"In addition to helping Airborne route international shipments more quickly and accurately, PCR will enhance our ability to report on-time deliveries, and to find and correct problems," said Mike Chase, Airborne's director of International Express operations. "It will also help us give our customers more accurate rate quotes. These are the kind of operational improvements customers really notice – and appreciate."

Without PCR, international packages are directed toward their final delivery area according to the city for which they're bound. With PCR, international airbills have a new field for the recipient's postal code (like ZIP code in the U.S.).

The codes are entered into Airborne's automated FOCUS system, which lets customers track the status of their shipments anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. FOCUS automatically verifies the accuracy of the postal code against city and country information before routing the shipment to its final destination.

Airborne's PCR process is smart. If a customer doesn't know the correct postal code, provides a wrong code, or forgets to include it on the airbill, the system automatically reverts to routing by city.

"PCR is so customer-friendly, it even checks spelling," said Chase. "There's a look-up function if the city or country are not recognized, or are spelled incorrectly." In fact, the city and country name verification capability takes effect today for all of Airborne's international destinations.

Full Postal Code Routing is being implemented initially for all Airborne International Express shipments to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and The United Kingdom.

Airborne plans to expand the process by the end of 1996 to include the top 30 industrialized countries that have postal codes. PCR will then cover 80 percent of the international markets Airborne customers ship to most commonly.

Celebrating 50 years of providing shipping and logistics solutions for business, Airborne Express, continues to be a leader in the shipping industry. It serves the air express, air freight and ocean freight needs of corporate customers with the delivery of time-sensitive documents, letters, small packages and freight across the U.S. and to more than 200 countries. The company offers same-day, next-day, next-afternoon and second-day delivery options and is in its fifth decade of providing international services.