UNITED PARCEL EXTENDS ITS REACH

By Eric N. Berg

June 9, 1985

UNITED PARCEL EXTENDS ITS REACH

By Eric N. Berg

June 9, 1985

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SINCE last Monday, even the Havasupai Indians living at the base of the Grand Canyon are able to receive next-day delivery of letters via the United Parcel Service. Under a complicated plan devised by the company in case the need ever arises, a U.P.S. driver with an urgent letter will drive 50 miles on a dirt road from Valentine, Ariz., to the rim of the canyon. He will then hand over the letter to a mule-train operator who, for a $35 charge to U.P.S., will transport the letter on its rocky final leg. The price of the letter to the sender is the standard fee: $8.50.

Sending a letter by mule train - and at a loss -may be the most extreme use of U.P.S.'s week-old service. But it illustrates how serious U.P.S. is about entering the overnight-letter market, the fastest-growing but most competitive segment of the parcel delivery business.

U.P.S.'s new service promises next-day delivery of letters between any two addresses in the nation, a service that even the United States Postal Service does not offer. By blanketing the country, wooing new customers and using a distribution network already in place - many letters will be carried in the same vans as parcels -U.P.S. hopes that its sheer volume to profitable destinations will cover any losses associated with going to such places as the Grand Canyon.

It also hopes to win market share from such big players in next-day letters as Federal Express, Airborne Express, Emery Air Freight, Purolator Courier and the Postal Service. ''We think we're efficient enough to offer service cheaper than any of our competitors,'' said Kent C. Nelson, U.P.S.'s senior vice president for finance and customer service.