According to several sources said to be familiar with this matter, and reported by Freightways, UPS Inc. will partially reinstate its money-back guarantees for late or missed deliveries, effective April 5, 2021.
For now, what we hear is UPS will resume its “guaranteed service refunds” (GSRs) program for its three next-day air delivery products: Early A.M. (deliveries by 8 a.m.), Next-Day Air (by 10:30 a.m.), and Next Day Air Saver (by mid-afternoon),. This policy shift will not extend, at least for now, to UPS’ Ground Parcel delivery services.
When reached about this news, UPS declined comment.
UPS suspended its money-back guarantees in March, 2020, citing unprecedented market conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UPS’ main rival, FedEx, which also suspended its service guarantees, has not yet indicated whether it will reinstate its Money Back Guarantee programs.
UPS and FedEx have sterling delivery performance records, hitting their targets roughly 98% to 99% of the time. Still, given the two carriers’ massive volumes — UPS delivers about 17 million daily packages — even a 1% to 2% blemish translates into big bucks should every shipper whose deliveries weren’t made on time file claims that the carriers couldn’t dispute.
The program also represents a fertile revenue source for parcel consultants that shippers retain to analyze carrier performance, identify problem shipments and collect a cut of any refunds granted to the shipper.
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