UPS Scores High Marks at Spelman College

Spelman College sees a variety of shipments going in and out of campus, from course books and college survival kits, to biological samples and chemicals for the science lab. However, many of the school's most time-sensitive shipments come from the Registrar's office. This office is responsible for all student academic records, including enrollment, transcripts, graduation applications and paperwork regarding grade changes, course drops and medical withdrawals.

Seventy percent of Spelman's shipments are urgent documents, so UPS Next Day Air® and UPS Second Day Air® ensures guaranteed, on-time arrival more than 99 percent of the time. UPS Quantum View® allows Spelman to track every package and request email notifications when shipments arrive. UPS Quantum View helps both the sender and receiver stay informed of a package's status, which is especially important when handling confidential materials, including medical documents.

"Using UPS gives me peace of mind," says Larry Barnes, Postal Operations Manager at Spelman. "They are very reliable, and they can guarantee a tracking number on everything I ship."

Previously, the faculty and students at Spelman used waybills to document their shipments. This not only created stacks and stacks of unnecessary paper, but also wasted time because Barnes had to manually process a separate invoice for every shipment.

"The departments are really siloed, so it used to be difficult to reconcile bills and allocate costs to each department," Barnes explains. "UPS came in with an online shipping system that makes it easy."

UPS CampusShip® enables users to ship packages and documents from their desktops. The program automatically organizes separate cost codes onto one invoice, simplifying the billing process. For Barnes, this means no more wasted hours trying to connect each shipment with a department.

"I'm able to see all the comings and goings and keep things paid," says Barnes. "I get an email on Sunday night with all the invoice information on one simple bill. Now paper is a thing of the past."

Barnes has achieved major time savings by using this technology. Reconciling invoices used to take four to five hours a week, but now he can do it in just 10 minutes.

Most departments use the UPS drop boxes conveniently located throughout the campus to send shipments. If they have larger shipments, they can create shipping labels in CampusShip and either call a UPS driver to pick them up or drop them off at the mailroom, where a driver delivers everyday.

UPS is Barnes's preferred shipper, and relationships are an essential reason why.

"They are building a relationship with me," says Larry. "My first week at Spelman, UPS came and knocked on my door, shook my hand and said how may I assist you? You can't always do customer service over the phone and UPS knows that."