AHMADSYEDA ZAINEB BATOOL

SECTION “L”

SUBMITTED TO: MISS. SEHAR ZAREEN

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DATE OF SUBMISSION: 29th JUNE 2010

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank our teacher who inspired us to do research on this topic and made us capable to make this research paper presentable. Secondly, we would like to thank Mr. Ahmad Malik, the Operations Manager for co-operating with us and giving us time to gather valuable information. We would also like to thank our friends for supporting us.

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Table of Contents: Pg No.

Front Page 1Acknowledgment 2Title Page 4Introduction 5Strategic Objectives 6 – 7Problems before IS 8IS Strategies 9 – 10 Foundations of Business Intelligence 11 – 12 Telecommunications 13Achieving Operational Excellence 14 – 15 E – Commerce 16 – 17 Ethical & Social Issues 18 – 19 System Vulnerability 20 – 21 Recommendations & Conclusion 22

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UNITED PARCEL SERVICE

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1) A brief introduction of the company:

United Parcel Service is the world’s largest air and ground package-distribution Company. It started out in 1907 in a closet-sized basement office. Jim Casey and Claude Ryan---two teenagers from Seattle with two bicycles and one phone--promised the ‘best service and lowest rates.’ UPS has used this formula successfully for more than 90 years.

Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.  UPS's forwarding and logistics business provides services in more than 175 countries and territories worldwide, and includes worldwide supply chain design, execution and management, freight forwarding and distribution, customs brokerage, mail and consulting services. It also operates its own airline based in Louisville, Kentucky where its World port air hub is also located. UPS's primary business is the time-definite delivery of packages and documents worldwide. They not only have become the world's largest package delivery company but also a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services.

UPS has grown into a $49.7 billion corporation by clearly focusing on the goal of enabling commerce around the globe. Today, it is a global company with one of the most recognized and admired brands in the world. During the past decade, UPS has poured billions of dollars into technology and systems to boost customer service while keeping costs low and streamlining its overall operations. UPS continues to expand service worldwide.

In Europe, Asia, and South America, customers enjoy an unmatched portfolio of time-definite and supply chain services. Two major enhancements to international service came with the expansion of World port, the air hub in Kentucky, as well as the European air hub in Cologne, Germany. With Asia identified as a primary growth target, in 2005 UPS launched the first non-stop delivery service between the U.S. and Guangzhou, China. That same year, UPS acquired the interest held by its joint venture business partner in China, giving it access to 23 cities that cover more than 80% of the country's international trade.

Over the past 100 years, UPS has become an expert in transformation, growing from a small messenger company to a leading provider of air, ocean, ground, and electronic services. Ever true to its humble origins, the company maintains its reputation for integrity, reliability, employee ownership, and customer service.

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2) The Strategic objectives of using Information Systems:

Information Systems are essential in conducting day to day business in the entire world as well as achieving strategic business objectives. There is a growing dependence between a firm’s ability to use information technology and its ability to implement corporate strategies and achieve corporate goals. Business firms invest heavily in information systems to achieve operational excellence, improved decision making and to gain competitive advantage among other things.

UPS is no different. With the advancement in technology, it recognized the need to digitalize its processes. Its technological innovations started as early as 1924 when UPS debuted the first conveyor belt system for handling packages. They have continued to adopt new technology so that the company continues to flourish.

Operational Excellence: With UPS, customers can choose from a broad selection of services, whether you're shipping items locally and want the most cost-effective service option or you're shipping internationally and need day- and time-definite delivery. UPS has a full range of services to suit any size shipment, including package and freight, ground and air services, to get your goods to your customers, wherever they are. All of this can be done through their website, making access extremely easy. http://www.ups.com/tracking/tracking.html

New products, Services, and Business Models: Though the provided facilities are basically the same, technological advancements have helped them provide their services in a much more convenient way. Added capability to calculate rates and find transit times for shipments on any digital wireless device in the U.S. Customers can access these services from one- or two-way text-messaging or Web-enabled phones, personal digital assistants, pagers, or other common wireless devices. In 2000, their online tracking requests reached record-high 6.5 million in a single day.

