UPS pulls the plug on online delivery

NEWS UPS is to discontinue its online delivery service after admitting its investment in the venture has not paid off. The company said it will end its online courier service on 1 September to concentrate on other electronic projects with higher customer demand, such as its Document Exchange Invoices - an e-billing service for legal departments. When it was launched in 1998, the online delivery and tracking service was billed as a safer, faster and cheaper alternative to overnight letter delivery, email or fax. At the time UPS said it expected electronic delivery to account for 30 per cent of its business by 2000.