Rural Customers Last to Receive UPS Delivery

Pratt Winston, an Oxford businessman, has added a new, hopefully temporarydepartment to his electronics supply business because of the UPS strike. Ado-it-yourself-delivery.

"We're just using our pickup trucks and our employees to take them toRaleigh to save them some time," said Winston. "Normally this would begoing by UPS.

"We're a small business located in Oxford and we really depend onout-of-state skipments and shipments going into Raleigh and Fayettevilleand pretty much everywhere," said Winston.

Winston imports parts for computers, assembles some parts andredistributes them to customers along the east coast. He says the UPSstrike has put a crimp in moving merchandise onto and off of his shelves.

"We got some shipments coming in from California that are tied up in theUPS strike," said Winston. "In a few days we can do it but then we'll berunning low on supplies."

For shipping out, the mail room has options some other rural businessesmight not have.

"If we didn't have Fed Ex, they said they would not be taking on any newcustomers, if we didn't have Fed Ex, I don't know what we'd be doing, I'llbe frank," said Winston.

Winston is contracting private couriers, truckers, even his own employeesare making in-state deliveries.

"But we'll manage, we're used to it, when the going gets rough, we gettough," said Winston. "So we'll do it, we'll manage."