Customer and Supplier intimacy: UPS Customer Centers are staffed locations on-site at over 1,000 UPS operating facilities worldwide, equipped to assist the customer with any UPS air, ground, or international package shipment. If the customer requests Hold for Pickup service to any of these centers, they'll deliver the package to the facility selected. Packaging supplies and services are offered at most Customer Centers. Most Customer Centers are located in major metropolitan areas and will ship documents and small packages both domestically and internationally. These Customer Centers are fully staffed with UPS Customer Service representatives.

Improved Decision making: Technology is revolutionary. It has transformed the world into a global village, providing man with numerous modes of communication. UPS puts it to good use. Integrating a standardized data format like Electronic Data Interchange

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(EDI) into the existing infrastructure means reducing business transaction costs, spending less time tracking down the files needed, and spending more time using that information to grow business.

Competitive Advantage: The Company did well despite stiff competition, largely because of Jim Casey’s strict policies of customer courtesy, reliability, round-the-clock service, and low rates. These principles, which guide UPS even today, are summarized by Jim’s slogan: best service and lowest rates. Information technology has helped UPS reinvent itself and keep growing. UPS implemented a suite of custom-built software that uses operations research and mapping technology to optimize the way packages are loaded and delivered.

Survival: UPS has had its share of industry-level changes. Through various acquisitions and creations, UPS sought to serve its customers in a new way. By providing unique supply-chain solutions, UPS allowed its customers to better serve their own customers, and focus on core competencies. In 1995 UPS formed UPS Logistics Group to provide global supply chain management solutions and consulting services based on customers´ individual needs. In 1995 UPS acquired a company called Sonic Air; making UPS the first company to offer same-day, “next flight-out” service and guaranteed 8 a.m. overnight delivery. In 1998 UPS Capital was founded with a mission to provide a comprehensive menu of integrated financial products and services that enable companies to grow their business.

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3) The problems that the company faced before using the Information System:

Jim Casey borrowed $100 from a friend to start the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington. According to accounts given by Jim there were quite a few messenger services already in the Seattle area, some of which he had worked for in the past. That initial name was well-suited to the business pursuits of the new company. In response to telephone calls received at their basement headquarters, messengers ran errands, delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage, and trays of food from restaurants. They made most deliveries on foot and used bicycles for longer trips. Only a few automobiles were in existence at that time and department stores of the day still used horses and wagons for merchandise delivery.

Though Casey and Claude didn’t lack ambition, they were in no hurry either. The expansion of UPS was slow, but steady. It did not take on anything beyond its capacity to deliver. The records were maintained manually, but this was nothing foreign in this era. As time progressed, so did UPS. They bought vehicles for the deliveries. In 1930 UPS extended its reach to the East Coast when it began consolidating the deliveries of several large department stores in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. While one part of UPS was striving for greater access to ground routes, another part was resurrecting UPS´s access to the air. In 1929 UPS became the first package delivery company to provide air service via privately operated airlines.

The above mentioned information leads to the fact that United Parcel Service didn’t face many problems before the use of Information System simply because their work was in accordance with the available resources. Naturally, with the progression of time, technological advancements were made and UPS wasn’t far behind in adopting them in its business processes.

Now, UPS has developed new technology to maintain efficiency, keep prices competitive, and provide new customer services. Technology at UPS spans an incredible range, from small handheld devices, to specially designed package delivery vehicles, to global computer and communications systems.

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4) Which IS strategies, the company is using to deal with competition:

i) Low Cost Leadership: Overall cost leadership requires firms to develop policies aimed at becoming and remaining the lowest-cost producer and/or distributor in the industry. UPS’s strategies are aimed at controlling costs including construction of efficient-scale facilities, tight control of costs and overhead, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, minimization of operating expenses and lower distribution costs. The low-cost leader gains competitive advantage by getting its costs of production or distribution lower than those of the other firms in its market. For example, UPS Trade Direct is an integrated solution that allows them to bypass distribution centers by shipping directly to retail stores or customers' doors. Leveraging the breadth and reliability of the UPS global network, Trade Direct provides consolidation of international freight, air, ocean and ground transportation, customs clearance and direct delivery to multiple addresses within the destination country, all through a single source.

ii) Product Differentiation: The second generic strategy, differentiating the product or service, requires a firm to create something about its product or service that is perceived as unique throughout the industry. Differentiation may be attained through many features that make the product or service appear unique. The strategies UPS is using are:

