The USPS-UPS pilot program extending USPS Parcel Return Service (PRS) to participating UPS business customers (Link, 2/4) is under way. UPS has named the service “UPS Returns Flexible Access.”

The pilot lets customers return qualified parcels with UPS or the Postal Service. These parcels have a label that combines elements of the UPS ground and Postal Service’s Parcel Return Service labels. This means that even if — at first glance — the label looks like it came from UPS, the Postal Service should accept it.

Post Offices designated as Return Delivery Units (RDUs) for this pilot program should have received a letter from UPS and training on specific back office procedures to hold and scan the parcels. Employees at a facility that has not been designated as an RDU for this program should not scan these packages before forwarding them with other outgoing mail.

To determine whether the package is part of UPS Returns Flexible Access, employees should read from the bottom up to check for the USPS-PRS label. All employees need to know what the label looks like and be prepared to accept these parcels.

Customers can give a parcel using this label to their carriers, leave them in a mailbox for carriers to pick up or drop them in a collection box or at the Post Office. And because these are PRS packages, customers also can use the Carrier Pickup option available on usps.com.

“If we do this right, we can build volume and that will give us more PRS packages to accept, collect and process,” said Vice President, Ground Shipping, Jim Cochrane. “Parcel Return Service has generated significant new revenue since it launched in 2003, and retailers count on us to process returns correctly. Keeping these simple processes in mind will help us serve customers better as more of them learn about — and use — this great service.”

Click here for an image of a poster with information on UPS Returns Flexible Access.

source: USPS News Link