UPS Plans To Phase Out 'Sorry We Missed You' Notices With New Plan

NEW YORK -- UPS is hoping "sorry we missed you" notices will soon be a thing of the past. It's unveiling a delivery-notification service aimed at not missing you at all.

Called My Choice, the basic free membership service allows package recipients to be notified of incoming shipments and provided an approximate arrival time the night before delivery.

Delivery alerts will be offered through e-mail, text or phone calls. For packages that require signatures, members can electronically sign for packages on their computers or mobile phones.

For $5 per package, members can also choose to re-route the package to another address or a UPS Store in real time rather than waiting to get a "delivery attempt" notice on your door.

A premium version of the service costs $40 per year and provides delivery alerts, a delivery planner and the ability to leave driver special instructions. Premium members also are offered a two-hour delivery window, compared with the four-hour window offered for free.

UPS said it's developing the service to accommodate the growing segment of customers that shop online. Shoppers spent $32.6 billion online during the holidays in 2010, a 12 percent increase from the year before, according to comScore. Last year was the first time that sales on Cyber Monday – a critical online buying day that falls the Monday after Thanksgiving – exceeded $1 billion.

Besides giving customers more clarity about when their package will be delivered, the service will cut down on UPS drivers' wasted trips. The company already makes a number of adjustments in a driver's route to be more efficient, like making only right turns.

Although most online shoppers can't choose their shipping provider, UPS CEO Scott Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press that he's hoping My Choice will make consumers put pressure on retailers to favor UPS over competitors, including rival FedEx Corp.

United Parcel Service Inc., based in Atlanta, delivers to more than 100 million residential addresses each year.

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Comments

[loveis22984]

08:20 AM on 09/15/2011

That is great new for me. I live in a huge apartment building in NYC and UPS will leave your package with anyone. I have had a few items that I ordered from ebay go missing. Now if I could just get USPS to stop considering packages left on top of my mailbox, because if can't fit in my mailbox, delivered, then I will be all set.

[mcmutter]

08:15 AM on 09/15/2011

notified the night before .... so that you can miss work and wait for them ....

[rhymney]

10:25 PM on 09/14/2011

Sounds great!

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

09:41 PM on 09/14/2011

UPS, if you are reading, I stopped using your business because your web site is Byzantine, especially in obfuscating the bottom line.