Warranties Brand Image Technology Features Service Quality/Value Dealer Network

Furthermore, UPS is also:• Investing in the core business of worldwide distribution and logistics. • Building competencies in the integration of goods, funds, and information. • Using technology to create new services. • Attracting talented people. • Practicing innovation that leads to growth.

iii) Focus on market niche: UPS focuses on a specific market segment, studying customer behavior and anticipating their needs. The idea is to identify and create market niches that have not been adequately filled. UPS has developed an environment that enables them to treat each customer as if he or she were the only one Information technology is frequently able to provide the capabilities of defining,

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expanding, and filling a particular niche or segment. The application would be quite specific to the industry.

iv) Strengthen customer and supplier intimacy: Using a handheld computer called a Delivery Information Acquisition Device (DIAD), a UPS driver can automatically capture customers’ signatures along with pickup, delivery, and time-card information. The driver then places the DIAD into the UPS truck’s vehicle adapter, an information-transmitting device that is connected to the cellular telephone network. Package tracking information is then transmitted to UPS’s computer network for storage and processing by UPS’s main computers in New Jersey and Georgia. From there, the information can be accessed worldwide to provide proof of delivery to customers or to respond to customers queries. Through its automated package tracking system, UPS can monitor packages throughout the delivery process. At various points along the route from sender to receiver, bar code devices scan shipping information on the package label; the information is then fed into the central computer. Customer service representatives can check the status of any package from desktop computers linked to the central computers and are able to respond immediately to queries from the customers. UPS customers can also access this information from the company’s website using their own computers or wireless devices, such as pagers and cell phones.

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5) Foundations of Business Intelligence: Databases and Information Management:

There are multiple tools used around UPS to make the processes smooth and streamlined at the same time. These include the simple ones like the office management software suites that are used every now and then around any office around the world along with some of the complex ones.

Website: The website is built in order to facilitate the customers globally producing information that they need on their computer screen as to facilitate them to the maximum level. The website is both interactive and simple at the same time. The combination of JavaScript’s and xml has been used for most of the time, integrating it with the database at their web servers. This has given benefits to both the clients at the corporate level as well as clients doing minor business in order to access the tracking information about the things that they need. The United Parcel Service (UPS) Web site averages more than 8 million tracking requests every business day.

Logistics: Another tool that has been recently launched and brought into practice is the logistic software that has been designed by Roadnet that is a division of UPS. The UPS logistic technologies website is under their direction and control that is providing UPS great benefits. This software is connected to the GIS in order to provide active tracking to all the trucks on the roads. This is intelligent mapping software that eradicates all possible long routes that the truck driver at a logistic company might take as carelessness. UPS uses a proprietary mapping solution they refer to as “package flow” software that maps out the routes of the roughly 95,000 drivers that take to the roads daily to deliver packages. This has helped them save around 28.5 million miles. This determines the routes, making sure that the cost is less.

Database Management systems: United Parcel Supply uses specially customized software Emcon 2000 for managing all its data. It is a relational DBMS software, which fully serves its purpose, allowing the world wide employees to have access to data from any branch of the company, regardless of what country it resides in. UPS has a demand of placing huge data into systems so that they can track details as well as provide sufficient information to the clients about the services. The company is using the DB2 server for handling its databases that is a product of IBM. Being corporate clients with each other, IBM provides UPS with technical backups sorting out all the issues. The database is increasing day by day and it is reported to have reached 2.6 terabytes recently. The server holds several records related to information handling and transaction processing internationally.  At 3.2 million transactions per minute the system would be able to support one purchase from every person on the planet every four days. The same data backs all the information on the website so all the information related to the tracking, packaging, delivery and status is online all the time as to make sure that all the clients around the world are updated with their deliveries. The database has recently been connected to

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the UPS signature services that let the customers check that when and where will their package delivered as well as the signature to the person receiving is also shown with the impression that has been taken while delivery is made.

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6) Telecommunications, the Internet and Wireless Technology:

The IBM architecture has been implemented throughout the systems around the world with integration technology that is enhancing UPS to make sure that all its branches from around the world are connected are in ready connection. For this purpose the company is using Satellite connection at the extreme level that has turned into an intranet network as well. All the employees from around the world are connected with the main data center.

