Tag Archives: ups

UPS Offers X-PORT Challenge Prizes

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Small and medium-sized businesses with global aspirations have the opportunity to win $10,000 in export shipping with UPS. The UPS X-PORT Challenge aims to help local businesses export to international markets.

“The UPS X-PORT Challenge is an example of our commitment to innovation, global trade and entrepreneurism,” says Bill Seward, UPS U.S. International President, “Less than one percent of America’s 30 million companies export – a percentage that is significantly lower than all developed countries. And of U.S. companies that do export, 58 percent export to only one country. This competition presents an opportunity for growth-oriented businesses to expand internationally.”

Participants in the UPS X-PORT Challenge can begin the application process online. A local UPS representative will then provide the second part of the application, which gives businesses the opportunity to share their ideas for international expansion. That assessment will define the business’ specialty, degree of uniqueness, global appeal and market challenges. Applications must be received by Oct. 10, 2016.

The top 10 applicants will be invited to attend the “Pitch-Off” event on Nov. 10, 2016, in Louisville. Contestants will pitch their business to a panel of judges from the local international business community. The judges will then pick the top three finalists as prize-winners. The second and third place winners will receive $2,500 and $1,000, respectively, in export shipping.

Trying to Deal With an Outdated Postal Service

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I read a recent opinion piece in the The Washington Post about the U.S. Postal Service and the fact that no one can seem to figure out what to do to either make it a viable entity or replace it entirely.

A few interesting numbers in that story:

  • USPS’s 574,000 employees trails only Wal-Mart among civilian employers
  • Its more than 215,000 vehicles (the world’s largest fleet) travel 1.25 billion miles and use nearly 400 million gallons of fuel a year
  • Total mail volume of 213 billion in 2006 dropped to 171 billion in 2010, with stamped mail declining 47% in the last decade

Beyond the numbers is the more troubling stance of the American Postal Workers Union, which would prefer to close its eyes rather than face reality:

On its Web site, the American Postal Workers Union disputes  the notion that “hard-copy mail is destined to be replaced by electronic messages.” Mail volume was down, it says, because its principal component — advertising — had fallen in the recession. “As the nation and the world emerge from economic stagnation, hard-copy mail volume will expand,” it asserts. But that, of course, ignores the rise of the Internet, and its ever-growing use for checking bills or sending payments — with no need for that army of 500,000.

The Internet can’t be used to tele-transport packages, of course, and our use of package delivery services, including the Postal Service’s, has grown with e-commerce. But the Postal Service is running large deficits, bumping up against the $15 billion limit it is permitted to borrow, and is on the brink of default unless Congress comes to the rescue.

Is this where the Postal Service wants to make its stand, as a package delivery service, one among several providers? Does anyone really care whether the Postal Service or U.P.S. drops the package at the doorstep? 

10 E-mails to Delete

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Not all e-mail scams start with the easy to detect con: “I’m a rich Nigerian prince who needs your help moving millions of dollars. And guess what – I’ll give you a hefty sum of money if you just help me out and provide your bank account number.”

Cnet’s Tech Republic (a site for IT pros) recently blogged the top 10 e-mail scams to watch out for. And some of them look remarkably similar to legitimate messages.

Here are a few to be wary of:

  1. Fake Facebook “friend” messages mimic the real deal. Pay attention to the text in the “to” and “from” fields – if it doesn’t look right, don’t click on the links. Also, make sure the URL is facebook.com (or whatever social networking site the message claims to be from) before clicking. 
  2. Virtual holiday cards are a nice way to send friends or clients an inexpensive greeting (the Chamber started creating its own two years ago). Scammers quickly picked up on the growing popularity of these though. Bogus holiday cards likely won’t tell you the name of the sender; instead it will say something like “A friend sent you a card.” Tech Republic recommends doing a web search of the card service before clicking on the greeting.
  3. If you’re not expecting a package, be leery of e-mails from what appears to be a delivery service. Scammers are sending messages from what appear to be FedEx, UPS and others that say a package could not be delivered because of a problem with the shipping address. The e-mail asks you to fill out an attached form so the parcel can be delivered. Instead of a package, you’ll end up with a computer virus from clicking on the attachment. 

Others on the list: fake admin messages; fear-mongering messages; account cancellation scams; threats from the government; "you’re a winner!"; census survey says…; and in Microsoft (or Apple or Dell or HP) we trust. Read the full list and details on how to avoid these scams on the Tech Republic web site.