United Parcel Service of North America Inc. knew it had a problem when it came to delivering packages ordered online to consumers in densely populated areas.

“We believe that in certain geographic situations, mostly ‘superurban’ situations, there are people who are for all intents and purposes locked out of the online shopping explosion,” Geoff Light, president of product development at UPS, says. “These are people who have very difficult times getting online shipments delivered to where they live. There aren’t any options like a doorman or a neighbor that they trust to have the package signed.”

UPS announced today a new option for shoppers like these: picking up items at UPS and other stores that stay open outside of business hours. UPS said today it will expand its UPS Access Point network next year to include every one of its 4,400 The UPS Store locations nationwide. The company also announced it will be extend its UPS My Choice program that lets consumers schedule deliveries to an additional 15 countries in North America and Europe.

While the Access Point service is new to the United States, it already operates extensively in Europe. Domestically, UPS began testing the Access Point service in New York and Chicago earlier this year.

“I don’t think we appreciated how severe the problem (of traditional delivery) was,” Light says.

Here’s how the Access Point service works: When a driver is unable to deliver a package, he leave instructions on the recipient’s doorstep instructing her where and when she can pick up the package. The free service is designed to make it easier and more secure for customers to ship packages as well as pick up deliveries that cannot be completed on the first attempt. A consumer must present photo identification when picking up a parcel.

Access Point locations will consist of local businesses such as convenience and grocery stores, generally within a short drive of a recipient’s address, that are open outside of normal business hours to make it easy for customers to pick up their shipments. UPS pays those stores a fee for the labor and storage involved. The overall goal, Light says, is for the Access Point service to benefit the online retailer, the consumer, and the location hosting the access point itself.

“The main value proposition for our Access Point partners is walk-in traffic,” Light says. “By becoming a UPS Access Point, there are going to be customers coming in the door today because that’s where their package is.”

And the benefit to online retailers?

“Fewer returns because customers get their packages faster,” Light says. “The second is they’ll get fewer calls asking, ‘Where’s my package?’ The last is they’re going to get increased orders For our shipping partners, we want them to sell more product. If their consumers are happier, they’ll sell more product.”

For Chicago residents, the convenience factor goes one step further. The company is using the city to test self-service lockers that will allow customers to pick up their deliveries using asmartphone or a photo ID. Eventually, there will be nine locker banks citywide in areas that don’t have a designated Access Point nearby. Light says the lockers will work like ATMs, where customers scan their photo ID and get their product, rather than a traditional gym locker.

“The ability for us to find a convenient staffed access point can be challenging,” Light explains. “That might be the exact location where we put a locker because a locker could be placed without necessarily putting it inside a business. We also have other venues like huge condo complexes. These are all locations where lockers are perfect.”

UPS currently has 300 Access Point locations domestically with plans to expand that greatly by this time next year. It also has 12,000 Access Point locations across Europe and plans to nearly double that number by the end of next year.

The company also claims that the initial success of the UPS My Choice program has led to its decision to expand it beyond the 10 million customers it already serves. My Choice provides alerts to registered consumers about when their deliveries will arrive and, for a fee, lets them choose different delivery times or locations.

 “UPS My Choice has received outstanding customer response and continues to experience rapid growth with one new consumer enrollment every six seconds,” says UPS chief commercial officer Alan Gershenhorn.

Favorite