Harry Potter Meets the Transportation Wizard -- Exact Express(TM) from Yellow
Harry Potter Meets the Transportation Wizard -- Exact Express(TM) from Yellow
Jul 11, 2000 at 12:00 AM EDT
Harry Potter Meets the Transportation Wizard -- Exact Express(TM) from Yellow OVERLAND PARK, Kan., July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Yellow worked some transportation wizardry of its own on July 6 when 319 shipments of the fourth and latest book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, were delivered 100 percent on-time to bookstores in more than 100 metro areas nationwide. The deliveries were made without the assistance of floo powder, the magical stuff wizards use to travel via chimneys and fireplaces, or any other extraordinary means. Instead, they moved via Exact Express, the guaranteed, time-definite, expedited air and ground delivery service from Yellow.
Thousands of people made a frenzied dash to buy the long-awaited fourth installment of the Harry Potter series when it went on sale at bookstores around the country, beginning at precisely 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 8.
Scholastic Corp., the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter series, gave a significant chunk of the transportation assignment to Yellow on the condition that the books be delivered to retail booksellers precisely on time on Thursday, July 6, with zero defects, including no carton damage or pilferage.
"This is one of the largest, most complex and most time-critical Exact Express shipment rollouts we have ever executed," said Gary Beggs, Vice President - Express Services for Yellow. "We had a large team dedicated to making this happen, including professional staff from operations, sales, express services and security. We even had one of our people stationed at the Scholastic distribution center in Jefferson City, Mo. to verify that the piece count for each shipment was accurate, that the paperwork was complete and that it was loaded securely."
Exact Express was utilized to deliver more than 12,500 cartons of books to retail booksellers and specialty children's stores in 36 states that did not have internal warehousing and distribution systems. The large orders to national chains typically moved via truckload carrier to the main distribution warehouses and UPS and FedEx Home Delivery handled the parcel and home deliveries.
At many locations, Yellow delivered the books to designated secure areas inside the store.
More than 99 percent of the Exact Express shipments moved via the Yellow ground network. The average shipment was 41 cartons, weighing 1,118 lbs., while actual shipments ranged from 300 lbs. to 5,000 lbs. There were no late deliveries, no damages and no shortages with any of the 319 Exact Express shipments involving more than 150,000 books.
The security precautions were tight but not out of the ordinary for an Exact Express shipment. All shipments were shrink wrapped and sealed with security tape. At each transfer point, a hand signature was required by a terminal manager assuring that the shipment had arrived and was reloaded in good condition. Locking mechanisms were employed at all stages of the over-the-road move and for city deliveries. Drivers were required to call their home terminals after completion of each delivery.
"One of the values of Exact Express, as opposed to a traditional freight forwarder, is that we can put together a transportation solution that addresses every security concern imaginable," Beggs said. "We have tight control over every Exact Express shipment and know where it is and its condition at every step of the way. That's one reason we can provide such a robust 100 percent satisfaction guarantee."
Yellow Freight System is a national carrier based in Overland Park, Kan. offering the widest range of services for transportation and related movement of goods and materials. A recognized technology leader, Yellow is a winner of the CIO-100 Award for excellence in technology, operations and strategic thinking. Services include: Standard Ground, featuring the most competitive service and broadest coverage in North America; Definite Delivery, a guaranteed on-time service with 24-by-7 monitoring; Exact Express, a time-definite, expedited, guaranteed air and ground delivery service and Yellow Global, an international ocean and air forwarding service. A subsidiary of Yellow Corporation (Nasdaq: YELL), Yellow Freight System serves more than 300,000 customers and employs 25,000.
SOURCE Yellow Corporation
CONTACT: Roger Dick of Yellow Corporation, 913-696-6184, or e-mail, Roger.Dick@Yellowcorp.com
Thousands of people made a frenzied dash to buy the long-awaited fourth installment of the Harry Potter series when it went on sale at bookstores around the country, beginning at precisely 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 8.
Scholastic Corp., the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter series, gave a significant chunk of the transportation assignment to Yellow on the condition that the books be delivered to retail booksellers precisely on time on Thursday, July 6, with zero defects, including no carton damage or pilferage.
"This is one of the largest, most complex and most time-critical Exact Express shipment rollouts we have ever executed," said Gary Beggs, Vice President - Express Services for Yellow. "We had a large team dedicated to making this happen, including professional staff from operations, sales, express services and security. We even had one of our people stationed at the Scholastic distribution center in Jefferson City, Mo. to verify that the piece count for each shipment was accurate, that the paperwork was complete and that it was loaded securely."
Exact Express was utilized to deliver more than 12,500 cartons of books to retail booksellers and specialty children's stores in 36 states that did not have internal warehousing and distribution systems. The large orders to national chains typically moved via truckload carrier to the main distribution warehouses and UPS and FedEx Home Delivery handled the parcel and home deliveries.
At many locations, Yellow delivered the books to designated secure areas inside the store.
More than 99 percent of the Exact Express shipments moved via the Yellow ground network. The average shipment was 41 cartons, weighing 1,118 lbs., while actual shipments ranged from 300 lbs. to 5,000 lbs. There were no late deliveries, no damages and no shortages with any of the 319 Exact Express shipments involving more than 150,000 books.
The security precautions were tight but not out of the ordinary for an Exact Express shipment. All shipments were shrink wrapped and sealed with security tape. At each transfer point, a hand signature was required by a terminal manager assuring that the shipment had arrived and was reloaded in good condition. Locking mechanisms were employed at all stages of the over-the-road move and for city deliveries. Drivers were required to call their home terminals after completion of each delivery.
"One of the values of Exact Express, as opposed to a traditional freight forwarder, is that we can put together a transportation solution that addresses every security concern imaginable," Beggs said. "We have tight control over every Exact Express shipment and know where it is and its condition at every step of the way. That's one reason we can provide such a robust 100 percent satisfaction guarantee."
Yellow Freight System is a national carrier based in Overland Park, Kan. offering the widest range of services for transportation and related movement of goods and materials. A recognized technology leader, Yellow is a winner of the CIO-100 Award for excellence in technology, operations and strategic thinking. Services include: Standard Ground, featuring the most competitive service and broadest coverage in North America; Definite Delivery, a guaranteed on-time service with 24-by-7 monitoring; Exact Express, a time-definite, expedited, guaranteed air and ground delivery service and Yellow Global, an international ocean and air forwarding service. A subsidiary of Yellow Corporation (Nasdaq: YELL), Yellow Freight System serves more than 300,000 customers and employs 25,000.
SOURCE Yellow Corporation
CONTACT: Roger Dick of Yellow Corporation, 913-696-6184, or e-mail, Roger.Dick@Yellowcorp.com