The company said the change will increase visibility throughout its small-package delivery network, while increasing delivery accuracy and reducing the manual labor needed to scan individual parcels.
“What this does is it offers our customers real-time, near real-time, visibility of where their packages are at within our network,” said a UPS exec.
The capability is a step beyond the shipment-tracking information widely used today, which relies on workers scanning bar codes as packages enter and leave warehouses or vehicles. That tracking point typically lags behind a package’s current location, leaving gaps in visibility where packages may be misplaced or lost.
UPS is now embedding RFID tags into shipping labels and has installed RFID sensors on all its U.S. delivery trucks, at its more than 5,500 retail stores and in its final-mile delivery centers.
The technology allows UPS to automatically sense and track when a package crosses a threshold into or out of a building or vehicle. That will give customers a more up-to-date, accurate picture of where packages are, though it does not include real-time location tracking.
The company in part uses the technology to identify what it calls misloads, where packages are loaded onto the incorrect delivery truck. The RFID tag on a given package sets off a sensor as it’s loaded into a delivery truck and makes a noise indicating if the package is on the wrong vehicle.
UPS said misloads have dropped near 70% since it started using the technology in 2024, and that the RFID technology will eliminate about 20 million manual scans per day.
The high cost of individual tracking devices and the complexity of small-package delivery networks have limited tracking technology to more industrial applications as well as shipping high-value goods such as healthcare products, electronics and luxury items. UPS said the cost of RFID tags has come down to a few cents each, allowing the company to deploy the technology at scale.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of RFID?
- Why are misloads to be avoided?