Melanie Alavi, President of U.S. Product Marketing: Melanie has more than 25 years of experience across marketing, strategy and product development. She leads Product Lifecycle Management at UPS overseeing the concepting, building, testing, launching and sunsetting products based on customer needs and product portfolio rationalisation.
Dave Hudson, President of Global Digital and Indirect Channels: Dave has more than 30 years of experience across product development, pricing, marketing and digital strategy. He leads UPS' digital and indirect channels, helping businesses access UPS services through digital platforms and partner networks.
For small business owners, a quiet week can quickly turn into a rush of orders that need to ship now. That is why UPS is improving the collection experience and adding several other useful updates to make everyday shipping easier.
The goal: Give customers more control and fewer extra steps.
We asked two UPS experts to break it down: Melanie Alavi, President of U.S. Product Marketing, on collections and Dave Hudson, President of Global Digital and Indirect Channels, on digital shipping tools.
Q: How can these digital updates make shipping easier?
Melanie Alavi: Small business owners already juggle orders, customers and day-to-day operations. Shipping is one of those tasks that can eat up time quickly. These updates are meant to make the basic steps easier, so owners can keep parcels moving without stopping everything else they’re doing.
Q: What has changed with collections?
Melanie: Customers can now schedule, update and track collections across all collection types (Smart, One-time, and Recurring) from one dashboard. The dashboard offers visibility of collection status with notifications as a collection moves from scheduling to completion.
Q: What is easier on UPS.com?
Dave Hudson: Customers can create labels from a single screen on UPS.com. That means they can review shipment details and compare service options in the same place, instead of clicking through several pages to finish a shipment.
Q: What is new in the UPS app?
Dave: The redesigned app puts more shipping tools in customers’ hands – especially small business owners who are always on the move. They can now create labels, schedule collections, track parcels and scan a tracking number for a quick update, all from their phone.
Q: Where does The UPS Store come in?
Dave: Customers can create labels digitally in the app and print them at any of the 5,500+ The UPS Store locations across the U.S. That is a big help if they don’t have a printer nearby. And when customers print there, their shipments get game-changing RFID-enabled labels – helping them see more once parcels are moving through our network.
Q: How can Smart Collection help small businesses?
Melanie: Smart Collection helps when shipping volume changes day to day. So when customers create a UPS label, a collection is scheduled automatically. This means fewer unnecessary collections and less time spent managing shipping. If a shipment is not ready, customers can update or cancel a collection in the dashboard. By only paying for collections when they are needed, customers can save up to 50% compared with a daily collection.
Q: What is the big takeaway?
Melanie: Small businesses gain peace of mind and better control over collections – when they happen, whether they are needed and how they are progressing along the collection journey.
Dave: And they get simpler ways to create labels and check on parcels, whether they are at a desk, in a store or on the move.
So, let’s quickly recap: These updates focus on the everyday shipping tasks small businesses rely on most: managing collections, creating labels and tracking shipments.
- Collection dashboard: Schedule, manage and track collections in one place, with real-time notifications.
- Smart Collection: Request, confirm or cancel collections based on daily shipping needs.
- UPS.com: Create labels faster with a simpler single-screen shipping experience.
- UPS app: Create labels, schedule collections and track shipments from a mobile device.
The bottom line: Shipping should help small businesses grow – not slow them down.
Ready to ship smarter? Get started with UPS shipping and collection solutions at UPS.com.