United Parcel Service Inc. posted a 14.5% increase in second-quarter sales despite shipping fewer packages than it did a year earlier, as higher shipping rates offset a package slowdown with more shoppers venturing to stores.
Average daily shipping volume fell 0.8% globally and 2.9% in the U.S. compared with a year ago, when widespread lockdowns kept shoppers at home and shifted purchases of everything from toilet paper to toothpaste online. It was the first time quarterly shipping volume fell since early 2011.
“Many of our bricks-and-mortar enterprise customers reopened their stores and as economies reopened, customers went back to those stores,” Chief Executive Carol Tomé said Tuesday.
Profit still rose more than 45% on an adjusted basis, helped by an increase of 15.3% in revenue per piece shipped and tighter monitoring of costs. Both revenue and earnings topped analyst projections.
Still, the outlook for slower growth weighed on shares, which fell nearly 9% in recent trading to $191.13. They are still up more than 13% this year.