UPS Saturday Ground Delivery® is coming to home a near you as it expands to nearly 4,700 metropolitan cities and towns by November 2017 – just in time for the hectic holiday rush. This service officially started rolling out in April of 2017, initially in 15 markets, but now is expanding to 4,700 U.S. cities and towns with further plans to introduce Saturday Delivery to 5,800 locations next year. Although a new service for UPS®, FedEx Home Delivery® and USPS® have already been involved in the weekend delivery game. No longer are weekend deliveries strictly reserved for special circumstances as carriers work to have a competitive advantage.
With UPS Ground® delivery on Saturday, eligible UPS Ground® and UPS 3-Day Select® shipments which were previously scheduled for delivery on Monday will now be delivered on Saturday – two days earlier. Ground packages picked up on Saturday can be delivered to customers on Monday – one day earlier. There will be no additional charge or change in order processing. Saturday operations provide the choice, control and convenience customers are requesting. Adding an additional day in the week allows customers across various industries to ship and receive six days a week. Inventory gets turned faster and potential revenue growth occurs.
What this means for UPS® customers
To ensure customers receive correct Ground on Saturday delivery dates, those who have integrated the UPS Time in Transit API must confirm their integration passes the ‘ResidentialAddressIndicator’ within the XML request, according to UPS®. If integration of the UPS Time in Transit API does not pass indicator in the XML request, modifications to the XML request may be needed before a valid delivery date for eligible Saturday Ground shipments is received.
Commercial addresses are required to have Saturday Pickup scheduled and opt-in to receive Saturday deliveries. If the residential indicator does not pass in the API request, the destination is assumed to be a commercial address. This means a Saturday delivery date will not appear for UPS Ground® or UPS 3-Day Select® service levels. Check out the UPS® Developer Kit Community for more information on the changes.
Share A Refund finds lost dollars
Although an additional shipping day during the week can add value to your business, this also presents the opportunity for invalid Saturday delivery surcharges, money-back guarantee offers, and other costly fees. Share A Refund automatically goes to work for you, instantly recovering lost dollars. Remove the stress of parcel auditing with Share A Refund.
