UPS goes paperless

Shipping small packages across international borders has always been fraught with problems. Cumbersome paper invoices can slow shipments to a trickle, reports Information Week.

UPS says it has an answer to many international shipping problems: electronic paperless invoices and a companion electronic returns service. The two products, UPS Paperless Invoice and UPS Returns, are designed to smooth the way for cross-boarder shipments across 98 countries and territories. The services are slated to go live in January.

"With these global solutions, UPS makes shipping from Atlanta to Beijing as simple as shipping from Atlanta to Boston," says Kurt Kuehn, UPS senior VP of worldwide sales and marketing. "What`s more, UPS makes getting a shipment returned from Beijing as simple as getting it returned from Boston."

At least 2 000 Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) passengers were billed twice for tickets purchased with credit cards and certain types of debit cards at station kiosks, reports Newsday.com.

LIRR officials said Monday`s billing problem was caused by a software glitch in all of its 269 automated machines throughout Long Island and New York City. Most of the riders have been reimbursed, and the rest will be soon, officials said.

"We realise the error, and we are taking care of it," spokesman Joe Calderone said. Passengers "should see a double charge on their statement and then a credit, without having to do anything".

An initial public offering (IPO) from Constant Contact, a Waltham provider of Web-based e-mail marketing software, commanded a share price that far exceeded its opening price and a market capitalisation that dwarfed its meagre revenue, reports Boston Business.

Within hours of its debut, shares in the company, which has been operating in the red, soared as high as $30.76, nearly double the IPO price of $16 per share.

The stock closed at $27.64, with 6.97 million shares changing hands yesterday.