ATLANTA - June 17, 2003 - SmartMail Services® (www.smartmail.com) is pleased to announce its acquisition of Drop Ship Express (www.dropshipexpress.com), a Minneapolis-based mail and parcel delivery company. The newly formed organization boasts greater than $200 million of revenue and 1,100 employees working from 22 processing centers nationwide.
"Our commitment to meet and exceed customer expectations has never been stronger," says Jim Martell, president and chief executive officer of SmartMail. "With service to over 1,200 customers the increased density in each processing center will drive continued service consistency enabling us to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction."
The merger expands SmartMail's Workshare Partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS) ensuring deliveries travel through a seamless nationwide delivery network. The company's service offering now includes both air expedited and ground delivery services for seven USPS products: Flats, Bound Printed Matter, Parcel Select, Media Mail, Irregular and Machinable parcels.
"The individual experiences of both organizations, now combined, foster the most robust, singular solution for delivery of flat-sized mail and lightweight parcels in the USPS Workshare system," says Matt Vettel, chairman of SmartMail and partner at Great Hill Partners.
Technological advancements rolled out to SmartMail's customers in 2003 include advanced web-based tracking of deliveries, on-line invoicing, and detailed delivery performance reporting. These developments increase both SmartMail customers' access to detailed information and their decision-making capabilities. "The merger expands our national coverage and provides our customers with a broader portfolio of services designed to save them time and money," says Don Berry, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Drop Ship Express.
Through a unique workshare partnership with the USPS, SmartMail collects, processes, automates, sorts, tracks, and delivers flat-sized mail and parcels ranging from 2 ounces to 70 pounds. Once received and processed deliveries are flown or trucked to a destination postal facility and injected deep into the postal stream to meet delivery commitments and maximize savings to the customer.
About SmartMail Services
SmartMail Services (www.smartmail.com) based in Atlanta, GA is the leading nationwide expeditor of flat-sized mail and parcel packages. With an expansive domestic footprint of processing facilities, SmartMail meets delivery commitments nationwide, while yielding reductions in both operational costs and postage fees for their customers. The company's premium services include 100% shipment reconciliation, address verification and cleansing, web-based tracking, selective routing and custom reporting/invoicing.
About Drop Ship Express
Drop Ship Express (www.dropshipexpress.com) is a leading mail and parcel delivery company focused on Flats, Parcel Select, Machinable and Irregular parcels, Bound Printed Matter and Media Mail. In addition to its money-saving mail-handling capabilities, the company offers a number of services to improve efficiency and further reduce costs, including warehousing, address verification, mail tracking, Delivery Confirmation™ and Confirm/PLANETCode™.