For its next generation of package loading technology, UPS has made several improvements. The new system still has a ring scanner, but instead of connecting to the terminal via a wire, the ring uses Bluetooth to communicate with the terminal. The terminal is now a belt-mounted device instead of strapped to the forearm. And, instead of a proprietary wireless protocol, the terminals now communicate with the network via standard 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology. The Bluetooth wireless transport eliminates the need for a wire between the scanner and terminal. Workers wear the terminal, now Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled, in a more comfortable hip-mounted location. The 2.4GHz frequency of Bluetooth and 802.11 is available as unlicensed spectrum almost everywhere around the globe. 

First, there's the interaction between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Because both devices operate in the 2.4GHz spectrum, there's potential for interference when the Bluetooth ring and the Wi-Fi terminal try to transmit at the same time. UPS solved this problem using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices are time-synchronized to use alternating bursts of traffic--80 milliseconds for 802.11 traffic, then 20 milliseconds for Bluetooth traffic. By dividing the airwaves into "time slices," the system avoids potential interference between the two wireless systems. Next, there was the problem of battery power. Wireless devices are notorious for quickly draining batteries. UPS uses a battery size that provides power for six hours of device usage. Because any given shift is never longer than six hours, the device is assured to be available for the duration of the shift. 

In a nutshell, different types of technologies are being used at different ends in order to make communication easier and more manageable. Despite having an intranet connection, the local offices are using a broadband internet backbone with the local sharing running on Wi-Fi most of the time that is saving resources and all the mess that wired connections make. Furthermore, different networking technologies have been used on different levels with the corporate level using encrypted packet technology to make sure that all secret information stays a secret.

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7) Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy:

The Information system at UPS is providing benefits in all dimensions. These include all the possible benefits that any information system can possibly give you. The structure was primarily designed to achieve the following goals:

It establishes that the business is the driver for technology; It points IT toward UPS's number one priority – driving revenue growth; and It's a careful blending of people, process and technology at each step of development and

execution.

This way, the company has come up with a smooth process chain with the demand and supply being tracked well throughout the process happening. It also provides with online support to anyone who has been doing business with UPS. The application of Information system on the enterprise level has helped UPS become one of the widely used services even with the online purchasing services like eBay and Amazon. The Human Resource Management department is online as well that ensures that career opportunities are widespread to people from around the world. The online system integrated with some of the best technologies around the world is enabling Human Resource Management to be dealt online.

According to UPS, an organization is only as strong as its supply chain. Your supply chain is a critical and influential component of your overall strategy typically impacting 75 percent of operating results. UPS believes in two constants. First, there is nothing linear about the supply chain. Second, change is a given. In the traditional supply chain model, supply drives demand. Simply stated, products are made and stored in anticipation of future demand. But when sudden demand shifts occur, the supply chain must scramble to adapt. In the Demand-Responsive Supply Chain Model, demand drives supply. Processes are designed to anticipate changes and flex. Proper use of this model can empower an organization to plan and configure what it buys, makes, moves, sells, delivers, and increasingly returns in as close to real-time demand as possible.

The advantages of this methodology include:

A supply chain closer to independent demand Shorter lead times through greater flexibility

Elimination of costs, not just shifting or absorbing them elsewhere

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On the contrary, a demand responsive supply chain consists of four over-arching processes, tightens synchronization among internal and external functions, drives costs out of supply chain, and adapt to changes in the environment.

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8) E-Commerce: Digital Markets

The customers are spread around the world. Flexible shipping options are vital to meet their needs and control the company’s costs. With UPS, the customers can choose from a broad selection of services, whether you're shipping items locally and want the most cost-effective service option or you're shipping internationally and need day- and time-definite delivery. UPS has a full range of services to suit any size shipment, including package and freight, ground and air services, to get the goods to the customers, wherever they are. Putting information systems to full use, many of UPS’s transactions and operations are done electronically. Some of which are the following:

a. UPS WorldShip uses existing customer data to generate shipping labels and other forms. It captures client billing information, making accounting more efficient.

b. Their Billing Center offers a secure, online interface for keeping track of shipping costs. Gain the ability to manage multiple accounts from one simple interface. You'll receive an automatic e-mail notification when new invoices are available. When you log in to the UPS Billing Center, you will be able to view your invoices, download detailed billing data, and make payments. The UPS Billing Center offers a simplified, accelerated billing and payment process, and a reduced environmental impact.

