Inside UPS
October 2005

For Carson Wrapped Hershey's® Chocolates,
UPS is able to provide innovative solutions
and one-to-one service -- all wrapped into
one.

Kentucky District Driver Service Provider Greg Schneider works with Carson's  Joe Frederick during the evening pickup. A Solution that won't melt Moving chocolate bars, especially in the warm summer months, can be a daunting task, according to Scott Frederick, President of Business Operations for Carson, who runs the business with his wife, Sharon Frederick. "The demand for birth announcements is high throughout the year," says Scott. "However, with weddings, corporate events, and other summer-time occasions, demand for our product is highest in the hot summer months." Working together with UPS, Carson developed a packaging and shipping solution that provides a 48-hour window to ensure the candy bars arrive without melting. Along with innovative packaging methods that include frozen gel-packs and Styrofoam, UPS's integrated network provides Carson with the operational flexibility it needs to get its product safely and solidly into the hands (and mouths) of its customers. UPS technology solutions also play an important role in synchronizing the Wrapped Hershey's® supply chain, "Quantum View Manage is huge for them," says Account Executive Bryan Howard. "With the risk of their product melting while in transit, they're able to take a close look into their supply chain, anticipate change, and address potential service issues ahead of time." One-to-one loyalty Along with flexible operating solutions and value-added technology, Kentucky District Colerain Center Driver Service Provider Greg Schneider also plays a critical role, providing a one-to-one level of service that makes him an integral part of the Carson team. "Greg's the guy we see every day," says Scott. "He's been a great ambassador for UPS and our company, and has helped us out tremendously over the years. We work really well together." With a product line that continues to expand and is limited only by the creativity and imagination of its customers, Carson continues to look for new and innovative ways to grow the business in the future. But, as Scott points out, there are two critical components in the Carson business model that remain unchanged. "We only use Hershey's® chocolate bars and we only ship with UPS."

Every day, UPS people provide innovative, one-to-one solutions that help streamline customers' supply chains and help synchronize the flow of goods, information, funds -- and candy bars. Birth of a Business Established in 1993, Carson Wrapped Hershey's® Chocolates came about through the creativity of its founder, Ed Carson. In celebration of the birth of his granddaughter, rather than hand out the traditional cigars, Ed folded pink wrappers around Hershey's® chocolate bars that proclaimed HERESHEIS®. The idea took off and soon Ed was selling these wrappers, marketing the birth announcement wrapped bars to hospital gift shops in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Through word-of-mouth and a little help from UPS, by 1995 this small business had expanded its reach to all 48 continental United States. Today, with a 16,000-square-foot office, production, and warehouse facility that includes a graphic design department, Carson ships nearly 3 million personalized, custom wrapped Hershey's bars to destinations all over the world. And, while birth announcements continue to make up a large percentage of its business, Carson wraps Hershey's® chocolate bars with the classic foil-end look for weddings, graduations, anniversaries, holidays, corporate promotions, and other special occasions.           Carson President of Business Operations Scott Frederick (left) and UPS Kentucky District Account Executive Bryan Howard.

Wrapping Up Safety   While UPS provides Carson Wrapped Hershey's® with the shipping solutions it needs to get it's product to customers, Carson has played an important role in helping improve the safety picture at UPS. As the evening pickup driver for Carson and co-chair on the Sharonville CHSP committee, through the help of Carson, Greg Schneider came up with the innovative safety recognition program. Using custom wrapped Hershey's bars with a UPS package car and the Safety First logo, Greg and other members of the safety committee recognize employees that demonstrate safe work behaviors with a chocolate bar. "It's become a great way to break the ice with people when we talk about safety," says Greg. "We see them performing their job according to the methods, doing their part to work safely -- and we give a pat on the back and a candy bar." On the inside of the wrappers are "Safety Bucks" that employees can use towards UPS merchandise at the gift shop located in the Sharonville building. And, the results have been sweet -- through September, drivers in Greg's center have been injury-free with zero driver DART and lost-time injuries in 2005.