UPS is getting "ready to rock and roll" in order rev up for a 60 percent increase in shipping expected over the holiday season, CMO Kevin Warren told Cheddar Tuesday.
On Thanksgiving Day alone, almost 40 million people are expected to shop. The National Retail Federation, a trade group, said holiday retail sales could reach as much as $730.7 billion. After shoppers take advantage of retailer sales, shipping companies like UPS have to transport goods from buyer to seller.
"Normally, on average, we do about 20 million packages a day … but during the peak season, peak up to about 32 million," Warren said.
Warren said the company has to scale up in terms of technology and manpower to take on the influx of orders.
Though UPS has to focus on getting orders out and delivering them on time, the company is also investing in new technology to stay ahead of the curve, Warren said.
In addition to speeding up ground shipping and offering extended weekend hours to handle the holiday shopping, UPS is developing better ways to use sensors and data analytics. With new sensor technology, Warren said the company will be able to track packages that are "time-sensitive," such as medicine
UPS also obtained the FAA's first full approval for drone deliveries in early October. Last month, the company completed its first successful drone delivery of a medical prescription from a CVS. Warren says the company plans to launch the new service next year.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
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At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
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It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
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