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After an absence of more than 10 years, one of North America’s largest couriers is rapidly regaining its foothold in the U.S. market. Purolator Courier Ltd. is the largest courier in Canada, and the company has been achieving double-digit growth in the United States since getting back into the market 10 years ago, and is on-pace to grow by 30 percent in the U.S. market in 2008, according to CEO Robert Johnson. “In terms of size, you can put any two of our competitors [in Canada] together and we’re still bigger than the combined entity,” he says.

In both the United States and Canada, Johnson says, Purolator’s formula for success doesn’t change.

“When companies achieve a market-share level the same as we have, the difference is people,” Johnson says. “Our company is very people-oriented.”

Johnson says the company’s depth and breadth of services also give its Canadian customers access to a single point of contact for a variety of delivery needs, and as the largest in Canada, it can reach into remote rural areas that urban-focused competitors cannot.

“We don’t have a cookie cutter; one-size-fits-all mentality,” Johnson says.

Purolator is continuing to develop new stratagems designed to propel it into a new era of competitiveness with global companies. The growth of its U.S. operations, its development of sustainable vehicles and its taking the place of distribution centers for many customers through global supply chain services are all areas on which Purolator is working to take and hold the lead in the industry.

The American Dream
Perhaps best remembered in the United States for its series of TV commercials featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Purolator left the U.S. market nearly 20 years ago following the sale of its parent, Purolator Filter.

Johnson explains that Canadian firm Onex Corp. purchased Purolator’s Canadian operations and sold off the U.S. portion.

The company has spent the last 10 years slowly building inroads back into the United States, however, and Johnson says the company is finding success with companies that do a lot of business with Canadian firms.

He says revenue in the United States is around $100 million annually now, and continues to climb.
After experiencing 23 percent growth in the United States in 2007, Johnson says Purolator expects 30 percent for 2008.

Johnson says Purolator is targeting companies that have a significant product offering in Canada but don’t necessarily have the assets to manage distribution there.

Thanks to technology and the Internet, he says, Purolator can be completely visible to U.S. shippers anywhere in Canada. “We’re able to do that very cost-effectively because, again, our reach into Canada is unmatched,” Johnson says.

“Part of it is through fortunate circumstance that many of the shipping managers remember Purolator,” he says.

The company recently added small package domestic and less-than-truckload domestic services in the United States, he says, and it will be adding an additional four consolidation points in the United States this year, bringing the total to 12 by year’s end.

Cleaner Delivery
Purolator has more than 3,000 courier vehicles, more than 400 tractors and more than 100 medium-sized trucks in its fleet.       

As such, it’s no wonder that the company has taken strides to become more environmentally friendly in recent years. Johnson says some new initiatives have not only reduced the company’s impact on the environment, but also helped with the bottom line, as well.

Johnson says in 2001, Fleet Director Serge Viola presented a proposal to the Purolator executive team for making the company’s fleet more environmentally sound. With some seed money, he found a technology company named Azure Dynamics that could turn one of Purolator’s trucks into a hybrid electric vehicle.

By Purolator’s own estimates, such vehicles could decrease its fossil fuel usage by up to 40 percent.

The company began investing in a small number of hybridized curbside delivery vehicles.

Three years later, the same director petitioned the company for a way to convert its fleet to a zero-emissions vehicle. A hydrogen prototype vehicle is currently in testing, Johnson says.