UPS Planning on Christmas Already
The Christmas fiasco created by UPS won’t be repeated if their new CEO is to be believed. CEO David Abney is expected to have some fresh ideas on how to handle the peak holiday season after leading the team that reviewed the company’s chaotic struggles during last season’s snow-ravaged holiday period.
Late deliveries lopped off $50M from revenue and raised costs — giving investors the Christmas jitters and customers a severe case of “Bah Humbug”. The inability of UPS to deliver as their system was overwhelmed with last minute Christmas shopping shipments has thrown cold water not only on giant e-tailers just as Amazon but also on the reliability of all Internet shopping.
Abney is expected to implement a system that anticipates demand from larger customers such as Amazon and Walmart.
Operational knowhow has long been a focus at the world’s biggest package-shipping company, which is known for attention to details as minute as having drivers avoid left-hand turns to cut time in traffic.
Abney led the team that studied how to rebound from the late 2013 holiday shipments, an effort that spawned a $100 million, multiyear push at Atlanta-based UPS to expand some parcel facilities and accelerate use of new technology to make delivery routes more efficient.
