ILLINOIS SOFT DRINK COMPANY SWEET ON USPS
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| From left, Marion, IL, Letter Carrier Steven “Doug” Hancock, an employee from Pepsi Mid–America, and Business Solutions Specialist Ronda Lipscomb–Palm. |
When the managers who run Pepsi Mid–America — a Pepsi Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company in Marion, IL — wanted to send troops stationed overseas a refreshing message, they asked USPS to help.
USPS Business Solutions Specialist Ronda Lipscomb–Palm met with Pepsi Mid–America to discuss sending soft drinks to Afghanistan and proposed using Priority Mail flat–rate services for the shipment. She also worked with Pepsi employees to install Shipping Assistant, a software package that prints required customs forms and takes advantage of Commercial Base Pricing.
“Packaging the Pepsi products in Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Boxes was the best shipping value,” she said. “It was a smart solution for our customer, and it was great that Pepsi and USPS partnered to do good things for our troops.”
Gateway District employees also volunteered to help prepare the soft drinks for shipment. An assembly line of Pepsi Mid–America employees — including President and Chief Operating Officer Harry Crisp — joined postal employees and ROTC students to box, label and ship more than 275 Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Boxes containing 4,800 cans of Pepsi products to Afghanistan.
“We want our troops to know we support them,” said Crisp, a former Marine. “That’s why we’re shipping the soda and energy drinks in flat–rate boxes to men and women on the front line.”
