RPS Charts Independent Course

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – About 6:30 every morning, Urbano Petrizza arrives at the RPS Inc. terminal here dressed in an RPS uniform and picks up his RPS van, which has been loaded during the night with packages brought in from one of 25 RPS hubs.

After a quick check with the terminal manager, Petrizza collects a scanner and the list of the day’s pickups. On a typical day, he will make more than 100 stops and deliver nearly 200 packages before returning to the terminal around 4 p.m. During peak periods, he may add 20 to 30 stops and handle as many as 250 packages, working from dawn to dusk.

By all appearances, the 38-year-old Petrizza is employed by RPS, a Pittsburgh-based small package carrier.

In fact, Petrizza and 7,500 others like him are independent contractors. It’s a distinction RPS considers crucial to its ability to compete against United Parcel Service, the U.S. Postal Service and a growing number of local and regional couriers.

For the full story, see the Oct. 4 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.