c. With UPS TradeAbility, the company gets access to up-to-date regulations, licensing information, watch lists, and forms, or store commodity information in their online product catalog. Find harmonized tariff codes, landed cost estimates, compliance information, and more, all from a single source, UPS’s Web service technology to integrate TradeAbility services.

d. This versatile enterprise or stand-alone solution gives dispatchers an effective, tactical routing tool to optimize daily delivery operations in just minutes, not hours. Roadnet offers the ability to transform today's orders into tomorrow's routes, locking in the highest number of efficiencies to improve customer service while reducing costs. In fact, Roadnet typically delivers ROI within its first year of deployment, with users consistently cutting their delivery costs by 5 to 15 percent.

e. Just because you are away from your desk doesn't mean you have to be out of the loop. With the UPS Mobile App you can get important shipment information anytime and anywhere on your BlackBerry or iPhone. As long as your mobile device has a data access plan and you have a My UPS ID, UPS services can be accessed. With this type of flexibility, customers always have quick access to their most important shipments.

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f. UPSnet is a global electronic data communications network that provides an information processing pipeline for international package processing and delivery. UPSnet uses more than 500,000 miles of communications lines and a dedicated satellite to link more than 1,300 UPS distribution sites in 46 countries. The system tracks 821,000 packages daily. Between 1986 and 1991, UPS spent US$1.5 billion on technology improvements.

Though the system at UPS is not primarily dedicated for E-commerce, still it tends to provide the basic information so that the customer can use internet as the mode to interact with UPS while the professionals at UPS are dedicated enough to do the rest.

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9) Ethical and Social issues in IS:

The hardcore study of Information system at UPS as well as all the necessary information that was presented to us by officials in the Information System Department of UPS here at Pakistan has made us deduce that UPS is following international standards with respect to its information system around the world making sure that it makes no ethical and social violence.

Many UPS products, services and taglines are legally protected registered trademarks and the notice symbol is an essential part to signal ownership. Omission of the (™), (SM) or (®) symbol does not invalidate a trademark owner’s rights in a trademark. Its purpose is to alert the public to the ownership of the mark, and is one of the primary ways to affirmatively protect a trademark.

UPS also has copyrights to its customized database software and trademark for its logo. Being a multinational company, UPS tends to follow all the standards recognized around the globe in order to make sure that it makes no violations.

Protection of Customer Information

UPS understands the importance of privacy to their customers and visitors to UPS Web sites. For many years, their policy has been to treat what they learn about their customers as confidential

They collect and store information about every package they handle so that they can efficiently provide the package delivery services demanded by their customers. They use information about the customers, their packages, and their shipping activity to provide or enhance the services they make available to their customers, communicate with customers about additional services they may find of value, satisfy their legitimate business interests (including performing trend analysis and market studies), set prices, establish credit, fulfill a Contract of Carriage or Service Agreement, accomplish the billing function, and comply with government regulations. Although government regulations vary in the many countries in which UPS operates, they frequently include the reporting of information to transportation, safety, customs, and other regulatory agencies. As they collect and use information about their customers, UPS may contract with vendors to assist them in processing that information for those purposes listed in the previous paragraph. These vendors are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information and are restricted from using the information for any other purpose.  In addition, as UPS continues to develop its business, they may buy or sell subsidiaries or business units. As part of these transactions, customer information of the subsidiaries or business units may be one of the transferred assets.

Examples of information that UPS collects includes names, addresses, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers and telephone numbers. Some of the information collected by UPS is data

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which relates to an identifiable person ("Personal Information"). They never sell information to third parties that could be used to specifically identify an individual customer or group of customers. Anonymized data is sometimes shared with third parties. Finally, they do provide Personal Information to government agencies as required by law or regulation, and in connection with investigations of possible illegality or misuse of UPS services.

In addition to the uses of the information described in the paragraphs above, UPS collects telephone numbers and e-mail addresses in the event that they have to contact the shipper, or the shipment recipient or addressee, to resolve a question or provide shipment status information.

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10) System vulnerability and abuse:

UPS is a multinational company with branches worldwide. It follows that they need to communicate on an hourly basis for proper integration of information. For this purpose, Information Technology is put to use. Locally, wireless connections are also used.

