🦃 Thanksgiving turkeys can’t fly – unless they’re onboard a UPS cargo jet. For more than 20 years, UPS has shipped thousands of organic, free-range turkeys known as Willie Birds for home product retailer Williams-Sonoma. The turkeys are brined and sealed, then delivered via UPS Next Day Air in time to become the centerpiece of holiday dinners across the United States.
✈ Preparing for takeoff: In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, dozens of UPS trailers stuffed with Willie Bird shipments leave from Diestel Family Ranch, Williams Sonoma’s California-based turkey supplier. The birds are destined for UPS flights and next-day deliveries across the country.
As the industry leader in on-time delivery performance for five consecutive peak seasons, UPS delivers the reliable service that customers like Williams Sonoma depend on year-round, and especially during the important holiday shipping season.
📝 Behind the scenes of Operation Willie Bird: Planning begins months in advance. UPS alerts its U.S. delivery drivers with specific instructions for delivering these high-priority packages. That includes a dedicated hotline to resolve any potential obstacles to on-time delivery.
On the receiving end of those calls is the UPS Proactive Response Team – a group of customer care representatives dedicated to the Willie Bird shipments. They watch the turkeys from the moment they leave the farm, ready to step in at the first hint of a potential problem, even a single missed package scan anywhere en route.
⌚ What they’re saying: “We know we have Thanksgiving dinner in our hands, so UPS goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure every one of these turkeys is delivered on time,” said Scott Johnson, director of Enterprise Accounts – Retail, who manages the Williams Sonoma account for UPS.
📦 The proof is in the shipping: UPS is nationally recognized as an industry leader for its trust and reliability.
- ShipMatrix named UPS the most reliable on-time performance delivery company.
- Newsweek ranked UPS first in the Transport, Logistics & Packaging industry category on its Most Trustworthy Companies in America list.
- Fast Company named UPS one of the most innovative companies of 2023.
- Fortune named UPS one of the world’s admired companies for yet another year.
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