UPS To Profit From Higher Gas Prices?

I shipped a package from a UPS store today and asked the management whether their business was being affected by the economy in any way. I was told that the shipping business was doing well and in fact, Mothers Day had been busier compared to past years. Mothers Day!?!

Get this… people were coming in and shipping their presents to Mom rather than driving as little as 6 hours round trip. I asked whether this was a common thing that they had seen in prior years. Nope. The manager and another employee were told by many people that it was too expensive to pay for gas and visit Mom in person rather than having Big Brown deliver the package and following up with a phone call.

Add this to the anecdotal evidence about choices people are making due to high gasoline prices.

Comments

[big b:]

Pretty big leap there. Do you know how many, how many, vehicles, tractor trailers, and aircraft, UPS has in motion every day? Incremental holiday package business will not keep up with the rising cost of oil. The domestic market is dead, and has been for years. The only growth for the 3 players, soon to be 2, is the international package delivery business.

2008 May 15 09:16 PM