However, wireless networks are well known for having security vulnerabilities. UPS originally deployed wired equivalent privacy (WEP) to protect its wireless networks. After security flaws were discovered in the protocol, UPS switched to a proprietary Symbol solution called Key guard (http://www.symbol.com). Although you usually want to avoid proprietary technologies, in this case, it was a good choice for UPS because WEP was inadequate. Given the relatively low value of the information being transmitted across the air (e.g., bar codes and other tracking information), UPS is comfortable with the current level of security. 

Another problem was another security issue: Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. The goal of a DOS attack is to cause the network to become unavailable (i.e., deny the service of the network). DOS attacks can either be intentional (such as flooding RF noise at a particular frequency) or unintentional (such as the interference caused by a microwave oven, cordless phone, or other device at a particular frequency). On a wireless network, DOS attacks have the potential to grind traffic to a halt. UPS protects itself from both intentional and unintentional wireless network failures by using an optional batch mode. If the Wi-Fi network fails, the device can batch all the transaction and upload them to the network at the end of a shift via wired connection. Although this doesn't provide the timeliest information, it's a good backup mechanism that lets the driver continue to gather data without slowing down the loading of the trucks.

Following are more of the ways how UPS tackles with system vulnerability:

Account Number ProtectionSimilar to your checking account number appearing on your personal checks, it's not whether

the account number is visible, but it's how the account number is protected behind-the-scenes that really matters. UPS uses sophisticated protection measures to safeguard the account number from unauthorized use.

Online ProtectionWhen you ship online through UPS Internet Shipping or through UPS WorldShip software,

enhanced authentication requirements allows us to confirm your identity. Additional layers of security are also required for ordering supplies, and using UPS Delivery Intercept.

Credit Card Protection

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The ups.com software program is encrypted with standard 128-bit SSL to protect account and credit card information. UPS matches credit card information to the credit card billing address, and investigate any unauthorized charges that may be reported.

Identifying and Reducing ThreatsUPS uses sophisticated trend and data analysis to identify fraud. Their participation in a

cyberspace fraud task force keeps them well informed on the issues affecting the postal and shipping industry globally.

IP AddressesThe UPS Web Sites collect IP addresses for system administration, security, and statistical

analysis purposes. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to a computer whenever it is connected to the Internet. UPS logs these addresses and analyze them to understand where requests originate so that they can provide the most efficient service, enhance security, ensure appropriate usage and produce traffic volume statistics.

Biometric IdentificationThe use of recognition software is very common in branches of this company. To gain

physical access into the building, employees are required to get their finger prints checked. They can then gain access only if it is a match. This information is also used in the payroll system. The time a certain employee entered or left the building is saved into the database, automatically calculating his or her working hours.

Anti-virus softwareAs another precautionary measure, all desktops at the workplace are installed with state-

of-the-art anti-virus programs to deal with spasm etc. The branches in Pakistan currently use Norton Anti-virus software.

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11) Recommendations & Conclusion:

As the world's largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services, UPS continues to develop the frontiers of logistics, supply chain management, and e-Commerce; combining the flows of goods, information, and funds.

It is a company that has never shied away from reinventing itself, as its history itself demonstrates. Staying true to Jim Casey’s phenomena of the provision of best quality at the lowest rate, UPS has managed to progress at a steady rate. Being a multinational company, UPS tends to follow all the international standards as well as standards defined by different bodies around the world.

Growing revenue and profits have indeed been one of the incentives to do business so flawlessly, but while doing that, UPS has not ignored human welfare either. The Information System of UPS ensures the earth to be a safer and better place to live in. The Greener IT memorandum has also being followed by UPS in the recent times and the implementation of the Mapping software from the logistics department is a milestone in this regard that is making them save some 31,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions as well as a lot of fuel reservoirs as well. In May 2008 UPS placed an order for 200 hybrid electric vehicles (adding to the 50 it has currently) and 300 compressed natural gas (which are 20% more fuel efficient, and add to the 800 it already has) vehicles with from Daimler Trucks North America. UPS received a "starting" rating of 39 points out of 100 totals on the environmental scorecard by the Climate Counts Group for their efforts to lessen the company's impact on the environment. UPS has also been awarded the Clean Air Excellence Award by the United States Environmental Protection Agency because of the alternative fuel program they have developed.

In October, 2009, UPS became the first small package carrier to offer customers the chance to buy carbon offsets to neutralize the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the transport of their packages. Although initially only available on UPS.com and to high-volume shippers, UPS hopes to roll out UPS carbon neutral to more customer groups in 2010.

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